Bush Mackel

I remember not too long ago when the “next gen” game systems were considered to be Nintendo’s Gamecube, Sony’s Playstation 2 and of course the original Microsoft Xbox.

Back in those days you had a lot of games that were coming out for all the systems and when my friends would ask me which version I would get, I would undoubtedly say, “Xbox. The game is gonna look the best on that system. PLUS the online play is sure to be the best experience between the three consoles.”

Fast forward a couple of years and now the choice is between Nintendo’s Wii, Sony’s Playstation 3, and Microsoft’s XBox 360. But even though the systems are different, my answer is still about the same… “XBox. The game is going to look good if not the best on that system, PLUS console online play is still the best of the three consoles.”

1. Graphics – The graphics on the first XBox were hands down better than Playstation 2 and the GameCube. Because of this when a new game out for all three systems, gamers basically knew it was going to look best on the XBox. And at least so far they seem to be continuing this trend. Take Madden 08 for example. On the PS3 it runs at 30FPS, on XBox 360 it runs at 60.
2. Achievements – New on the 360, XBox has given gamers yet another reason to choose 360 games over their competition. Achievement points are awarded to you after attaining some goal on a 360 game. Accumulating on your Gamercard, they basically allow you to rank yourself against friends and online competitors. Sure it’s uber nerdy, but it’s super cool and you get addicted fast. Currently, other systems don’t have that. So when given the choice, am I going to buy Streets of Rage 2 on Wii or 360? Well, on 360 I get achievement points for the game. On Wii I really don’t get anything. You know where I’m going on this one!
3. Online Play – Without a doubt, the area that the XBox destroyed and continues to destroy its competition is online play. On the original XBox, online play was executed simply but extremely efficiently. Take its flagship, Halo 2. All you do is pop in the game, go to the online area, and you can immediately play an online game matched against someone of similar skills to yourself, or EASILY invite your friends to the party for a quick game. Again, they took the “problem” of online play and executed a simple solution VERY well.

Sony? Hello? You there?
If game systems were football teams, I think fans of Sony would’ve called for the head of its coach this year. Because looking back, no one can tell what the devil Sony did in the off season.

(Now obviously I’m omitting the Wii at this point, but it’s really not going after the same market as PS3 and the 360 right?)

So yeah, it’s no secret that XBox destroyed its competition because of its great online play. Now if you’re Sony and that’s your system’s number one failure, wouldn’t you think to address it? I guess not until your system has been out for a good long while and you’re getting the beat down in the video game market.

Final Thoughts
Though it may seem like it, I’m not an Xbox 360 fanboy. It’s just that in the current market, the internet is where it is at. For Sony and Nintendo to not have done basically anything about their online play short comings is beyond disappointing. If Sony had got their butt in gear early, they could have competed if not taken over Microsoft’s share of the online console market, especially with everything Sony can offer in the way of movies, music and other entertainment. Oh well, maybe in the next next gen systems, Sony and Nintendo will have learned their lessons.