Next Gen (+PC) System Analysis

VVoltz

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OK, so I got a next gen system, but there is a lot of people undecided yet, let's say they also want to play some last generation and old gen XBox, PS2 and GC titles. What system would be the best choice?, 2 systems?, all three?, what about a PC?
I decided to make a "first glance+personal opinion" analysis, here take a look and tell me what do you think:

Wii: The Wii is a great choice to have some casual fun.

Price: With a price tag of 250 and with each Wii mote+nunchuck for 50+ bucks, the total thing for a Wii, 4 Wii-motes and ONE additional game would be like 450USD. Just Wii Sports and a single remote 250USD.
The hardest thing is actually finding a Wii at a retail store, even worse online. Most of the online offers are bundles.

Type of games: Family and non action games (most of the action games are not AAA). + Super Mario Galaxy

Retro compatibility: There are really great and cheap GC games, so it is really a bonus.


XBox 360: OK, this is hands down the best option so far, lots of great games, family, action, racing and all the possible genres. Too bad it doesn't have Wi-Fi right straight from the box.
Thereally bad thing about this console are the problems with the red ring of death, it happens, if now, ask shaunj66.

Price: Three main bundles to choose from. Arcade = 280USD, but no HD and crappy Arcade games included (You can add more, but the Memory is too small). Pro = 350USD and two games included (Forza2 AAA and Marvel Ultimate Alliance). HD DVD support costs 180 additional USD. Split screen multiplayer matches on Halo can cost you 120USD extra for 3 additional controllers of your own.

Type of games: Every possible genre, this is the best thing about the console + Halo3.
As Hadrian wisely states, Live Arcade is a really sweet deal. Bomberman is amazingly fun, Worms, Symphony and many others, off and online.
Also, most PC games are being released on the 360 as well. (The exclusives aren't bad either).
Good overall library.

Retro compatibility: Somewhat meh. Not all the Original XBox games are supported, the good ones are, but some great multiplayer ones are not.



PlayStation3
: The most "powerful system" of the pack. The game catalog is (let's face it) mediocre. But there are some really good SONY gems coming this season and some other major 3rd parties for next year. But even with those, you have a lot less to chose from, when talking about games. To its favor, the PS3 is probably one of the cheapest Blu Ray disc players in the market (to my knowledge).

Price: Two options, no PS2 support and nogame bundled costs 400USD. If you go for the 80G model with an Off Read racing game included thats 500USD. 3 extra sixaxis controllers would add 150USD more to the final price. (To play what?, Resistance?)

Type of games: Very limited library. Some "meh." original games, the good stuff is yet to come, so patience is the key with the PS3 (Home, Little Big Planet, MGS4). Right now, games for the PS3 are hardcore gamer oriented. +err... no must haves here yet.

Retro compatibility: Again, like the 360, not all the PS2 titles play well (or even at all) on the PS3, besides, if you really want to play PS2 games gotta have the 80G version. I know there are some PSX fanatics out there too, so maybe a little extra bonus is the fact that you are also able to play Final Fantasy 7 and some other PSX gems on the PS3.



PC
: Hell, a PC can do pretty much anything you want. That includes posting this here and playing some cool retro games only hadrian (and maybe Urza) knows about. The bad thing is that any PC game you want to play you'll have to install. hadrian is right about emulators as well, want to play some Mario 64?, good luck finding the correct plug-ins.
You can have all the accessories you want connected to you PC and the protections you want to, but when you brother in law uses it there is all kinds of pop ups and ad ware so you gotta maintain it too.

Price: Depends on what you need, to make this "analysis" clear let's say you are considering getting a PC to play the latest Supreme Commander Expansion. Then the cheapest to spend would be.... (help me with this one guys) 1000USD? for a Dell XPS?. Extra stuff, AKA Wide screen monitor, decent speakers, gaming mouse and a gaming keyboard, you can end up paying up to 5000USD.

Type of games: Everything, BUT not much family fun. I mean, I don't know many people to actually set up their PCs on the Living Room. If you do, then you are one of the few that does. Still, most PC games (the commercial ones) are for Hardcore PC gamers. + Crysis

Retro compatibilty: Well, this is a really strong point for the PC, with a little help you can pretty much play ANY console game up to the PSX era.

As a personal opinion too, I think I would get a Wii and a PC that can run the Organge Box games in high (so its not a powerhouse, and doesn't cost that much).

I know it's not sorted at all, and most comments are personal opinion only, but I welcome suggestions to keep updating this.

Edit1: with some first opinions, thanks guys.
Edit2: Just for the record, I got myself a PS3, mostly because of PS2 support. Still, I try to make my opinion is 100% objective and fact based.
 

BoneMonkey

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very good opinion there i agree with you 100 percent

personally im favoring the PC now until the next gen consoles are cheaper and better
 

Ace Gunman

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Actually the Xbox 360 Core/Arcade model does have HDMI ports now; so it is HD. And the price on the Core is similar enough to the Wii to be a good deal. As for PC, that's the most expensive choice of all if you're going all high end. Plus the game selection is limited. Sure there's lots of FPS and RTS games, but you won't find any platformers or many A-grade RPGs.

Oh, and as for the PS3's backward compatibility, the smaller HDD versions don't have it at all, the mid-range only have extremely poor software compatibility, and the hardware BC isn't that great either. If you've ever looked at the hardware BC charts you'll notice Sony ranks a game's compatibility from 1 - 5 (I think) and most of them have a rank of 3 or so. Meaning FMVs don't work, etc etc.
 

azotyp

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like for pc you can buy that kind of dancing mat, and i saw somwhere game with that, so if you have kid you can like buy pc and that kind of dancing mat, as for wii there are some fps, and resident evil so it can be used as adult game machine too
 

FAST6191

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Interesting analysis.

I would go with PC with the potential to upgrade (gaming keyboards are a bit overrated in my opinion and a decent (non gaming) mouse should not be hard to come by.
Some places seem to be tripping over themselves to get rid of the DX9 cards which some forget can still play several hundred recent games (all of which are cheap and/or cracked) along with "retro goodness". When the time comes assuming you have a decent board it is a 10 minute swap and driver install.

S-video out is fairly common which makes for a nice media station (they are normally macrovision locked (with not much in the way of hacked drivers) so either get some on the fly stuff or rip DVDs normally or just buy a cheapo Chinese player) and coupled with a couple of console pad adapters (I believe 360 pads work with minimal effort and everything else is not that bad either).

The only problem with a living room PC (mine ends up in there a lot of the time) is the need for some half decent cooling to avoid fan noise (normally solved by me with the volume control and good placement).

The only thing I will say is build your own PC (at worst buy a decent barebones machine and slot stuff in that).

Oh and an interesting concept someone put forward a couple of months back in a similar thread: you can get a word processing PC for not much investment but you pay the extra for games much like I can buy a cheap run around for hardly anything but something I would take to a race course will cost me more.
 

Veho

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Im gonna wait till the elite and the wii goes down $50
You may have to wait for quite a while...
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Hadrian

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PC or 360? Hard to choose really.

I'd go for 360 personally, it pissed me off when I was into PC gaming and having to update every year or so but then piracy on it requires very little work at all and its so much easier. Homebrew and emulation is awesome but some emulators are tricky and require various plugins. Also another thing is that I'm so used to playing games on my TV that playing on a PC just feels wrong, with exception to FPS & RTS games. You can get PCs that basically use your TV but I know nothing about them.

360 Live stuff is awesome and really has really drawn me into the 360 plus the Xbox compatibility is getting better. 360 is the cheapest option and most of the big PC games make it onto it plus theres no installing or hassle playing a new game.

If you have a ton of money and don't mind upgrading every year than go for PC, if you don't want the hassle and having the knowledge that every 360 game WILL work on your 360 then get a 360.
 

CockroachMan

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I was going to get a Xbox360 this Christmas, but most Xbox 360 games are also coming out for the PC.. and the 360 has the RROD problem.. now I'm thinking about getting just a better PC.. plus, Spore and Starcraft II are coming out next year!
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VVoltz

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After some ideas given by Mr. Lucky Shot himself, I think I'm decided to go for the Wii.
The bad thing about it is getting one (I got one for a friend, that I was suppose to send back to Bolivia, but now I gotta find a new one).
I'll add that to the analysis. Getting a Wii is pretty damn hard. Not impossible but not as easy.
 

Ace Gunman

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After some ideas given by Mr. Lucky Shot himself, I think I'm decided to go for the Wii.
The bad thing about it is getting one (I got one for a friend, that I was suppose to send back to Bolivia, but now I gotta find a new one).
I'll add that to the analysis. Getting a Wii is pretty damn hard. Not impossible but not as easy.

Well if that's your decision, that's perfectly reasonable. But the key to any console purchase should be this: the games. Before you make a definitive choice, tally up what system has games you're interested in. And don't forget to factor backwards compatibility into the equation.
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sekhu

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I would have gone with the 360 myself, but it's your money and choice at least you get to upgrade your PC which is something good that's come out of this
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jtroye32

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actually a custom built gaming PC is the most powerful of the pack. unless pack refers only to consoles. then again, every console is technically a computer built strictly for gaming. IMO the PC is the best single user oriented gaming rig out there. nothing beats mouse+keyboard+optional gamepad/steering wheel/joystick or whatever you want to use.
 

Ace Gunman

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actually a custom built gaming PC is the most powerful of the pack. unless pack refers only to consoles. then again, every console is technically a computer built strictly for gaming. IMO the PC is the best single user oriented gaming rig out there. nothing beats mouse+keyboard+optional gamepad/steering wheel/joystick or whatever you want to use.

The problem with PC gaming is the selection. It's all FPS, driving, simulation, and indie games. You're not going to find a Mario-esque platformer, or a Final Fantasy-level RPG for the PC. Etc.
 

VVoltz

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actually a custom built gaming PC is the most powerful of the pack. unless pack refers only to consoles. then again, every console is technically a computer built strictly for gaming. IMO the PC is the best single user oriented gaming rig out there. nothing beats mouse+keyboard+optional gamepad/steering wheel/joystick or whatever you want to use.


The problem with PC gaming is the selection. It's all FPS, driving, simulation, and indie games. You're not going to find a Mario-esque platformer, or a Final Fantasy-level RPG for the PC. Etc.

Well, yes, I completely agree.

IMO the best combination would be a Wii and a decent PC (fun&family games + hardcore action ones). With that in mind, I think I'll work on that.

Still, please keep contributing more ideas!
 

jtroye32

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actually a custom built gaming PC is the most powerful of the pack. unless pack refers only to consoles. then again, every console is technically a computer built strictly for gaming. IMO the PC is the best single user oriented gaming rig out there. nothing beats mouse+keyboard+optional gamepad/steering wheel/joystick or whatever you want to use.


The problem with PC gaming is the selection. It's all FPS, driving, simulation, and indie games. You're not going to find a Mario-esque platformer, or a Final Fantasy-level RPG for the PC.



there are plenty of good platformers for the PC and final fantasy games are actually released for PC too. for the most part you can get any type of game genre

QUOTE(VVoltz @ Dec 6 2007, 02:03 AM)Well, yes, I completely agree.

IMO the best combination would be a Wii and a decent PC (fun&family games + hardcore action ones). With that in mind, I think I'll work on that.

Still, please keep contributing more ideas!

yeah i say go for pc+wii


Edit: Posts edited together, duplicate deleted. Don't double post.
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Ace Gunman

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there are plenty of good platformers for the PC and final fantasy games are actually released for PC too. for the most part you can get any type of game genre

Well those were just examples. For the record though, there hasn't been a numbered Final Fantasy title (outside of Final Fantasy XI, the MMORPG) on the PC since VIII; that's number 8, for those who don't know roman numerals. We're now approaching Final Fantasy 13. That's a major major gap.

Again though, Final Fantasy, Mario, whatever, those were just examples. The PC has many great (but obscure) games like The Witcher, and tons of fantastic FPS titles; sure. But it's not exactly overflowing with legendary gaming staples such as Metroid, Zelda, Dragon Quest, Contra, or whatever else you can think of. Not counting emulation of course.
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Mangofett

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You can get PCs that basically use your TV but I know nothing about them.
its called a cable. all decent graphic cards have ATLEAST two ports(either VGA or DVI or a combo), and most have an s-video port which you can plug into your tv and no extra hardware is needed but a 3$ cable from dealextreme.

also to whoever said pc had no rpgs: well thats somewhat not true, yes little commercial games, but there are some really awesome freeware RPGs made by some japanese guy in a closet
 

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You can get PCs that basically use your TV but I know nothing about them.


its called a cable. all decent graphic cards have ATLEAST two ports(either VGA or DVI or a combo), and most have an s-video port which you can plug into your tv and no extra hardware is needed but a 3$ cable from dealextreme.

also to whoever said pc had no rpgs: well thats somewhat not true, yes little commercial games, but there are some really awesome freeware RPGs made by some japanese guy in a closet
Don't forget PC has a whole lot of MMORPG's. Actually playing online is usually lots of more fun than playing on your own, even though you should not forget the (dangerous) addicting side-effect of these games.

I think it all depends on what type of games you want to play. As for me, I've always liked Nintendo's games and will buy a wii soon. I haven't bought one yet because of all the crappy launch games. And uhh, a medium/good next-gen pc doesn't have to cost 5000$, that would be lots of overkill in my opinion. It would be better to buy a high-end pc of around 2000$ at most (including monitor/speakers and such). You'd still be able to get 2 8800 GT's, 2GB Ram and a Core 2 Duo E6850 with that budget.
 

Mangofett

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I excluded MMORPGs because their story tends to be lacking, from the ones I've played anyway(WoW, GW, RS).
 

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