Weighing In On The Console Wars

This week was supposed to be my review of Uncharted 4, but for financial and personal reasons, that will be done next week instead so sorry about that. So instead, I'm going to weigh in on the console wars. For those of you who don't know, in the gaming community, there's always been a war on which is the superior platform for playing video games and this has been a long war that has been going on since SEGA and Nintendo competed against each other and maybe even before that. Obviously, it is personal preference on what the player chooses to go for and with VR coming this year. there has never been a better time to talk about this. Also, just to make it very clear, I have had a taste of all or at least most of the platforms that fall under these different factions, so I know what I'm talking about. So with that, let's begin:


Nintendo

Aside from PC, Nintendo are among the oldest of video game companies, having first established itself as a non gaming company back in the 80s before going into the video game company that it is today. They have been making systems for many years and while many consider them to be years behind other technologies, the thing that makes them tick is nostalgia. There are over 200 Mario games, lots of different Pokemon to catch and plenty of adventures to have in the form of Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Metroid, Kirby and so many others. So for me, I like Nintendo for the nostalgia, but as far as everything else is concerned, I'd much rather play a brand new game rather than a rehash of an older game or something that feels like a rehash of an older game. But for older games, we have the virtual console for that. And its not all kid friendly as most people tend to think. Yes, Nintendo do seem to tailor more to casual gamers than hardcore ones, but playing games like Zelda and Smash Bros and even the old Nintendo games, makes you quite the hardcore gamer. Its just a shame that their connectivity isn't great and graphics can easily be outmatched by others, but they are still fun to play with.

Xbox

For many years, Microsoft made the Windows operating systems for PCs before deciding to make a console as a means to take advantage of the hardware that they can make. With this, the Xbox was born. One of the things that many of us often say about Xbox is that its great for online multiplayer and is often the go to console for first person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty. Of course it does play other games as well, but for most people, it will always be games like Halo. Now that's great and all, but the online community for Xbox platforms is often very hostile in that you'll often hear racial insults, 10 year olds and there's even some gamers who do swatting as well. And then there's the graphics. While it can outperform Nintendo (though generally most consoles can), the graphics often lock at 720p or 900p as opposed to 1080p or what 4K can offer which isn't a bad thing, but we are now at an age where HD gaming has to be at 1080p or more, no question. There have been times where Microsoft have made some decisions that have often received a mixed response such as when they revealed the Xbox One and the things that would ultimately not work out for everyone. They even decided to drop the Kinect for how hard it is to develop games for and just as a means to spy on you and watch your every move even when the console is off. It can be considered a media device for the amount of media things it has like its own library of films and music, media services like YouTube and Netflix and its ability to play CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays though the latter wouldn't happen until the Xbox One came along.

PlayStation

I'm sure I'm not the first nor last person to say this, but did you know that the original PlayStation was initially a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony? Well its just a shame that Nintendo made the decision to go with Phillips and we all know how that played out. But anyway, despite that, Sony would then create the PlayStation without Nintendo and would establish its video game firm Sony Computer Entertainment. With each console up to the PS4 bringing in something new to the table, this meant that Sony would never be out of ideas and with many video game developers under their wing and the hardware being vastly superior by comparison to other consoles, it has made them the most diverse and inclusive faction of them all. However despite this, they like with the others, have had some problems. The hack of 2011 had most of their players leave because of the risk of having personal information being stolen and their take on motion controls which just a copy of the Wii without the required wire between. Another thing that bothers most players is that while the PlayStation is tailored to the everyman gamer and practically anyone can pick it up, it does leave them without a sense of identity in the gaming industry. In fact 10% of their games are exclusive which aren't that many. But at least with graphics, its never always locked at 720p which is a good thing.

PC

PCs have been around longer than any of the other gaming factions and there are more great things about them than bad. The gaming library for PCs is huge. PCs are customisable in that you can choose what to have in it without the restrictions that consoles tend to have such as graphics, the RAM, how big or small of a hard drive to have, the CPU and so many others. This, plus the ability to extend your monitor display to 4 or more and the option to have many different controllers, makes the PC, the best system of all. And with the digital market being big, you can use services like Steam and Origin to buy your games from and you can download and install or uninstall them at any time. Now while the PC is more used for an office environment, it doesn't mean that its only allowed to have one player at a time. It can do multiplayer games as well. The types of gamers that PCs tend to have is whats known as the anti-social sort which is generally down to the nature of the platform. But before we move to the final faction, there is one thing that makes this better than others. Modding. This is a thing that lets you and others create things to put in games such as a new costume for your characters or just fixes for games that no longer have a round the clock developer working on such issues or if its an old game. So really when you think about it, it really is the best system if you have the money to buy one or build one (I did the latter).

Mobile

Now of course, everyone knows the biggest advantage that mobile gaming has compared to the others. You can take it anywhere you want and it won't be a hassle to use or set up. For a while, this market would be for the likes of Nintendo's Game & Watch, GameBoy and DS series along with Sony's PSP and PSV before smart phones came along and totally changed the market. But it was thanks to Angry Birds that made mobile gaming a thing. Many other great games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush wouldn't have been around if Angry Birds didn't exist and well look where we are now. The graphics may not be up to scratch to other platforms, but in a way, this is a good thing as the game would then be easy to load up and play. However, the biggest problem with mobile gaming is micro-transactions. This is basically the developer wanting you to pay money to have something unlocked and this has been the cause of hatred and criticism for mobile gaming. No one like to pay to play, but at least games like Fallout Shelter are more friendly in that remark.

So there you have it. This is my take on the Console Wars and really, its personal preference on what you guys like. But I hope this helps you figure out what kind of gamer you want to be and thank you for reading.