Windows 8.1 Plus and Minus

Alright, I’ve been meaning to write this for some time and now I finally got the chance to! Anyways, this post is going to be mainly focus on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 since A) I own those consoles, B) my sister is the only one who owns a Wii and I don’t play it, and C) there’s no need to to be talking about portable consoles since this is about gaming consoles that sits in one spot and barley moves. Also note that this is based on my views (like any reviews or talks of some kind) so don’t take it personally if you are an hardcore fan of one or another. With that said, let’s get the show on the road.

Most gamers know that there’s a console war going on and there will always be a console war. The longest running contestant is Nintendo with there year and years of game consoles and handheld consoles along with tons and tons of games with Sony following suit with a newbie on board, Microsoft. Due to the fact that I don’t own a Wii and that I barley get the chance to even play on it, I’m not going to review it as a whole but I’ll touch based on it for reference.

The current console war that’s going on is mainly between Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 from which they’re trying to fight over who got the biggest dick, err… I mean best graphics and processing power. Microsoft got a head start with the 360 by releasing the console in 2005 where the PS3 was supposed to be released in that same year but was delayed due to “technical reasons” but was finally released in 2006 and Sony is so proud of themselves for holding back because they were able to pack so much more in that one year… or did they?

Originally, the 360’s release offered 2 versions; the Core package which only comes with the 360 console, 1 wired controller, and SD/HD cable, everything else you have to get separate, and you also got your Premium package which comes with everything that the Core package has but instead of a wired controller you get a wireless one and a headset and a 20 gig drive.  Now there’s still only 2 packages, the Arcade package that comes with 512MB of internal memory and what not and your Elite package which comes with an HDMI cable and 120 gigs of hard drive.

The PS3, on the other hand, originally released the console with 4 different versions, all of which varies in hard drive space and that in order for you to play PS1 and PS2 games you would need the 60 gig model.  Now there’s only actual 2 models that’s in production which is missing a lot of features that was originally in the first 2 or 3 versions.

So what’s the point of telling you all this so far? To show that there were many options and that there’s still options for those 2 consoles. Unlike the Nintendo Wii where there’s only 1 version, the PS3 and the 360 always had multiple choices to choose from, but that’s not what I want to get at.

So what am I getting at? You’ll see soon enough.

The way I, personally, look at game consoles are the games but now that it’s the age of the internet and online gaming it’s also important to be able to quickly connect with friends to join in the battle of greatness epic gaming. This is where the Microsoft Xbox 360 shine at. In the original Xbox, they’ve attached the Xbox LIVE after the fact and it didn’t work all the great having to exit out of the game to add someone you just played to your friend’s list, etc., but they’ve designed the 360 around the Xbox LIVE and now it’s tightly intergraded in with the console. Being able to see the menu while in game is also the best thing that Microsoft did for the console allowing you to quickly add more friends to the list or simply join a game with a friend, doesn’t matter if it’s in the same game or not you’re currently playing as if you’re jumping to another game it’ll simply tell you to put in the next game and once you do it jumps you straight into the action.

The Sony PS3 fails at tight intergradations of friends, friends request, etc., though. You’d think with Sony’s previous consoles they would think that because there’s a lot of people out there who has lots of friends who wants to quickly connect they would of made it more tightly intergraded but that was not the case but instead you get a slapped on job where voice chat sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

Also when the 360 was released it introduced us to Achievements. Now, I’m the type of gamer who just enjoys a few games here and there and don’t really care about Achievements but it’s there and kind of nice depending on what kind of achievements are there. It’s also tightly intergraded with the online Xbox LIVE site so whatever you get in game with update right awhile to show your friends who’s browsing the web or in your gamer card.

Again, the PS3 failed in this category as well with it’s slap-on Trophies because they want to mimic the 360’s success of introducing Achievements. After a few months, Sony slapped-on there own gamer card as well, problem is that in order for you to update ANYTHING in relates to what shows online and what shows in your actual gaming profile on your PS3 you would need to go online yourself and click an Update button. Thanks a lot, Sony.

Now with so many strong points with the 360 they also have weak points. The 360 uses a standard DVD-ROM drive and so can only put out what a DVD can shuffle. This is where the PS3 shines because of there Blu-ray player built in, game creators has a broader room to work with because the Blu-ray discs holds up to 50GB of data for a dual layered disc, they could pretty much fit Final Fantasy 7 and 8 on 1 disc with room to spare! Also with the Blu-ray player built in allows for the new Blu-ray movies to be used with.

But now here’s another problem: loading times. The 360’s loading times are blazing fast due to the fact that it’s using DVDs but because the PS3 is using Blu-ray discs, the loading times are kind of slow to the point that Sony had to allow most games to install chucks of it’s game data to the hard drive and taking more time to load initially and even after the game finish installing it still takes awhile for the game to load. Now, they say that the load times are faster with the PS3 Slim but since I have no plans of getting the slim because I like my PHAT, there’s no way for me to actually test it but that’s besides the point.

So who’s the winner? Honestly, I think they’re both great systems with there weakness and advantages. I, personally, mainly use the PS3 for PS3 excusive and RPGs while everything else is for the 360 for the sure fact that it’s easier to join in a game with a buddy on the 360 then it is on the PS3.

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Tags: Microsoft, Playstation, Sony, Video Games, XBox