Gaming

Got in the mood to do a short post about my feelings on the "Console War" as it currently stands. Just gonna list consoles I've owned/have and describe their merits and weaknesses, as I see them.

Personally, I don't feel any one device is superior to the other, but I do have preferences for certain things.

Current Gen Consoles

Wii: I'm going to get the Wii done first. I've owned it (twice) and enjoyed it for the specific games I picked it up for (Smash Bros, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Fire Emblem, etc...). That being said, beyond the few titles I enjoyed, I am not a Wii fan. I dislike motion controls in general, and early Wii games felt especially gimmicky. Later games may have improved, but I feel they have stayed on target for younger games. This is fine, and the Nintendo way, but not useful for me. I have no loyalty to the characters and don't feel any nostalgia when a new Mario game comes out. I no longer own a Wii and don't imagine I'll pick up a new Nintendo console unless the games really change their target audience, which I don't expect.
Good: Large library of exclusive titles, Iconic characters, Willingness to try something new
Bad: Focused target audience, Gimmicky features

X-box 360: Probably my favorite current gen console. I certainly use it the most. The main reason is the online community Live features. Sure, there are jerks online, but almost all of my friends are have the 360 and even random pick-up groups (PUGs) can find interesting people/team players. I don't much care for the unique titles, though. Halo and Gears being the mainstay, and I dislike both of them. Almost all of my multi-plats are for my 360 and I never plan on changing this fact. I don't own Kinect and have managed resisting the urge to buy one and Star Wars Kinect. I'm sure it's a terrible game, but the Star Wars title has sucked me in before... Also, I've never had an issue with my hardware. I had an older model for a few years and have since upgraded to the Slim model.
Good: Online community, Great library of games, Sturdy hardware, Aesthetically pleasing
Bad: Poor (in my opinion) Exclusive Titles, Stupid currency system, Clunky Netflix interface

PS3: I have had a PS3 for 5-6 years now. The day my first credit card came in the mail, I rushed to Wal-Mart and picked up one of the original models (which were fairly new at the time). I enjoyed the system very much with the list of games I played. I especially enjoyed the ability to play PS2 games on it as well; I had been an N64 guy in the previous gen and missed out on a lot of awesome titles. This was when I was not connected to the internet and only played splitscreen if I played multiplayer. Even so, I enjoyed it. PS3 easily has my favorite exclusives, even if I don't play them as much as other games. After writing this post, I believe I will start up the inFamous series again and finally do an evil play through. I was very upset when my console died (in the middle of playing DBZ: Tenkaichi 3) in my Senior year of college. I sent it in and got the newer model back, which has worked fine, with one exception: IT DOESN'T HAVE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY! And yes, even years later, I'm still bitter about it.
Good: Great exclusives, Powerful hardware, Sensible currency system
Bad: Poor online community, Flimsy controllers (standard models), Lack of backwards compatibility

Current Handhelds

I don't have as much to say about these, so I'll skip to my list of Good/Bad,

3DS
Good: Strong library, Familiar feel, Small size
Bad: 3D isn't reason enough for a new console, Too small for comfortable use/only one analog stick, Limited backwards compatibility (wish I could still play my Advance games...)

Vita
Good: Large screen/Double Analogs/Comfortable Size, Backwards compatibility (hopefully expanding to PS1 titles soon), Beautiful graphics
Bad: Sometimes too large for easy travel, Weakest library I have ever seen (terribly launch line up, and nothing terribly exciting on the horizon), Price tag of console and games

Honorable Mentions:

Gamecube: Has some of my favorite games, ever. Loved this system every day I owned it and easily had the best exclusives of its time.

PS2:A wonderful system with an amazing library. When my new PS3 came and no longer played my PS2 games, I went and got a new PS2 (fairly cheaply, too). Love the games, my favorite console for RPGs (one of my favorite genres).

X-box: Decent titles, but an ugly system with horrible controllers. Seriously, what were they thinking? I still own one and play some titles on it, but that's only because my 360 has an issue with X-box games (I think it has something to do with my knockoff HDD).




That's all for now!