What Gaming Console Should I Buy My Kid?

Even though there aren't any new systems coming out this year, I still have heard of people thinking of which gaming console they should buy. I'm pretty well versed in all of the different systems and have owned all of them at one point or another. So since a couple people asked here is my unbiased recommendations as I think each person has their own opinion of what they like.

Nintendo Wii

Nintendo almost had to throw in the towel after border-line failed consoles, they actually were the ones to save gaming in the early '80s as the original Famicom (or Nintendo Entertainment System as it was called here) saved the entire video game medium from going under. But after the success of the second console release the SNES, Nintendo gradually fell out of the favor of the public as the sales of the N64 and later the Gamecube were progressively failing. This wasn't surprising as their early competitors like Sega were facing the same problems. The only thing keeping Nintendo afloat was cornering the market for handheld gaming with the Gameboy Advance. But Nintendo didn't go down without a fight, they decided to think outside of the box rather than try to battle the Sony and Microsoft mega-corporations. Interestingly enough Nintendo's name (loosely translated) is "Heaven bless the hard worker" and it seems to have done just that with the success of their latest console. I probably get asked about this more than any other sort of gaming device so I'll get down to the pros and cons and try to also dispel any myths therein.

Pros:

• You can lose wight with this thing. But leeeettt'sss not go crazy, technically you could lose weight playing charades, if you get into it and do it like Dane Cook. Point is that you will get out of it what you put in, the guy on the commercials losing weight playing it, he's playing the tennis like he's actually playing tennis. This isn't a problem, but one of the things I've noticed is that people who give them to kids/family/friends expecting them to get their exercise with it have been disappointed. You can put as much or as little effort into the game as you can with outdoor activities; also, you can buy regular controllers thus bypassing the calisthenics. So if you are specifically getting it to get a lazy vidiot off the couch, keep in mind that they have to sort of want to get their exercise this way.
• Nintendo tends to be more family friendly than some of it's competitors. Not to say you can't get adult games or that you don't need to pay attention to the game your kid is playing; but the Nintendo games are for the most part family friendly.
• A good console for the casual gamer. If you played Sega Genesis when you were a kid but haven't touched a game since, this is the console for you. You may get frustrated trying to play Halo or Call of Duty online, because let's face it, some of these guys playing video games is practically their job. But with the Wii there are many games in the library where you do what you do in real life, like tennis, baseball, etc. You don't need to dive in too deep for a good gaming experience.
• Probably one of the cheapest gaming start up costs (if you don't count the PlayStation 2 which are still in production). You get the console, a controller, a nunchuck, and one of the best games in the library Wii Sports for $200 (hey, for videogames that's a steal). But there is an asterisk...

Cons:

• The asterisk from before goes to this point; the add-ons will KILL YOU! Price wise, but maybe if you threw the Wiimote hard enough... just kidding! Seriously though, all the families you see on the commercials that all have their own Wiimotes and nunchucks... well to set up the rest of the family like that, may cost you as much as the damn system.
• Game "ports" (games developed for other systems like XBox 360 and then released on another system) are usually not available or very bad. So if you like shooting games, they either won't come out for the Wii or they will make a Wii version with major alterations. This isn't a "hardcore gamer" console. Most people who are hardcore gamers get this in addition to either the PS3 or XBox 360. This is a completely different animal for the most part.
• Limited online ability. Most games don't have the ability to chat (some can't even go online) you simply race people (or whatever) and you see their Mii (the Nintendo avatar). Some parents might see this as a pro because then there is less risk of being contacted by internet creepers. I for one mute everyone I don't know on the 360 anyway, I have yet to say, "I am glad I didn't put that guy on mute, he had such interesting things to say." Most of it is "Noob... Fag... you suck..." and that's when you have a behaved person.

Some good games to get with the Wii: Wii Sports (comes with the system), MarioKart, Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort, and for KIDS Mario Party 8 (adults within earshot may want to play Wii Russian Roulette).

XBox 360

Microsoft's second gaming console, practically a staple in American gaming households due to it's online appeal. XBox Live is a subscription service ($60 a year or so, not too expensive) is the best online gaming option barring a gaming computer. Despite my last blog, where I criticized Halo developer Bungie, I can't deny that it is the best online shooter to date (and only available on the 360). In fact of my top 10 online games only 3 of them aren't on the 360. Plus I know dozens of people on the XBox Live but only a few here and there on other online subscriptions. And I know I'm sending sort of mixed messages about the Live subscription when I said Halo development was stingy, but the rest of XBox Live is NOT. There are online events like playing 1 vs. 100 online (it's even narrated by a person), if you have Netflix you can download movies and have them stream through the console (I recently learned that PS3 can do this too but through a 3rd party source, it would be nice if my PS3 would tell me that).

Pros:

• As I said, bar none best online gaming without a gaming computer. Even if I'm sick of the games, like I said they have all kinds of things going on all the time. Sometimes when I'm bored I just go through and grab promotional avatar things and just poke around new things on the "dashboard" (like the online boot screen).
• Most games are backward compatible with the original XBox. Plus the controllers are almost the same with the progression so no need to re-learn how to use the controller like you have with Nintento systems in the past.
• XBox has exclusive games and content on lock down (perticularly for American developers). Microsoft doesn't have a huge presence in Japan, but it's getting to be to the point that Sony doesn't have a big foothold in the US anymore. Microsoft has been beating Sony to the punch at every turn with exclusive games and exclusive downloadable content. This leads people with both consoles in the household to say, "well this game isn't even on PS3" or "I heard they are going to have a XBox only expansion pack, that's why I'm getting it on the XBox." Even before Microsoft did this I was saying, "I want to play this online and all my friends have XBox."

Cons:

• It's the little things that the XBox doesn't have out of the box; no rechargable batteries, no wireless internet.
• Peripherals are EXPENSIVE! This makes the Wii equipment look good, I dropped $100 for a wireless NIC card for this. And whereas the PS3 has a BluRay player equipped, Microsoft has a external HD DVD player that plugged in to the XBox for about the cost of another XBox. Fuck that! That was a very very bad move and I think it gave BluRay the edge.
• I did the HD Pepsi challenge on my friend's TV, PS3 still looks better. I'm not going to rattle off tech specs because they don't even use the same method to display, XBox uses a "piping" graphical engine and I forget what PS3 uses. All I can say is the proof is in the pudding, the PS3 looks better.

Some good XBox 360 games: Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Rock Band/Guitar Hero/DJ Hero, Orange Box.

PlayStation 3

Last year there was very little reason I would have recommended the PS3, except for the fact it has a BluRay player built in, which pays for itself pretty much. But Sony has lowered the price and gotten their head in the game a little more. With emerging PS3 exclusive content finally it's starting to be an emerging contender. The library for the PS3 has also bulked up, finally, when I first got the PS3 I had only 3 games, it wasn't like I didn't want more, they just didn't have more than 3 I liked. But this is changing, PS3 may not be able to compete with XBox's online play, but as far as single player "cinematic" games; it's practically a movie that you can play. One example of these is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and the recently released sequel Among Theives. I remember when I reviewed it a few years ago, I said it was like a playable movie. The ads for the sequel feature a couple getting ready to watch a movie, when the boyfriend takes the camera aside and explains that his girlfriend thinks it's a movie. If online play isn't your thing and you like stories, the PS3 may be what you are looking for.

Pros:

• BluRay player built in, that pays for itself. And though they lose a lot of money, BluRay seems to have emerged victorious in the high capacity DVD market. I think that this was a great decision by Sony and the PS3 in perticular I think majorly contributed to this.
• This thing is ready to rock when you open the box. Wireless internet, charger for your controller, HDMI output. These things alone will run you a couple hundred on the 360.
• Many games are free to play online. I'm going to go ahead and put an asterix here... you see if you want to play online it's up to the company that made the game to host it, instead of Microsoft who does it themselves. This isn't a problem on popular titles like Call of Duty and Resistance: Fall of Man, but if you want to play less popular games like Team Fortress Classic 2 (part of the Orange Box bundle) you have to just kind of hope Activision wants to do the server maintenece or you can expect a lot of "lag" (latency issues).
• The $300 price point now makes the PS3 a better contender in the gaming industry.
  

Cons:

• Library and overall volume of people online are a lot smaller than XBox Live.
• Memory problems, firstly it really hogs memory, secondly you can't upgrade the memory, and thirdly games with bigger save files (the number many people quote is 8MB) bring many loading problems for ports designed for PC games especially.
• Online community things are really lacking, instead of games like 1 vs. 100 they have Playstation Home which is not quite so fun. On the plus side you can customize your avatar to look like you more than the XBox Live but overall it's sort of like the Sims and gets old pretty quick. Insult to injury, instead of being told about promotional brick-a-brak like you do on Live, PSN only likes to inform you of more stuff to buy.
• No backward compatibility at all. They seem to want you to buy a PS2 to play those games, they used to have backward compatibility but then they got rid of it... I'm sure if you are like me, you had a pretty impressive PS2 library going, sadly you can't just get rid of the PS2 and play the PS3.

Some good titles for PS3: Resistance (1 and 2), Uncharted (1 and 2), Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3 only content available), SingStar (karaoke that plays sort of like Guitar Hero).