What Console?

I'm in a serious conundrum here, I'm fed up with PC games and it's time I got a new console. I had a PS2 (which my father accidentaly sold for me, instead of my PS1!)... do I buy it again or get a PS3?, I want to give the Final Fantasy series a try. Or should I forget that and get an XBox?

I've not had a new console since I bought a game cube in college (high school) which was nearly 6 years ago! dont want to make this thread personal, so really I'm asking anyone who owns one of the new consoles...is it worth it..if so what one?

Please dont reply if you're under 16! I know that sounds harsh but its the only way to sort it into people who's opinions I value.

Ok my honest opinion:

DON'T GET A WII! It's a waste of money if you don't have a family. Unless you want a gamecube, then go ahead and get a Wii. But otherwise...

360 has good graphics, and better games. It's my fav.

PS3: I've never played it. But I think it's highly overrated. True, it has good graphics, but that doesn't make a system. It has the same controller as 10 years ago, and really doesn't have a ton of good games.

If you want to spend money, get the PS3. If you want a fairly good system for a good amount of money, get a 360.

My first bit of advice would be to ignore any major bashing of any particular console. They've all got their advantages and disadvantages. It's worth bearing in mind when choosing that the British PS3 won't necessarily play all of your PS2 games, although that's not particularly relevant really - whichever console you choose, you can pick up a second hand PS2 from your local Computer Exchange (CEX), Game or Gamestation for around £50 if you need. I personally certainly wouldn't buy a brand new replacement unless you know you'll get a lot of use from it.

As for the new consoles, the X-Box has the most games out, along with by far the best online system in X-Box live. It certainly excels in First Person Shooters (5 of Metacritic's top 6 are FPS!) and has a decent range of RPGs already available, while all the usual multi-platform titles (sports games and the like) will turn up on it. Hardware issues aren't fully solved, but things are far better than when the console was released and Microsoft are apparently very good when things do go wrong.

The PS3 clearly has an advantage in doubling as a BluRay if you care about Hi-Def TV at the moment, although this is arguably partially offset by the price of it (expect to pay £10 more for PS3 games than 360 or Wii ones, and around £5-10 more for a film on BluRay over DVD. The range of games isn't as good as on the 360 yet (unsurprising given the fact it came out over a year later), but it does arguably have more untapped power to allow for better games in the long run (should it be worth tapping it). Many of the better games on it at the moment are multi-platform, and the depth isn't yet in the range - it may be worth researching how many exclusives are due in the future. Little unsure on quite how good the online stuff is, but it's probably safe to say it lies between the X-Box live and Nintendo's system in quality.

The Wii gets a bit of an unfair rap at times as purely a family/casual person's console. While there's a lot of truth in that statement - it's certainly the better option for families - there's a reasonable amount for the "hardcore" gamer too. As always, you get the Nintendo exclusives - Zelda, Metroid, Smash Bros, Mario and so on - and a mixed bunch from 3rd parties (from Zack & Wiki and the best version of Resident Evil 4 to be released, to some truely awful stuff aimed at ripping off the "casual" gamer). The power doesn't compare with the PS3 or 360 and you'd certainly notice the difference between them on a HDTV, but the better games do make up for this by stylising the graphics - certainly Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros look pretty damn gorgeous. Gameplay is a similarly mixed bunch, but again if you do your research there are a reasonable number of AAA games that have got things right. It's pretty weak on team sports, racing and FPS - strengths of the other two consoles - and while the best games are probably better than on the PS3 and from a wider range of genre than the 360, there isn't a huge amount of quality in depth. It's also worth bearing in mind that it can sometimes be the poor relation in multiplayer games, Guitar Hero III being a notable exception. The online works, but the system imposed by Nintendo with Friends Codes is pretty awful and does nothing to encourage use. Full backwards compatibility with the GameCube and the virtual console do give you access to a wide range of classics if that floats your boat - the NES Kirby (£3.50) still holds up as a decent game, if not by any means brilliant.

Ultimately, it really depends what you want. I've got a Wii, and I'm delighted with it - not got bored with it at all yet - and I know that personally the 360 and PS3 wouldn't do anything much for me at the moment for a variety of reasons, but I certainly wouldn't discourage you from looking at the options and what each one does best in favour of it.

The Wii Is definitely not as good as everyone cracks it up to be

I have always like Sony, but my mom doesnt like Sony, I finally got a PS2 recently, some of the games on there have AMAZING graphics(They took Halo and EVERY other Xbox (Normal) and Gamecube game and Mopped them in the dirt

but... as for the newer ones, Im not sure, if the PS3 were to drop in price, HELL YEAH I'd get it

but as of now, its best to stick by the sidelines and then wait a bit for the reviews on the systems, and a few more games to come out

what I want is for the PS3 to bring out a PSO game, they weren't very bright and gave Gamecube some as well, which kinda sucks considering the PS versions way better, and it would PWN with the graphics the PS3 has!

I had always said ALL that game needed was some graphics and it would DESTROY Halo, in fact, it already almost does destroy Halo!

but I'm straying from the point, so I'll stop, its becoming more opinionated by the second...

Ah..thats why I love this site!! Thankyou everyone...Phil that was very informative, if that all came straight off your own back than I salute you, if it didnt, I still do.

GA...I see what you mean about the PS3, I think I'll wait and see if/how much it drops. I definately will consider a Wii now though...I didnt even think of it before.

out of curiosity, why give up on PC gaming?

See for me, console choice is easy, as my PC is uber-rated. heck, it even runs that bloat-ware Vista silky smooth, and Crysis gets me good frame rates. So no matter what game I like, PC has the most choices for me; even retro-gaming is a blast with the tons of ROM emulators out there.

Since all FPS games are way better with mouse/keyboard combo, none of the fancy shooters for Xbox360 or PS3 impress me. For racing games, I have a steering wheel & pedals on my PC, so once again, no racing game would win me over on the console. And if you eliminate all that, what you're left with is exclusive console titles that aren't shooters or racing games, and in that regards, the Wii winds hands down. Well, I dont own a Wii yet (play it often at my friends house - he got it for his kids, and yes, its is THE family console) but I got myself a used gamecube with 2 controllers and 6 games for $100 and its the best choice I could've made. I've since bought a dozen games from pawn shops, but only games that I can't get for PC - all the Mario Party titles, a few Zelda titles, Mario Sunshine, Monkey Ball 2, Paper Mario... and best of all, once I get a Wii system, all those games are 100% compatible. And with the Wii, MUST HAVE titles are Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Brawl, and of course all the gimicky titles like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Ski, Wii Fit...

If you take it down to its most basic idea, the Xbox360 & PS3 only compete against each other, as they are nothing more that PC platforms that have been nearly fully debugged and are more consistent that PCs simply because they lock in their hardware specs for the next 4 years. I mean, I give Xbox360 the advantage as they actually improved their controller, while the PS3 took the chicken shit way out and just re-released their PS2 controller for their newest platform. and god damn, sorry, last time i checked, my thumbs don't stretch that far to reach the analog controllers. grrrrr... (Gamecube has the best 'normal' controller).

But the Wii, its in a whole different category. It benefits from the most popular exclusive titles (mario, zelda, metroid, and a ton more) and its truly revolutionary controller. it actually makes gaming FUN, and in end, that's all that's important.

I'm with Prelude on the PC gaming so read that.

But on consoles, Wii is selling like gangbusters but none of the third party games out now and planning to come out are interesting and in my opinion the Wii should be avoided.

Xbox 360 is a good console and is really the first place console but recently most of the games have been lacking and nothing coming out looks interesting. Also I hate the idea of paying $50 a year to play games online and hear 13 years old yell at me while I'm kicking their butts.

PS3 has been the whipping boy for the past year and a half and till the Blu-ray winning the PS3 was close to failing. But with HD DVD gone and with the PS3 having a Blu-ray drive built in if you can wait for some of the games that the PS is know for (MGS4, GT5, FF13) you can fall back on the movies until they come out.

Personally I'm going to buy a PS3 on June 12th and never going to buy anything else (other then a new PC).

well, i'm quite a console freak myself, collecting consoles from the most early ones until now, so i'm going to buy all the new ones anyway.

as of now i own a wii and i'm quite happy with it, as it offers most exclusive-titles like on the gamecube before. xbox 360 and ps3 are, like their predecessors, imho mostly made up of all-plattform-ports, which i can also play on PC if given the option. on the other hand xbox 360 sports a very good online-service, the ps3 - if needed - an integrated blue-ray drive. graphically they can and will never match a PCs power, so if you are into eye-candy there truly is no other choice (even if it's very expensive to upgrade).

i think all of the systems have their advantages, and it really depends on what you expect from a game and what kind of games you like.

to summarize it roughly i'd say:

casual-gaming, (nintendo) exclusive-titles, unique approach on interactivity: wii
first-person-shooters, sports-games, rare (tm)-exclusives, online-community: xbox 360
first-person-shooters, RPGs, action-adventures, blue-ray, media streamer: PS3
every of the above - $$$: PC

Prelude & Bael, I agree with you on most counts there. I love the keyboard mouse combo in the first person shooters...Call of Duty, Medal of Honour (sorry I just cant spell it without a U) etc are some of my favourite games. I also have so many map builder/strategy games for the PC, that I love..Empire Earth, Total War etc. I will never abadon my PC, I'm a hair away from finding a religion that lets me marry it.

What I want from a console I suppose it the platform game, I cannot play them on the PC...I also tried to play Street Fighter 2 on the PC the other day and failed abismally at it...if I can't pummle buttons, I cant win. Also I dont enjoy playing racing games on the PC, I love GTA and there's nothing quite like playing that on a console.

My friend has a Wii that I play all the time, and I have a game cube so will always have some mario etc to fall back on...atm I think I'll look to getting a PS3, when they come down in price and if it's backwards compatable.

I hate Vista... I have a rather good computer, but it is reduced to shit thanks to Vista, Vista, america salutes you as being the biggest microsoft mistake ever invented.... that went public rofl XD

u ppl really post alot, i have a PS2, DS lite, WII, and GBA SP

go with the PS2 if you want to try the Final Fantasy series.
you won't be dissapointed with FF7.
but the Wii is pretty bad a...

Yama, you obviously never heard of Microsoft Bob, have you?

google or wiki it up for a laugh.

I have a PS3 and I'll have to admit that I use it way more for watching blue-ray movies and playing PS2 games than playing any PS3 games. Of course, that could definitely change when Wipeout HD and the next Final Fantasy are released.
My husband loves playing Tiger Woods online and Call of Duty so it does get some PS3 gaming use but I would have been just as happy sticking with the PS2.

america salutes you as being the biggest microsoft mistake ever invented.... that went public rofl XD

Yama, you obviously never heard of Microsoft Bob, have you?

I think you actually mean Windows ME, because Bob wasn't a hit because it was technically faulty but because of the cartoon graphics that looked condescending to the computer nerds of the time.
Now ME was a disaster, it was so technically faulty that it crashed a couple times a day, barely worked on current hardware, and was way more open to malware attacks.

Yeah GemLil - off my own back. I've kept fairly good track of this generation of consoles over the last couple of years, except for actual releases on the 360 and PS3, so wasn't to difficult to writeup. These kinds of threads often descend into "PS3 SUXOR!!!1!!!!11!!!1" type comments, which are really best avoided - it tells you nothing about what each one is good/bad at, and I just wanted to avoid that being the case here!

There is some pretty useful stuff posted above though, so you're best off deciding what's important to you, reading through and working out which console (or combination of) best matches what you want.

Actually, I'm beginning to believe Vista is worse than ME.

Its not. Vista is actually quite slick, once your PC can handle it. Trouble is unless you're getting 5.0 across the board for performance rating, it will suck.

are you knew to this stuff gemlil and xbox 360 would be awsome for you look at gb164 hes haveing loads of fun and me i already got myself one and to tell you it kicksass.

heck ya im having fun with the x-box360 ya gemlil u should try 360 and if u r looking for a shooter HALO!!

This is a dead thread, Ghost (tinge of irony there).

This whole debate was ended when my mother randomly decided to buy me a Wii. After the advice of the above however, I also bought a used PS2 to play FFVII and such untill the PS3 comes down in price or the X-Box sorts out its tech issues.

Case closed.