Community Newsletter: Q&A: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question.

Bottom line, get what your son has asked and worked hard for

In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN) 

There's a reason the Wii is going to be the most sought after console this holiday season. It's the wide gaming appeal. Basically you do not have to be a hardcore gamer or a techie to enjoy the system, since the motion controllers mimic real-life situations like a "bowling" or "batting" motions. It is also backwards compatible with the Gamecube and there is an extensive library of classic Nintendo and Super Nintendo games available via download. Plus Nintendo consoles in general have always been family and kid oriented, with the mario, mario kart, mario party, ad nauseum. When your kid is ready to move onto an XBOX 360 or a PS3, he will either be asking for one or be working hard for one, garunteed. For others contemplating a purchase of one of the latest generation consoles (Nintendo Wii vs XBOX 360 vs Sony PS3) here are my personal recommendations: Get the Wii if you want a family oriented or a good all-around system. Please note however that although it is usable on the latest HDTV sets, it is not an HD system and thus you will not get the best possible graphics. If you have an extensive gamecube library, then a Wii is almost a no-brainer due to the backwards compatibility. As for the other systems, the major stregnth of the XBOX 360 system by far is the online gaming community. It is also a step up from the Wii in terms of graphics and processing power with true HD compatibility. Also, if you like to cooperate and/or blow up friends and strangers alike The XBOX 360 is pretty much the way to go. They have HALO3, which thus far is the best selling game ever plus hordes of gamers on the XBOX Live network, which for the budget-minded is unfortunately subscription-based. There is also an add-on HD-DVD player so you can play High-Definition Discs on an HDTV. If you are considering the XBox 360, however, I would hold of on the purchase just a little bit, because and XBOX with an HD-DVD player built in is supposedly in the works, which means a better system overall for the tech-heads and a very likely price-drop on the existing XBOX 360 units. The pinnacle in terms of raw graphics and processing power at least is the Sony Playstation 3. In fact those in the science field have been known to hook 8 or more PS3s in parallel, load an Linux operating system and use the raw processing power of PS3's Cell processors to crunch some major numbers, which rivals the processing power of dedicated supercomputers but at a significantly reduced cost. For normal mortals who can only afford one PS3 however, the appeal goes beyond just the processing power. It has a built in Blu-Ray Disc player, which is a competing High Definition format vs the HD-DVD. Although it's tough to say which HD disc format will prevail, Sony's blu-ray may gain the edge this season due to their lower-priced (MSRP $399 US) 40GB model, which may be the "gateway drug" for those sitting on the fence waiting for a definitive HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player to emerge. Since Blu-Ray players tend to fall in the $249 and up range for those considering a Blu-Ray Player, the $399 PS3 is almost a no-brainer with the added gaming, multimedia and internet capabilities. Now granted the HD-DVD standalone players are cheaper around the $175 and up range and there are good exclusive titles on both formats so it can be feasable for those who "want it all". If I were to pick one HD format right now however, I would have to go with Blu Ray, simply because more studios are going exclusive to that format. But I digress, The PS3 is techincally speaking, the superior console, but because it launched almost a year later than the 360 and because of the high initial price of $699 US the cost has been prohibitive for most casual gamers, which resulted in the lack of support from 3rd party game publishers, so at the present the software selection for the PS3 is not as extensive as the Wii or the 360, but you will probably notice that among titles that appear on multiple consoles the PS3 will usually have the best graphics and performance, so if you want the "best" in terms of those factors, the PS3 is it. Only a dedicated gaming PC with the top of the line processor and video card would have a chance at outperforming the PS3 and it would do so at a considrably higher price, like $1000 and up. A top of the line Alienware Gaming PC for instance can run you anywhere from $1299 to $6999 and even more if you want to go crazy with all the upgrades. Be aware however that for the PS3, if you have an extensive PS2 and PSone game collection, the cheaper 40GB model offers no backwards compatibility. The 80GB PS3, which retails for $499 has software emulation available that is compatible with most PS2 and PSone games. The 60GB model, if you can still find it, has the best backwards compatibility because it has the actual "emotion engine" chip that was found in the PS2 built in, thus it is virtually compatible with most if not all PS2 games.