While there’s a lot of compulsory fanboi arguments all over the internet arguing about which console is the best this generation, there’s not as many arguing which one actually did the most stupid mistakes… well besides blatant flaming… so I thought it’s about time we took our time and listed an informed list of the current generation’s shortcomings… because they seem to be more than ever…
Here’s a list of all missteps for all consoles I can think of so far, add your own:
Xbox 360
• No wireless in the box
• No HDMI for early adopters
• No rechargeable battery in the box
• Hard Drive not standard in all models
• No “next gen” media player built in
• Craptastic DVD playback (try to watch Fidning Nemo and you’ll see)
• HD Upgrade expensive as heck
• Extremely unreliable hardware (RRoD)
• Online play not free
• DRM from hell
• MS points needs to be rebalanced
Playstation 3
• No HD video cable in the box
• No replaceable batteries in the controller
• Blatant lies on why no rumble in controller
• Blatant lies about being sold out on release (the $1200 per unsold console lie)
• Backwards compatibility cut in Europe
• DualShock 3 delayed like heck in the US
• DualShock 3 not even acknowledged for Europe yet
• The “real” online interface and Home to be released alongside Duke Nukem Forever
• One Euro per Dollar price policy = +60% in Euroland
• Unexplainable (and unparalleled) Scandinavian higher price
• One of its strongest exclusive titles is but a $40 demo of a title yet to come
• No headset in the box
• Long adjustment period for developers
• No IR port for media remotes makes it incompatible with multi-remotes. (Bluetooth remote is neat though… just not compatible with multi-remotes yet)
Wii
• Next gen? What next gen? Past gen with gimmicky controls
• No HD graphics
• No DVD playback (or media functions at all)
• Most games are just remakes of old ones
• Most butchered online interface of them all
• No calibration of aiming (= extremely annoying on a projector since it asumes like a 30” display)
• Largest stand-by power consumption of them all
• No headset in the box…. no voice chat at all for that matter
• One Euro per Dollar price policy = +60% in Euroland
I vote tuna sandwich. From my perspective, parts of the PS3s architecture is a fuck up (specifically the difficulty of cell development and the forced allocation of RAM), and the 360s lack of a hard drive is a fuck up.
PS3 and Wii also didn’t include a headset in the box. Got to give props to Microsoft there, they at least understand the social community aspect of online gaming. Voice chat is really quite a benefit playing over half of online titles, and every console ships with a headset. Nintendo and Sony being Japanese companies have not quite adjusted to this trend in much the same way perhaps partially because there isn’t much social gaming on a large scale in Japanese culture.
But the list for the 360, whether releasing too early would be considered a misstep that has caused so much grief with the red-ring problems, I don’t know. Another thing, Microsoft points are a stupid currency because they gouge you on some purchases. The pricing scheme should be evenly adjusted, so you’re not buying points in quantities that do not divide evenly with what you’re purchasing.
Who actually buys the version without the HDD? In fact, I’m pretty sure they stopped selling that one.
They still sell it. It’s called the arcade. It doesn’t matter who buys it: developers need to build their games under the assumption that it isn’t there. You’ll notice my complaints were both developer centric, which is to say the things that make my job harder, that could have been done differently.
Who actually buys the version without the HDD? In fact, I’m pretty sure they stopped selling that one.
They still sell it. It’s called the arcade. It doesn’t matter who buys it: developers need to build their games under the assumption that it isn’t there. You’ll notice my complaints were both developer centric, which is to say the things that make my job harder, that could have been done differently.
Ah, well then damn MS! The 360 is crap without the hard drive.
PS3 and Wii also didn’t include a headset in the box. Got to give props to Microsoft there, they at least understand the social community aspect of online gaming. Voice chat is really quite a benefit playing over half of online titles, and every console ships with a headset. Nintendo and Sony being Japanese companies have not quite adjusted to this trend in much the same way perhaps partially because there isn’t much social gaming on a large scale in Japanese culture.
But the list for the 360, whether releasing too early would be considered a misstep that has caused so much grief with the red-ring problems, I don’t know. Another thing, Microsoft points are a stupid currency because they gouge you on some purchases. The pricing scheme should be evenly adjusted, so you’re not buying points in quantities that do not divide evenly with what you’re purchasing.
Added to the list, though the RRoD is already under unreliable hardware And I agree with the MS points… the system is uneven… Nintendo got it better I’d say… but then they havea much more controlled environment on their store. I don’t know about PSN prices… so I’ll leave that open.
I think all of the next gen online stores are pretty lame. Coming from a PC gaming background, paying for map packs is kind of annoying, especially when they release them for free on PC versions of games.
DRM on the 360 is hell? I dunno, it doesn’t have the best media center end point capacity but with transcoding it works well enough and it works from an iPod or with the right software you can share from your mac.
DRM on the 360 is hell? I dunno, it doesn’t have the best media center end point capacity but with transcoding it works well enough and it works from an iPod or with the right software you can share from your mac.
Have your 360 break down and try to get everything you bought on the live store work on a new machine. Everything is tied directly to one specific console, and you need microsoft to change what console for you which they don’t do easily.
Ah, didn’t even consider Live… I guess my Rockband content is tied to my console, but does anyone do any better out of the big 3? If I could fetch a good price for my 360 I may have sold it simply to buy more computer stuffs for gradschool (I won’t be taking any game consoles with me).
PSN purchases can be transfered to a number of consoles… more like iTunes songs. VC games aren’t locked to a console per se if I’ve understood it right… but they can’t be copied to an external media without a hack. Not sure about that one actually, since I haven’t heard about anybody needing to transfer their content to a new machine. In the case of Microsoft transfers due to Red Rings are pretty common.
I’ll give the nod to the Wii on this one. The 360 may be designed and built by fucking apes and the PS3 may be pricy, but at least they both have any games I give two shits about.
As for the scandinavian price of the PS3, its explained by the simple equation “lame ass dollar + huge ass scandinavian communism tax = nasty ass prices on just about anything compared to american standards”.
And I agree with the MS points… the system is uneven… Nintendo got it better I’d say… but then they havea much more controlled environment on their store. I don’t know about PSN prices… so I’ll leave that open.
