Comparing consoles using About.com

[Refalm]

About.com has three articles with reasons why you should either by a PS3, a Xbox 360 or a Wii.

http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/a/5ReasonsPS3.htm
http://xbox.about.com/od/buyersguide/a/5reasons360.htm
http://nintendo.about.com/od/toppicks/a/5reasonswii.htm

Comparing the reasons to by a Xbox 360 to a PS3 is revealing.

#1 - You Won't Find Better Games

These "better games" are Halo, Rare's library and a few old Valve games.

I do agree that I miss Rare's games, but it's not worth choosing another console over, unless you're a near-stalker fan of the company (they had awesome games for the Nintendo 64).

On the Valve games, everyone knows those are shitty ports, the CEO of Valve even admitted it several times. Valve makes games for PC and Mac first, and then ports them to consoles. And, Valve will begin porting their newest games such as Portal 2 to the PS3, starting this year.

Basically, this whole argument is stupid. Every console has exclusive games.

#2 - You Can Play Friends Online and Download Demos

And you can also do that on the PS3 or Wii. For free, while it costs € 5 a month on the Xbox 360.

#3 - Its 'Achievements' Will Keep You Motivated

The PS3 has trophies, but it's basically the same thing. Next.

#4 - The Xbox Streams Videos and Music

All features mentioned here, the PS3 can do them too. Even more, because the Xbox 360 only plays WMV's, while the PS3 can play DivX out of the box. The PS3 also has VidZone, which lets you watch videoclips all day for free. Beats the crap out of MTV, and Microsoft's RROD'ing console.

#5 - Parents Can Control What Their Kids Do

*yawn*, so can every other console.

Summing up the article, the only reason to choose a Xbox 360 over the PS3 is to play Halo.

[Lead Head]

That's how most of these articles are. If you noticed, they are all by different authors as well.

[Refalm]

That's true, but I noticed that the other two articles listed compelling arguments for buying the console rather than another, and the Xbox 360 article listed some points that I would like to on the Wii 2 (like DVD playback), and that the PS3 already has or better.

[reactosguy]

Wii reason #3 is complete madness.

#3 - It’s Nintendo
Some people don’t  call the Wii by its name, they just call it what they called the Game  Cube: “The Nintendo.” Microsoft and Sony are giant  technology corporations with game divisions, but Nintendo is  synonymous with video games, with decades spent creating colorful,  imaginative, family-friendly titles. If you want the next Legend  of Zelda game, the next Mario game, the next Pikmin  or Donkey Kong or Metroid Prime game, you’ll have  to buy a Wii.

Oh, the age old tactic of title restriction. I think Refalm already pointed this out:

Basically, this whole argument is stupid. Every console has exclusive games.

Wii is a good system for those looking for fun. I hate to admit, the Wii isn't a complete replacement for physical exercise, but thankfully this applies to the Kinect as well. (I'll discuss Kinect later.)

About.com is a crap factory, and most of their content is moot. Don't even bother going there if you have better articles on the same topic.

[Refalm]

I think they have a great point. You don't refer to the PS3 as "The Sony", or to the Xbox 360 as "The Microsoft".

The two biggest exclusive titles on the PS3 are Killzone and LittleBigPlanet. On the Xbox 360, you got Halo and Viva Piñata.

On all four of those games, independent game developers were taken over by the console creators to get exclusive brand games for their consoles. The creators of Killzone are famous for Jazz Jackrabbit and Age of Wonders, the creators of LittleBigPlanet were ex-Microsoft, the creators of Halo used to make games for Mac OS, and the creators of Viva Piñata made the best games for Nintendo 64.

On Nintendo consoles, all the exclusive titles as Super Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country, Mario Party, etc. are all made by Nintendo.

When you think of Nintendo, you think of Mario. When you think of Sony, you think of LCD TV's. When you think of Microsoft, you think of a crappy operating system that is shoved down your throat at work.
That's why Wii reason #3 was spot on.

[piratePenguin]

By a long shot I think I prefer MS as a company when compared to Sony.

One played dirty tricks to conquer markets - companies will do this, the other is using dirty tricks to take away your rights - companies shouldn't be allowed to do this.

[Lead Head]

By a long shot I think I prefer MS as a company when compared to Sony.

One played dirty tricks to conquer markets - companies will do this, the other is using dirty tricks to take away your rights - companies shouldn't be allowed to do this.

Can you elaborate?

[piratePenguin]

By a long shot I think I prefer MS as a company when compared to Sony.

One played dirty tricks to conquer markets - companies will do this, the other is using dirty tricks to take away your rights - companies shouldn't be allowed to do this.

Can you elaborate?

DRM, outlawing Linux on PS3, their policy is to take away your control of hardware and digital copies of music etc., insofar as technologically possible.

I went looking around some shops yesterday for the first time in a long time, and I thought about this: why do we still have record stores?

Fair play to capitalism for creating usually useful competition between companies, but I'm still toying in my mind with the effects the structure has with holding us back.

[Refalm]

Because in most music stores, the music catalogue sucks, and that's because only people who don't know how to download (legally or illegally) buy CD's.
A small number of people who buy CD's because they choose to, and because they love music more than life, don't bother going to stores any-more, but order them online.

[Aloone_Jonez]

their policy is to take away your control of hardware and digital copies of music etc., insofar as technologically possible.

Their next step will be changing it so you don't actually own the console, you merely buy a lease to use it indefinitely, the console remains the property of Sony forever.

[bedouin]

I went looking around some shops yesterday for the first time in a long time, and I thought about this: why do we still have record stores?

There is a big difference between a nationwide generic chain and a mom and pop store.  Chains are shit.  Small shops will cater to very specific audiences, have used stuff, and carry vinyl (new and old).  You have some shops that have been around for 50 years and the owner has a complete catalog in his head from every era.  I can't really browse on the computer.  I can click through iTunes and stuff, but it's not the same.  There's blogs, but you just end up downloading whatever's there.  I like the feeling of finding something no one else knows about. 

A lot of vinyl releases come with digital download cards nowadays too.