Smackdown for all: The Six Ways Each “Next-Gen” Console Fails

[Master X]

Xbox 360

HD-DVD: It should have come built-in. It would have allowed more room for games, disc-based HD movies, and the format may have actually survived if one of its two biggest backers actually got behind it.

Better storage options: It should come with a much larger hard drive (especially at launch) and the ability to swap in standard 2.5” SATA drives. It would be really nice if it had the ability to use any standard USB key or SD card for a memory card too. The day of proprietary memory cards really should have ended already.

Headset: Why aren’t the audio controls built into the controller so that any headset would work? I should be able to mute my wireless headset without taking my hands off the controller.

Quieter: I know the DVD drive spins fast so that load times are shorter but some sound insulation would be nice. Maybe installing onto the hard drive will help this, but see bullet #2.

Web Browser: I could understand not having a browser when the console launched, but the time is far overdue for the 360 to get the web. The PS3 and Wii each have it, and it is more useful than I would have guessed.

D-Pad: For a console with so much classic and arcade content it is ridiculous how bad the D-pad is. I really think that they’d sell more XBLA games if it didn’t feel so wrong to play classics like Street Fighter II with that D-pad. It looks like they may actually fix this soon.


Playstation 3

Better UI than the XMB: Sony, would it kill you to use some icons with color? After all, it is one of the key ways for people to quickly identify items (see #6). The XMB is about as intuitive a way to tie together hierarchal lists of functions and data as any OS’s file system. Playing music should not use the exact same UI as your friends list.

Built-in IR “eye”: It may seem petty, but it drives me nuts that every AV device I own is controlled by my slick Harmony universal remote except for the PS3. If it really wants to be the center of my entertainment it needs to work with my existing stuff.

More memory for textures: The low quality textures so often seen on the PS3 are really the only thing keeping it from surpassing the Xbox 360’s graphics. Low quality textures were the only thing that marred the otherwise amazing graphics of Metal Gear Solid 4 for me.

Cables: Sony, get with the program and start including component HD and/or HDMI cables in the box. It is so nickel-and-dime to sell a $500 console based on its ability to play HD games without the cables to do it.

Memory Card Readers: Drop ‘em, they probably cost more than an HDMI cable but almost nobody uses them.

Real motion sensing: It is either all or nothing for me on this one, so Sony really shouldn’t have even bothered because Sixaxis is thoroughly mediocre. Even PS3 exclusive developers are saying that it is “useless”. It’d probably save Sony some money on making controllers too.

Wii

Lackluster motion control: FYI, I really don’t enjoy playing the Wii. It isn’t that the concept is bad, I think the concept is great. The motion control is just so terrible though. For proof look no further than the existence of a first-party add-on to fix the motion control.

Weak GPU and CPU: The graphics and CPU power should have been at least 50% greater than the original Xbox, and it should be able to output video in 720p. I’m not saying it should compete with the PS3/Xbox 360, it just needs to be better than all of the last-gen stuff. Low quality 480p looks pretty bad on those fancy flat-panel TVs.

Friend Codes: Here is a tip Nintendo, look at what Microsoft is doing with Xbox Live and copy it.

Media support: It is really ridiculous that the Wii doesn’t have legitimate support for playing your pictures, music, and videos. You can do some of it, but it can’t do it over your network so I hope you have a lot of big SD cards. I’m sure that would be a popular feature for their target market.

Better storage options: It is clear now that the built-in storage on the Wii is lacking and that Nintendo still doesn’t have a fix lined up yet. Why not increase the built-in storage and/or allow memory cards to (actually) expand the console’s usable space.

Wired Networking: Sometimes you just want the reliability of a wire. The lame duck Wii WiFi also requires a “long preamble” (usually only required for old wireless-B devices) which kills your wireless-G and N performance.

http://pseudosavant.com/blog/2008/08...console-fails/

[Shadow1019]

Originally Posted by Master X

http://pseudosavant.com/blog/2008/08...console-fails/

Very legitimate gripes about each. But did anyone notice how all of the 360 gripes are features/functions that the PS3 has (except for the headset controls)? Or that the PS3 gripes are 360 features/functions (except for motion controls)? Or that it suggests that the 360 should allow the use of an SD memory card while simultaneously suggesting that Sony "drop" its memory card ports?

[Snadinator]

Originally Posted by sholmes1019

Very legitimate gripes about each. But did anyone notice how all of the 360 gripes are features/functions that the PS3 has (except for the headset controls)? Or that the PS3 gripes are 360 features/functions (except for motion controls)? Or that it suggests that the 360 should allow the use of an SD memory card while simultaneously suggesting that Sony "drop" its memory card ports?

Yes it means unified Console architechture FTW.

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by Master X

http://pseudosavant.com/blog/2008/08...console-fails/

Counter points per console:
360:
HD-DVD: It should have come built-in. It would have allowed more room for games, disc-based HD movies, and the format may have actually survived if one of its two biggest backers actually got behind it.

Conversly the console launched a year before it otherwise could have, and didn't have to incur extra costs due to the format. Additionally the x-box only could have helped HD DVD because of it's market lead, which was obtained in large part to being lauched a year before the PS3... Waiting a year to launch the conosle at the same time as the PS3 in much the same price bracket goes along way towards defeating the help the console could have been to the format.

Better storage options: It should come with a much larger hard drive (especially at launch) and the ability to swap in standard 2.5” SATA drives. It would be really nice if it had the ability to use any standard USB key or SD card for a memory card too. The day of proprietary memory cards really should have ended already.

Did I miss something? You can use USB key drives (and hard drives). Additionally this post questions sony for including a MM card reader!

Web Browser: I could understand not having a browser when the console launched, but the time is far overdue for the 360 to get the web. The PS3 and Wii each have it, and it is more useful than I would have guessed.

I guess, I don't use the one on my Wii ever though... But I guess it doesn't hurt to have the option.

PS3:
Better UI than the XMB: Sony, would it kill you to use some icons with color? After all, it is one of the key ways for people to quickly identify items (see #6). The XMB is about as intuitive a way to tie together hierarchal lists of functions and data as any OS’s file system. Playing music should not use the exact same UI as your friends list.

I'm ok with it as is, the only thing that confused me about XMB is why sony people are so convinced it's better than the MS blade system... XMB is no different from the MS blade system other than there are no visible blades!!

More memory for textures: The low quality textures so often seen on the PS3 are really the only thing keeping it from surpassing the Xbox 360’s graphics. Low quality textures were the only thing that marred the otherwise amazing graphics of Metal Gear Solid 4 for me.

Kind of hard to blame sony for the choices 3rd party devs make... I think it's all a part of being behind in the console war.

Memory Card Readers: Drop ‘em, they probably cost more than an HDMI cable but almost nobody uses them.


On the other hand they're nice to have.... And just above wasn't MS called out for not having them? Which is it?

Wii:
Lackluster motion control: FYI, I really don’t enjoy playing the Wii. It isn’t that the concept is bad, I think the concept is great. The motion control is just so terrible though. For proof look no further than the existence of a first-party add-on to fix the motion control.

I find them very responsive actually... But if you want more responsive controls I do beleive nintendo is already addressing that with a new accessory which does just that.

Wired Networking: Sometimes you just want the reliability of a wire. The lame duck Wii WiFi also requires a “long preamble” (usually only required for old wireless-B devices) which kills your wireless-G and N performance.

Did I miss something??? There's already a LAN dongle available for the wii.. Maybe it should be built in, or at least included in the package, but my guess is wireless works fine for most.. It certianly does for me!

[viewsonic]

Amazing that they attack the PS3 for mostly complete nonsense but they ignore the fact that the 360 is the most unreliable piece of gaming hardware ever released.

[balpho]

Of course, the PS3 complaints are "nonsense" but the 360 ones are valid. How very pathetic and like-you viewsonic

[WallyWest]

Originally Posted by viewsonic

Amazing that they attack the PS3 for mostly complete nonsense but they ignore the fact that the 360 is the most unreliable piece of gaming hardware ever released.

To paraphrase Joe Biden

Noun, Verb, RROD

[capnmonkey]

Playstation 3

Better UI than the XMB: Sony, would it kill you to use some icons with color? After all, it is one of the key ways for people to quickly identify items (see #6). The XMB is about as intuitive a way to tie together hierarchal lists of functions and data as any OS’s file system. Playing music should not use the exact same UI as your friends list.
I don't totally agree with this one. The XMB is not totally intuitive, but it works and it looks nice and it's customizable. If you want color make your own and add color.

Built-in IR “eye”: It may seem petty, but it drives me nuts that every AV device I own is controlled by my slick Harmony universal remote except for the PS3. If it really wants to be the center of my entertainment it needs to work with my existing stuff.
Hmmm, I guess it should have included an IR eye since they have marketed it extensively as a media center in addition to a gameplayer. I think the real problem is though, why do still use IR instead of bluetooth?

More memory for textures: The low quality textures so often seen on the PS3 are really the only thing keeping it from surpassing the Xbox 360’s graphics. Low quality textures were the only thing that marred the otherwise amazing graphics of Metal Gear Solid 4 for me.
PS3 should have had more memory, even if it cost another $50 at launch.

Cables: Sony, get with the program and start including component HD and/or HDMI cables in the box. It is so nickel-and-dime to sell a $500 console based on its ability to play HD games without the cables to do it.
Minor complaint, but yeah it's pretty chintzy. They obviously wanted to cash in on a seperately boxed $60 HDMI. This one should definitely be in the box by now, if not from launch.

Memory Card Readers: Drop ‘em, they probably cost more than an HDMI cable but almost nobody uses them.
Eh, it's like a $15 accessory that you buy if you need it. I think it would be a bigger problem if it didn't exist than it is existing and being a lame accessory.

Real motion sensing: It is either all or nothing for me on this one, so Sony really shouldn’t have even bothered because Sixaxis is thoroughly mediocre. Even PS3 exclusive developers are saying that it is “useless”. It’d probably save Sony some money on making controllers too.
Motion sensing sucks for Wii and it sucks for PS3. At the same time though, I think the reason it sucks is because no one has implemented it very well. Folklore uses it in a very cool way, R&C did a couple cool things with it, Heavenly Sword used it well. Pretty much every other time it's been in a game though it's annoyed the piss out of me.

[Snadinator]

Originally Posted by capnmonkey

Hmmm, I guess it should have included an IR eye since they have marketed it extensively as a media center in addition to a gameplayer. I think the real problem is though, why do still use IR instead of bluetooth?
More memory for textures: The

For a universal remote. We don't like having 5 remotes do we precious? No, nasty remotes make head confused... Yes, Yes! We needz a universal precious...

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by Snadinator

For a universal remote. We don't like having 5 remotes do we precious? No, nasty remotes make head confused... Yes, Yes! We needz a universal precious...

Yeah... My harmony 550 basically serves as the "one ring" in my home theater lol

[Snadinator]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

Yeah... My harmony 550 basically serves as the "one ring" in my home theater lol

One Remote to Rule them all.

[capnmonkey]

Does that make Logitech the elven lords of old and your cat the fires of mount doom?

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by capnmonkey

Does that make Logitech the elven lords of old and your cat the fires of mount doom?

I think it would make logitech more Saramon(sp?) than the elven lords of old... Since Logitech is the creater.

[bowl-o-rama]

No RRoD on that list? lol

[capnmonkey]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

I think it would make logitech more Saramon(sp?) than the elven lords of old... Since Logitech is the creater.

I lose my geek ring.

I for some reason thought the elven lords created them and gave them out and then Sauron corrupted them.