When I was younger, I spent my entire fortune (read: what’s left of my allowance) on game cartridges for the Nintendo Family Computer. Back then, it was your ticket to gaining popularity at school. Fulfillment back then was to finish all eight worlds of Mario Brothers in one sitting, even without employing the 100 lives cheat. Achievement (and wealth) was about having to go home and spend an hour alphabetizing your growing stack of game cartridges.
Since then, a lot of consoles have been launched and a lot of console makers have entered and exited the market. It would be worth mentioning that games and game consoles have evolved from a simple dot matrix black and white display with cute electronically produce sounds to uber realistic graphics, highly customized motion controls, all of which plays to the cool soundtracks. And it is not just about games only either, today’s consoles allows for other forms of entertainment like watching movies and creating a cyber life.
To date, the family computer is not the biggest selling console in the world. PlayStation 2 is, Game Boy is a close second. The top five best-selling consoles are owned by approximately more than half a billion users.
Currently, however, console dominance is a toss up among Wii, Xbox and PS3. More than two decades later, I still find myself playing a Nintendo: Wii. Wii has been heading the console pack, leaving both Xbox and PS3 behind. I think it’s partly because of its low price and its focus on games that are fit for the whole family. Don’t get me wrong, I still like gore and adult-related games, but sometimes I find myself wanting to be cutesy, playing a puzzle game every so often, or something that does not require too much thinking or something that spells relaxing entertainment. I own a PS2 and the original Xbox, but both are mostly gathering dust.
Maybe that’s just me. I really don’t classify myself as a hardcore gamer, but I like my games to be just that… games. Wii refuses to compete with both PS and Xbox in terms of added functionality, and instead focused on developing added value for games. If you ever see me in my living room waving and flailing my arms like silly, then I’m probably using the Wii remote. I really don’t need to watch movies using my Xbox, I have my DVD player and HD TV for that.
You just don’t get that much focus from both PS2 and Xbox.
