Doors reviewers have seen them all in action. Nintendo’s offering is the least impressive visually but, at £150, is easily the cheapest. What it lacks in the graphics department is made up for in sheer frivolity: motion sensors are at the heart of the console, and most games require you to wave, poke and prod your controller, which turns virtual tennis, say, into an energetic, arm-swinging blast. There is even the promise of old-school Nintendo titles being available to download, which would make for a huge back catalogue. The Wii could be a barnstormer for young families, especially those that aren’t so keen on annihilating mutants. And, because the technology has been kept simple, Nintendo should avoid technical and delivery problems — unlike the PS3.
With only 2m PS3s expected to be available worldwide by Christmas, hordes will be disappointed. Retailers are taking orders now, at a staggering £425 (for the fully featured version), yet with no guarantee of Yuletide delivery.
Rob Fahey, of Eurogamer.net, recommends waiting. “Buying consoles at launch is a bit of a mug’s game,” he says. “They’re more expensive, and won’t have many titles on offer.” Only hard-core PlayStation fans need apply. Also, brand-new machines can suffer from poor reliability until the bugs have been driven out, and the more complex the kit, the more likely that is.
“The Xbox 360 had huge problems,” Fahey says. “We’d expect the same thing to happen with the PS3, as it’s such a complicated machine. Although problems will be ironed out over time, early adopters have to accept that they may have to send machines back.”
Advertisement
Games-wise, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have older thumb-mashers squarely in their cross hairs, with a diet of shoot-’em-ups, high-octane racing and kinetic adventure; the graphics are gob-smacking, particularly if you have a high-definition television.
The first batch of games for a new console often merely adds graphical gloss to ideas developed for previous machines. With its superpowered Cell processor chip, much can be expected of the PS3, but it will take time for developers to realise the potential of the hardware. Just ask Microsoft — that criticism has been levelled at virtually every launch title for the Xbox 360. It promises that the coming second wave of games will push the creative envelope. We’ll see.
Another thing that sets the PS3 and the Xbox 360 apart from the rest is versatility: you can play a game, watch a film or listen to music, all through one user-friendly box. But do you really want to watch movies on a machine designed for playing games? Although the PS3’s noise levels are an unknown, during DVD playback, the Xbox 360’s fans sound like a Chinook coming in to land. Very distracting.
The main difference between the two, apart from the price, is Sony’s inclusion of a Blu-ray DVD drive for playing high-definition video. Given that the cheapest Blu-ray player is likely to cost more than £500, the PlayStation 3 appears good value. But it will be a long time before its mooted superior computing power shines through; for now, its performance in games is almost indistinguishable from that of the Xbox 360.
Which should you buy? The Wii looks like good, inexpensive fun, and will keep children enthralled with its innovative titles. Itchy-fingered gamers and parents of teenagers might plump for the now settled Xbox 360 and the promise of better games. A launch-date PS3 is really tempting only if you’ve lost control of your financial faculties.