Comparison : PS3 vs 360 vs Wii

A survey was done according to which,video game sales grew 6% in 2006 to $7.4 billion – almost tripling industry software sales since 1996. Also, it has been found out that in 2006, 93% of PC game buyers and 83% of console game buyers are over age 18. The thing that make games interesting is that you usually have your own character with which you can do stuff whatever you want to. It attracted alot of attention in 1990’s which resulted in the development of gaming industry. It was obviously a little less energy consumer than outdoor games and preffered alot over TV because people were abit interested in doing stuff by themselves.

Ps3 vs Xbox 360 vs Wii

Games are usually played on PC or Gaming consoles. Ofcourse PC can be modified with time to time but consoles cannot be. So one should choose wisely what he exactly wants while dealing with the latter ones. For that reason, i am writing this article which will compare Playstation 3, Xbox 360and Wii which are products of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo respectively and in the end, you will be able enough to choose what you want.

Before Sony’s Playstation 1, there wasnt any console that could’ve been good enough to be considered as a real time gaming machine. It all started in 1994, when sony released their first ever bombshell. It actually revolutionised the gaming world. Then, two years later, came the Nintendo 64. They pretty much gave each other a hell of a time. Still, PS1 dominated. Sony released their second console ‘PS2′ in 1999 which proved to be the best selling console to date. Nintendo gave their ‘Game Cube’ but it couldn’t stand a chance against PS2. But that was the point when Microsoft entered the war and released their masterpiece ‘XBOX’. People preffered PS2 and no wonder it was better.

Before the release of Xbox 360, market was totally controlled by Sony. Even Sony launched their portable console ‘PSP’ which was a great success. It’s competitor, Nintendo’s ‘Gameboy’ did good too. But 2005 changed everything. Microsoft released Xbox 360 which turned the market upside down. Nintendo’s Wii was also released soon after xbox 360 but Wii delivered something totally different. These two consoles started making market whereas Sony was delaying their third Playstation due to some technical reasons.

I have compared these three consoles on basis of different categories like price, hardware, graphics, titles, multimedia and public sentiments which will be completed in more then one parts.

Price is a main factor that determines the sale of a console and attracts interest of buyers. In Pakistan, people do consider price apart from technology. If we consider prices, then Xbox 360 takes the lead because it is available in three different versions. Ofcourse difference is of hard disk, accessories but there is no difference in performance. If one is not interested in hard core gaming, he can go for the cheapest one i.e Arcade. Otherwise Elite is recommended for gamers. If we talk about core version which is arcade now, then u can have it of $199. Premium (GoPro) or mainstream (60GB) model is of $299 and Elite is of$399. Whereas you can have Wii of $249. PS3 80GB and 160GB of $299 and $399respectively. One will obviously go for Xbox 360. Though Sony and Nintendo both are trying to reduce their prices but that can take few months too. These rates are NOT in Pakistan. In Pakistan, rates are higher. That is because there are just limited number of consoles that are created for Pakistan, so we have to ship consoles from someother countries and then have to sell them here. And i personally also recommend you that if you want to buy a console, do it from abroad.

Previously I discussed the history of these three consoles and how and when their makers started fighting each other. I also compared these consoles on basis of price. Now lets move further and lets discuss their hardware.

Hardware wise, no doubt Sony is the best because they used advanced technology in their console like blue ray disk device. But the question is, do we need Blu-Ray disk ? I don’t think so. Microsoft is a game developer. It knows better about games than Sony. What was Microsoft thinking while making their console? I mean to say, they could’ve included BRD too but they didn’t because if normal or dual layer DVDs are doing the job and they will do for upcoming years, why to increase price rate of their console? And i agree with them. They should use that technology in upcoming XBOX 720 but right now, they don’t need it. And plus point of not having BRD in 360 is, you can have any game of Rs 200 in Pakistan whereas if you have PS3 then you should also have Rs 5000 for each game. Blu-Ray Disks cannot be pirated yet. So if you want to buy PS3 which is expensive, you should have enough money too so that you can buy games too.

Red Ring Of Death

There is a hardware problem in 360 that is very popular among the Xbox 360 users. It is known as Red Ring Of Death (RROD). It scared alot of customers and also changed the views of alot of buyers. It normally occurs in initial stages of your console. It is called red ring because if you look at the console, there is a ring of 4 green LEDs. This is used to display in what state that particular console is. If LEDs are green then that means, it is in normal state. If any LED turns red then that means it has some kind of error. When RROD occurs, first LED and bottom two LEDs turn red. Which shows that your console is not receiving enough power. One possible cause of the General Hardware Errormay be cold solder joints. The added mass of the CSP chips (including the GPU and CPU) absorb the heat flow that allows proper soldering of the lead-free solders on the motherboard, therefore, the solder has not properly melted underneath these chips, which can lead to voids (air bubbles) and weak spots in the solder known as cold solder joints. But now Microsoft is trying to remove this defect but its image is already ruined. Every person who buys 360 has some kind of fear in himself. Still if you get a RROD, don’t panic. Bring it to Pakistan, and get it fixed for Rs 1500 only. Also there are few problems with Xbox 360 regarding updates and everything. If you go to market to buy 360, make sure you buy NTSC/j (All regional). I made that mistake and i am still regretting.

Now lets talk about PS3. Blu-Ray Disks are so heavily compacted, the laser which reads them heats up & skipped resulting in either a crash of a game/movie or slow downs. Thats the only problem that has been reported but overall PS3 is doing just fine. As i said, Sony is using advance technology. Afterall, Sony is expert in electronics. And also, they have a strong history. Sony can talk all they want about how people aren’t looking at the past, but legacy support is something we’ve come to expect from our game consoles, and truth be told, the PS2 has one of the most impressive lineups in history of the industry.

Wii, unlike Xbox 360 didnt show any problem in the start. But there are some little problems with it. It happens to a few though. Error codes like 110213 and 32002. Well, solution to this is, if you are having warranty (which i dont think there will be any) , get it replaced. Other then this, there are problems reported which are related to power supply and adapter, not related to console.

Now lets talk about the consoles, their output and processor being used in them. Before going into detail, i must say personally i dont think Wii belongs to the same league as that PS3 and 360. It was hyped alot and still doing OK because of its new game playing style. I.e. you hold a remote in your hand and move it. Your character will do the same in the game. But hey, grow up. I mean its ok if you want to play Tennis or other games like that but MARIO ? Dont you think, it is time for you to play Gears Of War or Call of Duty which can be played on Wii but not sensibly ? Anyway your choice. Audio wise, Wii sucks. I mean look at the table, no competition against the other two.

PS3 for their console is using CELLprocessor and even Xbox 360 admits that CELL is better technology than that used in 360. CELL was made by Sony themselves for just gaming purposes. You can see at the specs of the microprocessors used in these three consoles. Still, Wii’s processor is not that strong because games that run on that console are not that heavy. By term heavy, i mean high graphics. This consequently effects performance of the console too.

This was a little comparison between these three consoles and you can clearly see that Wii delivers something else, NOT what a normal gamer is looking for. 360 delivers everything but people still think it is faulty, whereas I think it is perfect. Whereas Ps3 is doing great hardware wise because they also just released PS3 Slim. This version of PS3 is slimer, lighter and cheaper. You can have it for $299 120GB. But dont make your decision yet. Alot is yet to come.