Looking back on the 7th Generation: PS3 vs. XBox 360 vs. Wii

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JWK1
Posts: 904
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Looking back on the 7th Generation: PS3 vs. XBox 360 vs. Wii

Postby JWK1 » March 29th, 2015, 2:56 pm

I tend to ramble so I'll attempt to be concise.

The Bronze trophy goes to the Nintendo Wii. Sure, shovel ware was a problem, but sift through that and you'll find the most unique library of the 7th generation. Presentation restrictions actually led to some creative games when developers weren't saddled with pushing pixels. Perhaps not as rich a library as one would hope, there are still some classics for the ages, including Mario Galaxy and Xenoblade Chronicles.

The Silver trophy goes to the Xbox 360. Online gaming was pushed front and center due to the 360 (for better and worse). While I deem the system's exclusive to be the weakest of the three consoles-- never cared for Gears, Halo wore out its welcome somewhere around ODST, and Forza is a snore-- it still boasted some very memorable games like Alan Wake, the first Mass Effect (until the PS3 got it in 2012) and Cave's sublime bullet hell shooter library. FPS games shines here due to the solid controller design.

The Gold trophy goes to the PS3. One of the most impressive turn arounds in gaming, the PS3 launched to critics wondering if it was the end of Sony, but finished with sales higher than the 360, due to the best exclusive library of the generation. Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance, The Last of Us, Ni No Kuni, Little Big Planet, Demons Souls, InFamous, God of War and Dragons Crown all lived here. Add to that the rich library of multiplatform titles shared with the 360 and PC and you have a library of games I'll still probably be playing in 10 years. My second favorite system of all time after the SNES.

It was a great generation. If you ignore troubling trends like on disc DLC, patches, system updates, online focus, etc, the games were spectacular. Cheers.

ActRaiser1
Posts: 2726
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Looking back on the 7th Generation: PS3 vs. XBox 360 vs. Wii

Postby ActRaiser1 » March 29th, 2015, 9:05 pm

Hehe, I think I have to go with the order in which I purchased the consoles. 

Really, for me that's how I spent most of my time.  

1. Xbox 360 - it started out slow but quickly picked up the pace once Oblivion launched.
2. Wii - awesome party system with fantastic single player experiences that were plain fun.
3. PS3 - my least played system due to, frankly, the controller bugging the crap out of me.

They all had great exclusives that if I had more time I could probably make the case for the PS3 moving up in my list to 2nd place as a tie with the Wii.


JustLikeHeaven1
Posts: 2971
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Looking back on the 7th Generation: PS3 vs. XBox 360 vs. Wii

Postby JustLikeHeaven1 » March 30th, 2015, 12:14 pm

Interesting topic...something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately.  I was heavily invested in the 7th gen.  I owned all of the consoles and enjoyed all three to varying degrees.  I think about the current gen and how I've yet to buy any of the systems.  Times they are a changing.

So here are my thoughts.  I hold no allegiance to any of three companies.  For me it's about enjoying great games.

Playstation 3 -  This system held all the promise in the world.  It was the Anakin Skywalker of gaming.  It was to supplant the incredibly popular PS2, be fully backwards compatible, usher in HD movies with Blu Ray etc...  The PS3 landed with a resounding thud.  Games like Resistance and Motorstorm showed it's power, but many publishers couldn't figure out how to properly develop for the console.  This led to severe backlash against it's seemingly unjustified high price and sub-par third party games.  The console fell and it fell hard.  Sony choked down it's arrogance/pride...made changes and committed to the system with year after year of quality exclusive content.  Eventually the system overtook it's competitors and shined with one of the most diverse lineups available last gen.  Yes, the system never lived up to the Anakin-esque hype...it didn't succumb to the darkside either.  Where am I going with all these crappy Star Wars analogies?  Well, I'm trying to say it didn't quite live up to the hype.  It also didn't turn out to be the embarrassment it was destined to become via it's horrid launch.  For me, I own more PS3 games than any of the other systems this generation.  I simply point to it's rich diverse library of exclusives for this.  Couple that with the fact that a few years into the systems life cycle third party games were at least equal with it's 360 counterpart...and it was a strong library overall.  For me the PS3 finished 1B.  Just shy of being champion.

Wii - Launching so closely to the PS3 the systems were pitted against each other like sports teams.  It was like the Yankees vs Redsox rivalry.  The Wii was a legitimate phenomenon.  Something the gaming industry hasn't experienced since the original NES.  You had local news stories about the Wii...everybody knew about the thing.  It was madness.  With much love would come much hate.  The hardcore gamers lashed out against the system.  Spewing venom and vile towards it's forced motion controls and last generation graphics.  As the internet grew with social media during the 7th generation the voice of "hardcore gamers" grew with it.  The Wii marched to the beat of it's own drum and haters can hate, but the system's library was cream that rose to the top.  The lazy person can point to the landfill of trash that littered the Wii's library...but in doing so you're being blind to the crazy diverse selection of games offered.  Nintendo's first party offerings were on point...rarely missing in terms of quality.  Those that cared to look would find amazing third party games as well.  Sure not to the extent of the other two systems....but it was clearly there.  The Wii came out of the marathon sprinting at "Prefointaine" pace.  Sure the Wii gassed out before it could properly finish...but I think it performed for just as long as Nintendo needed it to.  It was running on older hardware and sold like gangbusters.  We will likely never see or experience anything quite like the Wii again in gaming.  I still play the machine and I am still uncovering gems in it's library.  For me this was the winner and 1A of the 7th generation.

Xbox 360 - With it's year head start and lavish praise the arrow was pointed firmly up for Microsoft in this generation.  The 360 was a technical marvel and gamers were in love with it's content that focused on mature content, online services and in your face attitude.  Sadly, it's time in front would be mired with the red ring of death and system's breaking left and right.  It came out swinging with a AAA lineup of exclusives like Gears of War, Fable 2, Halo 3.  Also the system quickly become the choice of hardcore gamers thanks to the rise of online gaming and the FPS scene.  Games like Call of Duty 4, while not a console exclusive sold MUCH better on the 360 than the PS3.  Sony could not compete in the online arena and American gamers hailed a new king.  Thankfully Microsoft got the Red Ring problems under control, but it had a new problem.  Lack of diverse/interesting games.  Microsoft has never been good at creating first party exclusive content.  Their bread and butter has always been to throw money at the problem.  They paid for timed exclusives, full exclusives and sometimes even game studios themselves.  This strategy was never a long term solution and Microsoft seemed more content to pick off popular Sony exclusive franchises rather than develop their own fresh content.  Along with the rise of the online gaming came the advent of DLC...the invention of nickel and diming gamers.  Sony followed suite and both companies moved more and more away from traditional console designs and followed that of PC games.  When it was all said and done Microsoft decided to cater to a specific brand of gamer.  The hardcore gamer.  As a result it's library of games suffered.  It's full of fantastic games that will get your blood pumping.  It's just not the most diverse library.  It does have a plethora of gems if you're willing to dig though. The system also ushered in and pushed gaming online.  It changed gaming forever in that regard.  For me the 360 finished with the least amount of games purchased and the it was the least played system.  Personally, I'm not a fan of FPS or online gaming.  Of the three systems Microsoft 'spoke' to me the least.  While I cherish many gaming experiences found on the system it never gave me the same satisfaction as the Wii or PS3.  So this finished 2 (or 3rd by my convoluted system) for the generation.

All that being said.  The 7th generation was great.  Probably not as good as the 6th generation in overall quality, but it was interesting and fun.  If you were a fan of gaming you had plenty of QUALITY options during the 7th gen.



Vexer1
Posts: 883
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Looking back on the 7th Generation: PS3 vs. XBox 360 vs. Wii

Postby Vexer1 » March 30th, 2015, 6:17 pm

I wouldn't call patches a "troubling trend" as at least now it's possible to actually fix game glitches, whereas in the PS2 generation you were screwed if a game had a glitch that could erase your progress.


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