Thoughts on console design

Postby **VideoGameCritic** » February 13th, 2013, 8:37 pm

I was reading a review about the Wii U console (in Game Informer) and it mentioned how plain and unassuming this console is.

That's true. It's small, compact, and can get lost on your shelf! Sometimes I forget I even have one. It got me thinking about the importance of the outward appearance of a console.

The Atari 2600 and NES have very distinctive designs. Even younger gamers can easily recognize them. Some of the more recent consoles have been dramatic as well.

I remember being impressed with the PS2's vertical "skyscraper" look. I still like that. The GameCube had a cute Fisher Price look that really set it apart. The 360 has a sexy hourglass figure, and the PS3 (originally) had an imposing, Darth Vader look.

I'm wondering if Nintendo should have been a little more creative with the Wii U. Maybe adding some molded plastic or a small lighted screen or something to make it stand out.

Your thoughts??

Gecko1011 · Postby **Gecko1011** » February 14th, 2013, 12:52 am

I agree, consoles like the genesis, NES, gamecube, Dreamcast etc. All stand out to me. When I first saw the Wii U, I just said to myself "That's it?"
I defiantly should have been unique in some way.

scotland171 · Postby **scotland171** » February 14th, 2013, 5:17 am

Cosmetic design is important. All that woodgrain on the pong and early 2600s, then the darth vader redesign. Nintendo intentionally wanted the famicom to look like a family friendly toy in the east, but the NES to look like a VCR media device in the West. The turbografx still looks sleek and cool. I prefer the model 1 genesis to the later models. The SNES stayed rhe same, but after that Nintendo really started to play with colors. Design is important. That original PS3 looked like it was worth the money! Even the tablets all seem the same boring design...where are some ergonomic handholds or some color...

Jon1 · Postby **Jon1** » February 14th, 2013, 8:07 pm

I like the N64 design. It was really goodlooking and gave me hope that it would be a great console, which it wasn't. The Jaguar was a very nice looking console too. I think the ugliest console is the Super Nintendo. I remember when my brother's friend Andy got one the week it came out, and I was really turned off by the way it looked.

Ozzybear1 · Postby **Ozzybear1** » February 14th, 2013, 9:32 pm

Yeah i like the different designs of consols over the years.
However, personally, it doesnt matter to me what a consol
looks like as long as it works, does what it is supposed to do,
and I get lots of use out of it!!

Ozzy

Rev1 · Postby **Rev1** » February 15th, 2013, 1:52 am

I'm not going to speak about the actual aesthetic design of the console but I figured it would be interesting to point out some of the practical mistakes made by consoles over the years. For instance, the start button on the actual console on the Master System (vs. the controller), the lack of a dust protector on the Jaguar, the 2nd player controller port on the back of the CDI were some horrible design ideas that have happened over time. Either these designs risked the durability of the consoles themselves or were just impractical and an inconvenience to gamers. You could even argue the need for a Wii Remote to access a game could be a poor design choice (although it did encourage Wii owners to have a working Wii remote on them at all times, so that one was prob intentional). It makes you wonder if the people who designed these consoles had any experience with games or at least wonder why some of these decisions were made... Having the get up and pause a game on the console, is a total bummer on the Master System.... It's a giant pain in the ass....

Atarifever1 · Postby **Atarifever1** » February 15th, 2013, 9:18 am

The "pause" on the console thing is likely a result of seeing a "stop program" command as a "system" feature and not as a gameplay command. You have to remember everything outside the game (reset, power, difficulty switches, etc.) had mostly been on the system before then. Those things were off the control panel in the arcades too, for obvious reasons. Pause likely seemed more like "difficulty B" than like the action button to the designers at the time. That's my theory on why the 7800 and SMS did the same thing in the first generation of consoles that all had pause.

Burk1 · Postby **Burk1** » February 15th, 2013, 4:08 pm

From an aesthetic point of view, I have some preferences,but dont really care too much. The Dreamcast is a very cool looking unit, but that didnt seem to help its sales much. I completely agree with the earlier post that said the TG16 is still a very cool design.My favorite might be the original xbox. Its so big and powerful looking,totally badass. The only system I didnt like from a functionality standpoint is the Gamecube.It is a pretty tall system, and with a top load disk,it takes up even more room. It has bumped the top of some of my shelves on my entertainment system when no other systems do.

Pacman0001 · Postby **Pacman0001** » February 15th, 2013, 7:12 pm

The Wii U looks like a beefed-up Wii. Not distinctive, but not bad.

A pleasing design grabs your attention and helps you remember and identify the product. Hopefully, that will increase the chance that you'll buy the produce.

If we're talking about personal preferences, I like Atari's old wedge-shaped systems, and early 90's CD-based systems, with the disk drive on the left, like the CD32, FM Towns Marty, and Wondermega.

Pacman0001 · Postby **Pacman0001** » February 16th, 2013, 11:31 am

Correction: The Wondermega's CD drive is on the right. I still like it.

I also like the Casio PV-1000 and the Super Cassette Vision. The PV-1000 is sleek, and it's a nice color. The Super Cassette Vision is wedge-shaped, like Atari's systems, and it has a spot to store your controllers.