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AnchorDesk

Stephan Somogyi
Which new game console is best? Try the games

Stephan Somogyi
Contributor, AnchorDesk
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
TalkBack!Add your opinion
Not only is this the time of year when everyone's concocting cunning plans to determine the perfect gadgetry to give their offspring--or, for that matter, one's self--it's also the opening volley in the latest round of game console wars. Every five years, console makers roll out new hardware, spend a few years duking it out, and then start hinting about their next generations.

The first melody in this generation's competitive canon came from Sony, which introduced the PlayStation 2 (PS2) just in time for last year's holiday buying season. Microsoft recently released its Xbox, and Nintendo unveiled the GameCube in the U.S. shortly thereafter. Though Sony currently leads by a year, that doesn't inherently mean it will win the race. This sort of thing is more like a long-distance run than a sprint.

HARDWARE DOESN'T MATTER to a platform's success nearly as much as its games. Whether a console has a PowerPC processor oscillating at its heart, a MIPS chip, or Intel inside doesn't make one whit of difference unless you want to play a particular console's games.

That said, the one platform-specific hardware characteristic that matters to me a lot is the controller. Of the stock controllers that come with each console, I prefer the Xbox's. It has a sufficiently long cord, and it's large enough that my hands remain in a comfortable position, which is especially important when playing for more than a few minutes at a time. (And I don't have large hands.)

The GameCube's controller gets second place, despite its woefully short cord. Its contours are just right--just like the Nintendo 64 controller's--but it's too small and makes my hands uncomfortable over time. I wish Nintendo would make a larger controller whose design and quality is identical to the stock controller. The PS2 controller takes last place. It's too small, the analog sticks are in an awkward spot, and the cord is too short. Sony's sense of innovation is direly needed here.

THE GAMES MATTER far more to me than do a platform's tech specs. I've been playing quite a few games on all three consoles recently, and have found some winners. My likes and dislikes, however, may not overlap with yours. As they say, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Since the PS2 was released last year, it has the benefit of having more games available this holiday season than its competitors. However, quantity and quality are two different things. Still, if you add the many PSX games that PS2 can play as well, the library available to PS2 owners is huge.

I enjoyed Metal Gear Solid on my PSX a lot, and it still plays very nicely on my PS2. The graphics aren't state of the art any more, but the underlying quality game design doesn't diminish with age. MGS's sequel, the just-released Metal Gear Solid 2, takes all the great things about MGS1--except the VR Training mode--and makes them more so. This will be a time sink for many hours to come.

Sony's own ICO is an unexpected, pleasant surprise. It takes place in a dark, yet visually rich, world. The object of the game is to explore this world and puzzle out how to proceed throughout the game. It's a beautifully sparse game, simple without being simplistic. ICO is just the thing for those of us who don't think gaming is all about twitchy fingers.

HALO AND PIKMIN, on Xbox and GameCube, respectively, have taken up the majority of my recent gaming hours. Halo's a first-person shooter (FPS) with a plot. Unlike Unreal Tournament or Quake, which are both mainly about running around with Really Big Guns and blowing up stuff, Halo actually has a detailed story. Sure, I have to run around blowing up stuff with Fairly Large Armaments. But Halo is a benchmark game, because it does everything so incredibly well. It is the best-executed FPS I've encountered since Half-Life. It looks great, plays exceptionally well on a console (most FPSs don't), and has already engendered a fanatical following.

How fanatical? Enough so that XBoxGW was created to allow people to play Halo against each other over the Net, despite the fact that Microsoft hasn't enabled any of Xbox's online features. My two wishes for Halo going forward: I want the Mac version to ship, and I want Microsoft to make its world-building tools available, so that Halo can live the kind of long life that UT and Q3 have.

SUPER MARIO 64 was enough justification to buy a Nintendo 64. It was the first game that dropped you into a full-fledged, albeit cartoony, 3D world and let you wander around exploring. Shigeru Miyamoto, SM64's designer, already has attained deity status in gaming circles and his latest creation, Pikmin, shows that he's getting better with age.

Pikmin is an amalgamation of several gaming genres mixed together to create a sum greater than its parts. It's made me laugh, it's cute without being saccharine, and it's fun enough that I want to keep playing it. Much like the films Traffic and O Brother, Where Art Thou? used digital effects to support the filmmakers' storytelling without making the effects overshadow the story, Pikmin takes advantage of the GameCube's hardware without being in-your-face about it. Most importantly, Pikmin makes you think, and forces you to strategize carefully.

Even more interesting, Pikmin appeals to the non-gamer. My better half actually asked if she could play a game of Pikmin on her own, after watching me go through it. I cannot think of higher praise. Just like SM64 blew my sneakers off five years ago, Pikmin has done the same this time around.

The battle for dominance and survival in this generation of consoles will continue for some time, but this coming year will be particularly critical. I'll be following all three platforms closely, and will report back as particularly compelling--to me, anyway--games and capabilities appear.

When it comes to gaming consoles, do you care more about the hardware or the games? TalkBack to me.

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