I’ll wait a moment until you regain consciousness….. There you go, now sit down and hear me out.
Many would call the HALO franchise gaming’s golden egg, the end all be all of AAA titles; I however do not. Because, well, I’ve never played it. Come to think of it the most time I’ve ever spent with an Xbox 360 is the 30 seconds I spent playing Assassins Creed in a Game Crazy… before buying the PS3 version. Now I know what you’re thinking, “FANBOY!” and you sir are wrong, wrong, wrong. Let’s break this down.
It all started when I got my first Playstation 2. Arguably the best system on the market at the time I formed a bond no mortal could break with my giant black box of fun. It resulted in a library of games rivaling even the most enthusiastic gamers, the purchase of an additional two slim versions, (Had to have that damn white one) and half a marriage. So, when the Playstation 3 was announced I pretty much flipped my shit and instantly knew I would hold out for its release rather than buying a 360. What can I say, the PS2 had done everything so right I expected the same with the PS3, seems logical to me. “Sure” I thought, “I won’t be able to play this HALO thing everyone’s raving about but I’ll just get the PS3 first and as soon as my bank account recovers pick up the 360.” Oh how wrong I was.
Now I’ve spent some time thinking of why in all that time I STILL haven’t invested in Microsoft’s white box and have determined the following answer. I’m having too much damn fun with my Playstation! That’s right folks, with an ever expanding library of games threatening what’s left of my spouse’s patience I simply haven’t had enough time to play/beat all the games I already own. So, in theory, adding an entirely different system to the equation would simply worsen the problem.
Some people including myself (to a certain degree) consider this a downside but if you really break it down, is it? For the longest time I focused on the fact that I can’t play 360 exclusives such as HALO or Gears of War but I now have a different outlook. It just means I get more time with other great games such as the Pixel Junk series, or God of War, allowing me to fully explore the universes and not feel rushed to finish because two new games come out next week, on different consoles! Plus I don’t think I’d be able to choose which system to play and would just start spending all of my precious game time trying to answer that question. New 360 franchise or new PS3 franchise? Why can’t I choose!!!!!!!
Undeniably if the opportunity presents itself in the future I would love nothing more than to explore the 360’s varying universes, that time however, is not now. That said, some may argue that to be a true gamer I should be experiencing ALL our video game world has to offer and for the most part I agree. However, at the end of the day being a gamer is simply about one thing and one thing only, having fun with video games and I can certainly say I’m doing plenty of that.
Oh, and Don’t Panic.
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Look, I loved my PS1. Graphically though N64 delivered a better overall experience. The difference that gave PS1 an advantage was CD storage PS1 had some beautiful cut scenes, but in terms of graphical power N64 hands down was better. PS1 had WAY more GAMES though. I think Developers preferred the tstorage over squeezing everything onto a cartridge with VERY limited space!
GameCube same thing Nintendo went with storage that was limited, but had games using multiple disks. RE4 is one port that clearly showed GC advantage. Rouge Squadron 2 and Luigi's mansion were beautiful launch games. Again PlayStation didn't Limit developers storage space. Nintendo's mini discs were expensive, and developers went with PS2! PS2 I am pretty sure has the largest game library of all consoles. Maybe not if you in include the vast amount.of.shovel wear on current consoles.
After that ugh, Nintendo seems to have given up on graphical power. Switch 2 games look really good, but I am usually going to buy ports on PS5/Series X.
N64 had some stunning games, but a lot of the library ran poorly. PS1 games tended to hit a playable 30 more often, albeit with less complex geometry and less/no filtering of textures, and the inherent flaws in how PS1 rasterises graphics.
I played loads of both back in the day and I definitely preferred the solid geometry and smooth textures of N64.
PlayStation 1 Devs were so innovative back in the day utilising so many techniques to achieve the best results. I think this article needed to focus on the games that used pre-drawn backgrounds like Resident Evil, In Cold Blood and FF8 to produce visuals that surpassed anything at the time.
I think you are right and I might add in an honourable mentions to at least discuss pre-rendered backgrounds in the visual history of PS1. It was hugely important and should have been in there.
I was going to include Resident Evil for 1996 but I wanted to talk about a second-generation 3D engine versus Ridge Racer, and I also wanted to talk about Lara's animation.
I was also going to put FF8 for 1999 on the list, even wrote a sentence. But then I figured that Driver would say more about how far programmers (and artists) had come in getting the most from the console.
Could even do an 'alternative PS1 graphics' history. Focus on atypical presentations, like pre-rendered, 2D, BSP engines etc.
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My story is pretty similar except I actually bought the 360 expecting it only to be a way to pass the time until the PS3 launched. I was correct. The games I want to play seem to all be on the Playstation platform.
No disrespect to the 360 ( I still own one ) but my PS3 has more than enough to keep me going.
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Took the words out of my mouth.
well, aren't you all just peas in a pod. ;P
*takes out note pad*
*scribbles in it*
Noted! You don't like Halo.
*runs back to reach beta*
lol, seriously dude, I respect your opinion, as long as you respect that many other people do enjoy Halo.
There is only one definition of a true gamer.. You enjoy games! I dont need to spend an extra 400 dollars buying two extra systems (which I may hardly play) to be able to say Im a gamer. Preferring once console over another doesn't make you a fanboy, it just defines what you like.