Guys, I've not been keeping up too very much with the gaming platforms. It seems like there are plenty of problems with the Xbox...which was favored over the PS3 on the AH poll (??). Is the reason that more games are available on the Xbox? The Wii looks like a goofy child's game set...but I dunno. The X has HD-DVD, the PS3 has Blu-ray. Hard drives are equivalent?
What's an uninformed gamer wannabe to do? I want to get my wife one for Christmas, but dang if I can figure out which to buy, or WHEN. Any guidance would be most appreciated.
T'anx.
The first choice you need to make is Wii or PS3/360. The Wii does look goofy, but don't knock it til you've tried it and my wife likes the look of it compared with the other two because it's by far the smallest and easiest to hide. And the controller just looks like a Tv remote, so she's not as obsessive about hiding it. My father has decried playing video games since i got my first NES, and when he saw us playing Wii Sports Baseball said "let me try that..."
If it's not for you, put yourself in her shoes, which one would she prefer? In my experience, my wife will play games, as long as they are approachable (no overly complicated controls), and she can pick up and play them for 10 minutes at a clip (no final fantasy or zelda). She doesn't dedicate time to playing, just wants something to pass the time once in awhile.
Hence, why Tetris, Pac Man, Snood, Bejeweled etc are all so popular with her (and a lot of other women). She likes games that she can watch and immediately say "I can do that" without needing to learn for hours on end what buttons do or read an airplane operators manual.
The Wii right now is a minigame machine and home to some bad PS2 ports. There are a couple great games, but they fall into the hardcore gamer category (Zelda, Paper Mario, etc). My wife likes the minigames. And they're a blast with friends.
She also plays the 360, but will only really play the 360 arcade games. Aegis Wing, Pac Man, Hexic, though for some strange reason she won't touch Geometry Wars. The 360 is a great gaming machine, it's just not for her. There have been reliability issues, but most of them have been the RRoD variety, and microsoft just upped the warranty to 3 years for those issues. Online, the 360 blows away the PS3 with a much better online experience - chat, finding friends, the store is all much better thought out. Downside - it costs $60 a year if you want to play against other people online. You can do most of the other stuff for free (send messages, download content, see who's online, etc). It's very noisy, which bothers her a lot. Oh and she loves Guitar Hero II, calling it the best game I've ever bought.
My wife really hasn't touched the PS3 much. She thought Motorstorm was pretty cool, but there's not much other content that interests her at this point. She couldn't care one bit about Blu-Ray, Bluetooth or anything else, so it has very little advantage for her. It is a much more reliable console and here's a big one (for her) -- it's MUCH quieter. The interface isn't as friendly for a new user and the online play is free. It does have wireless built in, which is a plus.
In my experience, the biggest obstacle to get my wife to play has been accessibility. The Wii wins there hands down.
For the 360 or PS3 for her, she prefers the 360 at the moment (Guitar Hero), but as the next one comes out for all three platforms her preference may shift just because the PS3 is quieter.
