by Casey Clay

Created on: August 03, 2007

Last winter video gamers around the world anticipated the release of two new video gaming systems. The hype that led up to the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii was incredible. Yet, it was not until the release of these two platforms that the competition had actually begun. There were many hard core gamers who claimed supremacy for the PlayStation 3; but, if majority rule has any say the Wii was, and is, the clear winner.

The first obvious thing of course is the price tag. Nintendo's Wii costs less than half of what you would spend on a new PS3. The PS3, I would say, is out of the price range for the very young gamers and even for a lot of older gamers. Granted, Sony had to spend a lot of money on developing this machine and the hardware itself is akin to some of the best gaming computers on the market; but, in comparison to the Wii, with Nintendo you get more for your money. Why is this?

Yes, the PlayStation 3 has insane graphics capabilities. Yet the audience that can take advantage of these capabilities is fairly limited. To take full advantage of the graphics capabilities you need to have a top-of-the-line HDTV in your home. I know that there are quite a few consumers today that do not have an HDTV in their home. I'm sure the hard core gamer is going to have the best equipment available for their gaming experience. What about the casual gamer, such as myself? If I were to purchase a PS3 I wouldn't be able to use it on my ancient television set. This is a clear draw back of the system itself. Sony tried so hard to create the ultimate gaming experience; they forgot that many of the consumers of their product wouldn't be able to use it. The Wii, while less sophisticated in terms of graphics capabilities, is able to connect to less technologically advanced televisions. This creates for Nintendo a much larger audience to sell their product to. Now grandma and grandpa and little Billy can play games without having to fork out thousands of dollars for a new TV set.

Now we get into the obvious advantage that the Wii presents- the revolutionary motion sensor controllers. This is what makes the Wii so fun to play. Mom and dad will be less likely to be upset that little Billy wants to play Nintendo for 2 hours because while he's playing he's getting a workout. I played Wii boxing for an hour one day and had sore arms for the next two. If you put on some wrist weights for an extra challenge you computer geeks won't get beat up for your lunch money any

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>