Xbox triumphs
I confess - games consoles are something I did not envisage writing about here. I thought I’d cover my thoughts and my life - gaming isn’t a gigantic part of either. But this week I’ve been gaming like it’s May 2002 (Gamecube release Europe), and surprisingly it isn’t the Nintendo Wii, the Gamecube’s popular successor, that I’m living on, but that devil-console - the Xbox.
Never would I, previously a Nintendo-devotee (Well, as much a devotee as one can be when you haven’t gamed regularly for a few years), have believed my love for being alone in a dark room with only a man with a gun - or Link - for company would be re-ignited by a non-’tendo console. But so it has.
A few weeks ago I posted a short lament after my brother sold our Wii. I questioned:
In the long run, which do you prefer? Is Live better than Wii-mote madness? Or vice versa?
I now know. The Wii was immediate, easy to grasp, friendly, cheaper. This is why it is selling so well. I still love all those things - I still think it’s great. But I prefer the Xbox. Live is better than Wii-mote madness, and that’s not just because I detest alliteration.
I’ve found two main differences. One is that Xbox games involve you - immerse you - far more than anything I ever played on the Wii. Perhaps this is because you’re not standing up twirling your arms around in the real world. Perhaps it’s because that’s what they’re aiming for, and the Wii wasn’t. I think both are so. With the Wii, Nintendo were, I think, aiming for real world entertainment - more like a modern monopoly, whereas Microsoft aim for a more immersive experience. I prefer this immersive experience - just like I enjoy a bit of escapist fantasy fiction. The second reason is Xbox live, just as my brother said. It’s odd, but incredible. Odd in that you’re connected via not just a cable, but a microphone to a group of random strangers all over the world, incredible in that you’re playing with and against real people and not computer AI. No, that’s wrong. Plain, simple multiplayer is not incredible - that’s old - but great - tech. What makes the plain, simply multiplayer incredible is the aforementioned oddness - in other words: being able to interact verbally with these strangers.
After playing with both consoles at length, I’ve come to two conclusions. One is that I prefer the Xbox. The other is that I feel that the Wii should not be compared with it’s two competitors as a games console. The dissimilarity of the control systems makes the Wii a different beast entirely. No, they should be compared purely in terms of their entertainment, and I’ve got more pure entertainment out of my Xbox in 3 weeks than I did from the Wii in over a year.
