New Gen: The alternatives

So, the three new consoles are more or less out now (Sony still hates Europe.. fuck you very much) and for a game junkie like myself the question of system ownership grows ever more present. In a perfect world I would get them all and never think twice about games that I lusted for. Reality does however tend to impose it´s presence and it seems choices will have to be made. As I am currently a rather broke student type person I can´t even begin to afford supporting more than one system right now, albeit later I would like to have at least two at my disposal. In previous posts I have waxed about some of the reasons Nintendo´s latest is a great choice for me but I would like to add the following arguments: Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Super Swing Golf, Dragon´s Quest Swords plus any incarnations of Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon that might make their way onto the platform. This is not to say that no other titles tempt me, but all of these are prime cut deal-sealers that keep me awake at night thinking of them. However, other temptations lurk in the horizons of my dreams..

I´ll just come right out and admit that the PS3 is about as interesting to me as the World Quilting Championship broadcast live on pay-per-view would be. It´s too pricey, the premise seems unengaging, I can still remember how badly Sony have treated a lot of their european fans and gamers in general (delayed releases and Lik Sang spring to mind) and I have very little faith in Blu-Ray. Sure, there are bound to be some killer games for it and they will all probably look like Elvis is visiting your living room but you need a pricey-ass HDTV for that to even begin to be a factor. As of now the exclusives are beginning to be few and far between, and the crushing metal gauntlet the company has throttled it´s competition with the two last generations appears to be warping into a meek kittens paw that´s had it´s claws pulled out (cat lovers can feel free to leave their flaming in the comments section below). Availability is also a huge concern and judging by experience a price drop in Norway won´t see the light of day until well into ´08. Also, I just want to spill some bile toward them for blatantly stealing the motion sensor idea and claiming it was intended all along. For fucks sake, of all the idiotic statements the company has issued for the last year or so this one really shook my monkey tree (don´t snicker!). To hell with them and their overpriced barbecue. I had little faith in their handheld attempt and so far sales figures in the DS´favour are proving my assumptions right. Good thing I got the weird one and never thought twice about the glorified pocket movie machine with no studio support and very few actual games worth mentioning.

This leaves me with one further option, one that only a year ago seemed fairly uninteresting. Not so any more. The Xbox 360, like any other fledgling system, suffered from a bad case of "shitty launch lineup" and has also struggled to build a very convincing roster of games until recently. Now, however, it seems some truly interesting things have started popping up. My first-hand experience with the console is a little limited, involving mostly Oblivion and Dead Rising (both stellar titles IMO) and a little Call of Duty and Table Tennis on the side (no Live sadly) but some recent and upcoming titles are making this a more interesting console. I would like to go through Gears of War just to see what all the fuss is about, but it´s hardly a killer app from where I´m standing. Viva Pinata appeals to my prediliction toward naive nongames and would surely be in my library if I owned this particular system but even these two plus Oblivion (which I actually shelled out for during an extended borrowing of my friends Xbox.. I do love my oversized RPG´s) and Dead Rising weren´t quite enough. What really has me considering this powerplant of an entertainment system is Lost Planet, Blue Dragon and especially Bioshock. This last game looks to be seriously cool, and if it is able to meet my expectations it will be a hell of a ride. Besides an increasingly appealing catalogue of games the 360 is easy to find and probably due for a price drop soon (I´m guessing one that coincides with the euro PS3 launch). Choosing between it and the Wii is getting harder even if the latter is more probable, but these are definitely the two systems I aim to own this time around. I just have to find some way to pay for them..