I’ve always considered myself to be an avid X-Box supporter. Heck,
I’ve argued until my face was blue informing my friends about its
incredible features (internet capabilities, superior graphics, superior
hardware, adaptability, etc.) Currently, it’s the best console—bar none.
So, come May 12th, the day of Microsoft’s much publicized “reveal”
of X-Box 360 on MTV (yeah, that makes no sense), I must say I’m left in
utter disappointment. Quite frankly, what was Microsoft thinking? Here
we are at the dawn of a new era—X-Box has obtained a massive fan base
and the current console is looking better than ever, and what do we
get?--A machine that looks like an expansion pack to our current black
box. It’s not X-box 360. It’s X-box 1.5. From the coverage I’ve seen
of E3 (as a lowly commoner from the East Coast actually attending the
Expo is just but a dream), I’m just not impressed. In their press
conference, Microsoft spent a majority of the time talking about the
bonus features of their new “all-inclusive-entertainment” device. Well,
call me crazy, but downloading movie trailers or creating sellable
merchandise just doesn’t strike me as that cool.
I’m a gamer. I want to play games. A video game console’s primary purpose should be just that. Sure, bells and whistles are neat, but when that becomes the focus, something is wrong. Give me a plug and play game machine. My PC can do the rest.
I feel annoyed. Here I am, the X-Box cheerleader, and I’m more
impressed by Sony’s Playstation 3?! Crazy! Sony did it right. They
showed some amazing games (whether it’s actual gameplay is up to debate)
and they attempted to appease the hardcore gamer—not the housewives, the sisters, the grandparents, and all the other casual gamers that
Microsoft is trying to reach out to. Look at the “footage” from Killzone
2 on Playstation 3 and compare it to Ghost Recon 3 on X-Box 360.
Regardless of where your loyalties lie, one must admit that the former
was jaw dropping, while the latter looks a lot like a minor upgrade to
the previous installment.
I think somebody should let Microsoft know what somebody who PLAYS games actually thinks of their current path. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself (Playstation 3’s demos may simply be facades of something much less). However, at this juncture it doesn’t take a rocket science to realize which company had a more impressive offering.
So, I will continue to play my current X-box and just wait to see the
true results of this upcoming war. At this point, though, I have only
one true concern. I won’t be able to play Halo 3 on my Playstation 3.
