While I definitely have no bias toward either hardware when it comes to the War on Consoles; I think it’s safe to say I used Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform more than either of the other consoles I owned. I have tried to express that opinion to multiple people in the last few years and for some reason most have taken that to thinking I’ve “Chosen a Side”. Far from it, while I definitely think that Microsoft had the most well developed (all & all, not just specs) this generation, that doesn’t mean I’m going to blindly follow the company into its next iteration. The PS4 looks great. I wasn’t highly impressed by what they had to show, but that’s simply because I don’t think they were actually ready to show it yet. The social aspects of what Sony is introducing are genius. I am constantly watching Youtube let’s play videos, downloading them to my external harddrive and playing them on my X-Box 360. Cutting out that middle man is a HUGE step for sony! The idea of having someone else take control of my character to beat or show me a certain part are exciting. All in all I can’t wait for the announcements in the future. But I digress, this is about the WAR!

Let me remind everyone that when there was the battle between Sega & Nintendo, I simply had a Nintendo because that’s what was given to me for Christmas. I didn’t really pick a side but I was always jealous of people who got to play Sonic on their Genesis. When it was between the Playstation & N64, I was firmly behind the Playstation, but I still got pissed when I wanted to play Mario 64 or Turok. My friend Bryan had those games and I would clamor to come over and play them. When it was between PS2, Gamecube & Xbox; I was stuck in the corner with my soap box and my Dreamcast touting its amazingness. After deliberation and the realizing finality that was Sega’s demise, I latched myself to the Gamecube bandwagon and said that gaming didn’t NEED to be so violent like the wretchedness of Xbox (Which I did eventually get during that generation).

This generation had me getting every single console. First the Wii, on to 360 and I finally buckled toward a ps3. The only one that I can say truly failed me as a gamer was my Wii. Nintendo lost me with it’s obvious stride toward winning over non-gamers and I’m not sure how easy it will be to win my favor back. As much as I love the Mario Franchise, I’ve moved on to greener pastures with less obvious links to gimmicky bullshit. The new generation of WiiU is also lost on me. It seems they reigned it in a bit on catering to people who don’t care about videogames but it just feels like too little too late. You’ve already cheated on me with someone who doesn’t care about you.. you can’t come crawling back now with a really insignificant boob job.

The PS3 had good things but in the end I feel like it was nothing more than a hardcore flash fest. It wasn’t as good as the PS2 by a rather large margin. It was so glorified by Sony that I thought they were touting the second coming of Jesus. But with its inevitable $600 price tag and thoe 600 dollar units receiving the Yellow Light of Death, it became clear there was something wrong here. The PlayStation 2 defines what a successor should do. It became the number 1 selling game console for a reason. It took everything to the next level. More features, more games – more GAME in those games, and not to mention a lot of those games were excellent. For every good game there is on the PS3, there are easily at LEAST FIVE on the PS2. We got over-hyped titles like Killzone 2; which was a failure. We get games like Uncharted. The game is BEAUTIFUL, but it can best be described as a one-night-stand. You play it, you never touch it again. God of War 3, in my opinion, did not deliver the same experience that God of War 1 & 2 brought me. I still firmly believe that The Last Guardian will be the best game to come out this generation. It will push the boundaries between Cinema and Game.

I found a comment on IGN that I think sums up my opinion pretty well this generation:

Sony: Filled with empty promises. Over-glorification of their console. The PS3 itself, built with a complete disregard for morality. $600+, and a flawed cooling design, leading to the BGAs on the GPU to crack. Sony acted as if the PlayStation 3 cured phucking cancer…

-Nintendo: Didn’t even give two sh*ts about gamers this generation (Wii owner, as well…).

Manipulating non-gamers (“casual gamers”; LOL) with the Wii’s painfully obvious, gimmicky motion controls.

I don’t even think the amount of games the Wii has that are worth playing, consists of a two-digit number.

-Microsoft: Can’t really say, never owned an Xbox, but… i mean, think about it; did they really do anything wrong such as the above two contenders in the gaming industry? Not really.

As far as i’m concerned, Microsoft simply did what they have always done, since the original Xbox. Plenty of great games. Great online service (with a fee…), and.. yeah.

Maybe they might have made some bad financial decisions. I don’t know. A Microsoft/Xbox fan would know better than me. But, when it comes to gaming. And gamers, from what I’VE seen. Microsoft takes the win.