In the world of home gaming, we've always had 2 distinct classes of gamers. The console gamers VS. computer gamers. Setting aside all the individual console prejudices that are held toward one another, PC and console gamers have almost always been at odds with each other. There's no denying, that both platforms have swapped places for supremacy over one another. This is just a short article explaining the strengths and weaknesses between the two over the past years.
In the early days, computers weren't really capable of playing games. The earliest computer games were text base adventure games, where at the time these were out, consoles like the Atari were on top of the world in home gaming.
In the 1980's computers were starting to catch up a bit, but were still a bit down in comparison to systems like the NES. Computers in the 1980's were at least able to branch into some of the game markets, even with some direct arcade ports to the system. But it wasn't until the 90's that computers were capable of high quality gaming. The real issue was the game media. In the mid to early 80's, we were stuck with the microscopic 5-1/2" floppy disks with a grand total of 1.2mb of disk space and a horrifically long read time. Later, the 3-1/2" floppy came out with a bit more space (1.44mb) but with the real advantage being the read speed. The problem was still the size. I remember installing games using 10 or more disks. Then there was a small push for a media called 'Zip' disks. These were massive in comparison with 100mb of storage. But again they were not a viable media as they were very slow and extremely prone to viruses. It wasn't until the 90's when CDROM's became common place that computers could keep up.
The CDROM era in the early 90's was when computers really hit their stride. Not only were the 700mb disk size much more capable of holding and playing larger more complex games. But the technology allowed for full movie cinematics and voice acting, something that wasn't really capable in consoles until the release of CD based consoles much later. Even the early CD consoles like the Sega Saturn didn't do this particularly well. The Nintendo 64 and original Sony Playstation were the first to really compete with this. But computers still have a few disadvantages. First and probably the largest was price. To get a computer in the early 90's, complete with monitor, keyboard, mouse and possibly any peripherals, could cost you close to $1000, and this was 30 years ago. Consoles were able to hook up into any TV, and rarely cost more than $300, most selling for around the $200 mark and less. The other, oddly was portability. Often times, as kids, we would bring consoles to friends and family members houses. They were relatively small, and surprisingly durable. Early computers were extremely large, heavy and incredibly fragile. They were stationary unless you absolutely had to move them.
Even with the price, computers dominated the early to mid 90's of gaming. It was the first place you could play full 3D games, and even had full ports of arcade games, where the consoles had to have them completely dumbed down. It wasn't until the mid 90's with the Playstation and the Nintendo 64 that things started to swing back in the consoles favor. During this period, computers still had plenty of capabilities that consoles didn't. Especially with the rise of the internet in the mid 90's. But consoles were still cheaper, more portable, and more reliable. At this time, there were still video rental stores, and you could rent both consoles and console games, but you could never rent computers and/or computer games, giving them an additional edge.
In the late 90's into the early 2000's, there was another shift toward computers. As computers progressively became more powerful, and more affordable, along with the increase of high speed internet, online gaming became a main staple in the gaming world. Even in the early days of Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft, online gaming became (and still is to this day) one of gaming's most lucrative formats. This period was a bit of a difficult point for consoles. There were some solid systems like the Playstation 2, Game Cube, XBox and even the Sega Dreamcast. All solid systems, with solid games. But with the ability to only have 2 players (4 in the Game Cubes case) and no online ability, they didn't have the appeal of a lot of computer games. Sega actually had an expansion for online gaming, and later on the Playstation 2 as well; But neither were fully realized and worked poorly. This isn't to say there weren't some fantastic console games released at this point. On the contrary, some of the best of all time were released. But in the terms of appeal, PC's still had the market largely cornered during this period.
The next generation (starting around 2007) is when computers and consoles started fighting on even ground. With the release of the Playstation 3 and the XBox 360, online gaming became normal for consoles. Nintendo, even to this day, still doesn't quite have online gaming down (largely with their fear of offending anyone). But everyone else has pushed so far into online gaming, that even full singleplayer games have online elements. Be it random Co-Op missions, or even just expansions to games, it placed consoles on an even playing ground with PC's. The PS3 was the first real step in this direction. The monolith device that was supposed to be able to cure cancer (literally). It was sturdy, reliable, but also massive and extremely expensive, with the launch versions costing upwards of $700. The Xbox 360 was a bit cheaper at $400 and the Wii at the cheapest at $250 for the base model. At this time capable computers were actually less expensive than the Playstation, and were on par in cost with the Xbox and Wii. But, as the consoles soul purpose is to play games, they were actually better than PC's in most respects when it came to gameplay.
In the last 10 years, gaming has taken sort of an odd turn. The latest generation of consoles, and even many new PC games, you don't really own the software. You can't use it on different machines, and in some cases, are paying monthly for games. Consoles are now watching you when you're in your house, and they're releasing games in fragments, forcing you to pay for each tiny portion release of the game. The problem is, in the last 15 years, video games have surpassed Hollywood in net gains. Companies are seeing this and cashing in. In the process, they have become so paranoid about making every last cent they can, they are robbing the gamers blind. I can understand fighting against piracy. But they are so set on making every dollar, they don't even want you sharing a game with your friends and family. They have to buy their own. What this does, is if someone was on the fence about picking up a game, instead of asking a friend or something if you can borrow it, and you know, see if you like it, they'll just say screw it and not ever play it. This mind set is stopping people (including myself) from picking up modern consoles.
Because of this, I would have to give the current generation of gaming to computers. Especially with even low end laptops being able to play really fantastic games, and you can take them anywhere.
To add to this dilemma, modern gaming is starting to take a downward turn in several areas, just in regards to the games as well. The powerful systems are nice, but the game producers are more interested in vamping up their games graphics, rather than providing us with any real gameplay. I would estimate about half or more of top level games spend half the time in a pretty movie with quicktime events (one of the reasons why there are so many people nostalgic over the games of our youth). It won't be until we can get past this that gaming can really take a new direction.
There's also a new direction that PC's are making that consoles have yet to step into. The world of VR gaming. VR gaming is still really in the steps of infancy, with only a few real games that have taken this direction. But it is a direction worth exploring. Many gamers are looking for a more immersive experience, and VR is the most immersive you can get. It's also the quickest way to get motion sickness, but I'll side step that for now. I've played around with VR, and it has some serious potential, and this is potential that consoles will have to catch up with, or they will fall behind again.
I do want to note, that I'm not one who ever took sides in this spat of gamers. Yes, I have always preferred most console games to computer games. But over the years, I've had both, with favorites in both directions. And now, about the only company with any real exclusives is Nintendo, so even the exclusive argument isn't overly valid anymore either. These days, as time goes on, Consoles and Computers are growing closer and closer in similarities as well. The only company that's keeping it in a different direction is, again, Nintendo. The next 10 or so years will be an interesting study on where gaming goes.
Showing posts with label Console. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Console. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2018
Pandora Arcade Units - Are they worth it?
So I recently picked up a Pandora 5S. Partially out of curiosity, but mostly because arcade games were amongst my favorite games I played as a kid. I grew up near Reno where gambling is a thing, and if you aren't 18, you aren't even allowed in the area with the slot machines. So as a kid, I spent a lot of time in the arcades while the adults were dropping coins into slot machines. This has, admittedly created a bit of a nostalgia direction for me. Arcades were far superior to their console counterparts back then. And there were tons of arcade exclusive like X-Men that are still loved to this day. And as someone who loves classic 2D fighting games, the arcade was one of the best places to play.
We'll start off explaining what the Pandora's Box is. It's a portable game console, with arcade sticks and buttons built in. It's got an HDMI out port so you can hook it straight into a TV, power it on and play. Pretty much anywhere. It also has a VGA out with an audio jack and a built in speaker. I get the VGA jack, as a lot of people try and keep with CRT, getting that old school feel. But the built in speaker is kind of a surprise. It's not a horrible speaker, but nothing that will set the world a light. It also has a couple of USB ports in the back. One is so you can play games from a thumb drive (expandable storage is always a plus), and the other is so you can use the stick as a USB Controller (I'll get into that later). On the top you have 2 sticks, and 2 sets of buttons, a classic 6 button layout for each player. There is also the standard player one and player two buttons, along with a coin button and a pause button.
I will start off with what everyone usually wants to know first, the games, and how do they play. The version I picked up has 999 games built in. Through my research on the device, there seem to be a TON of variants. There are ones that have a back hinge, ones that have screws through the top (like mine), and a massive variety on the quantity of games included. I won't go through the entire games list as that is not only too much, especially for a text review. But I will take you through some of the major titles, and hit on the good and the bad of what this machine has to offer.
When you boot the device, you are greeted with a a nice opening sequence with some pretty intense music. This intro seems to vary from version to version, but it is a nice touch. Then it boots to the game load screen. You have a list of the games, for my versions case, in alphabetical order, and to the right, a screen with a demo of the game. There are different settings to the games, but I'll get into that later. But I do want to touch on the 2 modes. There is a free play mode, and a coin mode. In free play, you can just select your game, and it'll dive right in, into the actual free play variant of the game. The coin mode, you have to load a coin before you even select a game, and once you do, you have a counter ticking down on you for some reason.
The first game I chose to play was a favorite classic Beat'em up. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I chose the original, but Turtles in Time is on here. The game plays great, no slow downs that I ran into, and no real problems with image quality. You do get a periodic artifact, but remember, this is technically emulating these games. I continued to select from my favorites list as a kid, Street Fighter (it has all the variants through 3), King of Fighters (again all the variants through 2004), Samurai Showdown, Last Blade, X-Men, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Raideen. They all played beautifully. Then I started to find the worm in the apple. There are games that don't play well at all. Mortal Kombat for one. The game plays, but slowly, and the sound emulation is choppy at best. And this is one I don't fully understand, nearly every Sega game plays horribly as well. Even older titles that should have zero problems. The issue I gather is the version. Supposedly, if I load an MK rom onto a USB drive, it will actually play just fine. I've yet to try this, but I plan to soon.
Now the game list, while extensive does run into a few issues. First, they often use the Asian, or European variants of the names. So it might take some time to find your favorite titles if it had a different name elsewhere. Also, in a way, there are a ton of repeated titles. The qualifier comes from the fact it's technically a different variant that did exist. But when there's 14 versions of Street Fighter 3, it can be a little out of control. Over-all, however, I like that it has all the versions of the games it does have.
There are a few noteworthy items that need to be brought up with the games. One of the biggest is there is no saving high scores. As far as I can tell, there are no versions of these games that have this option. This is a bit of an issue with certain games. Games like Martial Masters have secret characters that unlock when the game has been booted and running for a certain amount of time. So in these situations, the character will remain locked. There are a few games that have features like this. So you can expect to play the first boot of a game every time, nothing saved or unlocked. You can set the coin amount (pointless if you ask me) as well as set the difficulty (and depending on the game, the lives) of each game as well. Most of this is moot, as you have endless coins using the button if you so desire.
Aside from a few games, I'm quite happy with the game selection and the systems performance.
Now onto the Hardware. As described before, the game has classic arcade sticks with a 6 button layout. For the 2-4 button games, you just use the buttons A-D. And this doesn't take too long to get use to. The quality of the sticks is decent, but not amazing. There is no lag or anything like that. But they lack the feel you get from the higher end sticks like Sanwa. The buttons are similar. They are very functional, and well built. But they aren't exactly clicky. Now what's nice is the buttons and the stick use standard wiring and plugs into the console, so they are upgradeable if you so desire to do so. That being said, if you aren't a hardcore arcade player, the ones that are provided work really well, and aren't cheap little weak pieces of plastic. The cabinet also has built in lights. These lights are on when plugged in, no matter what. Kinda bugged me, so I disconnected those, thankfully they provided an actual plug to do so.
The actual board is a high quality lexan with a decent print of Ryu from Street Fighter IV on it. There are other versions, variants and qualities, so keep that in mind if you are picking one up. Once you open it up, you get to see it's really a large housing for not a lot of gear. The actual game board isn't very large, so it's mostly open space. The one item I am extremely happy with is they have the wires well pathed, and they are long enough to remove the top and not tug on them. There are versions with a fan, which mine does not. I will note, the fan is 100% not necessary. I've had long gaming sessions, and no issues from heat at all. There is also the Mono speaker side mounted as well. I guess some units have it facing downward, and that just seems like a bad idea to me.
The actual hook-ups work perfect too. I've had the HDMI in 3 TV's ranging from an older 32" to a brand new 60" smart TV with no problems. The audio jack works great. I've had it hooked up to my 2000 watt stereo system and it sounded really good. Then the USB ports. The reader works reasonably well. I've only done a little with it, so I can't say too much. But the USB controller is where this gets interesting. You don't power the machine on, you just USB to USB whatever you are controlling and that's it. The only downfall of this is when hooked up to consoles, I.E. my PS3 are hooked up, you only get 6 buttons. Making it REALLY hard to do much on them. On the PC, much better, as it's much looser with it's peripherals.
That covers really all there is to the console itself. All in all, it's a nice piece of kit. I've clocked some extensive hours on it, and I'm not feeling any build quality issues, and the majority of the games play fantastic. There are even a few gems I've never heard of, that I absolutely loved. If you are on the fence on getting one, just do your homework on the different versions, and look at the descriptions and photos. But you should be getting a solid product.
We'll start off explaining what the Pandora's Box is. It's a portable game console, with arcade sticks and buttons built in. It's got an HDMI out port so you can hook it straight into a TV, power it on and play. Pretty much anywhere. It also has a VGA out with an audio jack and a built in speaker. I get the VGA jack, as a lot of people try and keep with CRT, getting that old school feel. But the built in speaker is kind of a surprise. It's not a horrible speaker, but nothing that will set the world a light. It also has a couple of USB ports in the back. One is so you can play games from a thumb drive (expandable storage is always a plus), and the other is so you can use the stick as a USB Controller (I'll get into that later). On the top you have 2 sticks, and 2 sets of buttons, a classic 6 button layout for each player. There is also the standard player one and player two buttons, along with a coin button and a pause button.
I will start off with what everyone usually wants to know first, the games, and how do they play. The version I picked up has 999 games built in. Through my research on the device, there seem to be a TON of variants. There are ones that have a back hinge, ones that have screws through the top (like mine), and a massive variety on the quantity of games included. I won't go through the entire games list as that is not only too much, especially for a text review. But I will take you through some of the major titles, and hit on the good and the bad of what this machine has to offer.
When you boot the device, you are greeted with a a nice opening sequence with some pretty intense music. This intro seems to vary from version to version, but it is a nice touch. Then it boots to the game load screen. You have a list of the games, for my versions case, in alphabetical order, and to the right, a screen with a demo of the game. There are different settings to the games, but I'll get into that later. But I do want to touch on the 2 modes. There is a free play mode, and a coin mode. In free play, you can just select your game, and it'll dive right in, into the actual free play variant of the game. The coin mode, you have to load a coin before you even select a game, and once you do, you have a counter ticking down on you for some reason.
The first game I chose to play was a favorite classic Beat'em up. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I chose the original, but Turtles in Time is on here. The game plays great, no slow downs that I ran into, and no real problems with image quality. You do get a periodic artifact, but remember, this is technically emulating these games. I continued to select from my favorites list as a kid, Street Fighter (it has all the variants through 3), King of Fighters (again all the variants through 2004), Samurai Showdown, Last Blade, X-Men, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Raideen. They all played beautifully. Then I started to find the worm in the apple. There are games that don't play well at all. Mortal Kombat for one. The game plays, but slowly, and the sound emulation is choppy at best. And this is one I don't fully understand, nearly every Sega game plays horribly as well. Even older titles that should have zero problems. The issue I gather is the version. Supposedly, if I load an MK rom onto a USB drive, it will actually play just fine. I've yet to try this, but I plan to soon.
Now the game list, while extensive does run into a few issues. First, they often use the Asian, or European variants of the names. So it might take some time to find your favorite titles if it had a different name elsewhere. Also, in a way, there are a ton of repeated titles. The qualifier comes from the fact it's technically a different variant that did exist. But when there's 14 versions of Street Fighter 3, it can be a little out of control. Over-all, however, I like that it has all the versions of the games it does have.
There are a few noteworthy items that need to be brought up with the games. One of the biggest is there is no saving high scores. As far as I can tell, there are no versions of these games that have this option. This is a bit of an issue with certain games. Games like Martial Masters have secret characters that unlock when the game has been booted and running for a certain amount of time. So in these situations, the character will remain locked. There are a few games that have features like this. So you can expect to play the first boot of a game every time, nothing saved or unlocked. You can set the coin amount (pointless if you ask me) as well as set the difficulty (and depending on the game, the lives) of each game as well. Most of this is moot, as you have endless coins using the button if you so desire.
Aside from a few games, I'm quite happy with the game selection and the systems performance.
Now onto the Hardware. As described before, the game has classic arcade sticks with a 6 button layout. For the 2-4 button games, you just use the buttons A-D. And this doesn't take too long to get use to. The quality of the sticks is decent, but not amazing. There is no lag or anything like that. But they lack the feel you get from the higher end sticks like Sanwa. The buttons are similar. They are very functional, and well built. But they aren't exactly clicky. Now what's nice is the buttons and the stick use standard wiring and plugs into the console, so they are upgradeable if you so desire to do so. That being said, if you aren't a hardcore arcade player, the ones that are provided work really well, and aren't cheap little weak pieces of plastic. The cabinet also has built in lights. These lights are on when plugged in, no matter what. Kinda bugged me, so I disconnected those, thankfully they provided an actual plug to do so.
The actual board is a high quality lexan with a decent print of Ryu from Street Fighter IV on it. There are other versions, variants and qualities, so keep that in mind if you are picking one up. Once you open it up, you get to see it's really a large housing for not a lot of gear. The actual game board isn't very large, so it's mostly open space. The one item I am extremely happy with is they have the wires well pathed, and they are long enough to remove the top and not tug on them. There are versions with a fan, which mine does not. I will note, the fan is 100% not necessary. I've had long gaming sessions, and no issues from heat at all. There is also the Mono speaker side mounted as well. I guess some units have it facing downward, and that just seems like a bad idea to me.
The actual hook-ups work perfect too. I've had the HDMI in 3 TV's ranging from an older 32" to a brand new 60" smart TV with no problems. The audio jack works great. I've had it hooked up to my 2000 watt stereo system and it sounded really good. Then the USB ports. The reader works reasonably well. I've only done a little with it, so I can't say too much. But the USB controller is where this gets interesting. You don't power the machine on, you just USB to USB whatever you are controlling and that's it. The only downfall of this is when hooked up to consoles, I.E. my PS3 are hooked up, you only get 6 buttons. Making it REALLY hard to do much on them. On the PC, much better, as it's much looser with it's peripherals.
That covers really all there is to the console itself. All in all, it's a nice piece of kit. I've clocked some extensive hours on it, and I'm not feeling any build quality issues, and the majority of the games play fantastic. There are even a few gems I've never heard of, that I absolutely loved. If you are on the fence on getting one, just do your homework on the different versions, and look at the descriptions and photos. But you should be getting a solid product.
Monday, January 11, 2016
New 3DS
Console Review - New Nintendo 3DS
Is it worth buying?
I'm going to break regulation and write about something new today, the New Nintendo 3DS. The original 3DS and 3DSXL are one of the top selling handheld consoles of all time. Not only is it backwards compatible with all of the DS and DSi titles released on the previous handheld, but with it's graphical upgrades and surprising useable 3D features, it's a pretty solid handheld. The New 3DS is classic Nintendo, release a game that requires an upgrade of some sort (Xenoblade Chronicles in this case). This time, however, you don't buy a peripheral, or a new memory unit a la Nintendo 64, but you have to purchase a whole new system. Many, including myself, balked at this as we already owned some iteration of the 3DS already. I've since upgraded, and will be letting all of you know how I feel about the new system.
First, I want to recap on the original 3DS, it's strengths and weaknesses.
The 3DS was Nintendo's first steps into console quality gaming on a handheld. As beloved as the original NDS was, it had some pretty serious graphic limitations, along with some dev's creating games that were just too much for the little system (FFXII and Assassins Creed come to mind). The 3DS allowed for direct downloading of full game titles (the DSI had a little of this functionality), proper online game play, and of course the 3D screen on all models but the 2DS. The 3DS also had a fully analog joy pad which, in my opinion, is a massive improvement on Sony's for both the original PSP and the Vita. All of these are what allowed Nintendo to corner the market on the current handheld generation. Well, that and Super Smash Bros.
The 3DS isn't without it's faults however. First and foremost is the 3D screen. I very much like the 3D as it enhances the graphics considerably. But it's a giant pain to use most of the time. if you can't guarantee that you're sitting in just the right position, the screen goes all wonky and double vision, making game play impossible. The next issue is classic Nintendo, peripherals. Many games released (MGS3, MH3 & MH4, Resident Evil etc.) all are enhanced by a peripheral call the 'Circle Pad Pro'. A fancy little device that you attach to the 3DS to allow for a 'C' stick and 2 more shoulder buttons. This is both costly, and more importantly, not available for the American markets. Some might say that these games are playable without the circle pad pro, but..... and this is a big but, the game play without it is kinda crap. In all honesty, the Monster Hunter games are nearly unplayable without it, requiring you to use the touch screen for the camera, options, equipment and missions. Lastly is a personal pet peeve of mine, of which I seem one of the few that have it is the speakers. I don't know if the 2DS or the original 3DS have this issue, but the 3DS XL's speakers are woefully inadequate. Some games in particular (like a favorite of mine, Blazblue) almost need headphones in a quiet room. I honestly don't understand how a pair of Stereo speakers produce half the sound of most cellphone's itty bitty Mono speakers.
Enough on the old system, and onto the new. If you compare the New 3DS with the old, at first glance you barely notice any changes. They added 2 new shoulder buttons, and there's this little rubber nub sticking out next to the A,B,Y,X buttons. They also moved a bunch of the existing buttons around, most obviously the start/select buttons and the power button.
Let's go over these changes real quick. The extra shoulder buttons and the nub is Nintendo basically building in the circle pad pro into the new system. That little nub is a 'C' stick. The extra shoulder buttons are a little hard to reach for the small of hands, like myself, but still usable. So few games take advantage of these anyway, you'll rarely be too worried about them. The nubby little 'C' stick is a more intriguing upgrade however. The original Circle Pad Pro had a proper joypad, the same as the directional joy pad. The 'C' stick is a pressure sensitive nub that doesn't really have much feel to it. It most certainly doesn't have any give, or movement. It is surprisingly intuitive though. Once you get use to it, you just adjust the speed of the camera movement by applying more or less pressure.
Moving the volume was also a good choice. Where the volume was located before, on the side of the hand held, was easy to bump, accidentally turning the volume up or down while gaming. Now located on the screen, that's not a possibility any more. The speaker output has been increased to something more acceptable as well. They've also added Amibo support, which in all honesty won't matter to 90% of us, but for those who like it, one more plus.
Moving all the other buttons..... I'm not so sure about. They moved the start/select to a more traditional location under the A,B,X,Y buttons, where they use to surround the home button. I think their reasoning was to prevent the accidental hitting of the home button while pressing start, which sort of makes sense, but it's easier to bump the start/select buttons by complete accident now. The worst move was the power button. They moved this to the bottom of the device, where it use to be a flush button on the face of it. The button is hard to find, harder to push, and just in a stupid location. I know most of us don't turn the 3DS off too often, but this was a stupid decision from Nintendo.
They also moved the headphone jack and charging location a little, but those are insignificant in all regards.
They did more than that though. They upped the power on the hand held by a significant amount. You won't notice this in most cases, but where it is noticeable is with load times, and on rare occasions when games framerate would drop, this system doesn't seem to anymore. Another upgrade with the wireless modem. The original 3DS systems wireless was painfully slow. The New 3DS's has has a pretty major upgrade, allowing for about twice the original speed.
The biggest and best upgrade was to the 3D system. They've added an infrared head tracker to keep the 3D working, even if you move about. And as it's infrared, it works in the dark too. I will point out, it works quite well. You can sometimes see the system working, the screen will go double for just a moment, and then correct itself, or a periodic flicker, but it's seldom and not that noticeable. I've even tried screwing with it, turning my head, even fiddling with the screen, and it seems to be able to keep itself straight most of the time.
At this time, there are only a few New 3DS exclusive titles released (excluding the SNES virtual Console Games), most notably Xenoblade Chronicles. There are announcements of more to come. I actually see most of the exclusives probably coming from the indi game market, as this new system gives them more to play with. Now with only 2 games currently available, is the upgrade worth it? This is where is gets incredibly objective. Xenoblade Chronicles is a good game, and on it's own merits, I can understand purchasing the console for that game alone, and if you're new to the system, easy choice, just buy the new one. It's not that much more and worth it.... but, for those who aren't interested in JRPG's I can see the upgrade being a tentative one at the very least.
The cons are very simple, full price for a system (that doesn't even come with a charging adapter I might add). There are only 2 exclusive games. And most of the added controls aren't even usable on most games.
The pluses are good ones though. The upgraded processing power makes almost all 3DS games run more smoothly. Yes, many games don't use the added buttons, but those that do greatly benefit from them. And the head tracking makes the 3D actually usable.
Anyone on the fence for purchasing the New 3DS will have to weigh out their options. As someone who actually uses the 3D, I'm quite happy with it. And I do want to add, Xenoblade Chronicles is a solid game in it's own right (which was actually my main reason for picking up the system in the first place).
Friday, September 11, 2015
The Nintendo Entertainment System: Birth of an Empire
A retrospective look at one of the greatest Consoles of all time.
Not including Nintendo's 'Color TV Game', the NES was Nintendo's first real stab at the home video game market. And what a stab it was. Comparatively to the previous well known 8-bit systems of the day (the Atari for those too young to remember), The NES featured superior graphics, betters sound and a controller that consisted of more than a joystick and one button, and even launched with the famed 'Light Gun'. And with one of the most robust line-ups of launch titles to date (still impressive by today's standards), the NES grew to be one of the most successful video game consoles of all time.
The Nintendo Entertainment System didn't have the smoothest of launches in the US however. The NES launched in America in 1985, shortly after the time Atari was on it's way out (largely due to the ET scandal). It was so tough for Nintendo to get a leg into the market, largely as many stores refused to even stock game systems any more, they had to get clever. And that's why they decided to market themselves as a 'Home Entertainment System', even through in a few gimmicks like R.O.B. the robot. Even with the rough beginnings, the Nintendo was a quick success, turning themselves into the 'must have' Christmas present for the next 5 years.
Nintendo's first game line-ups could be considered baby steps for them if you think of how the console evolved. Even with the somewhat rough beginnings, Nintendo's early days (including the bundled games at launch) included Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, which are games that are still loved today. The games on the NES quickly evolved as well. Shortly into the system's life, Nintendo released a game so massive, it required something no console system had ever seen, saves. This game would be the famed 'Legend of Zelda'. And they only continued from there. The NES allowed Nintendo to produce games of such quality (and fun), it launched numerous franchises and characters that are still relevant today.
Let's take a brief look at the evolution of Nintendo's games. If you look at the start, it's very blocky. The graphical limitations are easily seen. You can make out what the characters are supposed to be, but blocky. The sounds were also pretty basic. All the sounds in the early days (and this includes any music track in the game) are all single note sounds. Even with these limitations, the designers at Nintendo, and the composer Koji Kondo were able to produce memorable characters and music. Shortly into the NES's life, the developers were learning how to design around the system, finding what it was capable of. This allowed for some fantastic innovation. They were developing games with top down perspective, driving games with a 1st person perspective. If you think about it, games that utilized the Light Gun were the first console based First Person Shooters. Yes they were limited to the technology of the time, and are more accurately known as 'Rail Shooters', but these were the first steps in that direction. On top of that, Nintendo started greatly enhancing the sounds the NES was able to make. This not only allowed for much more robust soundtracks, even some games were capable of voice... Sorta (example: Bayou Billy).
One of Nintendo's great innovations were it's controllers. The controllers were some of the first to have more than 1 action button, and oddly one of the first to allow you to pause the game with the start button (Start to stop, must be where Windows got it from). It was one of the first, purely hand held controllers, without making us use some facsimile of a Joy stick. Most of the early joystick controllers required some sort of table to sit at to really be usable, with some feeble attempt of using suction cups on the bottom, and would come loose at the most inopportune moment. What the NES controller allowed us to do was move, steer, whatever with the left hand and do whatever action is required with the right hand . This was an evolution that can be likened to the evolution of man growing thumbs. This was such a good controller setup, it's still the base of almost all hand-held controller layouts to this day.
I don't want this to just be a parade with out great the NES was. As with everything, it was not without faults, and the NES had some biggun's. First was the setup. To this day, I've yet to see a setup that was more un-reliable and fiddly, and I have a Wii. They didn't come with any standard component cables, but an adapter to work with your Cable port (The RF adapter). I understand this was to allow the NES to work, even if you didn't have a VCR. But this allowed for the worst possible picture quality, and the component cables weren't even a stock option.
And once you did figure out how to hook the thing up, you had to deal with one of the most un-reliable consoles to ever be released (maybe aside from the X-Box :p). All of us had our tricks, having the cartridge in just the right, un-plug and plug it back in, hold power and reset at the same time, jump up and down, sacrifice a chicken, and none of it helped. Sadly, I think we all knew it too. What was truly at fault was 2 things, dust and corrosion. Even though the NES had a closing lid to protect it's delicate interiors, dust would still manage to find it's way in there. Probably as most of us didn't use dust covers on the games them-selves. This would lead to us blowing the systems out with our mouths, which seemed to work great.... at first. When we would blow out both the cartradges and the console, what we were also doing is leaving little saliva deposits, which would cause rust and corrosion, making our NES's more and more un-reliable to the point of almost being un-useable. This is such a well known problem, that 3rd party companies were (and are) making replacement parts for the pin reader system.
On top of the corrosion issues, there was also a design flaw in just using the games, even if you took every opertunity to protect the system. Because of Nintendo's use of light weight metals (I.E. Nickel) on their contact pins, repeated use, pressing the game down in the system would cause the pins to start to bend, and eventually loose connectivity. This is one flaw that could not be circumvented. Again, there are (and were) companies that make replacement parts for this. Thankfully this was an issue Nintendo recognized and corrected in the Super NES with their top loading system. Funnily, you can almost call this an un-planned obsolescence. As all our NES' were dying, Nintendo had launched the SNES. The 'Here's your fix... A new system!'.
But I digress. Even with these faults, the NES laid the foundation for Nintendo, and the home video game consoles as a whole. It was an important step. Many of us today still hold the NES in reverence. It was many gamers first system, and was a leap forward compared to what had been release previously. The NES was the first system to step out of our world and be a hero, go and save the princess, or be a Formula 1 driver. Nintendo hit the nail on the head with this one, and with luck, the NES will forever live on.
Not including Nintendo's 'Color TV Game', the NES was Nintendo's first real stab at the home video game market. And what a stab it was. Comparatively to the previous well known 8-bit systems of the day (the Atari for those too young to remember), The NES featured superior graphics, betters sound and a controller that consisted of more than a joystick and one button, and even launched with the famed 'Light Gun'. And with one of the most robust line-ups of launch titles to date (still impressive by today's standards), the NES grew to be one of the most successful video game consoles of all time.
The Nintendo Entertainment System didn't have the smoothest of launches in the US however. The NES launched in America in 1985, shortly after the time Atari was on it's way out (largely due to the ET scandal). It was so tough for Nintendo to get a leg into the market, largely as many stores refused to even stock game systems any more, they had to get clever. And that's why they decided to market themselves as a 'Home Entertainment System', even through in a few gimmicks like R.O.B. the robot. Even with the rough beginnings, the Nintendo was a quick success, turning themselves into the 'must have' Christmas present for the next 5 years.
Nintendo's first game line-ups could be considered baby steps for them if you think of how the console evolved. Even with the somewhat rough beginnings, Nintendo's early days (including the bundled games at launch) included Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, which are games that are still loved today. The games on the NES quickly evolved as well. Shortly into the system's life, Nintendo released a game so massive, it required something no console system had ever seen, saves. This game would be the famed 'Legend of Zelda'. And they only continued from there. The NES allowed Nintendo to produce games of such quality (and fun), it launched numerous franchises and characters that are still relevant today.
Let's take a brief look at the evolution of Nintendo's games. If you look at the start, it's very blocky. The graphical limitations are easily seen. You can make out what the characters are supposed to be, but blocky. The sounds were also pretty basic. All the sounds in the early days (and this includes any music track in the game) are all single note sounds. Even with these limitations, the designers at Nintendo, and the composer Koji Kondo were able to produce memorable characters and music. Shortly into the NES's life, the developers were learning how to design around the system, finding what it was capable of. This allowed for some fantastic innovation. They were developing games with top down perspective, driving games with a 1st person perspective. If you think about it, games that utilized the Light Gun were the first console based First Person Shooters. Yes they were limited to the technology of the time, and are more accurately known as 'Rail Shooters', but these were the first steps in that direction. On top of that, Nintendo started greatly enhancing the sounds the NES was able to make. This not only allowed for much more robust soundtracks, even some games were capable of voice... Sorta (example: Bayou Billy).
One of Nintendo's great innovations were it's controllers. The controllers were some of the first to have more than 1 action button, and oddly one of the first to allow you to pause the game with the start button (Start to stop, must be where Windows got it from). It was one of the first, purely hand held controllers, without making us use some facsimile of a Joy stick. Most of the early joystick controllers required some sort of table to sit at to really be usable, with some feeble attempt of using suction cups on the bottom, and would come loose at the most inopportune moment. What the NES controller allowed us to do was move, steer, whatever with the left hand and do whatever action is required with the right hand . This was an evolution that can be likened to the evolution of man growing thumbs. This was such a good controller setup, it's still the base of almost all hand-held controller layouts to this day.
I don't want this to just be a parade with out great the NES was. As with everything, it was not without faults, and the NES had some biggun's. First was the setup. To this day, I've yet to see a setup that was more un-reliable and fiddly, and I have a Wii. They didn't come with any standard component cables, but an adapter to work with your Cable port (The RF adapter). I understand this was to allow the NES to work, even if you didn't have a VCR. But this allowed for the worst possible picture quality, and the component cables weren't even a stock option.
And once you did figure out how to hook the thing up, you had to deal with one of the most un-reliable consoles to ever be released (maybe aside from the X-Box :p). All of us had our tricks, having the cartridge in just the right, un-plug and plug it back in, hold power and reset at the same time, jump up and down, sacrifice a chicken, and none of it helped. Sadly, I think we all knew it too. What was truly at fault was 2 things, dust and corrosion. Even though the NES had a closing lid to protect it's delicate interiors, dust would still manage to find it's way in there. Probably as most of us didn't use dust covers on the games them-selves. This would lead to us blowing the systems out with our mouths, which seemed to work great.... at first. When we would blow out both the cartradges and the console, what we were also doing is leaving little saliva deposits, which would cause rust and corrosion, making our NES's more and more un-reliable to the point of almost being un-useable. This is such a well known problem, that 3rd party companies were (and are) making replacement parts for the pin reader system.
On top of the corrosion issues, there was also a design flaw in just using the games, even if you took every opertunity to protect the system. Because of Nintendo's use of light weight metals (I.E. Nickel) on their contact pins, repeated use, pressing the game down in the system would cause the pins to start to bend, and eventually loose connectivity. This is one flaw that could not be circumvented. Again, there are (and were) companies that make replacement parts for this. Thankfully this was an issue Nintendo recognized and corrected in the Super NES with their top loading system. Funnily, you can almost call this an un-planned obsolescence. As all our NES' were dying, Nintendo had launched the SNES. The 'Here's your fix... A new system!'.
But I digress. Even with these faults, the NES laid the foundation for Nintendo, and the home video game consoles as a whole. It was an important step. Many of us today still hold the NES in reverence. It was many gamers first system, and was a leap forward compared to what had been release previously. The NES was the first system to step out of our world and be a hero, go and save the princess, or be a Formula 1 driver. Nintendo hit the nail on the head with this one, and with luck, the NES will forever live on.
Sony Playstation
Sony Playstation
The Sony Playstation (now commonly known as the PSX or PSone) was released in 1994 and was Sony's first major attempt at a home console entertainment system. It was the first launched of what Wikipedia calls the 5th generation game consoles, competing with the later released Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. Like the Sega and unlike the N64, the Sony Playstation utilized CD's for the game media, allowing for a much greater sized game than consoles were previously capable of. It was also the most expensive console released to date, costing a whopping $299 sticker price.
The PSone is responsible for a lot of firsts in the gaming world, but had a shaky start. As is typical of Sony's system launches, they had a woefully lackluster selection of launch titles. A smattering of sports games, a port of an arcade game that was old, even by 1994's standards, Rayman, and Street Fighter: The Movie (possibly the worst street fighter game ever released). It took the system almost 2 years before it had any titles that would hold their own. What allowed the PSone to take off is it was the first console that did more than gaming. It didn't do much mind you, but it did play music CD's. It might seem a bit of a gimmick now, but at the time CD's were still kinda new, and this paved the way of Sony game consoles being more, being home entertainment systems. And by the time the PSone's main competition came out, the Nintendo 64 in 1996 (The Sega Saturn was never really a full blown rival), the PSone's games lineup had grown immensely.
When the Playstation was first released, it was sporting hardware the video games world hadn't seen outside of arcade systems and high end computer systems. It was the first home console to sport 32bit graphics, with hardware allowing for full 3d graphics, with the 3d graphics only getting better and better as developers learned how to fully utilize the system. The hardware and the fact it used CD's as it's media, meant it was one of the first devices to allow for fully rendered cut scenes, and fully orchestrated background music.
What was one of the Playstation's greatest strengths, was also probably it's greatest weakness as well. Sony's use of CD's allowed for massive games comparatively to what was coming out at the time. But it also added an annoyance to gaming that still exists to this day, loading times. The Playstation was the first system to be plagued by this menace. With it's primary competitor (The Nintendo 64) having no loading times at all due to it's use of Cartridges, it weighed heavily on the system. But Sony prevailed. With it's massive game selection, even releasing games that were only previously available on a PC, and with multi-disk titles like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear, the Sony went on to be a staple in the gaming world.
One of the Playstation's greatest triumphs was the introduction to the Playstation controller. The Playstation controller was loosely based off of the SNES controller, with the same standard layout of D-Pad on the left, 4 buttons on the right, start, select and shoulder buttons (in this case 4 shoulder buttons instead of 2). What the Playstation did differently than anyone to this date, is the controller was not just a flat bar with some buttons on it, it was ergonomic. With curves and angles so the controller fit comfortably in your hands. This controller design was so successful, the basic layout hasn't changed since the controllers introduction for 21 years, only adding a few items (analog sticks and buttons, and now has a touch pad and headphone jacks). The long life of this controller layout is a testament of it's quality and design.
Overall, the Sony Playstation can only be measured to be a massive success. It started Sony out in the console gaming world, and they've been there ever since. Not only is the Playstation still revered to this day, even Sony allowing for digital downloads of their classic games, but it laid the foundation of what was to come. It was the first gaming system to do more than just play video games, it was the first gaming system to successfully use CD's as it's game media, the first to successfully implement an ergonomic controller, the first system to allow for full 3d rendered graphics, the first to allow pre-rendered graphics, the first to allow for a fully orchestrated soundtrack, the list can go on. Almost all of these firsts were ground breaking and still used today. Even with a few minor problems, the Playstation was an important step in gaming and pointed the direction to the future.
The Sony Playstation (now commonly known as the PSX or PSone) was released in 1994 and was Sony's first major attempt at a home console entertainment system. It was the first launched of what Wikipedia calls the 5th generation game consoles, competing with the later released Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. Like the Sega and unlike the N64, the Sony Playstation utilized CD's for the game media, allowing for a much greater sized game than consoles were previously capable of. It was also the most expensive console released to date, costing a whopping $299 sticker price.
The PSone is responsible for a lot of firsts in the gaming world, but had a shaky start. As is typical of Sony's system launches, they had a woefully lackluster selection of launch titles. A smattering of sports games, a port of an arcade game that was old, even by 1994's standards, Rayman, and Street Fighter: The Movie (possibly the worst street fighter game ever released). It took the system almost 2 years before it had any titles that would hold their own. What allowed the PSone to take off is it was the first console that did more than gaming. It didn't do much mind you, but it did play music CD's. It might seem a bit of a gimmick now, but at the time CD's were still kinda new, and this paved the way of Sony game consoles being more, being home entertainment systems. And by the time the PSone's main competition came out, the Nintendo 64 in 1996 (The Sega Saturn was never really a full blown rival), the PSone's games lineup had grown immensely.
When the Playstation was first released, it was sporting hardware the video games world hadn't seen outside of arcade systems and high end computer systems. It was the first home console to sport 32bit graphics, with hardware allowing for full 3d graphics, with the 3d graphics only getting better and better as developers learned how to fully utilize the system. The hardware and the fact it used CD's as it's media, meant it was one of the first devices to allow for fully rendered cut scenes, and fully orchestrated background music.
What was one of the Playstation's greatest strengths, was also probably it's greatest weakness as well. Sony's use of CD's allowed for massive games comparatively to what was coming out at the time. But it also added an annoyance to gaming that still exists to this day, loading times. The Playstation was the first system to be plagued by this menace. With it's primary competitor (The Nintendo 64) having no loading times at all due to it's use of Cartridges, it weighed heavily on the system. But Sony prevailed. With it's massive game selection, even releasing games that were only previously available on a PC, and with multi-disk titles like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear, the Sony went on to be a staple in the gaming world.
One of the Playstation's greatest triumphs was the introduction to the Playstation controller. The Playstation controller was loosely based off of the SNES controller, with the same standard layout of D-Pad on the left, 4 buttons on the right, start, select and shoulder buttons (in this case 4 shoulder buttons instead of 2). What the Playstation did differently than anyone to this date, is the controller was not just a flat bar with some buttons on it, it was ergonomic. With curves and angles so the controller fit comfortably in your hands. This controller design was so successful, the basic layout hasn't changed since the controllers introduction for 21 years, only adding a few items (analog sticks and buttons, and now has a touch pad and headphone jacks). The long life of this controller layout is a testament of it's quality and design.
Overall, the Sony Playstation can only be measured to be a massive success. It started Sony out in the console gaming world, and they've been there ever since. Not only is the Playstation still revered to this day, even Sony allowing for digital downloads of their classic games, but it laid the foundation of what was to come. It was the first gaming system to do more than just play video games, it was the first gaming system to successfully use CD's as it's game media, the first to successfully implement an ergonomic controller, the first system to allow for full 3d rendered graphics, the first to allow pre-rendered graphics, the first to allow for a fully orchestrated soundtrack, the list can go on. Almost all of these firsts were ground breaking and still used today. Even with a few minor problems, the Playstation was an important step in gaming and pointed the direction to the future.
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