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evan
2011-10-03, 01:24
Nice to be back in these parts :) And now for the advice-seeking!

Last February my xbox 360 elite lost its DVD drive. completely borked, tried a way of fixing it to no avail, but luckily got some guy on craigslist to buy it for $50 as a netflix-viewing machine. :) Since then, I have been console-less for the first time since the N64 came out. It wasn't actually as bad as I anticipated though. I was finishing up my last year of college so was pretty busy, then traveling in europe for a month, then I got a puppy and started working full time. What time I could spend on gaming has been spent on Starcraft II.

But that's getting a bit old and I'm looking for something new - trouble is I've been out of the loop for so long regarding gaming news I have no clue where to jump back in. I probably won't be able to get anything until Thanksgiving (dog's getting neutered, I'm paying a fortune to fly home for the holiday), but it never hurt to get a head start :)

The easy thing to do would be get another xbox 360. I already have a ton of games and rock band accessories that are being used and abused by my brother, I looooove the controller, and I'm familiar with it. But what else is out there? Basically here's some questions:

-What AWESOME games are coming out (or have come out recently)? (I generally like FPS and RPG, plus the NCAA games have always been fun)
-Is the next console generation coming soon? Might just stick with starcraft / what I can get on my mac / do more productive things and wait it out 6 months-1 year, if that's the time frame.
-I'm leaning Xbox, what do the other systems have going for them?

Robo
2011-10-03, 10:48
-What AWESOME games are coming out (or have come out recently)? (I generally like FPS and RPG, plus the NCAA games have always been fun)

On the shooter side, there's a Halo remake (FPS) and Gears of War 3 (TPS) on the Xbox, and Resistance 3 (FPS) and Uncharted 3 (TPS) on the PS3. Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 are multiplatform. (That's a lot of threes!)

On the RPG side, there's Dark Souls and Skyrim, both of which are multiplatform.

-Is the next console generation coming soon? Might just stick with starcraft / what I can get on my mac / do more productive things and wait it out 6 months-1 year, if that's the time frame.

I'm expecting the Wii U to come out holidays 2012, and the PS4 and next Xbox to hit holidays 2013.

-I'm leaning Xbox, what do the other systems have going for them?

The most important thing is developer support. Xbox gets lots of support from American studios, and PlayStation gets a lot of support from studios worldwide.

For example, you mentioned liking RPGs. If you only like "western RPGs" like Skyrim, the Xbox might be okay. But if you also like (or would be interested in trying) Japanese-style RPGs, you'd probably want a PlayStation. There's an avalanche of stellar-looking JRPGs that are hitting American consoles in Q1 2012: Tales of Graces F, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and Final Fantasy XIII-2. Of those, only FF XIII-2 is hitting the Xbox. The other two are exclusive to PlayStation. The crazy-anticipated Final Fantasy Versus is (currently) going to be exclusive to PlayStation. Tales of Xillia, which Namco will probably release in the US after Graces F, is exclusive to PlayStation. &c.

Sony also has a larger number of first-party studios. Microsoft has partner studios, too, but a lot of them are working on Kinect Sports. And Kinect Disneyland. And Kinect Star Wars. With their "core" efforts, you're getting one relentlessly hyped sci-fi shooter each holiday season and that's about it, as far as exclusives. (Well, every once in a while they release a Forza Motorsport. That's good.)

The absolute last reason to buy a console is hardware specs. But for $299 you'd get a 320GB PS3 with Uncharted 3 for free and a free Blu-Ray player. $299 gets you a 250GB Xbox with no Blu-ray player and no game.

This probably makes it sound like I don't like Xbox. That's not true. These are the reasons to buy an Xbox: Xbox Live. Xbox Live Arcade is a treasure trove of indie games, like Bastion. PlayStation has Flower and Journey and PS one classics, but their download store is nothing like XBLA. And Xbox Live is a better service than PSN. You pay for it, but it's worth paying for. And if your friends are on Xboxes, you should get an Xbox to play with them, of course.

I guess it comes down to the question of variety. For Microsoft, "core game" = "shooter," and the rest of their retail games are for people who would never touch a controller. But Microsoft has Xbox Live Arcade. Sony has partner studios making everything from LittleBigPlanet to Ratchet & Clank to Uncharted for retail, and they have more third party support from Japan. If you just really like shooters, an Xbox is an excellent purchase (though it's not like Sony doesn't make shooters of their own). Just know that Microsoft's Big Core Game each holiday will Halo and Gears of War in alternating years from now until the end of time. If you're cool with that, great.

bassplayinMacFiend
2011-10-04, 11:55
Gears 3 wrapped up the story. I'd have a hard time buying Gears 4. Still, Gears3 is packed with awesome content including a fun campaign, cool multiplayer and the always awesome Horde mode and now Beast mode. Co-op supports 4 people now as well.

Still, I cannot wait until Uncharted 3 drops on 11-1-11. Uncharted 2 was so awesome that I cannot wait to snag U3.

One other huge release I'm psyched for is Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Wasn't interested in AC at all until my nephew let me borrow AC: Brotherhood. It's a great story and I can't wait for the next installment. In this case I'll get the PS3 version since it also includes the first (or second?) AC game if you preorder.