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Hardware Reviews
9 years ago
Whelp, through various reasons I have managed to get all current gen video game hardware (consoles and handhelds). So maybe I should take a break from venting my loneliness and thoughts of suicide here and offer my two bits' worth on what I think of them.
Wii U: Well, despite what the sales would have you believe Nintendo's latest offering is a good piece of hardware. While it's still got the weakest specs of the consoles again, it's not nearly as outclassed as its predecessor. In fact, the best games I've seen on it look a little better than anything I've seen on the PS3 or 360. The screen in the gamepad is an interesting feature, even if the resolution is a bit lackluster. Also, over three years later the devs still can't seem to come up with very many good uses for it. In fact, the only one I've seen that's made any good use from it has a name that starts with N and ends with -intendo. While comfortable at first, the gamepad also tends to cramp my wrists up with prolonged use. In the end, the games are what really matter and the Wii U suffers the same curse Nintendo home consoles have had since the N64. There are a number of great games on it from Nintendo, but third party support is almost nonexistant...again. The only exception to this is the Virtual Console, but even then most of the third party support for it is a holdover from the original Wii. Pretty much all Wii software, physical and digital is fully supported on the Wii U. In the end, it's a solid system with loads of fun Nintendo games, but you'll need to go elsewhere for your third party fix. 8.5/10
Xbox One: Somehow Microsoft has had to include an external power supply on their system, which is again the largest of this generation. Yet the system itself feels very light, like most of it is empty space in there. Space which could have fit, I don't know, a power supply? Massive size aside, it once again proves to be a jack of all trades box. It plays DVDs and Blu-ray movies just fine, the game library is pretty decent (especially now that backwards compatibility is an option), and the controller manages to improve upon the last model. It's actually kind of jarring now to hold a 360 controller now and think about how much I used to like it. Following the 360, the One does have great third party support, and even complements it with some decent first party games of its own. I was surprised that Microsoft was even going to let Rare make some great titles that don't use the Kinect. Rare Replay was an especially fun trip down memory lane. All things being said, it's a great system for multimedia functions and games with few major weaknesses. 9/10
PS4: I've only had mine for about a month now, but my first impressions are pretty good so far. It's a surprisingly compact box with hardware that is apparently easier for developers to take full advantage of, so those wanting great graphics will want to go with this or a gaming PC for their fix. Playstation Vue is a cool service for cord-cutters in addition to the same multimedia functions of the One (in fact my PS4 has completely replaced my cable box). I am overjoyed that Sony finally took revamping their controller seriously. The Dualshock 4 fixed everything I had to complain about for the first 3 controllers. It is so incredibly comfortable to hold, and yet it still retains the overall handling of a true Sony Dualshock controller, so fans of the older versions shouldn't feel too left out. In fact, I can't fully decide whether I like the DS4 or the Xbox One controller better. However, the lineup of exclusive titles so far has been a bit...weak. About the only exclusive title so far that hasn't turned out to be a dud is Bloodborne. Knack and The Order 1886, among others, promised to be big hits, only to fizzle out quickly after release. On the other hand, the future is looking bright for the system with Ratchet and Clank, Kingdom Hearts 2.8, and (hopefully) The Last Guardian all due to come out this year. It's looking like 2016 will the Sony's year to shine and really balloon the already impressive install base of the PS4. In the end, while the PS4 somewhat lacks it where it counts (except for third party titles obviously), things will only get better from here. 8/10
New 3DS: I should probably start this off with 3DS in general. Once again Nintendo has crafted a great handheld While the 3D effect does look cool, the fact that you have to hold it a certain way to make it work makes it little more than a cool gimmick. With almost full backwards compatibility (minus any accessories that use the GBA port) the 3DS comes out of the gate with some great games. Beyond that, between third parties and Nintendo themselves, the handheld only adds to that extensive library of titles. The circle pad is a welcome addition and the screen resolution, while a little low, really could have been a lot worse as well. On top of all this, the New 3DS (probably not the best name Nintendo) roughly doubles the CPU power of the original 3DS, which really wasn't too light to begin with. It also uses some of that extra juice to run a hardware-based face tracking system that turns the 3D effect into something people might bother to use. I honestly don't turn it off on mine from pure laziness (and it does look cool anyway). The extra processing power can also theoretically allow for exclusive games that the old 3DS couldn't handle before. In practice, however, Xenoblade Chronicles and the SNES Virtual Console are the only things that use that extra power. In short the 3DS family is a great system for gaming on the go, even in this age of Angry Birds and other smartphone games. (3DS) 7.5/10 (New 3DS) 9/10
PS Vita: Last, and unfortunately least is the Vita. Don't get me wrong, it's not a /bad/ system per se. Having refused to bother with a PSP, Sony did woo me enough with their promises to get myself a Vita and it did deliver on them well. Sony has finally killed off the UMD debacle and gone with a handful of games that use standard game cards, or digital titles stored on proprietary flash cards (have they ever heard of microSD?). The ability to play full PS2 remakes and even some PS3 titles on the go with a physical controller besides just a touchscreen is very nice. The addition of a multitouch screen on the front was a nice addition, and the back touchpad was an unusual innovation. While developers really haven't made much good use of it (not unlike the gamepad screen on the Wii U), I have seen one or two good uses of the rear touchpad that fully impressed me. Sadly, after the stellar hardware the software situation really isn't too good. Beyond a few good titles and the standard fare of PSOne classics and a few backwards compatible PSP games, there really just isn't anything good enough to sell the system I'm afraid. The sales are as bad as, if not worse than the Wii U, and it's not hard to see why. Developers are wary of making games for it without a large install base, and people generally don't buy systems with little to no games on them, so it's a proverbial catch-22 situation. If you missed out on the PSP era and want to play PSOne games on the go, or you want to play Minecraft and Terraria on a full gamepad on the go, or you just want the latest Sony handheld I would suggest the PS Vita, but besides that there really isn't a lot to justify the system. (Hardware) 8/10 (Software) 3/10 (Overall) 5.5/10
While I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this posting, it's just my own thoughts on the systems. Individual results and mileage may vary.
Wii U: Well, despite what the sales would have you believe Nintendo's latest offering is a good piece of hardware. While it's still got the weakest specs of the consoles again, it's not nearly as outclassed as its predecessor. In fact, the best games I've seen on it look a little better than anything I've seen on the PS3 or 360. The screen in the gamepad is an interesting feature, even if the resolution is a bit lackluster. Also, over three years later the devs still can't seem to come up with very many good uses for it. In fact, the only one I've seen that's made any good use from it has a name that starts with N and ends with -intendo. While comfortable at first, the gamepad also tends to cramp my wrists up with prolonged use. In the end, the games are what really matter and the Wii U suffers the same curse Nintendo home consoles have had since the N64. There are a number of great games on it from Nintendo, but third party support is almost nonexistant...again. The only exception to this is the Virtual Console, but even then most of the third party support for it is a holdover from the original Wii. Pretty much all Wii software, physical and digital is fully supported on the Wii U. In the end, it's a solid system with loads of fun Nintendo games, but you'll need to go elsewhere for your third party fix. 8.5/10
Xbox One: Somehow Microsoft has had to include an external power supply on their system, which is again the largest of this generation. Yet the system itself feels very light, like most of it is empty space in there. Space which could have fit, I don't know, a power supply? Massive size aside, it once again proves to be a jack of all trades box. It plays DVDs and Blu-ray movies just fine, the game library is pretty decent (especially now that backwards compatibility is an option), and the controller manages to improve upon the last model. It's actually kind of jarring now to hold a 360 controller now and think about how much I used to like it. Following the 360, the One does have great third party support, and even complements it with some decent first party games of its own. I was surprised that Microsoft was even going to let Rare make some great titles that don't use the Kinect. Rare Replay was an especially fun trip down memory lane. All things being said, it's a great system for multimedia functions and games with few major weaknesses. 9/10
PS4: I've only had mine for about a month now, but my first impressions are pretty good so far. It's a surprisingly compact box with hardware that is apparently easier for developers to take full advantage of, so those wanting great graphics will want to go with this or a gaming PC for their fix. Playstation Vue is a cool service for cord-cutters in addition to the same multimedia functions of the One (in fact my PS4 has completely replaced my cable box). I am overjoyed that Sony finally took revamping their controller seriously. The Dualshock 4 fixed everything I had to complain about for the first 3 controllers. It is so incredibly comfortable to hold, and yet it still retains the overall handling of a true Sony Dualshock controller, so fans of the older versions shouldn't feel too left out. In fact, I can't fully decide whether I like the DS4 or the Xbox One controller better. However, the lineup of exclusive titles so far has been a bit...weak. About the only exclusive title so far that hasn't turned out to be a dud is Bloodborne. Knack and The Order 1886, among others, promised to be big hits, only to fizzle out quickly after release. On the other hand, the future is looking bright for the system with Ratchet and Clank, Kingdom Hearts 2.8, and (hopefully) The Last Guardian all due to come out this year. It's looking like 2016 will the Sony's year to shine and really balloon the already impressive install base of the PS4. In the end, while the PS4 somewhat lacks it where it counts (except for third party titles obviously), things will only get better from here. 8/10
New 3DS: I should probably start this off with 3DS in general. Once again Nintendo has crafted a great handheld While the 3D effect does look cool, the fact that you have to hold it a certain way to make it work makes it little more than a cool gimmick. With almost full backwards compatibility (minus any accessories that use the GBA port) the 3DS comes out of the gate with some great games. Beyond that, between third parties and Nintendo themselves, the handheld only adds to that extensive library of titles. The circle pad is a welcome addition and the screen resolution, while a little low, really could have been a lot worse as well. On top of all this, the New 3DS (probably not the best name Nintendo) roughly doubles the CPU power of the original 3DS, which really wasn't too light to begin with. It also uses some of that extra juice to run a hardware-based face tracking system that turns the 3D effect into something people might bother to use. I honestly don't turn it off on mine from pure laziness (and it does look cool anyway). The extra processing power can also theoretically allow for exclusive games that the old 3DS couldn't handle before. In practice, however, Xenoblade Chronicles and the SNES Virtual Console are the only things that use that extra power. In short the 3DS family is a great system for gaming on the go, even in this age of Angry Birds and other smartphone games. (3DS) 7.5/10 (New 3DS) 9/10
PS Vita: Last, and unfortunately least is the Vita. Don't get me wrong, it's not a /bad/ system per se. Having refused to bother with a PSP, Sony did woo me enough with their promises to get myself a Vita and it did deliver on them well. Sony has finally killed off the UMD debacle and gone with a handful of games that use standard game cards, or digital titles stored on proprietary flash cards (have they ever heard of microSD?). The ability to play full PS2 remakes and even some PS3 titles on the go with a physical controller besides just a touchscreen is very nice. The addition of a multitouch screen on the front was a nice addition, and the back touchpad was an unusual innovation. While developers really haven't made much good use of it (not unlike the gamepad screen on the Wii U), I have seen one or two good uses of the rear touchpad that fully impressed me. Sadly, after the stellar hardware the software situation really isn't too good. Beyond a few good titles and the standard fare of PSOne classics and a few backwards compatible PSP games, there really just isn't anything good enough to sell the system I'm afraid. The sales are as bad as, if not worse than the Wii U, and it's not hard to see why. Developers are wary of making games for it without a large install base, and people generally don't buy systems with little to no games on them, so it's a proverbial catch-22 situation. If you missed out on the PSP era and want to play PSOne games on the go, or you want to play Minecraft and Terraria on a full gamepad on the go, or you just want the latest Sony handheld I would suggest the PS Vita, but besides that there really isn't a lot to justify the system. (Hardware) 8/10 (Software) 3/10 (Overall) 5.5/10
While I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this posting, it's just my own thoughts on the systems. Individual results and mileage may vary.
