Buying a New System -- Need Advice

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

So, I just moved into a new apartment and got a sweet 40" HD flat screen, but the only game system I currently own is the original NES... and Super Tecmo Bowl is only fun so many times.

 

But I really have no idea which of the new systems I want. I've played WII a few times, and it's fun and new and everything, but I'm not sure how long the novelty would last. So I'm trying to decide between the WII, X-Box, PS3, and maybe Gamecube (is that even a legitimate option anymore?).

 

In all honesty, I know for sure that the game I will end up playing the most is the most recent WWE game. And when I play WWE games, the most important factor for me is the storylines when you're doing a season/career mode. I've heard that the WII game is pretty stupid, with the exception of being able to do the crotch chop. Does anyone have any experience with the new WWE games for any of the other systems? Because other than that game, the only thing I can think of that I'd be very interested in would be a Rock Star/Guitar Hero game or something like that...

 

I'm very open to suggestions...

[Black Lushus 0]

You can play Gamecube games on the Wii, that's a plus. Also the price tag. Unfortunantly, it's still hard to find one.

 

You can go either way with a 360 or PS3...of course the Blu-Ray is PS3's biggest selling point, especially with HD-DVD going bye bye. So far there are no known issues with the PS3 whereas the 360 has the ol red ring of death thing going on. I have a 360, and I do love it, but I'd probably go with a PS3 if I were you. Get the Wii as well if you have the extra cash.

 

I haven't played the latest WWE game, but I hear it's garbage, no matter what system.

 

There are versions of Guitar Hero on all 3 systems, so it doesn't matter there.

[Golgo 13 0]

The 360 version of SvR08 is slightly better than the PS3 when it comes to customization. The Wii version doesn't even factor in. Storylines are kind of a weird thing to care about, but regardless, this year's version is trash all around. If it's any consolation, TNA Impact will be out this year and looks to be coming along nicely, and Fire Pro Returns is a cheap option if you buy a backwards compatible PS3 or a now inexpensive PS2... though FPR and presumably Impact will lack a story mode.

 

The 360 has its problems which, though I don't have one, make me cautious of ever buying it. Though the 360 is said to be coming out with a Blu Ray add-on in the near future, thus taking away one of the PS3's advantages.

 

Anyway, 360 is cheaper in all forms than the PS3, but there's always the possibility of RRoD hassles. Personally, since the PS2 is dirt cheap and I already have one anyway, when the time comes I may just get a basic PS3 unit along with the Wii, since I wouldn't need backwards compatibility. The PS2 + base PS3 option is only $30 more than a fully loaded 80gb PS3 anyway, albeit with less space.

[Cartman 0]

...and space isn't an issue since you can very easily upgrade to a much larger HDD for the PS3.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Get a Wii if you can find one.

 

If you need a good reason, just look at my sig.

[BifEverchad 0]

You can never go wrong with Atari.

[ZGangsta 0]

N64.

[Scroby 0]

I suggest buying a 360. I've had one since really it's release and I've only had 1 red ring of death sitution (knocks on wood.), but I've still enjoyed the hell out of it since I had it, plus I play it the most between that and the Wii.

 

I'm really anti-sony so I'll just my mouth shut about the PS3.

 

The Wii is pretty fun as well but I don't play it as much as I do my 360. Whenever a came comes out for both systems, I mainly get the 360 verison of it, however a LOT of Wii games are still fun as hell and it's still pretty early for the Wii system and there's a lot of promising games coming out in the year of 2008.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Xbox 360 isn't quite my cup of tea, and the hardware tends to be faulty, but the library of games available for the system is impressive.

 

I love the Wii. Just all around fun and the game library is quite good too.

 

There's not much appealing stuff on the PS3 that you couldn't get on the 360, so that one seems like the obvious loser.

[dubq 0]

PS2 if your main gig is wrestling games - especially if you're willing to go the mod & import route.

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

Sweet guys, thanks. I'm gonna start checking into all of this tonight when I get home from work. I still don't really know what I'm going to do, but it kinda sounds like I'll get a sweet system no matter what I do. But if anyone else still wants to throw in their two cents, I'm all for it.

[Golgo 13 0]

It's worth mentioning that the PS3 has no regional lock-out, if you care about that at all.

 

I used to be a hardcore anti-PS3 guy, but it is looking better as new games come out and prices continue to drop. Granted, a lot of these games will eventually surface elsewhere, but it's worth the extra x amount for peace of mind and free online if that's another factor that matters to you.

[Youth N Asia 0]

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM. That was a pretty badass system. I think my friend has SMS2.

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

This is going to make it clearly obvious how much I don't know about gaming systems... the last one I bought was a PS2, and I am absolutely clueless in regards to things like Mods and anything that you can't just do by shopping at Wal-Mart... I'm not a serious gamer at all. So anyway, I'm leaning towards the Xbox, in large part because it's cheap. I'm looking at two different bundles on Amazon, the Pro Value bundle and the Core Arcade bundle. The games offered in both really don't matter to me, because I can tell I'll probably play them once or twice and never pay attention to them again. So the only thing that seems like it would make much of a difference to a novice like me is that one comes with a 20 GB hard drive. That one is gonna cost about $50 more.

 

So that begs the question... what would I be using a hard drive for?

 

Yeah, that's how very out of touch I am with the gaming world...

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

Also, if I buy a wireless remote, does that mean I have to buy something to charge it, or can I just use rechargable batteries? AA?

[Red Baron 0]

The harddrive is to save your games.

 

If you get a wireless remote you need two AA batteries. Or if you spend like 20 bucks more you can get this kit too for the wireless controller shown here.

[Guest dustinbeaverton]

Sweet, so the hard drive is basically a giant memory card? So if I'm only playing like one or two games at a time, it's probably not worth an extra fifty bucks?

[luke-o 0]

PS3 - It's been out for a year and has a small catalogue of games which I don't see changing anytime soon. And all of the good games you can get on the 360. Unless your into the Blu-Ray bullshit, I'd steer clear.

 

360 - Probably the best choice. But if you don't like Adventure/Racing/Shoot em up games then it's pretty lame because that's all you can buy on a 360. But Gears of War probably makes up for things. And the online is top notch, despite the annoying kids and adults who act like kids.

 

Wii - My personal choice because I'm a fan of varity and that's what I get with the Wii. Great games, good price, great innovation. Plus, there's a BUTT load of awesome games coming out for it.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

Speaking of the 3 next gen systems, is there any talks about any price drops in the near future? I may be getting myself a 360, but I may wait until September when I'm done school and I have a full time job again.

[Black Lushus 0]

I paid 350 for the Pro: the system, 20gb Hard Drive, HD cables, one wireless controller, headset, two games, 1 month of XBL. I think that's as good as it's going to get for awhile.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I paid 350 for the Pro: the system, 20gb Hard Drive, HD cables, one wireless controller, headset, two games, 1 month of XBL. I think that's as good as it's going to get for awhile.

 

Yeah, thats a pretty good deal. Costco, as mentioned above, seem to have some pretty good deals as they always tend to throw in a game and an extra controller which is always a bonus. That being said, if I was working full time now I would more then likely have a 360 by now, but since I'm part time and in school, I just have my funds stretched too thin right now.

[Thoth 0]

Speaking of the 3 next gen systems, is there any talks about any price drops in the near future? I may be getting myself a 360, but I may wait until September when I'm done school and I have a full time job again.

 

360 - Recent price drop. Just ran into some shortage issues. Don't expect another drop for around a year or so.

PS3 - Two drops since launch. PS3 is picking up momentum. Don't expect a price drop anytime soon.

Wii - They have absolutely no reason at the moment to drop the price. No price drop for at least 12 months.

 

[tominator89 0]

So, what's the best way of obtaining a Wii at this point?

[Thoth 0]

So, what's the best way of obtaining a Wii at this point?

 

I'd keep checking cheapassgamer.com if I wanted one.

[AndrewTS 0]

N64.

 

Well said.

 

This gen fails for wrestling games, as neither has a quality AKI-style 3D game, nor a Fire Pro game (yet). You have your choice of system for that Smackdown trash, though.

 

Wii's Guitar Hero 3 versions are largely mono-only, BTW. It seems like it's going to be a pain in the BUTT to get the fixed up version.

 

The 360 has the best overall selection of games for their ****ty HW. However, the bulk of the good ones are first persony shoot things.

[AnonymousBroccoli 0]

The Xbox 360 hard drive does a variety of things. Keep in mind that the Pro console's hard drive is 20GB, the Elite's is 120GB, whereas the memory card you'll get with the Arcade unit is 256MB. (If, for some reason, you run into a Core model, it didn't come with anything.) Without having used the system myself, these are the hard drive advantages I'm aware of:

 

- Allows you to play many original Xbox games. You need to download patches for them to work, and they won't fit on a memory card, as far as I know. I think it's also because the original Xbox had a hard drive, so it's required on the 360 for compatability reasons.

 

- If you want to buy something from the digital online store (Xbox Live Marketplace), you'll need to store it somewhere after you download it. A memory card will work for a lot of stuff, but if you end up buying several things, you'll probably need to keep deleting and re-downloading it to make room.

 

As for what's available, there's the Xbox Live Arcade. Which has updated versions of games like Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Game, or new stuff like Zuma, Uno, Geometry Wars... They're usually $5-10 each. You can check out what they've got here:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360/

 

There's also additional content for games. Extra songs for Guitar Hero or Rock Band, more maps for multiplayer games, new modes, costumes for characters, updated rosters for sports games... Some of it's free, some of it isn't.

 

Free (usually) game demos are available for a lot of titles, though they're typically several hundred megabytes, so they'll only fit on a hard drive.

 

Certain movies and TV shows are available to rent/buy, if you want. I think they're too expensive, but others may disagree. Some TV shows may fit on a memory card, but I kind of doubt it.

 

Again, you can click around here to check out what's available.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/marketplace/

 

- Some games may use the hard drive as a data cache to reduce load times, or otherwise speed up gameplay. I think Oblivion may be an example of this.

 

- Some games don't allow you to play online without a hard drive. I believe this is a data-caching issue, as mentioned above. Burnout Paradise comes to mind as an example.

 

- Store music files for custom soundtracks, or just regular playback. There's other options for this, like USB storage devices, or streaming over a network from a Windows PC, and a memory card may work, in an obviously limited capacity. You can play certain types of video files, too.

 

Not to mention that if you change your mind down the line, and decide you do want the hard drive, it'll cost something ridiculous like $100 for the 20GB unit, or $180 for 120GB.

[AnonymousBroccoli 0]

I'll make a different post for non-hard drive stuff.

 

I don't know that it's a great time to get a 360 just now. There's no bundled games anymore, and in my very non-expert opinion, I think a price drop may be coming.

 

The lone 360 drop in the US was in July/August last year, and it was only $20-50. There's rumours it'll drop again once Grand Theft Auto IV comes out in April. Makes sense, since they'll want new system buyers to steer towards a 360 rather than a PS3, and a bigger price gap would help. PS3 picking up in sales, and 360 coming in last in January (barely) may fuel the price drop fire a bit.

 

Though you could say the same for the PS3 in regards to GTA. It's not an exclusive game for either platform, but it's big enough that a lot of people will be buying their first new console since the PS2. Not to mention the possibility of marketing Blu-Ray as the clear high-def winner, with a lower price to help push that format.

 

I'd agree that Wii's the only one likely to stay the same for now. If being the big, hot item of the moment doesn't sell systems, Super Smash Bros. Brawl will. $250 is more than I want to pay for it, but it's clearly not for a lot of people. It'll probably come down to $170-200 by this coming Christmas, unless demand continues to be crazy though the summer/fall, or 360 & PS3 both dip dramatically.

[AndrewTS 0]

At the moment, there are 360 shortages, though, so there's no reason to do a price cut, just like with Wii.

 

I can't honestly think of a reason to recommend the "Arcade" or "Core" 360, unless you only have dial up internet. Even then, 360's (limited) BC with Xbox games can still be used.