The Good Old Console Wars
As long as consoles have existed, there have been people arguing over which ones are better. From the legendary battle between Nintendo and Sega in the late 80s and into the 90s, to the fight between Microsoft and Sony today, the wars never quite seem to end. Why is that? What keeps people coming back to it?
The answer is simple: company loyalty. If you’ve grown up with systems from a certain company and have an attachment to their products, then it can make you passionate to see their success and possible domination in the market they’re a part of. However, that’s all this really boils down to. When it comes to the inner workings of each console and what they can do, there are ones that beat out the competition objectively.
When it comes to current generation consoles, the Playstation 4 beats out the Xbox by a small margin, running games a bit better, being able to handle better resolutions with more stability, and honestly having more high-budget, good quality exclusives than Xbox. The Xbox One has gotten a significant upgrade with the X, but it still hasn’t quite reached Sony’s level yet. On top of that, there are no longer any exclusives really. A lot of those games are now coming to PC as well, which will undoubtedly hurt Microsoft’s Console business in the long run, due to the fact that people only need a decent PC to play their games now, so why dish out $300-$400 on a new system?
As for Nintendo, they’ve been behind for a long time now. They have good hardware, but generally choose to be more willing to experiment with different new and interesting concepts, like the Switch and the Wii U before it. While they’re not as impressive hardware-wise, their games still look gorgeous and run like butter on the Switch. On top of that, Nintendo has a choke hold on their long-running series’, which are beloved by a great many people. Having Mario and Zelda on a console can push sales alone. To add to their success, they’re a platform that embraced the indie games market in full force and that helps them stay relevant. Plus, games coming out for the other two systems have been branching out to the switch and while they’re at lower resolutions and quality, they have the distinct ability to let you play Witcher 3 anywhere.
So, given all of this information, why argue about which console is better? Once again: company loyalty, and I’d add brand recognition as well. However, I’d like to point out that these companies hardly care about you like you care about them, so why get so attached? They’re here to make a profit off of you and your love of games. That’s not a bad thing by any means, as it’s the point of their business. That being said, having an emotional attachment to a company isn’t something I’d recommend. It makes it much easier for them to manipulate you if you’re dedicated to their cause.
You don’t need this attachment to have a deep love for all things gaming. I’ve owned a lot of different systems from each company. My first console I actually paid for as an adult was a Wii U. In retrospect, that was a terrible decision given the lifespan of the console. However, I’ve always had a fondness for Nintendo, as I grew up with them. That being said, the next thing I bought was a Playstation 4. I liked the exclusives and wanted to dip my toes back into that line of consoles. A year or so later, I purchased an Xbox One. Not because I entirely wanted one, but because I had friends that I wanted to play with that had one. I’ve owned every one of the consoles of this generation and you know, I’ve liked parts of every single one of them.
The PS4 is more powerful and has better exclusives, but lacks backwards compatibility, which is something that made me love the Xbox One. I got to play old Xbox 360 games that I hadn’t played for at least five years. It was a joy. I bought the Switch about a month after its release and have loved the console ever since. The games don’t look revolutionary, but they have a lovely charm and run unbelievably well. I have a Lite now and I think it still plays things at an amazing quality. Plus, I am just Nintendo fangirl and have to own each new Pokemon entry as well as experience Mario and Zelda.
Why am I telling you all of this? Well, it’s mostly because I wanted to prove that despite my parents having a pretty heavy bias on Nintendo when we were kids, I still have a deep appreciation for each company and their systems. I like gaming, no matter the console they’re on. I think Playstation has honestly become my favorite, but that’s mostly because of my love of RPGs, of which Sony had the monopoly on for quite some time.
You don’t have to be a die hard fan of any company in particular, but I would recommend being a passionate gamer who just likes games regardless of platform. You’ll experience a lot of games and series’ you didn’t know existed, or simply haven’t tried before. So, let’s stop the console wars for good and come together as one large gaming collective!
