From Aaron Stanton,
Your Guide to Nintendo Games.
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When you first approach console gaming, the most obvious question is which game system to buy. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Nintendo GameCube compared to Sony’s PS2 or Microsoft’s Xbox? While the forums are rife with user opinion, it’s difficult to find a comprehensive approach online that doesn’t break down into foul language and hair pulling by the end of the conversation. If you’re new to the industry, curious about what gaming options are available, or just want to be able to hold your own in an intelligent conversation with gaming nerds like me, this article is for you. It contains information about the ups and downs of each system, and is written to be useful to those who have no previous experience with the industry, games, or of breaking bricks with their head. In fact, in general I’d suggest that hitting your head against things like bricks would make this subject more difficult to grasp, not less.

How to Decide Between Systems:

It’s hard to decide what makes one system better than the others, especially if you don’t know what to look for. When deciding which system you want to purchase, it’s a good idea to start by asking yourself some key questions.

• Games: Does the system have games that I want to play?
  
  
• Price: How much do I want to spend?
  
  
• Hardware: Can the system do what I want it to do? Does it have good graphics, storage space, good controls, good sound, etc?
  
  
• Online and Networking: Is the system capable of playing online, and do I care?

The goal of this guide is not only to help you figure out which system is strong in each category, but also to help you figure out why it’s important, and how it impacts you as a potential gamer.

The Basics: What Game Consoles are Available and Who Makes Them:

Three companies currently rule the home console industry.

• Nintendo, makers of the Nintendo GameCube
  
  
• Sony, makers of the Playstation 2
  
  
• Microsoft, makers of the Xbox
  
  

Currently, the Playstation 2 holds the greatest market share, which means that more people own PS2s than any other modern system, with the Xbox and the GameCube competing for second place. Each company has a different approach to the current generation of gaming systems. Sony repeatedly claims that they “don’t really care” what Nintendo is doing, while Nintendo, traditionally viewed as the makers of kid friendly games, is trying to shed its kids-only public image. Microsoft, the second largest player in the industry, is almost exclusively about cool, and it shows in which types of games are available. If a company is trying to be cool, you’re not going to find as many games on their system that are cute, cuddly, and well designed for a younger audience. If that’s what you’re interested in, then buying the wrong system could leave you wandering stores looking for games that you’ll enjoy. We’ll talk about this in the Games section of the guide.

Before We Start: Beware the “Definite” Answer:

Several years ago at E3, Sony announced at their press conference that the “console wars are over." Claiming this when the GameCube and the Xbox were still fresh to the market, Sony backed its claim by comparing the sales figures of the PS1 & PS2 with the sales figures of the other two systems. Since the Playstation 2 had been on the market for nearly a year before the Xbox and GameCube, and since they were including the sales data of past Sony systems, the numbers showing Sony’s dominance were astronomical. In a lot of ways, it looked exactly like Sony claimed; the console wars had been won. Nintendo responded at their press conference later in the day with the combined sales statistics for every console they have ever produced: Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo 64, SuperNES, NES, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, classic Gameboy – nearly ever system they’ve made since the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1983 made it into the tally. Their numbers put Sony’s to shame, and stood as a reminder that not only had Nintendo been around for a great deal of time, but that market information can and will be skewed.