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The GameGuy: The “Consoles Win” Edition

By Mark H. Walker

Consoles will rule the world one day.

Heck, am I crazy? Consoles rule the world TODAY! That that isn’t a PC put down… well, actually I guess it is, but my point is that I have no axe to grind. I own several PCs and work on them all day (You ever tried to type on a console?). But what used to be a rivalry five years ago, a battle two years ago, and a slaughter last year, has now ended. Consoles have defeated PCs and reign supreme, now and for ever more. Amen.

You know why? I’m sure industry analysts could throw down a dozen reasons, but to me it comes down to two: Reason one… the games ALWAYS work. Please don’t email me with your one-out-of-a-million bad console experience. What I’m saying is simple. As a rule, console games always work. You pop them in the machine, and out pops a playable game on your TV screen. No warnings asking you to upgrade your drivers, download a patch, or buy a new computer.

Reason two… my daughters. Well, it’s not so much my daughters as people in general. It’s fun to be around people and cool to have them sitting in the chair next to you as your Spiderman wastes another criminal. My daughters flock to the room when I play, even if I’m playing something as lame as Lucas Art’s Gladius. You just can’t get that same audience participation on the computer. And PUHLeeese don’t bring up online gaming. Chatting with some large-breasted Everquest chick who’s a ten year old boy in real life is NOT my idea of fun.

But hey, let’s not pack in our computers yet. There are some things that they do way better than a console. Specifically, what they give us an adult gaming break from the seemingly endless stream of rodent mascots prevalent on consoles. Consoles don’t do strategy, at least not well. I loved Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3, but they are but two drops in an endless sea of arcade, sports, and action titles. At least PCs offer Total War, Codename Panzers, and Silent Storm 2. And adventure games? I don’t think one has ever been written for a console.

Bottom line, the gaming wars are over and the consoles have won. But that doesn’t mean the PC will roll over and play dead. Both have advantages, and there is room for each in my home.

Tight Takes
Ground Control II… The folks at Massive Entertainment have done it again. They’ve taken a bunch of turn-based tricks, such vehicle armor factors that differ from front and side, terrain bonuses for infantry in woods, and on call artillery, and tossed them into the most scrumptious gaming engine I’ve seen this year. Good game, great fun.

Spidey 2… The movie was great, the game is predictable. Not predictable like your wife, but more like the Boston Red Sox. It’s fun, but also a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, swinging from scrapper to scrapper, your kids egging you on, the bad guys falling beneath your fists, is worth at least a rent, if not a buy.

Finally, Satoru Iwata (Nintendo’s President) claims that gamers don’t want online games. Well, no kidding. I’ve said that for years. Gamers don’t want online games, game companies do. Online games are inconvenient, persnickety, and irritating. They are, however, a great revenue model. Unlike consoles, they will never rule the world, but they’ll make money.

 

© Mark H. Walker, LLC 2004
Mark H. Walker is a veteran interactive entertainment journalist who has written over 40 books – including the recently published ‘Games That Sell’ - and designs games including his just released board game Lock 'n Load.