week 4, To Infinity and Beyond

Lets start this post with a quick video to have a look at how some of the consoles mentioned have ranked in this countdown of the TOP 10 BEST CONSOLES.


We are now in the 00's and the game industry is a multi billion pound industry.

The console rivalries of previous years continue to be fought, and new billion pound companies have become involved.

In November 2001 Microsoft's Xbox was launched and became a major player in the console market. launch titles which helped Microsoft in this endeavor included project Gotham racing which to this day is available in various incarnations and Halo: Combat Evolved which of course spawned the ever popular series.

I suppose my first console of the 00's and first "next generation" console was Sega's Dreamcast(Right). Yes, i was that one person that actually brought one. Despite the fact it was here and gone in the blink of an eye I was quite fond of some of the games I played on the Dreamcast. I enjoyed "Jet Set Radio", a rollerblading, graffiti tagging, gang rivalry....having?, fun game and chu chu rocket a highly addictive puzzle game. There was also a basketball game, I forget the name but I haven't played many basketball games better than it to this day and I'm a man that plays a fair amount of basketball games.

The ill fated Dreamcast was of course fatally wounded by the release of Sony's PlayStation 2. First released in march 2000 it went on to become the best selling console to date having shifted 120 million units as of 2007.
Like at least 120 million other people i too purchased a PS2 and it has provided me with many years of entertainment right up to this day. favourite games for me, though its hard to name simply because of the shear volume available, are prince of Persia: warrior within, the epic shadow of the colossus, resident evil 4, and both god of war and the recently completed god of war 2. I'm sure there are games that however this is to name just a few as if nothing else the PS2 simply has the largest and most varied variety of games available.

With that said we move onto the current generation of consoles which includes Sony's massively anticipated Playstation 3. despite the hype and Sony's boasts has garnered only luke warm reviews and only time will tell if it can live up to the expectation Sony has encouraged.

Prior to this however Microsoft had released their current generation console and the successor to the xbox, the Xbox 360. The 360 has fast become a popular console and sales of 13.4 million from its initial release up until the present is worthy of note.

The other contender in the market is Nintendo's bodily function sounding Wii. First launched in November 2006 it has quite unexpectedly gone on to become the market leader of this generation of consoles. the wii unique feature is its wireless "wiimote" which allows for new innovative ways to control and manipulate the gaming world. This paired with the type of games Nintendo produce and market has opened the door to a world of new gamers. people who potentially would not play games were now interested in the whole social gaming experience, in the sense that family's could now have a game of doubles tennis in their living room, or house parties could include a boxing or bowling tournament.

This change has introduced "social gamimg" and has obviously been a success for Nintendo but were do games go from here? The xbox and then xbox 360 have had massive success with its "live" service, in a sense another form of social gaming, and Sony are also keen to reach this level of success in this field. So it is apparent that online gaming is here to stay and as more and more games, solely designed for online play begin to appear for consoles (shadowrun for example) it seems that online content will become progressively more important. Obviously from Generation to generation graphics and processing power increase and its fair to say that at some stage a player will be able to manipulate and move around in a photo realistic environment with a photo realistic character where absolutely everything is interactive and the outcome of the game has not yet been programmed.

With the introduction of the wiimote and its popularity could motion detection also continue. possibly tracking points attached at parts of the body in the style of motion capture, or even a full body suit.

The future of games seems dependant on the companies involved ability to change the way games are played. No longer is it simply just about the graphics and sounds, or a game that has a start and an end. It seems players want more freedom and a more interactive experience than previous consoles where able to offer.

Finally though, in response to the top 10 best consoles here's a quick look at THE TOP 10 WORST CONSOLES