The latest Console Gen.

I'm not gonna pretend that I am an expert on the latest consoles. But I want to throw in my opinion anyway. This is more a breakdown of the initial announcements of the consoles, rather than which will be best. You can only say which is better after the gen is done.

THE GOOD:

Ever since the last console generation, gamers started to realize that graphics were not the end all of gaming. Yeah graphics have steadily improved, but they have long since past the point of us caring about how beautiful the textures are. Now poor texture quality is the exception for most games. And this put sony in an interesting position. Sony has never been known for innovation in the industry, they just produce really solid and basic consoles. This worked in their favor this time around, since we as gamers had no great expectations of what would come out of the next console gen. We wanted better with more functionality, but its not like we were expecting anything ground breaking. 

And Sony delivered just that. Its PS4; its like a PS3 but better. Hell, even the name suggests that its just more of the same but upgraded. I loved the PS2, but I can honestly say that I didn't become interested in the PS3 until now (the Last of Us looks worth it). Sure it may have SOME extraneous features, but its not important. They delivered a solid gaming platform and it will probably have good games. Nuff said. 

THE BAD:

Let me be clear. I will be buying a Wii U. It has three games I absolutely must have. And its a solid console. They upped the graphics enough. They didn't abandon motion control, but still evolved the control scheme into a far more interesting direction. I wish I could devote more time to this here, but an asymmetric control scheme can result in some very cool multiplayer options. All and all, its a solid console that no one should have major complaints about.

But what a crap launch. First off, the name was ill chosen. What they needed to do was distance themselves from the kiddy image they built up. This not only fails at that but also fails at differentiating itself from the Wii at all. The Wii built a strong fan base among non-gamers. These people are NOT going to be following gaming news. So releasing a new console with such a prominent controller has confused many people into thinking that the Wii U is just a new controller for the Wii. This level of miss-communication is unfortunate, but wasn't helped by the dearth of advertising for the console. Remember the "Wii would like to play" ads? Nothing like that is going around TV this time. And on top of this, we have a disappointing launch line up of games. So we have a good console with lots of potential, but a crap release plan. I am having Dreamcast flash backs. 

THE UGLY:

If you are reading this, you know where this is going. The train-wreck that was the Xbox One launch. Microsoft was not thinking right when they designed this. Sure, its a solid gaming platform, but it has many features that directly aggravate gamers. Beyond focusing way too much on TV interactivity, they built the console with several security features that annoy gamers when they are on GAMES. Required internet connectivity is short sighted beyond belief. The you could argue that "Its only a once a day check and everyone has internet", but your wrong. Not everyone has internet. And it invasive. 

Lets make a comparison. Cars run on gas, you need gas to run them. But lets imagine that the car you purchased wont run unless you also called the car company on the phone once a day. Not only is it another hurdle to YOUR BELONGING, but it feels like the company is keeping an eye on you, like your a criminal. 

Just because you bought a console and have electricity, does not mean you have ready internet access in your home. Its also one more thing that can go wrong. Internet is not under your control; if something goes wrong with your provider, you can't play games. 

But we aren't done here. The Xbox One comes with a kinect built in. Lets be honest, the kinect was an interesting idea but it failed as a game controller. Building one in is not going to get more companies making good kinect games. But this is creepy in another way. It has a webcam that will track who is in front of the game system. AND they had the balls to install used game prevention measures into the system. They may have backed off on whether all games will have this feature, but the tech is still on the machine. Used games are the lifeblood of many gamers. Ever since it was decided that 60 bucks is the ceiling for most new games, many people have to buy used just out of necessity. 

There are just so many misguided decisions with this console. I think Microsoft got a big head with its uber successful Xbox 360. They thought they could push the industry where they wanted it. I see a lot of parallels to their behavior when they dominated the PC world. 

As a last word, I will say this. Buying one console over another is rarely a wrong decision. Even with the many flaws of the Xbox One, I don't think its WRONG to buy one. Just pick whichever one you like. You have your reasons.

EDIT:

I recently read that Microsoft reversed its stance on online requirements and used game DRM. Well, thats great. But still, this was a rank of the announcement. Still one of the worst announcements EVER.