Jason Preston
Writing

Console Wars Roundup - Wii vs. PS3

Jason Preston · 2 min read ·

[Image: wii next to ps3]After watching the development of the PS3 for the past year, I’ve been wondering recently why anyone would be buying the launch console. But, needless to say, everyone bought the launch console, and ran home with it really fast and put it up on Craigslist.

The Wii launched two days later with a much bigger…eh…print run? of consoles, and as far as I can tell they sold out all over the place as well.

But the question remains…which one is the real winner? Well, let’s have a look at what people are saying about each console around the blogosphere:

(Note: I found basically all of these links by typing “wii impressions” and “ps3 impressions” into google blog search - no personal bias!)

The Wii

  • Joystick posted a video of a Wii with a broken disc drive

  • The aspidistra goes over his impressions of the Wii, and gushes considerably about the ability to download classic games

  • Various and Sundry posted some initial impressions of the Wii, and his complaints seem to be about the launch lineup.

  • Firing Squad has a long and detailed take on their Wii impressions, mostly positive, it seems. (Although I have to disagree on one important point: using the Wiimote for setup is not “like a game,” it’s more “like a pain in the butt.”

  • Jake at The Game Chair comments on how the Wii works with his projector setup. I have a projector and I have to say that my roommate and I never thought for a second it wouldn’t look and run great, and surprise - it does indeed look and run great. We stuck the sensor bar to the wall under the screen and everything worked on first go.

  • Engadget talks about how some unfortunate souls walked out with dead Wiis on launch day, so the console is not entirely error-free.

The PS3

  • Tech Digest has a rather non-opinionated first impressions post, but they seem to like the system specs.

  • 8bit hero sums up the post in the title - PS3 Impressions: Meh.

  • On November 16th, Engadget discovered that the PS3 didn’t support 1080i for them - I have no idea if Sony has responded to this or what.

If you noticed that there are a lot fewer links to PS3 impressions you’re right, and it’s not because I don’t like it (I don’t); it’s because the reviews are harder to find.

I’m guessing it’s basically because of two things: first, that there were less than 200,000 PS3s for sale on launch, and second, that a little more than half of those consoles are now being scalped on ebay and not played.