XBOX 360 vs. Playstation 3 (PS3)
Well, I have some money from Christmas now to buy a video game system. I want to either get an XBOX 360 or a PS3. I have no idea which one to get, but if I had to choose right now, I would get an XBOX 360 because of the game, Bioshock, which came out a while back. I actually posted 2 videos of a walk-through of this game a while back on YouTube, and the videos got tons of views and comments because everyone thought the game looked really cool. The videos were from someone who works for the IGN website, I think. My account got suspended at YouTube, though, so I don't have the videos up on YouTube anymore (I have a new YouTube account now).
Bioshock is not available on the PS3. It is available for the PC, but my video card is not good, and it can't be switched out because my DELL is not set up for that (Damn!). Here is a video of Bioshock ...
Another game I would like to play is Halo 3 since it got so much buzz this year, and TIME magazine called it the game of the year in their recent Top 10 issue. They also included Bioshock in that list.
Oblivion, the Elder Scrolls IV (I think that is the right name), is another game that would probably be pretty cool on the XBOX 360. I think it is available for PS3, too, though.
Assassin's Creed (update: this game is on XBOX 360, too, so that is great!) is a game on the PS3 that looks really great, but it is probably the only game for the PS3 that looks good to me. There is an older game called Darkness that is on the PS3, but it is available on the XBOX, too.
A lot of people say "Oh, you have to get the PS3 because it comes with Blu-ray", which they seem to think is the future of DVD. However, I like to watch just regular DVDs. I don't think I am even going to notice a difference between normal DVD and Blu-ray DVD on my TVs. I don't have any large, flat-screen TVs. I have the older kind, but the picture still looks really good. That will be a purchase that I make much later in the year or even next year (I mean 2009 since I already feel like we are in 2008). I think the flat-screen TVs are still way too expensive.
The XBOX 360 has HD DVD, which is the DVD format that will compete with Blu-ray. A lot of people I talk to seem to think that Blu-ray will win out in the end, but I don't know how they know this. There may not be a winner, but there probably will be. VHS won out over Betamax a long time ago so there probably isn't room for HD DVD and Blu-ray.
All this thinking about video game systems and what games they offer made me think of my favorite video games of all time. Here are some of my favorite games ...
Final Fantasy II (I think this was part 4 in Japan)
Final Fantasy II in the U.S. was an amazing role-playing game that came out with the SNES (Super Nintendo). There was a commercial for it in the early 90s where a kid played it throughout all four seasons of the year, never leaving his room. That is an accurate description because I played it for hours and hours, which you must do with any Final Fantasy game to increase in level. The wonderful thing about the Final Fantasy games has always been the ability to get stronger by fighting more monsters. You also get more money to buy better weapons in the shops, and you can get secret items that are dropped by your enemies after a long time of fighting. You can learn new spells and abilites to use on your enemies, and you usually travel through lush landscapes full of mountains, caves, castles, etc.
Another wonderful thing about the Final Fantasy games is the music. My favorite music of Final Fantasy II is the one played by Edward on his harp (I guess it is actually called a "lute") when he is playing a song for his recently deceased love, Anna. There is actually a video of someone playing this song on the piano on YouTube. People are so devoted to these games. It's funny.
Here is a good scene from Final Fantasy II that shows the simple graphics the early 90s offered ...
Another game I liked on SNES was Soul Blazer. For some reason I really love games where you help rebuild cities. Act Raiser (which I just learned was made by the same company) is another example of this kind of game, but Soul Blazer had much better graphics. Here is a video of Soul Blazer ...
Zelda was another great game on SNES, but I am not going to post that here because everyone knows about the Zelda games. Well, here is a link if you need it.
I tried to play games on the PC (I didn't have a PC until 1995, I think, and it was my parents', not mine) like Sim City 2000. They did not always run as smoothly as console games, though. Here is Sim City 2000 ...
Sim City 3000 was better, and I had a better PC to run it on ...
I always turned disasters off in my Sim City games. I didn't want to have to deal with them.
I waited a long time before getting a PS2. It was a good thing because the price dropped down a lot (I wish I could wait now, but I am not that patient). One of the first games I got for the PS2 was Final Fantasy X. I hated it at first for some reason and did not want to play it. However, about a year ago, after talking with a co-worker about it, I started playing it again and realized it was just as great as that old Final Fantasy game that I had played more than a decade earlier. Here is Final Fantasy X on PS2 ...
Enter the Matrix was another game I bought right away when I got the PS2. I loved the Matrix movies, and the ability to do slow motion in the game was the coolest thing ever! Here is a clip of it ...
Another great game for the PS2 is Siren (sometimes called "Forbidden Siren"). As weird as it may sound, I just can't get enough of the post-apocalyptic zombie type games, such as the Resident Evil franchise. The amazing thing about Siren is that you can tap into the perspective of the zombies (you can see through their eyes so that you know if they can see you or not). Siren is an example of a "stealth" game, which I am not good at. In stealth games you do not always have a weapon or spell handy, and there is no way to increase your health if you get attacked. Here is a very low-quality video that I took with my cell phone a long time ago of a scene from Siren (I had this video on my old YouTube account. I decided to upload it to my current YouTube account).
I later got one of the best games ever for the PS2, God of War. The graphics of this game were great, and the theme of Greek mythology was pretty cool, too. Here is a sort of tribute video to the game ...
I received Resident Evil 4 (PS2) and Sim City 4 (PC) for Christmas of 2005 (I think that is right. If not, then it was Christmas of 2006). Sim City 4 is not bad, but Resident Evil 4 became my favorite game ever. It was like being in the middle of a great horror movie. I love the first two Resident Evil movies, too (the third one is in my Netflix queue).
Here is a clip of Resident Evil 4 ...
Final Fantasy XII and God of War 2 are the most recent games that came out on the PS2 that I purchased.
Final Fantasy XII
God of War 2
So that is a summary that shows all of the games I have really enjoyed. Now, I just have to decide between the XBOX and the PS3. I am worried that a new Final Fantasy or a new God of War is going to come out on PS3, and I will have the XBOX 360. However, I don't want to get the PS3 right now because there are games on the XBOX 360 that I want to play. Any advice from gamers out there?
The other dilemma is that I need a new PC with a much better video card if I am ever going to be able to play a game like Sim City: Societies ...
