gamingforgirls

I come across people every day who constantly carry an epic battle in their minds: PSP vs. DS.  Xbox 360 vs. Wii.  Playstation 3 vs. anything without a blu-ray player.  Those who don’t understand gaming might consider this struggle utterly pointless, but anyone buying for a family of two pre-adolescent girls and a single teenage boy can tell you it means the difference between perfect harmony and bare-knuckled brawling.  Well, until the brass knuckles Braeden bought with his Hot Topic gift card from Grandma come out of the drawer.

So, what should you consider when choosing what to buy?  Well, the first question is obviously whether you’re looking for a console or a portable system.  Do you think you’ll get bored easily on long trips?  Where are you going to be most often when the urge to play hits?  Are you even going to be leaving the house, or might you be better off just sewn to the couch with an IV drip in your arm?  If you think you’re going to need something that goes where you go, you’re best off with a portable.  Remember:  portable gaming systems really don’t have the advantage of increased storage and processing space, so the games can often be more simplistic than those on console games.  If you need full horsepower in your gaming experience, you may want to consider sticking with a home console.

If you’ve chosen a portable system, the main two options are the Sony PSP (for PlayStation Portable) and the Nintendo DS.  This choice will probably be pretty easy, considering there have been very few things in the universe that are as opposite one another as these two systems.  The DS tends to cater toward younger kids, beginning gamers, and girls–though that might just be because Japan is, well, weird.  Aside from the touch screen and the fact that it comes in a wide variety of colors, there isn’t too much that can be considered “extra” about it.  The PSP, on the other hand, does everything but julienne vegetables.  Movies, music, pictures… it’s really a multimedia sort of item.  The games are more geared toward that key teen/young adult male audience, however, so if you’re a girly girl you might have better luck with the selection for the DS.  If quality of graphics is a selling point for you, the PSP is your winner.

Now we come to the struggle I hear most from people who’ve decided on console gaming:  of the Xbox 360, the Playstation 2, the Playstation 3, and the Wii, which is the best for me/my family?

The first one I’d like to break off of the group is obviously the Nintendo Wii, being the most unique of the four options.  With its motion sensitive controllers that are truly the first of their kind (unlike the copycat accelerometer-laden PS3 controllers that–quite frankly–are pointless in the context of the PS3’s game selection), the Wii has introduced a new level of activity to video games.  The game selection is the best of the four options for family and group gaming, as the whole point of the Wii was to bring people together to play (”Wii”–read: “we”–would like to play”).  If you have a big, young family, a group of people who just want to play fun minigames together once in a while, or if you’re just a great big Nintendo fanboy/fangirl, the Wii is definitely the console for you.

If you’re less of a casual gamer and looking for a more “mature” game selection, you’re going to want to pick from the Xbox 360, the Playstation 2, or the Playstation 3.  The PS2 is still being supported through 2009, but it’s also a heckuva lot cheaper than the other systems.  If you want to save some simoleons and don’t particularly care that a lot of the game selection is outdated or that new games won’t be produced for it after next year, the PS2 might serve your needs best.  Now between the Xbox 360 and the PS3, it really comes down to what kind of experience you want and how much money you’ve got to spend, since the game selection is pretty equal (aside from the occasional Sony/Microsoft exclusives).

With the Xbox 360, you have the option to buy the Arcade (or “core”) system for only $199.  It doesn’t come with much memory (only 256 Mb–which are now internal as opposed to a separate unit), but you can add a hard drive of larger size later on (though those can really get expensive).  There are also the Pro and Elite systems, with 60 Gb and 120 Gb hard drives, respectively.  The 360 recently received the “new Xbox experience,” which includes customizable avatars streaming movies from a Netflix account. It also serves as a DVD player, which can save you some space on your entertainment stand.

The PS3, as usual, shows up the Xbox 360 by not only being a DVD player but also a Blu-ray player (because Sony just loves to flaunt all of their exclusive, proprietary hardware).  It’s also much sleeker looking, and many claim that it has the smoothest graphics and quickest load times.  The PS3 is really the Bentley of the consoles–not only because Sony is immaculate in everything they do, but because it costs a whopping $399 ($499 for one of their game bundles, which often include art books, figurines, and other exclusive merchandise).  If you have the cash and want to flash it, you might seriously consider picking up a Playstation 3.

And that, ladies of the web, is my input on system selection.  Hopefully it’s given you a new weapon in that classic, headache-causing mental battle.  Now if only everyone who shops at Target would read this blog before they come ask me what they should buy for their 12 year old…

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