Consoles: Which one’s right?

A console is a dedicated gaming machine. Every gamer dreams of having one. Consoles today are scaled down versions of your average PC. How do they perform so well, you ask? That’s because all the games which are made for consoles are optimized for that particular piece of hardware, unlike PC games that have to be able to work with a wide range of hardware. For e.g. the game Halo for Xbox was optimized to work with it’s hardware and therefore gave stunning performance. Halo for the PC however, had to be able to work with low-end, average, as well as upper-end machines. Thus the performance of the game was not exactly stellar (no pun intended!) on the lower and average systems.

The main players in the console business are Sony and Microsoft with their respective consoles, The Playstation 2 and the Xbox. Nintendo were once top of the pile when it came to consoles, but even their new GameCube has been overshadowed by the two giants—PS2 and Xbox. While there isn’t much to choose between the big two abroad, living in India does change the equation. Here is how the two consoles compare to each other.

The Playstation 2

The Playstation 2 is the most popular console in the world today. And it’s easy to see why. With the original Playstation Sony captured the worlds imagination, all they had to do with the PS2 was iron out the creases. The PS2 also happens to be the only console to be officially launched in India which means easy availability of the console and its games, at least in the metros. While the number of games available may not be as high as its PC counterpart, the major ones are easy enough to find. They cost a bombshell when compared to PC games though, which explains the popularity of the PS2 mod chip that allows users to play pirated games. Be warned though, this is illegal and nullifies the warranty of the PS2. One excellent feature offered by the PS2 is backward compatibility which means that all of your PS1 games will work with the PS2, giving it the largest game library of all the consoles. Another nifty feature is full support for DVD’s, with support for surround sound systems via a Digital Out (Optical) connector along with a Dolby Digital/DTS certification.

The Xbox

The Xbox was pretty much a darkhorse when it first came out. It was attempting to infiltrate a market already dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Today it is a well-established console, fighting with the PS2 for supremacy. It has quite a few things going for it; for starters it’s the fastest console of the lot. But what really sets it apart from the competition is the superior graphical power. It blew the competition away on that front.

... And the winner is

Quite simply, the PS2 is the best console out there for Indian gamers. The easy availability of the console, an unparalleled game library and built-in support for DVD’s as well as surround sound make it the clear winner. Bear in mind though, that the next generation of consoles will be coming out soon, so it may be prudent to hold on for awhile, more on that a little later. But if you want a console today, then the PS2 is the best one out there.