The Truth About Consoles

by Joshua "Darien" Maciel 

Oh flawed logic, where have you brought us? The Playstation and Playstation 2 have been deemed to be quality systems, yet in practically the same breath problems are spoken of involving the PS2 hardware. Sega has brought us miserable systems as well according to Mr. Fiveash. Yet I ask you, is Dreamcast, Saturn, or Genesis an inferior system? I know of no one who's had one of these systems break on them, yet the droves of people I've heard ranting about their faulty PS1's seems endless.

There is a difference between a good console and a popular console. The Playstation was a very popular console, and sold three times as many systems as households it was in. Yes, that's right. Though it may be a slight exaggeration, people bought 2-3 Playstations in many cases -- not because they wanted one for each TV in their house, but rather because the first few broke. The irony is that the sales figures don't reflect faulty technology, only pure sales. Sony had great marketing, and great developers, but as a console, the PSX was strictly sub-par.

What about the N64? Was that a good console? I would say yes it is. Built-in multiplayer support and some of the most addictive multiplayer games around as well as superiour hardware (producing superiour graphics) made this system great. RPGamers may complain about the cartridge-based system, but what did we play RPGs on since the dawn of consoles: cartridges. It isn't Nintendo's fault that Square wanted to put FMV in their games so that they could spend less time developing a decent game engine. The irony is that despite it's inherent superiourity in hardware, the people who most appreciated the N64 were fans of Pokémon, many too young to even realize the marked improvement over previous consoles.

Dreamcast managed to combine the best parts of each system. Excellent graphics, wonderful games, and a great piece of hardware (multi-player support, sturdy construction) made Dreamcast an excellent system. But was it popular? Of course not, because naysayers like Mr. Fiveash didn't give it a chance. Sega has always made great consoles, from the Master System to the Dreamcast. Their systems just aren't popular, and get a lack of support all around. Who was the first company to create a CD unit for their console? Sega. Who got credit for using CDs in their system? Sony. Does that make Sega systems bad? Of course not, it makes Sega the victim of bad marketing.

So where does that bring us? It brings us to PS2 and Gamecube, with the new challenger the X-Box making it's first appearance. Chances are that RPGamers will band against Gamecube, at least in the public eye, with their poor showing of RPGs on the N64. Will that make it a bad console? Not necessarily, but as we can see from Mr. Fiveash's comments, it isn't whether or not the console's bad, it's whether or not it's marketed well. Currently it seems like the internet hype is playing down the Gamecube as a viable competitor, quite a shame really.

PS2 is the recipient of the most demonic marketing scheme of all. Release only a few console systems to drive up demand, yet don't make the system worth the demand. No one cares that the PS2 is better used as a doorstop. I hear the proponents screaming, "Backward compatibility!" and "Superb hardware statistics!" At the same time they're yelling that, has anyone noticed that Shen Mue, a lowly Dreamcast game, looks better than most PS2 games? And what of developers complaining about PS2 being difficult to code for? What about all the hardware problems the PS2 suffered shortly after it's release in Japan? And what about this manufacturing problem? Yet the PS2, home of FFX-XII is receiving a thumbs up from Mr. Fiveash... One can only wonder why...

My bet is on the X-Box. Sony bought its way into the console industry and Microsoft dwarfs Sony. The X-Box is going to use DirectX, which is something developers are already used to. Want RPGs? Who do you think the developers of the top computer RPGs are going to develop for? If that's not enough, wouldn't you think that Microsoft could buy rights to Sega games? I'm sure Sega and their 'horrid consoles' wouldn't mind some money in the bank. Yet people are going to say that Microsoft is an evil corporation, and therefore we shouldn't buy their console. Sony's an evil corporation too, that hasn't stopped us from buying 3 PS1s.

So where does this bring us? Nowhere. The process was the important part. Learn about the consoles you're going to write about, because chances are you've been taken in to some grand scheme to sell you sub-par items and make you think the world of them. Learn not to judge a console by its sales statistics, and learn that it isn't who does something first, it's who does it with a better marketing strategist. In the meantime, go pull out your Dreamcast if you have one, and tell me that the graphics aren't amazing in comparison to the PS2, despite the fact that the Dreamcast was released a year earlier. Then marvel at the fact that even the Dreamcast has 4 controller ports while Sony decided to make you buy a multi-tap (that will break how many times in the life of the PS2?). After you're done with all that, sit back, relax, and think before you buy your next console.