<p>Okay, here’s some insight from a long-time gamer who has a pretty chill lifestyle:</p>
<p>Yes, you always have to take preference into account when arguing about which console is the “best.” I’ll say it outright, though; PS3 and 360 are better than the Wii in nearly every sphere of gaming.</p>
<p>I have all three consoles in my dorm room. I also have a comfortable couch. And a nice big HDTV. And tons of bros to play with, so my regard for the offline and online aspects of gaming is (at least I think) relatively unbiased. In other words, I appreciate online gaming as much as I appreciate playing Smash with my roommate and friends in person.</p>
<p>In terms of online (Which has become increasingly important in this day and age) the PS3 and 360 are on top, with small advantages going to each console respectively. PSN is free. Xbox Live is a little more robust. Unfortunately my school blocked both gaming networks with a very secure network (It’s currently taken my roommate and I longer than expected to find a way around this, but with a little more free time, now that he’s into Stanford and I’m applied to college and whatnot, as well as some help from the tech guys in our hall, we should be able to get a wireless network up soon) so that means I’ve only been able to play online at home this year (I was able to play online in my dorm last year, but they blocked the Call of Duty servers, damnit!). Which kind of sucks… because that means I’ll have to get around the school’s existing network obstacles as well as their COD server block. And I really want to play some zombies online.</p>
<p>Anyways (back on topic), my evaluation of the PSN vs. XBL these days is more about how much I can enjoy the experience rather than focus on minor discrepancies. In other words, I don’t care if your avatar has more clothing than mine. I’m really looking for:</p>
<p>-Being able to do better in games such as Black Ops.</p>
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<p>First off, that’s a massive generalization but it does hold the slightest bit of truth to it. Considering that PSN is free and you can make multiple accounts, it’s more likely that people will mess around (and therefore suck). But, for me at least, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. More sucky players (or less good players) means that I’ll die less and ultimately have a better time. So in terms of doing well in online games, I think the PSN takes the cake because, ultimately, you have less competition. If you watch YouTube commentaries (With guys such as Wings, Whiteboy, Woody, Tejb, Hutch, Seananners, etc.) you’ll notice that a lot of their best gameplays or on the PS3.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I like XBL because it gets a lot of releases sooner. Take the new COD/Zombie map pack. That’s coming out sooner for the Xbox (Which I would have minded a few months ago, but I won a Halo Reach edition Xbox and bundle in a YouTube contest in October, so now I have a brand new Xbox to accompany my launch PS3, which hasn’t given me any problems for these last 5 years) so I can enjoy my Xbox edition of Black Ops for a while, then switch to the PS3 version once its maps are released, and own people because I’m used to the maps.</p>
<p>Seeing as I’ve yet to mention the Wii, here’s my opinion in (appropriately simple) listed format.</p>
<p>Pros:
-Fun for pick-up-and-play games with friends
-I can still use my Gamecube controllers
-Smash Bros (Melee and Brawl) are awesome, as is Mario Kart
-Metroid is pretty cool to watch</p>
<p>Cons:
-Poor quality graphics (especially after playing games like MGS4 in 1080p)
-Online is a joke
-Not many other good games besides Smash and kart</p>
<p>Whew, I think that’s enough for today. Winter break has just ended for me, so I’ve packed up and will embark on my journey back to campus this evening. My roommate is bringing his Xbox up as well, so we’re going to try and system link for some Nazi Zombie action until we can connect online. I f**king love zombies.</p>
<p>Adios, amigbros.</p>