What to buy this Christmas: The buffer story
Everyone's got an opinion on what you should get this Christmas, haven't you noticed? It's on every single web portal. What does that tell you? Gaming is now BIG business, and we're not even just talking now about entertainment industry niches. We're talking bigger than Hollywood (DVD and cinema sales, essentially) and we're also talking non gamers. Families and grannies, aunts and uncles, God parents and 'friends of the family'. Heck, even your ex might show up over the holidays with a DS Lite in his pocket, and why?
Because now games really are for everyone. As fangirlish as it may sound, we have Nintendo to thank for that. As annoying as it is that they 'forgot' about HD, large hard drives or DVD playing, the truth is that they have opened gaming up into a global book that everyone can read, without feeling 'geeky' or 'childish'. The niche carved out by the Gameboy has erupted in the form of the popular DS/DS Lite, splattering one in four Japanese so far with its charm. Owning a DS is like owning a book - nobody is going to diss you for learning how to spell, speak or do maths, are they? Nobody is going to accuse you of being a geek for breaking out into a bit of Trauma Center or Phoenix Wright on a train, because what else is there to do? Gaming finally makes sense to the non gamer, and soon the very term 'non gamer' may become a thing of the distant past.
In my view, the first handheld that didn't look uncool to have out in public was the GBA SP, especially the plain black one. Not only did it fit snugly into your pocket, but it flipped out like another much accepted fact of modern life - the cellphone. A decent screen, fun games and a good sized D-pad that didn't give you thumb ache after two minutes, or a case of cross stigmata. Heck; even the shoulder buttons were cool.
The pathway for the DS was carved by this baby, paving the way for another flip top design that resembled this time, another modern fact of life - the palm top/pilot revolution. The first DS mould may seem chunky and cumbersome to us now, but only a short time ago was seen as truely special and sleek. Compared to some laptops, it still doesn't look bad and it's probably more stable and more fun. Especially if your Laptop runs Vista and you've got problems ... but that's another blog for another day.
Gaming changed though, with the development of the touch screen. At first, you think about it and you might be inclined to shrug and say 'so what? I can touch with the pen, what's the difference between that and buttons?' A whole world, my friend. The sales figures for the DS/DS Lite alone show you that difference. If buttons were just as good, then the PSP wouldn't be so far behind. The innovation of pinpoint accuracy and the freedom of pixel to pixel movement anywhere on the screen is to console and handheld gaming what the mouse was to the personal computer. Life blood. Before we had the mouse in common household computers, not only were they worse for doing professional work on, but gaming was totally different. Don't get me wrong - what we now refer to as the retro gaming era was awesome, I was raised on retro games and I love them to pieces. But the simple truth is that the FPS, third person adventure and RTS genres to name but three would never have got off the ground if it hadn't been for the mouse. For gaming, the stylus and touch screen is that mouse. Handheld PCs trialled it, mistakes were made and fixed. Nintendo didn't move too early, timed the technology well and now the DS could well be described as their money printing machine.
So where does that leave you and I this Christmas? If you're lucky enough to find a Wii in the shops for your kids or someone else's, then we suggest that you buy it ASAP. I can tell you that in the office where I work, total non gamers are shopping for Wiis. About one in five people want to get one for someone, and everyone knows about 'the game were you so sports by swinging the remote around, just like real tennis and golf'. This may sound like a two year old talking to the seasoned gamer, but have respect. What you're witnessing is a revolution in gaming and what it actually means to BE a gamer at all. This is going to get games into schools (tried getting your kids to take part in PE in the winter months recently???), and the DS is going to get learning changed. Maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but from acorns ...
We won't become a nation of fatties if we all get a Wii. The truth is, the Wii is just a way to move more often - if you were playing on a Game Cube, Xbox 360 or PS2 then the truth of the matter is - you would be moving LESS. It's just a logical, factual statement. No, it won't solve everything but it is a wobble in the right direction.
Notice that I didn't mention the PS3 there. I meant to leave it out, because despite the price cuts which have removed it from the 'you'd have to actually be insane or addicted to Blu-Ray to buy this thing' pigeon hole, the fact remains that if you want a PS3 for anything, the Xbox 360 does it better; it has more games which are also better (or at least as good) and it has a well established, tried and tested online system which actually works. I've seen Need for Speed Carbon on both the PS3 and the Xbox and to be perfectly honest? The Xbox one looks more realistic because everything isn't trying to look like it's made out of mirrors with the power it has. Real life doesn't look perfect, folks.
This Christmas, if you can then I still say the Wii is excellent, unbeatable value for your money, whoever you are. You'll make friends and influence people. Having a Wii isn't childish or geeky - you've seen Ian Wright on the telly using one so you're in the clear. It's marketing but it represents a truth, gaming's ok now. You can do it and show it off to people, without looking strange. If you already have a Wii, can't get one because they've sold out or for some other strange reason, then we recommend that you pre order one from the next batch, and buy yourself one of two things:
a) A DS Lite. You will never regret it for as long as you live. These things are versatile, brilliantly varied, play a massive list of games in every type you could imagine (GBA games as well), go online in WiFi areas and frankly, will have you smarter by February 2008 if you want to be.
b) An Xbox 360 Elite. Hard to come by (Virgin told us that their shipment recently got stuck on a mudbank on the way from Germany in a tanker), and expensive to get all the bits for, especially if you want lots of pads and to go online at home. But on boy - compared to the PS3, this baby will do everything you need for less moolah, and it's got more for you to do.
If you still feel after all this, the need to buy someone or yourself a PS3? You must love Blu-Ray, or have a lot of money. Either way, I implore you to change your mind. It looks like a CD player from the 1980s and the 360 is just better. The Wii is more fun and will sharpen your thinking. What are you waiting for?
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