Consoles Lacking Uniqueness

Bluevoodu

Bluevoodu

Site Founder
How many of you think the home Consoles are lacking Uniqueness.

IE every game you see coming out comes out on the Xbox and Ps2.
I know Gamecube is a favorite of mine... but with that aside.... I'd say Nintendo is the most unique console out there.... just because of its exclusives... and 1st party exclusives.

but seriously..... it seems that every company is just out to drop the same game on all 3 (or at least 2) consoles.... and it sucks IMO.
Its good for choice, but at the same time..... there is nothing to say "yeah.... I have this and its only available here."

What do you all think? Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the industry?

†B†V† :hat
 
I know Gamecube is a favorite of mine... but with that aside.... I'd say Nintendo is the most unique console out there.... just because of its exclusives... and 1st party exclusives.
Click to expand...

No, PS2 has more unique titles by far. Because it's been around for longer and just has more titles under it's wing.

In my opinion, there definately needs to be more "exclusive" titles for all 3 consoles. Exclusive games are not only good for the consoles, they're good for when first time buyers are looking into buying one, because the person can then play favourites and has an easier choice that way.

I wish things were like how they used to be when Nintendo and Sega were going head-to-head. Plenty of exclusives for both consoles back then, and people had good reasons to prefer one over the other if their favourite game was on the console they had.
 
If I had it my way, there wouldn't be any exclusives. I hate missing out on games just because I didn't buy that specific company's system. And I'm definitely not going to buy more than one per console war, that's just way too expensive. I'd love to be able to play Mario, Halo, and GTA all on one console, that way, I wouldn't be missing out on anything.
 
I don't want all of the consoles to be clones of each other. I don't think they are at that point yet, although I would say that it can be redundant to have a PS2 and a XBOX since half the time the same games are released on both. However, if you are open to a multitude of genres, you can find uniqueness even owning both. Like for me, the PS2 is great for rpgs and the XBOX is great for racing games and first person shooters.

The Gamecube definitely has its own thing going on. Nintendo doesn't seem to care about keeping up with the Joneses, which can be a good thing, but also a bad thing. I admire that they do things their way even though it has not worked to their advantage thus far. But at the same time I can see the importance of them conforming a little more to what is popular in order to gain marketshare. I want them to be unique but not at the expense of becoming so unpopular that they have to drop out of the business. This is particularly true when it comes to online gaming. I don't think they will succeed with the Revolution if it's not online.
 
well... supposively they are working on an online plan.... supposively though... only supposively :)

we'll have to see what comes in the future, eh?

†B†V† :hat
 
I totally agree with Stealth. I hate it when there's a game I want to play, but it's only for X-Box.  I don't have the money to get one, or a new monster computer. It's just better to make the consoles more adaptable. I wouldn't care if every console had the exact same games, there's still a matter of controllers, accessories, portability, and other stuff like that. Think about it, the games themselves are so expensive, that doing that wouldn't harm the market at all. Paying forty bucks for a game is STILL outrageous to me. And yet, I want it so bad, that i'm willing to pay that. And the companies know that too. Individuality of consoles should lie in the features of the actual unit. Not the games released by the companies manufacturing the consoles.
 
If there were no exclusives, then the company with the highest popularity would win the most amount of sells, considering all the consoles would have to be almost identical.  That would be a complete waste.  I agree with most of what someone in the latest GMR magazine had to say:
"...Because of the exclusivity of Grand Theft Auto on the PS2 until recently, Sony has had a claim to fame.  Likewise, die-hard Oddworld fans could not play Munch's Oddysee without owning a system made by Nintendo or Microsoft.  The Resident Evil series has been a great asset to Nintendo, while Ratchet, Jak, and Sly make the PS2 the platformer's system of choice.  The personality which identifies our current systems to consumers would not be there without exclusivity.  The giving up of exclusivity in the events of Oddworld Stranger and the Grand Theft Auto double pack makes for interesting turns in the console wars.  Without exclusivity, Halo would not have made gamers look twice at the Xbox...For those who would like to see exclusivity done away with, I have something to say.  Remember Atari.  Remember 1983-84.  The videogame industry crashed.  Hard.  Because Atari had no real competition and was free to flood the market with anything in a cartridge.  Remember the immortal words of one Atari executive in late 1982, 'I can put horse**** in a cartridge and sell a million of them.'..."  - Laguna Loire
 
Hmm.... I dunno. As a consumer, I would simply just like more games available for the system I own. "Individuality" hasn't really bugged me as far as consoles go. It's when the games themselves start looking the same that I get worried.
 
But if there was no individuality, there would be no need for 3 consoles. They wouldn't be individual, they'd all be exactly the same. The three companies would have to work together to create one system for everyone, and share the profit. That'll never happen
 
I agree with trkorecky and that Laguna person, exclusives are vital and are what divide the consoles into different fan-bases. Plus without them, things just wouldn't be as fun. I love that I can compare the PS2 to the Gamecube, and point certain facts out whenever i'm debating over which is better or helping someone who's looking into buying a new console. Simply said, exlusives are the "personality" of the consoles.

Like I said, Nintendo v.s. Sega!
 
I think you guys are misinterpreting what Apollo and I are saying, because if you got it, you would agree with us...

What we mean is that in an ideal world, there would only be 1 console, with every game you could ever possibly want on it. From a consumer standpoint (which all of us are) it is much easier on our wallet's if you don't need to buy 3 different systems to play games that are technically playable on all three. Ideally, everyone wants to have all the games they like on one system.

What you guys are saying is that it would be silly to have three consoles competing when there's no difference in the games you can buy for each. I understand and agree with that, but this is a "what if" situation, and deep down we all want our Gamecube's to be able to play GTA, or our PS2's to play Halo, etc.
 
I would gladly have one system. However the companies that make said systems don't. So they don't really please the consumer, they're just in it for the HUGE amount of cash they get from us.

And I did understand what you said, I just approached the "personality" of the consoles from a different perspective.
 
That makes sense.


P.S. I see you filled in the one character thingie for the signature. I wish we had sigs on here.
 
stealth toilet said:
What we mean is that in an ideal world, there would only be 1 console, with every game you could ever possibly want on it.
Click to expand...

If the world was ideal, yeah, that would be cool. Unfortunately, the world is not ideal.

It would not be beneficial as a gamer for there to be only one system. They would have a monopoly and could set as high prices as they wanted, since there would be no competition. It would also mean that they could pump out nothing but crappy games and we'd have no choice but to buy them since there wouldn't be any other choice. This is the reason why there are anti-trust laws.

If Sony and Nintendo and Microsoft didn't have each other to compete with, there would be no reason for any of them to try and make that "one killer app." It's because of the competition that we've gotten some great games. I bet there's at least a few Sonic fans here, right? Well, Sega wouldn't have had to create Sonic if they weren't trying to compete with Mario.

Exclusives are a double-edged sword, I suppose.
 
Some great points all round.

That's very true though, it's the heated competiton that's making all 3 companies bringing out great games.
 
I like the GameCube because of the gameplay. That is the biggest thing lacking in todays market. You have to admit, that gamecube controller and response time is pretty sweet.
 
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