Compare and Contrast Major console platforms

by walton12 (student)

Kyle Walton

AO1 – Compare and contrast major console platforms

One of the major console platforms is Sony’s Playstation. Sony offers you many different ‘unique’ features such as six-axis controller, free PSN and blu-ray. Six axis controllers is a feature of the Playstation where you can use the controller as a steering wheel for example. The six-axis controllers cost £30 when new as it was a new technology, the battery of the controllers lasted for 30 hours of continuous gaming from full charge. Blu-ray discs are better quality than HD disc and have a capacity of 128 GB which means the PS3 exclusive games are larger than other console games. Although PSN is free it isn’t the best online gaming service there is that goes to Xbox live. The biggest PSN problem is that the service was hacked in 2011 and this proved that it is insecure and people will not be willing to pay.

Another major console platform is Microsoft’s Xbox 360 these have features such as Xbox live Sky player and Zune. Zune is a film and music player where you can watch and listen to music from the internet. Sky player allows you to watch movies and programmes from sky on your Xbox without a Sky box. But you have to have a subscription to sky. And Xbox live is what allows you to play online with your friends on your Xbox although you have to pay for Xbox live it is better than PSN as there is more features and it hasn’t been hacked so people know it is secure.

Nintendo’s Wii is also a good Gaming console, although it is not for hardcore gamers it has its advantages in other ways because it is a family based console which brings families together to play, which isn’t common on Playstation or Xbox. They also have the advantage of motion sensor which makes it a more physical game it also has Wii fit which aims to keep gamers fit whilst having fun. The Nintendo Wii has sold 87.57 million units worldwide since its release on November 19th 2006

Hardware - The PS3 uses one general purpose core with 7 virtual cores 1 ...

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Hardware - The PS3 uses one general purpose core with 7 virtual cores 1 for the operating system and 6 for the games the PS3 has hard drives from 20GB to 320GB but these can be changed as a normal PC hard drives fit into the PS3 compared to the Xbox 360 which uses three general purpose cores and has a range of hard drives from 10GB up to 250GB. Both of the consoles have 512MB of ram but the PS3 has 256 spare just for the graphics the PS3 has better specs than the Xbox 360 but you have to pay more for these specs.

Games – There are 101 PS3 exclusive games some of which are KILLZONE 2 and 3 Metal Gear Solid 4 and the whole resistant series. These are some of the best selling PS3 exclusives together they have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Some Xbox exclusive games are Halo Gears of War and Forza which together have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The Wii has exclusive games such as the whole Mario series Wii Sports and Wii Fit together these games have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide mainly due to the fact that every Wii comes with Wii sports and The Mario series has at Least 5 games.

Features – The exclusive features of PS3 are PlayStation move PlayStation home, the PS3 also has a browser so you can use the internet, the PS3 also has BBC iplayer, ITV Player 4OD and 5OD it also has LoveFilm which allows you to download games and Films straight to your PS3. Another main feature of the PS3 is that the online is free. The Xbox has exclusive features such as Kinect and Zune, Unlike the PS3 the Xbox doesn’t have access to BBC iplayer and things alike yet. You also have to pay for the online because it is more secure than that of the PS3.

Online – The online of the PS3 is called Playstation Network also known as PSN it is free to sign up to and use and has 77 million users, although it is free it isn’t secure as proved in 2011 when it was hacked, and people credit card details were stolen. Compared to Xbox’s Xbox live which costs £30 a year at the cheapest price, but it is more secure than PSN, Xbox live has 35 Million users. The Nintendo Wii has online but it is only accessible by Mario Kart Wii although this isn’t really a problem as the Wii is not meant for online gamers like the other two consoles.

Summary - Overall the PS3 is the better console, although the Xbox 360 has better online and more exclusive games. The PS3 is better because it has better specs than the other two consoles and bigger disc capacity. Sony also claim that the games on the market are far from reaching the PS3’s full potential and that Xbox and Wii are holding back the advancement in games.

Teacher Reviews

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Ad Son

4th of Sep 2013

Summary: This review contains some interesting facts and figures about three different consoles that allow judgments to be made on the "best" console. There are clearly some criteria being applied in places that help support the judgments. In order to be more conclusive and accurate the criteria being used need to be used even more consistently and the review become more objective (fact based) rather than it being subjective (based on opinions) as it feels at the moment. This would be a good piece of work for any student doing a comparative review to look at to gain an understanding of how in depth a review is without the rigorous use of criteria. Overall this is a three star piece of work.

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