The most popular gaming platforms available in the market these days are the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, made by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony respectively. All of them are great pieces of gaming equipment, but they have inherent dissimilarities. For one, they differ with regards to footprint and weight. At 6.3×8.5 square inches and 1.2 kg, Nintendo Wii has the least footprint, and the least heavy among the three video game consoles.
In terms of aesthetics, gamers pick Playstation3 as the best looking console. When they were first released, Nintendo Wii consoles were white, while the other 2 had sleek black exteriors. Nowadays, their makers have rolled out limited edition colors. Graphics quality in Wii is only up to 480p or 576i though, which somewhat falls short to the high definition 1080p resolution of Xbox and PlayStation3 units. Wii at the moment also has no HDMI support.
Although Wii falls short in the graphics department, they win on the gameplay arena, being that it is the most interactive. Unlike the traditional gamepad design used by Xbox 360 and PlayStation, Nintendo Wii’s controller looks like a TV remote control, aptly called by their users as Wiimote.
The Wii Remote has motion sensing capability which allows the user to interact and manipulate items on the screen by making gestures. This kind and amount of interaction transforms game titles like Harry Potter Wii edition extremely immersive. With Harry Potter Wii, you can relive the adventure at Hogwarts using the Wiimote as your very own wand. Wii can also be used with other controllers like the Wii Zapper and Wheel making first-person shooter and racing games even more immersive. The Wiimote also has built-in audio so the gamer can hear it swish when used as a tennis racquet, or clank when used as a sword during melee combat. It also has and haptic technology which provides a tactile component to complement the game’s visuals. For instance, with this force-feedback technology, the Wii controller will vibrate when you collided onto another vehicle you’re playing a racing game.
In terms of start-up cost, PS3 and Xbox are more expensive. However, they do have a lot more multimedia, and non-gaming features. You can play movies on a PS3; you can’t do the same on a Wii console. However, Wii is the cheapest among the three, and is probably the main reason why it is the best-selling console worldwide.
All of these gaming platforms offer an extensive array of great game titles. A number of these games, like Harry Potter Legos Game, appear on all three systems. The latest Harry Potter Legos Game, which features Years 5-7 of the novel, was released just a few days ago. There are also exclusive titles like Halo 3 and Left 4 Dead, which are only playable on Xbox systems.
