Which Console Should I Get

[KieranFretwell]

PS4, And play the last of us. Best game i have ever played 10x

[Curufinwe_wins]

I'm sure that the xbox emulator isn't nearly as tight as the Dolphin emulator is. For what it does, it's a pretty impressive feat. Actually shows what your CPU is capable of (because it takes advantage of just two threads)

 

and considering how crazy optimized Nintendo's games are, I'd not be surprised if it turned out that the PC ate at the delicious x86 code.

 

And the 3DS... Maybe not in the US, but in Japan Nintendo slit Sony's throat with that thing.

And microsoft's too lol. Have you seen the monthly sales numbers for xbone's over in japan? They are freaking hilarious.

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

Steam Machine

[KemoKa]

And microsoft's too lol. Have you seen the monthly sales numbers for xbone's over in japan? They are freaking hilarious.

Lol ikr??? I was in Japan for 9 months. How many Xbones do you think I saw being sold? None. And i spent an inordinate amount of time at places where they would doubtless be sold.

Nintendo just appeals to them too much. Nintendo's very good at the cutesy-cutesy stuff.

[jakinov]

Figure out what kind of games your PS4 friends play online and what your PC friends play online. If your PS4 friends don't really play online and you'll probably play those multi-platform online games on PC, then the "friends having PS4" isn't a compelling reason to get one. If your friends are actively playing games online on the PS4 and your willing to play those games on PS4 instead of PC. then that's the best reason to choose the PS4. If that's not the case, then get an Xbox One for Scalebound, Crackdown 3 and Halo 5 (...6, 7, 8). Note that Crackdown 3 and Scalebound MIGHT come to PC one day.

 

Reasons for Xbox One

• Obviously, if you like the games.
• If you care about non-gaming entertainment such as multimedia.
• It's updated frequently with new features.
• Multi-tasking
• Stream to PC
• Xbox 360 backwards compatibility

 

Reasons for PlayStation 4

• Obviously, if you like the games.
• If you care about Japanese games.
• Better graphics (it's not something you'd notice unless you compare the games side by side).
• Better moment sharing (you can record longer and stream to YouTube)
• SharePlay (you can play couch co-op games through Internet)
• If you have a Vita, you can do remote play.

Reasons NOT to get a Wii U

• New Nintendo Console is coming and it could be backwards compatible.
• If new console comes out then the Wii U price will go down
• You won't get any of the third-party console-exclusives

 

For a more comprehensive list:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/425807-are-consoles-worth-buying-and-which-ones-do-you-like/?p=5722760

 

 

[manikyath]

Ah ok.

As to the system resources... The problem that computers have had in the past was that the Wii and the Gamecube used PowerPC instruction sets that whatever CPU you used had to emulate with x86 instructions, which is pretty demanding. The Wii U uses an AMD APU, which is made on an x86 architecture. If done right, with modern Intel CPUs being the x86 monsters that they are, it'll be glorious. Perhaps it'll use Vulkan, too, which would be a treat. (though graphically, GPUs are not the bottleneck when emulating games.)

Sorry, am I being too wishful?

well, i'm into virtualization quite a bit, and what you're saying is correct, to a point.

 

theres two issues with x86 emulation, or "a virtual machine" like is used in the office/server space right now.

 

first the obvious: you're going to need to *get* the wiiU OS, and adapt it to work within the emulated hardware of a VM.

 

then something thats often forgotten: its EXTREMELY hard to emulate graphics solutions, there has been advancements in this area, but since the buisiness world is generally the big money for VM developers, and they are usually more into CPU-based tasks.

[JoshB2084]

Good old NES!

[Sharkyx1]

Ah ok.

As to the system resources... The problem that computers have had in the past was that the Wii and the Gamecube used PowerPC instruction sets that whatever CPU you used had to emulate with x86 instructions, which is pretty demanding. The Wii U uses an AMD APU, which is made on an x86 architecture. If done right, with modern Intel CPUs being the x86 monsters that they are, it'll be glorious. Perhaps it'll use Vulkan, too, which would be a treat. (though graphically, GPUs are not the bottleneck when emulating games.)

Sorry, am I being too wishful?

The Wii U isn't X86, it's based on PPC, it's 3 game cube cores and an AMD GPU

[KemoKa]

The Wii U isn't X86, it's based on PPC, it's 3 game cube cores and an AMD GPU

That's the Wii. The Wii U has an APU. Or was Nintendo lying to us?

[Sharkyx1]

That's the Wii. The Wii U has an APU. Or was Nintendo lying to us?

It's still based on the old architecture, that's why it can play the old games, it's a beefed up wii processor

APU=!X86 it just means the gpu is on the same die.

[TheConverter]

Xbox 360 because it's like 50$ second hand in perfect condition.

 

Or Xbox One, if you don't have a controller for PC and you can get a Xbox One on sale for like 299, means in the end you only lost 250$

[Hackzzila]

With an xbone you can stream the games to your pc and I like xbone over ps4

[TheConverter]

With an xbone you can stream the games to your pc and I like xbone over ps4

 

Lol why would you want to stream games to PC when you can play them on your PC with controller?

[HaloFan9087]

The consoles are essentially identical in terms of services other than games (music, movies, netflix, social media, live streaming/game capturing and all that jazz).  It should really come down to exclusive titles. In my case, both consoles have exclusives I like so I chose to get both. All in all though if you ever want to play a Halo game (I assume you like the series based on your post) than go for the XBone plain and simple, also MCC is only a little bit broken now... so there is that.

[PC POWER]

Get the one with the exclusives that appeal most to you.

[skywake]

Or a Wii U. I mean, until Dolphin is updated to play Wii U games. They'll run way faster on the PC because the Wii U is x86 based.

The Wii U isn't x86 based. It's PPC the same as the Wii and Gamecube. If they have emulation working even partially as early as this? That'll be the reason why. But given you need something around an i5 to get Wii emulation working as good as it does natively on the Wii? I don't want to know what sort of horsepower you'd need to emulate the Wii U. Because the Wii U may not be powerful but it's still quite a bit more capable than the Wii. As in an order of magnitude.

 

Reasons NOT to get a Wii U

• New Nintendo Console is coming and it could be backwards compatible.
• If new console comes out then the Wii U price will go down
• You won't get any of the third-party console-exclusives

We don't know what the NX is yet. It may replace the Wii U but it could just as easily replace the 3DS or be something else entirely. It also may have backwards compatibility if it is indeed replacing the Wii U but it could just as easily be an architectural shift. They could move to ARM or X86. Which would all but rule out backwards compatibility. And even if you happen to be right on both of those points, and you may be, it's at least a year from now. With the price drop? Well the same is almost surely also going to be true for a PS4 or XBOne a year from now.

 

The way I see it there are only two platforms. There's the XBOne, PS4 and PC as a single platform. They all have minor differences and some exclusives but effectively if you own one you have most of what you would want to get from the others. So they're largely the same thing. Then there's the Wii U, which has all of the Nintendo games. Splatoon, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Maker and so on. Sure it doesn't have big third party titles but it does have it's own content, so if you have a PC/PS4/XBOne and want more? Get a Wii U, it's the only one that offers something significant that you can't already get.

[jakinov]

The Wii U isn't x86 based. It's PPC the same as the Wii and Gamecube. If they have emulation working even partially as early as this? That'll be the reason why. But given you need something around an i5 to get Wii emulation working as good as it does natively on the Wii? I don't want to know what sort of horsepower you'd need to emulate the Wii U. Because the Wii U may not be powerful but it's still quite a bit more capable than the Wii. As in an order of magnitude.

 

We don't know what the NX is yet. It may replace the Wii U but it could just as easily replace the 3DS or be something else entirely. It also may have backwards compatibility if it is indeed replacing the Wii U but it could just as easily be an architectural shift. They could move to ARM or X86. Which would all but rule out backwards compatibility. And even if you happen to be right on both of those points, and you may be, it's at least a year from now. With the price drop? Well the same is almost surely also going to be true for a PS4 or XBOne a year from now.

 

The way I see it there are only two platforms. There's the XBOne, PS4 and PC as a single platform. They all have minor differences and some exclusives but effectively if you own one you have most of what you would want to get from the others. So they're largely the same thing. Then there's the Wii U, which has all of the Nintendo games. Splatoon, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Maker and so on. Sure it doesn't have big third party titles but it does have it's own content, so if you have a PC/PS4/XBOne and want more? Get a Wii U, it's the only one that offers something significant that you can't already get.

It's probably going to replace the Wii U since it's doing so shit and getting horrible third party support. The 3DS kind of already has a successor with the New 3DS since it's faster, more ram and has exclusive games. In regards to backwards compatibility, I understand that there may be technical issues that make backwards compatibility harder but my point was to wait and see what happens because even with different CPU architectures you can still emulate. In regards to pricing, that's true that PS4 and X1 could both go down in price in a year too but it's more likely that the Wii U will go down because of a new console and stores will also want to phase it out. Plus, you probably won't agree but in my opinion the Wii U is overpriced at $300 USD, you basically pay a premium price to get access to the handful of Nintendo first party games. I understand it comes with the gamepad but how much does that really cost them to make? It's just a controller with a low quality and low-resolution screen, crappy camera, and a few sensors. Hardware aside, the Wii U doesn't offer value as a platform either because it has crappy third-party support (i.e. less games), the online platform is still worst than the PS3's at launch, it's multimedia functions are extremely limited, and the underlying OS just crap. Again, all its value is really the fact that Nintendo still makes a few great games every year for it, which not everyone is willing to pay minimum of  $300 to be able to play.

 

It's true that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 share a bunch of games with PC  but it doesn't make much sense to bundle them all together. Since both PS4 and X1 each have their own handful of first-party exclusives plus third-party console-only exclusives that aren't on Wii U or PC.

[TheConverter]

It's probably going to replace the Wii U since it's doing so shit and getting horrible third party support. The 3DS kind of already has a successor with the New 3DS since it's faster, more ram and has exclusive games. In regards to backwards compatibility, I understand that there may be technical issues that make backwards compatibility harder but my point was to wait and see what happens because even with different CPU architectures you can still emulate. In regards to pricing, that's true that PS4 and X1 could both go down in price in a year too but it's more likely that the Wii U will go down because of a new console and stores will also want to phase it out. Plus, you probably won't agree but in my opinion the Wii U is overpriced at $300 USD, you basically pay a premium price to get access to the handful of Nintendo first party games. I understand it comes with the gamepad but how much does that really cost them to make? It's just a controller with a low quality and low-resolution screen, crappy camera, and a few sensors. Hardware aside, the Wii U doesn't offer value as a platform either because it has crappy third-party support (i.e. less games), the online platform is still worst than the PS3's at launch, it's multimedia functions are extremely limited, and the underlying OS just crap. Again, all its value is really the fact that Nintendo still makes a few great games every year for it, which not everyone is willing to pay minimum of  $300 to be able to play.

 

It's true that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 share a bunch of games with PC  but it doesn't make much sense to bundle them all together. Since both PS4 and X1 each have their own handful of first-party exclusives plus third-party console-only exclusives that aren't on Wii U or PC.

But WiiU has more "exclusives" then the PS4 + Xbone

[jakinov]

But WiiU has more "exclusives" then the PS4 + Xbone

That could be true but what console to get depends ultimately on the player and the games they want to play.

[skywake]

[...]

Where do I start?

 

You say that the New 3DS is the 3DS' successor but it really isn't. Not even close. As someone who follows Nintendo's stuff almost religiously there's only one New 3DS exclusive game that I know of. The thing has been out for almost a year and the only reason to own it is a port of Xenoblade. In terms of internals the thing is a RAM and CPU upgrade. The GPU is the same, the screens are the same, the cartridges are the same capacity and it only has one extra game so far. Really, the New 3DS is far more along the lines of the DSi than it is a new platform. The DSi was was a CPU and RAM upgrade, it came out 4 years into the DS lifecycle, it had a couple of retail games and a small indie scene. It was replaced 2 years later. By that timeline the 3DS is due for a true successor next year.

 

That said, we don't know when this NX thing will launch or what it actually is. You could be right, it could be a replacement for the Wii U that comes out in late 2016. It could just as easily be a portable or come out a year later. Hell, it could be a new ecosystem of products that includes both with one tier launching next year and the next year on the other. So to make a prediction that the Wii U will be replaced next year and that next year you'll get cheaper SKUs? It's a bit of a leap. A lot of assumptions to make that conclusion. A conclusion which you are relying on to make a guess about price cuts. You could easily be wrong about that also. For all we know they could all get a price cut or perhaps none of them will. The way I see it it's the same as it is with any tech. Next year always has better deals, more information and more options. Always. But if you sit around constantly waiting for the next big thing or deal you'll never get anything. If you want something don't wait a year for something that may not come and may not be better.

 

Lastly, in regards to my statement that the PS4/XBOne and PC are all "one platform" and the Wii U is the only real second option? Well I'll put it this way. As someone who has a PC, as the OP does, I'm scrolling down the list of top rated games for each system on metacritic. In the top 20 for the PS4 there are 4 that I can't play on PC, 4 on the XBOne and 7 on the Wii U. That's out of 20, and for the XBOne and PS4 Arkham Knight is one of those 4. Doing the same for sales I count 2 in the top 20 for XBOne, 4 for the PS4 and 20 for the Wii U. The Libraries of the PS4, XBOne and PC are all intertwined. The Wii U stands alone as something entirely different with it's own games. If you don't like the games the Wii U has? Then don't get a second system.

[TheConverter]

That could be true but what console to get depends ultimately on the player and the games they want to play.

Still can't understand how people have time to play ALL multiplatformers out there and still have time for console exclusives. 

[skywake]

Still can't understand how people have time to play ALL multiplatformers out there and still have time for console exclusives. 

Depends on what those exclusives are I guess. I probably split my gaming time between Wii U and PC about 50:50. I was going to beat GTA5's story mode but I got distracted by Splatoon. Both games are endless pits and I don't mind at all. I could easily last for another year with just those two games if I'm being perfectly honest. Really I don't care what the game is as long as I can find a way to enjoy it without getting bored. So for me being multiplatform is more about variety than volume.

 

But if I was only into story based games and didn't allow myself to get distracted? I'd be able to chew through a game every weekend. If you were into that sort of game and only games of a particular style? You'd limit yourself even further. At that point I can understand why someone would want all of the platforms. I can understand why some people would want to get a PS4 just so they can play The Last of Us.

[centurion_08]

Wii (regular) and 3ds. dope stuff.

[sqwidee]

3DS is dope AF for JRPGs

PS4 is getting Persona 5, so the WiiU and Xbox1 basically don't exist once that drops.

 

On WiiU you can be a kid now and also in fact a squid now. That's a good selling point.

 

Xbox is just a Call of Halofield device. It isn't going to be getting any real games, only fps.

[TheConverter]

3DS is dope AF for JRPGs

PS4 is getting Persona 5, so the WiiU and Xbox1 basically don't exist once that drops.

 

On WiiU you can be a kid now and also in fact a squid now. That's a good selling point.

 

Xbox is just a Call of Halofield device. It isn't going to be getting any real games, only fps.

 

Yeah but xbox has backwards comparability now.