In one of my more brilliant headline-grabbing moments, I recently opined (on "Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus") that "The Wii is a joke, a novelty console that doesn't offer much staying power. Either the 360 or PS3 would be a better choice for almost anyone."I stand by that statement, sorry. The Wii is Nintendo's lame attempt at emulating the shocking success of the Xbox 360, albeit with crappier games and that stupid "Wii-mote". Even the price of the thing screams, "I'm Cheap!" The Wii is the Britney Spears of gaming consoles--cheap, easy, fun to play with for a while, but ultimately unsatisfying.
And now (as if you really needed it) there's another reason to buy the technically-superior Xbox: Microsoft is extending the warranty! Now you can easily "brick" your Xbox by running it for a couple hours in an enclosed box, and get a new one whenever you like! What other company offers you this kind of easy replacement goodness? This is a billion-dollar investment in you.
I guarantee you this: You'll never get this kind of consumer-oriented response from Sony or Nintendo. I'm on my third XBox, and despite the constant bricking, the loud fan, and the scratched discs I've experienced, I'd rather chew tinfoil soaked in urine than play with my Wii.
And don't even get me going on the PS3. Never mind that Sony just dropped the price by $100. Unless you want to watch high-definition movies straight out of the box (in the technically-inferior BluRay format), this thing offers nothing over the superior Xbox. Besides, when you purchase the separate and technologically-superior $200 HD-DVD player for your Xbox, you get to have one more item in your home from Microsoft. And who wouldn't want that, really?
Photo from wiiwii.tv
2 comments:
What's up with all the moaning on Internet Nexus about synching the iPhone, Paul? I've certainly heard of people having to run the process several times before it takes, which is bad for sure, but I haven't seen anyone else claiming it won't work at all. And somehow in your latest piece the fact that you need to buy third-party software to sync Outlook with Google Calendar turns into a problem with the iPhone not a limitation of Outlook. What?!
Erica Sadun has an interesting list of iPhone gripes at TUAW:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/10/iphone-gripes/
But that's Erica, and she has no ulterior purposes but is just saying what she's found and what she wants. There's no deep purpose there, while one suspects there always is with you. Why the single-minded concentration on sync.? Is it a proactive attempt to FUD what you see as an important advantage of the iPhone? After all, Windows Media Player can't even sync with the Zune, so a loyal Microsoft user would need Windows Media Player *and* the Zune software *and* third-party phone-synching software to get the functionality one gets with iTunes.
mike: See my most recent post. I think I answered your question quite nicely.
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