The Video Game Wars Part 2: Sony Vs. Nintendo Vs. Microsoft

Sony had decided to enter the competition and reveal the latest system, the Playstation. It could play CDs and was regarded as a really good system. It did but Sega was never able to do and that was beat Nintendo in the console wars. Sega was behind Nintendo but was determined to make one last ditch effort to keep themselves alive in the console business.

Nintendo and Sony were mainly against each other over the cartridges vs. CDs debate on which was better. Both had there strengths and weaknesses but in the end, the N64 would end up losing out to the Playstation, which had some franchises started like Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, and it had some of the Tomb Raider games. It also had the better sports game like the Madden series that came over and some racing games.

Sega had revealed the latest system, which was touted as far as more superior to the Playstation but was to be ready for the next generation. It was the Dreamcast and it was touted to be a "128-bit" system. A new feature was added that online play could be added and was a revolutionary tool. Another neat feature was the fact that it can play music CDs. It was ahead of its time and was released over a year before Sony would reveal the Playstation 2.

Sony had gone into development and wanted to get to the next level and had created the PS2. It like the Dreamcast could have Internet online play. Also, it had the ability to play DVDs and could play the Playstation games. The graphics level was pushed even further to add a sense of realism. The Wrestling Franchise, WWF Smackdown was brought over to the system and with each game was pushing the graphics level even further. It also had another known game like Grand Theft Auto for instance and had an innovative controller, the Guitar controller for the game Guitar Hero.

Nintendo had moved on to the next level of game play and used CDs but these ones are smaller than a regular CD-Rom. It was a smaller CD that it could only read those to my knowledge. This was notable as this was the 1^st time Mario wasn't one of the 1^st launch titles but it had a game with Luigi as the hero in Luigi's Mansion. The theme of that game was more or less like Ghostbusters with the items. Another item came into play called the Game Boy Player. It was designed to not just play GBA games but also games back to the Game Boy. This was more or less the successor to the Super Game Boy that was originally made for the SNES. Nintendo as a company was not into trying to push the boundaries on the graphics or going for DVD add on features, they wanted to simply be about gaming and that's something they've always been like. There were good games like the Smash Bros. Melee, which was an All Star game and a multiplayer fighter game.

Microsoft was all ready #1 in the computer industry with more people using Windows than Macintosh. They had entered the gaming industry with their 1^st product, the X-Box. It has a hard drive built in and can also play DVDs. What made it different was that more or less it could be modified into a media computer. More or less, it was like a gaming computer. The biggest franchise is the 1^st person shooter HALO. It was #1 and probably in my own opinion one of the best games on the entire X-Box bar-none. It also had Return to Castle: Wolfenstein, which I thought was another good game personally with it.

In what seemed to be like a survivor game, Sega was voted off the island and would retire from making consoles. They're making games for Nintendo, which is very ironic considering that no one would have imagined such a thing happening. It is true that Sega is also developing games for Sony and Microsoft but the key is with Sega and Nintendo being the biggest rivals, it brings more of a shock in that department and especially with Sonic appearing on the Nintendo. Nobody would have imagined both Mario and Sonic on the same system. While the Dreamcast was a good system, it just wasn't enough to keep Sega going in the console. Now it's down to 3 current companies buying to become #1: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

Microsoft got the head start and designed up the X-Box 360. There were 3 particular models made: Core, Premium, and recently Elite. It had the X-Box Live like the X-Box before it and could play some of the games from the X-Box though the goal is to probably get all the X-Box games with 100% compatibility.

The next console for Sony was the next logical step in called the Playstation 3. It is the most expensive system out on the market at $600. Like before, it has the ability to play the previous systems games and is a work in progress if not done to play back to the original Playstation games. The biggest fault with the system in terms of buying it is the price. That is probably why it hasn't done as well as Sony had anticipated. The slogan for the PS3 is "Play B3YOUND."

Nintendo had once again attempted to show why they were #1 in the console business for the longest time. A new type of game play was being worked on with motion. This was not the 1^st time Nintendo had a motion controller as it had the Power Glove 20 years back to the past. The new system is called the Wii and had a slogan most known as "Wii would like to play." Its system could connect to the DS wirelessly and could also play Gamecube games. The system itself could support Gamecube Memory Cards and had 512 MB of Flash Memory. A new feature was added called the Virtual Console. The Wii could go online and could download games for the NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbo Grafix 16, and NEC. They each cost at least $5 depending on the system of the game you choose.

The question comes down who will win this round and what will happen next? Will Sony rebound and try there luck with the next generation consoles? Can Nintendo keep up the momentum and get ready for the next round soon enough? Will Microsoft take the gap between the computers and the consoles and bridge it even closer? That will be determined at some point and to see who will continue to survive.

One final part will be produced and it will consist of some of the Hand-Held consoles in the Video Game Wars. To be continued for Part 3.