Sony may have caused a revolution by launching the first advanced gaming console (the PlayStation), but the gaming console market is no longer dominated by Sony's PlayStation. Today, there are three gaming consoles that are competing for top spot in the gaming console market. The first gaming console is the Nintendo Wii (pronounced 'we'). The Nintendo Wii was launched on September 14, 2006 and was designed to target a 'broader audience'. Unlike the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 the Nintendo Wii is designed for a wide age group, and offers a variety of games for both young and mature audiences.
Compared to the Xbox and PS3 (PlayStation 3), the Nintendo Wii does not support removable hard drive based storage. Although the Wii is equipped with a SD card slot, it does not support larger storage devices. The Wii has robust graphic processing capabilities when compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii also has a unique game controller (game pad) that is shaped like a TV remote control and is ideally suited for single hand use. The Wii supports internet browsing and has a wireless network card integrated into the gaming console. There are two things that have contributed to the Wii's success the first is its 'fun gaming' image and the second is the diverse gaming titles available.
The Xbox 360 took the market by storm when it was launched on 22, November, 2005. Microsoft's first gaming console was what forced Sony to launch the PlayStation 3 before schedule. Before the Xbox 360, the PS2 was by far the most advanced gaming console available.
The Xbox 360 is available in 4 major flavors, the Xbox 360 Core System and the Xbox 360 Elite being the most popular. Unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 Core System supports removable hard drives and the Xbox 360 Elite comes equipped with a 120 GB hard drive. Like the Wii, the Xbox 360 supports internet browsing and wireless connectivity. However, the Xbox 360 also offers DVD playback and wireless game controllers.
The Xbox 360 is currently the most popular gaming console on the planet, the reason for its success is the amazingly realistic games available and games like Halo 3 have now become the de facto standard for first person shoot out games. Xbox 360 has a year's head start on both the Wii and the PS3 and is thus the most widely sold gaming console. The PS3 was launched to directly compete with the Xbox 360. Like the Xbox 360, the PS3 offers removable hard drive storage, internet browsing and wireless connectivity. However, the PS3 also supports Blu-ray discs that allow even greater storage than DVDs. Unlike the Wii however, the PS3 is not 100% backward compatible with PS2 and PS games.
Sony is working on making the PS3 backward compatible, but the entire process is expected to take a long time. The PlayStation has the highest number of games available today and is expected to equal Xbox's sales in the longer run. PlayStation 3 (PS3) The launch of the Xbox 360 rendered the PS2 obsolete, and Sony was forced to launch the PS3 ahead of schedule. Sony has already announced the launch of the PlayStation Network that is expected to compete with Microsoft's online gaming network Xbox Live. The PS3 also allows users to install various versions of Linux on the console's hard drive and this feature is expected to increase its popularity with Linux lovers. The biggest criticism of the PS3 is that it is not 100% backward compatible with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation, and Sony is expected to fix compatibility issues in the near future.
The PS3 also supports the latest Blu-ray discs, and PS3 games are available in both DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Onur AYCIL the author of this article on cheap electronics. Find more information about discount dvd players here.
