What is the best video game console of all time?

[Randall Flagg]

Wow I think @caid just had a bad time with the 360

Most people obviously didn't agree.

I had a gamecube and never knew it had online capabilities

 

[Redlambs]

To be fair the 360 did do a lot for online console gaming, but it also ruined it for me with all the brats and casuals getting access.

 

[rcoobc]

I agree with @Randall Flagg

Everyone talks about how easy online gaming was with the Xbox 360. Trophies, friends, party lists.

That's not to say the ps3 didn't do an alright job at launch, but it was late, slower to sell, and more expensive.

That's not to say the ps2, Xbox, or Dreamcast couldn't do online, but the 360 was the first one to bring it to the mainstream.

That's not to say the PC couldn't do it, but this is about consoles

 

[Ødegaard]

Ps1 by a huge margin for me. As a fan of the old turn based rpg systems, nothing beats the glory years of Final Fantasy, Legend of Dragoon, Suikoden, breath of fire 3 and so on. The other consoles tend to have their stars, but not a huge lineup within the genre.

 

[rcoobc]

I've never found a racing game that scratched the itch like Gran Turismo 1, 2 and 3 [PS2] either.

Not that the newer stuff isn't better, but for it's time, they were on another level.

 

[Randall Flagg]

To be fair the 360 did do a lot for online console gaming, but it also ruined it for me with all the brats and casuals getting access.

True, but the brats and casuals are the majority

Most of my mates are not what I would call gamers, but they purchased a 360 played FIFA and COD and couldnt care less about anything else

And the 360 took huge advantage of this

 

[FCBarca]

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Did anyone do the blue-tac disc swaps on PS1? Stuff of dreams

 

[Organic Potatoes]

The RRoD automatically disqualifies the 360. And the shit Dpad on the controller.

 

[Bojan11]

Sure it did


The only thing MS brought to online gaming with the 360 was a sub fee that a virtually bankrupt sega managed without.
The ps2 was the only console of that generation that didn't have a decent online service. The gamecube, original xbox and dreamcast all had a few top tier online multiplayer games.
Are we seriously going to claim the 360 did shit for online gaming 5 years after most consoles started supporting it (including the previous xbox) and a decade after pc? Seriously?

If someone put up a thread for worst console of all time i'd vote the 360
While the jaguar and 32x were terrible at least they didn't break the market and introduce a dozen shitty, anti consumer policies

The reliability was utter toilet
The cost of memory before it was about €20, they charged €100 for a 1gb hdd. The cost of the controller was about double what you'd pay for a ps2 pad.
It introduced installs, day one patches, dlc, season passes, paid for online gaming, microtransactions.
The japanese gaming industry went down the toilet that generation too so the variety and range of games you'd get vs a pc took a heavy hit.
Split Screen multiplayer disappeared that generation too.

The 360 completely put me off consoles

Also you should watch that video. That isn't the Xbox version. I mean in the first second it says use F1 to control. That's the PC version that came out two years later

Why are you comparing to PC? This is a console thread. You yet to tell me what console did better online than the 360. Just because something had it first doesn't make it better.

This isn't what's the greatest PC you owned thread.

And again wrong about the GameCube. All the GameCube had online was phantasy star online. Hardly a few top tier games like you said.

The Japanese developers went down the toilet due to themselves. But there were still decent Japanese games for the 360 like Deathsmiles, lost odyssey and Blue Dragon. Then not forgetting classics like Bayonetta and Vanquish. Resident Evil went down the shit due to Crapcom wanting to take it in a different direction rather than it being a survival horror. Not sure how you can pin that on the 360.

You do realise the controller was more expensive due to it being wireless. But there was a cheaper controller with USB that cost £20. You clearly forgotten the N64 controller prices. You also needed to pay extra if you wanted a rumble pac for it. They charged £100 for a 120gb HDD not a 1GB. That I agree was very expensive. N64 games used to cost around £50-£70. Every gen was different in terms of pricing.

 

[Bojan11]

The RRoD automatically disqualifies the 360. And the shit Dpad on the controller.

The PS2 had disc read errors. Lets disqualify that too!

 

[Randall Flagg]

The only thing MS brought to online gaming with the 360 was a sub fee that a virtually bankrupt sega managed without.

Also this 1st line made me laugh

Yeah Sega did great managing without that online fee

Look at them go

 

[rcoobc]

The reliability was utter toilet
The cost of memory before it was about €20, they charged €100 for a 1gb hdd. The cost of the controller was about double what you'd pay for a ps2 pad.
It introduced installs, day one patches, dlc, season passes, paid for online gaming, microtransactions.
The japanese gaming industry went down the toilet that generation too so the variety and range of games you'd get vs a pc took a heavy hit.
Split Screen multiplayer disappeared that generation too.

The 360 completely put me off consoles

I'd say some of this is fair. The PS2 was like £30 for 8MB, and the PS1 was similar. That meant I didn't have the ability to save games for years and years, so I had to complete Spyro by leaving the PS1 on all weekend, and didn't get much past the train explosion in FF7

For what it's worth we went through three PS1s.

But the installs, day one patches, dlc, season passes, and the death of split screen.. yeah thats fair

 

[Randall Flagg]

Wasnt DLC invented on PC for the likes of Warcraft etc...?

 

[rcoobc]

They have always been expansion packs for games. My first was this

Proper DLC can be good, or it can be rubbish.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

The PS2 had disc read errors. Lets disqualify that too!

Okay.

Actually, no.

 

[caid]

Also you should watch that video. That isn't the Xbox version. I mean in the first second it says use F1 to control. That's the PC version that came out two years later

Why are you comparing to PC? This is a console thread. You yet to tell me what console did better online than the 360. Just because something had it first doesn't make it better.

This isn't what's the greatest PC you owned thread.

And again wrong about the GameCube. All the GameCube had online was phantasy star online. Hardly a few top tier games like you said.

The Japanese developers went down the toilet due to themselves. But there were still decent Japanese games for the 360 like Deathsmiles, lost odyssey and Blue Dragon. Then not forgetting classics like Bayonetta and Vanquish. Resident Evil went down the shit due to Crapcom wanting to take it in a different direction rather than it being a survival horror. Not sure how you can pin that on the 360.

You do realise the controller was more expensive due to it being wireless. But there was a cheaper controller with USB that cost £20. You clearly forgotten the N64 controller prices. You also needed to pay extra if you wanted a rumble pac for it. They charged £100 for a 120gb HDD not a 1GB. That I agree was very expensive. N64 games used to cost around £50-£70. Every gen was different in terms of pricing.

The wired controller was a bit cheaper at about 40 when released.
The 120gb HDD came much later (think it came when the xbox elite was released afaik), it released with feck all (1gb is probably wrong, maybe it was 20gb?)
I have distinct memory of playing deathmatches on the first halo and didn't have a pc to play it on so ... ?
I was a total drunk at the time so my memory is pretty hazy tbf

The online system they implemented came 5 years after most other consoles, it'd want to be 'better' than what came before.
The current generation of consoles have an even better online, im not going to pretend they invented online gaming
Like if it was when you got into online gaming - great, makes sense but it didn't do shit that hadn't been done before.
Charging for online just felt like a continuation of MS nickel and diming you for absolutely everything. The console was reasonably cheap but all the other stuff cost a fortune.

I think the comparison with PC will always be there and traditionally the advantage of a console was the plug and play aspect
and the access to japanese developers and the weird and wonderful games they made.
That was it for me anyway (and a large part of the reason i cant be fecked with consoles anymore)

Wasnt DLC invented on PC for the likes of Warcraft etc...?

There were expansion packs which were a precursor of sorts. But horse armor in Oblivion would be what i'd consider the first piece of DLC
I utterly hated the 360 (and that generation of consoles as a whole)

 

[Coxy]

I flat out disagree,
Halo and Halo 2 were hugely popular online games both out on the previous console.
Online console gaming was knocking about for a good 5 years by the time the 360 showed up, it wasn't a niche, unused service.
It was quite popular in a lot of circles for a fairly extended period of time at that point.

They didn't get anything right - it was purely and exclusively right place, right time because their online model was and is crappy and a pretty big step back from what had come before.

Giving the 360 credit for online gaming just seems completely bizarre to me

Then you know nothing about gaming.

Xbox Live transformed online gaming (for consoles). Yes it started on Xbox (OG) but Xbox Live solidified it with the service.

Xbox Live Arcade was amazing for indies as well, it's a shame that has gone.

 

[Coxy]

Sure it did


The only thing MS brought to online gaming with the 360 was a sub fee that a virtually bankrupt sega managed without.
The ps2 was the only console of that generation that didn't have a decent online service. The gamecube, original xbox and dreamcast all had a few top tier online multiplayer games.
Are we seriously going to claim the 360 did shit for online gaming 5 years after most consoles started supporting it (including the previous xbox) and a decade after pc? Seriously?

If someone put up a thread for worst console of all time i'd vote the 360
While the jaguar and 32x were terrible at least they didn't break the market and introduce a dozen shitty, anti consumer policies

The reliability was utter toilet
The cost of memory before it was about €20, they charged €100 for a 1gb hdd. The cost of the controller was about double what you'd pay for a ps2 pad.
It introduced installs, day one patches, dlc, season passes, paid for online gaming, microtransactions.
The japanese gaming industry went down the toilet that generation too so the variety and range of games you'd get vs a pc took a heavy hit.
Split Screen multiplayer disappeared that generation too.

The 360 completely put me off consoles

No it did not. Halo on Xbox did not have multiplayer out of the box. All it had was split screen and System Link play. The PC version however - did. But I believe this thread is referring to consoles.

 

[TheNewEra]

Then you know nothing about gaming.

Xbox Live transformed online gaming (for consoles). Yes it started on Xbox (OG) but Xbox Live solidified it with the service.

Xbox Live Arcade was amazing for indies as well, it's a shame that has gone.

But it was around for about 2 years on the original xbox.

I had a Dreamcast with online on there, so Dreamcast was the first online console? Xbox Original had Halo 2, Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon a lot of good games actually all online.

Unreal Championship is actually one of the best games I've ever played online the gameplay was amazing that was based off UT 2004 I think.

I actually think Dreamcast was the best console though, lots of great games.

 

[Coxy]

But it was around for about 2 years on the original xbox.

I had a Dreamcast with online on there, so Dreamcast was the first online console? Xbox Original had Halo 2, Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon a lot of good games actually all online.

Unreal Championship is actually one of the best games I've ever played online the gameplay was amazing that was based off UT 2004 I think.

I actually think Dreamcast was the best console though, lots of great games.

I agree - Dreamcast is my favourite console too. I'm not sure what you're trying to say though. it didn't revolutionise online gaming to consoles. It introduced it yes - but it had a modem in it. Chu Chu Rocket was a particular highlight of mine.

The OG Xbox launched and took advantage of broadband becoming available, so suddenly online gaming took off. It was popular yes but numbers exploded with the 360 launch.

The 360 then tweaked it further, turning the subscription into a service and with things like Xbox Live Arcade and GwG then the poster I was quoting is just wrong saying the 360 can't take credit for online gaming. It really can.

 

[Bojan11]

The wired controller was a bit cheaper at about 40 when released.
The 120gb HDD came much later (think it came when the xbox elite was released afaik), it released with feck all (1gb is probably wrong, maybe it was 20gb?)
I have distinct memory of playing deathmatches on the first halo and didn't have a pc to play it on so ... ?
I was a total drunk at the time so my memory is pretty hazy tbf

The online system they implemented came 5 years after most other consoles, it'd want to be 'better' than what came before.
The current generation of consoles have an even better online, im not going to pretend they invented online gaming
Like if it was when you got into online gaming - great, makes sense but it didn't do shit that hadn't been done before.
Charging for online just felt like a continuation of MS nickel and diming you for absolutely everything. The console was reasonably cheap but all the other stuff cost a fortune.

I think the comparison with PC will always be there and traditionally the advantage of a console was the plug and play aspect
and the access to japanese developers and the weird and wonderful games they made.
That was it for me anyway (and a large part of the reason i cant be fecked with consoles anymore)



There were expansion packs which were a precursor of sorts. But horse armor in Oblivion would be what i'd consider the first piece of DLC
I utterly hated the 360 (and that generation of consoles as a whole)

So what if it came out five years later? It was miles better and made online gaming on consoles mainstream. You making out like MS stole ideas from Sega.

Wii u came out 7 years after xbox 360 and has a worse online. Especially the UI. In some games you can't even invite people to games. You have to join your friends game in Mario Kart 8 rather than them inviting you.

The PS3 came out after the 360 and was pretty bad too. The UI was appalling. Patches were downloaded one by one rather than all in one like the 360. No party chat. The invite system was crap. It was just way too slow in every aspect compared to the 360.

The PS4 is good online because they basically copied Microsoft.

 

[Brocky]

I had one of those! I don't have it anymore, but still have one of the plastic controller inserts in a box somewhere.

 

[arthurka]

Sinclair spectrum
C64
Atari st
SNES
PS2

Special mention to Atari 2600
and the best thing since sliced bread the Dreamcast.. First with a built in online capability and Shenmue..

 

[bigredmachine]

SNES

 

[Organic Potatoes]

What is this Megadrive you people keep talking about?

 

[Lord Megadrive]

People forget that the Megadrive had an online service in the states and Japan.. you couldn't have multiplayer but you could download games.

@Organic Potatoes the Megadrive is the greatest console ever made

 

[JustAFan]

SNES and PlayStation 1 and 2.

 

[dr.twinny]

What is this Megadrive you people keep talking about?

They're talking about the Sega Genesis. Was known as the Megadrive outside of North American markets. I had one and loved it but would still envy my friends who had the SNES.

 

[Dumbstar]

I've still got nearly all the consoles mentioned so far and you know what? The simple answer is all of them!

 

[Dante]

The Wii U

 

[stu_1992]

PS2 for the simple reason that it has the best library of games imo.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

They're talking about the Sega Genesis. Was known as the Megadrive outside of North American markets. I had one and loved it but would still envy my friends who had the SNES.

Ah, I loved my Genesis. Could only afford one console per generation and picked it over the SNES.

I think the PS1 and N64 were the most transformative. The N64 with its 4 controller ports and some amazing games making multiplayer fundamental to the console gaming experience. This was naturally expounded upon with online which is big business now and would've happened regardless, but it started here.

And the PS1 which felt like the first 'modern' console. It seemed to kick off games like FFVII being on the level of AAA budget movies, for better and for worse. Consoles had all grown up...I'd give the edge to the PS1.