The new arrivals promised a golden age of videogames, one in which the enhanced graphical capabilities of these robust consoles enable the different personalities of each manufacturer to shine through as clearly as the traits of movie companies did in the studio era of the 1940s. Just as MGM was known for its musicals and Warner Bros. for its crime pictures, Sony’s urban cool was emblazoned on titles like the lightning-quick body-cycle racer Kinetica and the neon-drenched music-remix game Frequency. And newcomer Microsoft emphasized epic realism in the lush alien shooter Halo and the vertiginous snowboarding game Amped.
But it was highly secretive Nintendo that stole the show, displaying its Disney-caliber genius for tapping into everyone’s inner child by unveiling new takes on classic characters. Donkey Kong rides giant wasps, rhinos and piranhas over massive landscapes in Donkey Kong Racing, while Fox McCloud gets to display his derring-do by taking on hordes of scaly enemies in Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet. Even Mario’s little brother Luigi finally gets his own starring role with the ghost-busting adventure Luigi’s Mansion. But Nintendo proved that it wouldn’t be content to just polish up past hits. The gamemaker charged Pixar-like into new territory with the weirdly engaging Pikmin, where dozens of tiny half-plant, half-ant characters scurry about the screen at the behest of an equally diminutive extraterrestrial named The Spaceman.
Still, what inquiring minds really want to know is this: which system should I buy? While anyone enterprising enough to decipher each company’s technical specifications can come up with some distinctions among the three machines, many developers say consumers won’t notice much difference between the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. That said, each manufacturer is taking a slightly different approach that could affect your decision. The PlayStation 2 is the Swiss Army knife of videogame consoles, adding the ability to play music CDs and DVD movies right out of the box. Microsoft’s Xbox, which is targeting the same 16- to 24-year-old audience as Sony, can also play music and movies, but if you want to watch a DVD, you’ll have to pay for a separate remote control to activate the movie-playback function. That cost-saving measure is offset by Micro-soft’s inclusion of a 10Gbyte hard drive and a network adapter for broadband-enabled games. The PS2 currently has neither, but Sony plans to release a 40Gbyte hard drive and network connector for both narrowband and broadband later this year. The company also plans to offer a PS2-compatible LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse and PS2 versions of popular software from Microsoft enemies AOL and RealNetworks.
Nintendo, as usual, is going its own way. The Gamecube may well be cheaper than PS2 or Xbox, because it doesn’t play CDs or movies, just games. And while there are plans for a 56K modem and an Ethernet device that will snap onto the base of the console, Nintendo doesn’t intend to incorporate a hard drive. It does, however, have a not-so-secret weapon in the Game Boy Advance (available June 11 for $99.95), the successor to Nintendo’s runaway hits Game Boy and Game Boy Color. In fact, Game Boy, which first came out in 1989 as a monochrome handheld toy, has become the most successful of all of the systems, reaching cumulative sales of 110 million units to date, thanks to hits ranging from Tetris to the umpteenth version of Pokemon. The new handheld, whose capabilities lie somewhere between that of the Super Nintendo and the original PlayStation consoles, will support everything from note-for-note reproductions of classics like Super Mario Bros. to a version of Tony Hawk Pro Skater that looks as good as the one running on Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast, which came out in the fall of 1999 and was discontinued earlier this year. In a pinch, Game Boy Advance can double as a Gamecube controller, and Nintendo also plans to release games that will exploit both devices, like the smash hit Pokemon Stadium, which helped revitalize flagging sales of the Nintendo 64.
There’s yet another option for people who want to play games without burning a big hole in their pockets: spend a mere $99 and pick up any one of the aging systems like Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast or the original Sony PlayStation. The N64 was difficult to program, causing many independent developers to flock to PlayStation. Yet Nintendo itself managed to publish several of the best games for the current generation of consoles, like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye. Sega is making 30 new games for its discontinued Dreamcast system, including updated versions of its acclaimed sports titles (football, basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis), many of which can be played online. Last year Sony changed the name of the original PlayStation to PSOne and redesigned it for a smaller, snazzier case. And PSOne has a greatest-hits program that makes many of its classic titles like Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid available for just $20. There’s even a small LCD monitor that can be attached to the PSOne for gaming on the go.
For those observing the latest round in the console wars, it’s going to be very tempting to try to declare a winner after this Christmas, especially since PS2 has a year’s head start on the competition. But Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will be probably sell all of the consoles they bring to market, which means that the new champion won’t be properly crowned for another Christmas or two. In the meantime, start saving those pennies for Xmas 2001. With games this compelling, you’ll need every last one–no matter which system you end up buying.
