reading04 — choosing your console

What distinguishes one video game console from another? That is, why would a video gamer choose one platform over another? Hardware specs? Price? Portability? Games? What is/was your favorite console?

When choosing a console, there are many things to consider. Is this your first one? If not, what do you already have? Are you looking for an entertainment system or are you trying to play a game that is exclusive to a certain console? Luckily in today’s market, there is not too much disparity in the prices of the basic consoles, but even with similar price tags, the consoles can be very different.

Look at the Switch for example. It changes what it means to sit back and game. You don’t just have to be on the couch or at home. But for this portability, some hardware and access is limited. If you want to watch Netflix or surf the web, it will be much more comfortable to perform these tasks on an Xbox or PlayStation in my experience. Uniqueness should not be forgotten though; Zelda or Mario games are only gonna come out on your Nintendo consoles.

Taking this all into account (and with a little bias), I prefer an Xbox over other systems. There are three main reasons: familiarity, friends, and feel. I understand the Xbox menu. I know how to do things. It all makes sense. My friends are also all on Xbox. I can play games with them and interact with them. And finally, the feel on controllers just is best for Xbox in my opinion. PlayStation controllers feel too long and clunky and I feel like I am going to break a Switch joystick every time I pick it up. This is not meant to put any of the other consoles down, as I have had great experiences on all of them and think that it is not really a choice where you can go wrong. It is all just preference and people have to decide between many great options.

For my artifact exploration, I decided to finally try out The Oregon Trail. It’s a very famous game that I had never played before. Users use text input to travel from Missouri to Oregon as a pioneer in the 1800s. Rivers, disease, and scarcity of resources are all obstacles to the ultimate goal: earn as many points as possible. I ended up getting all 5 (!!) of my wagon members to Oregon on my first try. Overall, I had fun with the game and see why people have been playing it for almost 30 years.