Insert Credits

If it isn’t too bold of myself, I would point out that while Andrew raises some very good points (see: no interest in games on the platform, PC superiority, and tasty Doritos) he inadvertently hit a key point in favor of the 360. Once upon a time, console multiplayer hinged on being able to sit in a room with your friends and, assuming there were enough controllers, fun could be had.

Back in the day, this was the only way to do it on a console. But as technology has grown, so has the first and second waves of the gamer generation. To that end, many of us are all grown up and have moved away from out friends in order to seek jobs and adult lives. It’s nearly impossible to get friends together on short notice for a gaming session.

Couple with that the truth that for a lot of people, achieving that same multiplayer session on the PC isn’t an option either. A lot of people (myself included) don’t have computers that can stand up to the requirements of games these days. Speaking for myself, I certainly couldn’t run the PC equivalent of any current generation game. That’s where the 360 and PS3 come in.

For far less than the price of a gaming PC, one can purchase a console and rest assured that any game released during the span of that console will run on it. In the case of online play, consoles are finally able to do what PCs can do. In the case of multiplayer gaming, the fear that one of your friends doesn’t have a machine that can play the same game as the rest of your friends isn’t a problem — as long as you have a console and an internet connection, there is online play to be had.

Which brings me back to the point. While getting together in a room with your friends for a sweet session of your game of choice will always be great, it becomes less and less achievable every year. Meanwhile, consoles like the 360 have caught up with PCs in terms of online communities, meaning after you purchase the console, there are no upgrades to continue to purchase to keep up.

Any friend with the same console as you can throw on a headset, plug in a game, and in a few easy steps it’s almost like sitting in a room with them, trash talking, drinking Dew and eating Doritos (just don’t eat the whole bag yourself.)

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For as long as I can remember my choice of console has never been about choice; It’s been about availability. When my family first got the Nintendo Entertainment System it was the only then-current console on the market. When the time and money made it possible to upgrade to the next generation the SNES was sold out everywhere, so my family got a Genesis. Then a Nintendo 64 and a PlayStation 2 afterwards.

For the first time since the PS2, I was faced with a choice.

Three consoles on the market, all available in my area, and each with it’s own pros and contras. I tried out the Nintendo Wii for a while but, while the motion controls were fun, the games didn’t appeal to me as much. I considered getting a PS3, but the lack of games I would be interested in coupled with the price turned me away. The 360 had a solid line of games but the reports of loud disc drives, overheating and the dreaded Red Ring of Death seemed like a gamble.

In the end, I decided to go with the 360 as my console of choice. I picked up the system, a Live subscription, a Microsoft Point card, and Fallout 3 to start myself off. I was a little uneasy about the decision at first, but looking back I feel I made the right decision.

There are a few things that bother me about the system, though. The controller, for instance. The layout of the joysticks still feels unnatural in my hands, and while I can deal with it I would much prefer a nice Dual Shock for comfort. The drive is, as I had heard, loud. The system does tend to warm up, but so far I have been lucky to avoid the RROD.

Having said that, I’m not sure I would trade it for any other console. I spend a lot of time using the Live functionality to play online, and I made good use of the Marketplace to pick up some fun Arcade games. I’ve got shooters and RPGs to satisfy my gaming hunger, and friends on-and-offline to do play with.

As my collection of games grows, I’ll be throwing impressions and opinions on them here to our site. If something strikes me as interesting, I’ll be writing about it as well. On top of that, I’ll even throw my Gamertag out for the masses in case they want to check my profile out and maybe play a game of Worms or Catan.

That is my plan for my time on Insert Credits in a nutshell. I’ve got my console, I’ve got things to write about, and I’ve got games to play in between. So having said that, the Gamertag is ‘Skrattybones’.

See you soon.

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