Console yourself these holidays

Before the buying spree gets seriously curbed by Uncle Tito, check out the latest advances in console technology, coming to a retailer near you soon. Or in the case of the Xbox 360, right now…


Every Christmas there has to be some sort of must-have which is foisted upon the unwitting world. As things get more technology-oriented, and as we become more accustomed to being connected, it’s not a bicycle, a scale-electric or Airfix which is dominating the minds of our kids (it’s always handy to blame these fixations on the kids). No, this holiday, it’s console wars that we have to look forward to.

The contenders are Microsoft with its Xbox0, on which it got first-mover advantage with a pre-holiday launch, Sony with its long-awaited Playstation 3, and Nintendo with its bizarrely monikered Wii. (I’m just popping out for a Wii, darling).

Which to choose may depend on your (I mean your KIDS, of course) existing collection of games, your affinity or lack thereof for the vendor, and of course, on the vitals of the console. That includes specs, pricing and capability for connectivity.

PlayStation 3:

Sony was ‘the Boss’ with the PlayStation 1 and 2. PlayStation 3 moves closer to being a proper PC, with the premium edition equipped with an internal 60 GB Serial ATA 2.5" hard drive (20 GB in the standard package), IEEE 802.11b/g and Bluetooth connectivity and wired gigabit Ethernet.

As implied, this means online gaming to snaffle up yet more bandwidth. It is powered by a Cell processor, developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, which is vaunted as a leap forward for supercomputing. Since Sony is advocating its Blu-Ray DVD technology, PS3 includes this as well.

It is also backwards-compatible, able to handle your old favourites from the PS 1 and 2, and has at present, some 15 new titles to choose from. Pricing on release in some (mainly Asian and Pacific) countries in November was around US$800; expect the PS3 here around March 2007. This, then, is some consolation for the post-party blues.

Microsoft Xbox:

Microsoft has a habit of making lucrative markets its own, or trying to in any event (with the notable exception of the information security field, to date.) So it is that it entered the console market with its Xbox, which is Khoisan for ‘Watch Out Sony’.

While PS3 has just been launched, The Beast of Redmond has already sold over 10 million consoles and has reached our shores well in time for the madness of the holidays. It is specced with a 20GB HDD, a serious 3-core processor also made by IBM, packs a progressive scan DVD drive, a 100 Mb/s RJ45 Ethernet port and three USB 2.0 ports.

Being Microsoft, the Xbox is supported by Xbox Live Marketplace, where you can download plenty of additional stuff, while the machine integrates nicely with your MS-powered home PC network for video or audio streaming. Doing that wirelessly will require the purchase of an additional adapter, though – but you can buy the Xbox today for around R3500.00. A fair library of titles is available.

Nintendo Wii:

Wii aren’t too sure when this console will arrive, but as of now it seems it is a case of ‘coming soon’ to South Africa – suffice to say, it is, ahem, all systems go in most other parts of the world.

The Wii follows on from the GameCube; the intention with Wii Willie Winkie is that it will ‘break down the barriers between the gamer and the non gamer.’ – so it promises easier to play and more generally appealing games. It’s a lot cheaper than the Sony and Microsoft consoles at around US$250, has around 33 titles available at present (and most games are priced around $50..).

Spec-wise, the wee (it is the size of three DVD boxes) Wii shows that it is in a different market segment to the heavyweights – it packs a processor which, again, is from IBM, takes proprietary 8 or 12 cm disks and does not have a hard drive. It does offer Wifi connectivity, however, and two USB 2.0 ports.

Do you care who will ‘win’ the console race? Probably not as much as you care that you will have some super cool options for your, ahem, for Sonny Jim’s stocking.