PS2 or XBox?

[Guest]

Bought PS2 today for the boys for Christmas. We were looking at Xbox as well. Which is better for teenagers? Xbox seemed to be more adult oriented, while PS2 had more game selection.

[Datajack Franit]

PS2 of course

[Asher]

How old are your boys?

Both PS2 and Xbox's main demographic are ~13+ as far as I'm concerned.

If your kids are into console RPGs, the PS2 is better.
If your kids are into console FPS and racing games, Xbox is better (the only good racer on the PS2 that I know of is GT3?)
Other than that the two platforms are about equal. Of course the Xbox has a much more capable graphics chip, sound chip, and twice the RAM with twice the bandwidth and features like texture compression -- but the PS2 isn't really that bad.

Xbox is a much better choice if you have a home theatre IMO. Since the PS2 doesn't support HDTV resolutions and real-time encoding of Dolby Digital 5.1 in every game like the Xbox does, it's not as well suited for the home theatre.

There are more games for PS2, since it's the most popular console, and I don't think they'll be disappointed with it though.

A couple pointers: the PS2 comes with a lot less than Xbox did for the same price. Xbox comes with two full version games (SegaGT 2002 [racing], Jet Set Radio Future [Japanese-style weird game]) while the PS2 comes with zero games at the moment.

Also make sure that you have at least one memory card for them, else they won't be able to save the games. Memory cards are optional on the Xbox, since the Xbox has a built in harddrive and the PS2 doesn't.

If they want to play online games, they'll need to buy the network adapter for ~$60 (if you can find one ), whereas the Xbox comes with a built in ethernet connection.

If they want to connect more than two controllers at once to the PS2, they'll need to get the "multitap" peripheral. Xbox comes with 4 ports standard.

Also, if they're big into online gaming and you have a broadband connection, PS2's online gaming pales in comparison to Xbox's...

The most important thing is the memory card -- it is a basic requirement, and last I checked Sony still made people buy them seperately.

[Skanky Burns]

Nice analysis, and not even too biased.

[FrustratedPoet]

MS will stop sponsoring Asher if he keeps posting things like that.

Loif: If by any chance you or your kids like soccer games then getting PS2 was the right move.
ProEvolutionSoccer 2 = BEST. GAME. EVER.
But since you're Canadian I'm guessing you couldn't give a hoot about soccer games.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Asher
(the only good racer on the PS2 that I know of is GT3?)

Colin McRae Rally 3 is good too .... but yes the selection of racers is poor.

[Saint Marcus]

If your kids are into console RPGs, the PS2 is better.
If your kids are into console FPS and racing games, Xbox is better (the only good racer on the PS2 that I know of is GT3?)

if you kids are into footy games, the PS2 is better. That's my main reason for sticking with my PS2.

[Saint Marcus]

ProEvolutionSoccer 2 = BEST. GAME. EVER.

Amen to that

[Asher]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
Loif: If by any chance you or your kids like soccer games then getting PS2 was the right move.
ProEvolutionSoccer 2 = BEST. GAME. EVER.
But since you're Canadian I'm guessing you couldn't give a hoot about soccer games.

PES2 isn't sold in North America. Sorry boys.

Colin McRae Rally 3 is good too .... but yes the selection of racers is poor.

Colin McRae Rally 3 is multiplatform...guess which platform has the best version.
Rallisport Challenge is much better anyway.

[Hueij]

Too many kids with rich parents on Apolyton...

[JCG]

PS2.
As of right now, the popularity ranking is PS2> NGC> X-Box...so as has been said, you'll have more games with a PS2 (though Sony really should make a new package with at least one game and a memory card though...but lack of that hasn't affected them yet) .

And ProEvolutionSoccer 2 has apparently been announced for the NA Gamecube though.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Hueij
Too many kids with rich parents on Apolyton...

I was thinking the same thing. The last console system I got was an SNES, then when NU64 (or more commenly refered to N64), I switched to PC and stayed there.

[Asher]

Originally posted by JCG
PS2.
As of right now, the popularity ranking is PS2> NGC> X-Box...so as has been said, you'll have more games with a PS2 (though Sony really should make a new package with at least one game and a memory card though...but lack of that hasn't affected them yet) .

The popularity ranking in North America is PS2 > Xbox > NGC.
It's also like that in the UK and Australia. It may be different in continental Europe though, but Loif lives in Canada.

And ProEvolutionSoccer 2 has apparently been announced for the NA Gamecube though.

Er...when was this?
I'm 99.9% sure they haven't made any such announcement. Konami has hinted at making PES2 for "other platforms" and also hinted at making it in North America, but the Gamecube would not be the logical choice. Looking at sports games sales, the Xbox and PS2 sell WAY better than GCN for sports games.

That's why Sega has withdrawn future support for its Sega Sports games on Gamecube, from the 2004 games on they'll only be Xbox and PS2.

[Frozzy]

According to a website, the PS2 is FASTER
than an X-Box
PS2: ~300MHz x 32bit = 9600
X-Box: ~600MHz x 8bit = 4800

Of course, I'm probably wrong... but never mind, I got it off a pro-Sony website . The X-Box processor is 8bit, btw, while the PS2 is 32bit processor, according to this site.

Anyway... does anyone remember that whole "Emotion Engine" **** Sony came up with when they released the PS2?

Apparently, the PS2 HDD is coming out in Japan next year (although it may already be out)

[ixnay]

Comedy Gamecube option.

There's a reason Gamespot named Metroid Prime best game overall on all platforms.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/bestof2002/general2.html