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PlayStation 2
Launched November 2000
What's it like? Plays your old PlayStation games, music CDs, DVDs and - of course - PlayStation 2 games. It's currently the most successful of the big consoles and home to the fastest selling game in history - the eighteen-rated Vice City. It's worth restating that it's eighteen rated, and not at all suitable for the under eighteens...we mean it! There's a huge selection of games, with fans of sport and racing doing particularly well. Thanks to the likes of EA there's big licenses like Bond and Potter that you can also find on GameCube and Xbox, as well as The Two Towers. Technical specifications can be twisted any way you like them, but the bottom line is the games don't look as smooth as on GameCube or as crisp as Xbox - but that hasn't stopped it being a runaway success. And if your last gaming experience was PlayStation, you'll be happily amazed by how much gaming has moved on.
Generalise for me! The PlayStation 2 is primarily the choice of the casual gamer who wants half an hour of pick up and play fun after school, the office or the pub - and to be able to play the majority of the games their mates are talking about.
Check out our PlayStation 2 console bundles here
GameCube
Launched: May 2002
What's it like? Nintendo's consoles have always been unfairly stereotyped as for kids only - but have always also been for those who appreciate the deep, challenging and just-damn-joyous gameplay of titles like Mario Sunshine. It has all the FIFA and big franchises you'd expect (and which always used to be missing from the N64) as well as games like Starfox and Luigi's Mansion which you just won't see anywhere else. The graphics are rounded, smooth and sensuous to look at when the game's done right - less jagged than the PS2, and somehow less sterile than some of the crisp uber-realistic Xbox games. Its controller is very different from the PlayStation traditional but don't be put off - it's genius once you get used to it.
Generalise for me! It may look cute - which for some, is still a problem - but the GameCube is a brute of a console. Powerful for its size with games like Star Wars Rogue Squadron and Resident Evil to appeal to older gamers, it's the choice for the gamer that's casual but still a connoisseur. Nintendo fans will not be disappointed, and yes, the younger gamers will love it too. And what's wrong with that?
Check out our GameCube console bundles here
Xbox
Launched: March 2002
What's it like? The most powerful console of the bunch. It has a hard drive, like a PC, so that you don't need a memory card - and new games like Blinx have used this in more interesting ways too. You can also (extremely simply) put your favourite CDs into the Xbox and 'rip' them onto the hard drive to listen to them whilst playing many of the Xbox games. Why drive, skateboard or snowboard whilst listening to anything else?! It plays DVDs, but only if you buy a gizmo - an Xbox DVD remote - as well as music CDs, and of course Xbox games!
The Xbox is more than a fancy PC in a console box, it's a gaming machine through and through - but the fact that it is similar under the bonnet to a PC means you get PC smashes ported over like RPG Morrowind, Championship Manager and Jedi Outcast - the first two of which you'd simply struggle to fit on PS2 or GameCube.
The console is surprisingly large and heavy - so make room under the television. The controllers will be rather too big for smaller hands, and the newly launched Controller S makes things much more comfortable.
The Xbox is blessed by most of the big franchises - in fact most big multi-format releases (take last summer's Spider-Man the Movie game for example) will appear on all the consoles. With the Xbox you'll have the benefit of knowing your version is the best looking. It also boasts some stunning Xbox-only titles like Halo, which came out when the console did but remains a must-have, as well as platformer Blinx.
Generalise for me! If you can stand to miss Vice City, and want the most powerful console around, if you fancy the depth of PC games but not the faffing, waiting and complication that comes with PC gaming, or want your games to look as good as they possibly can, Xbox is for you.
Check out our Xbox console bundles here
Game Boy Advance SP
Launch Date: March 2003
What's it like? The long and sucessful line of Game Boys continues with this GBA SP console (which stands for Special Project, we believe).
Basically the GBA in a new suit - it plays the same games, with the same graphics and sound capabilities - the new version of everyone’s favourite handheld also comes with some new gadgets. Best of all is the lit screen, which fixes the GBA’s main flaw; unless you’re in direct light the screen is very dark and difficult to see. It also has a built in battery, like a mobile phone, so you can plug it in and charge away.
Generalise for me! It looks really sleek in all of its three metallic colours. The lit screen means that this is a great choice for gamers any age, whilst its new look means that older gamers needn’t be ashamed of it on the bus. The original GBA will continue to be produced and mainly marketed to kids; with its ‘I don’t mind being dropped so much’ rubber and plastic feel. So you can still choose, but we recommend GBA SP for the older style conscious gamer and for careful kids!
Check out our Game Boy Advance SP bundles here
Game Boy Advance
Launched: July 2001
What's it like? First there was the monochrome Game Boy, then the Game Boy Pocket - which was slightly smaller and soon became the standard - and then Game Boy Color (down and left) with a colour display as the name would suggest. Now the Color model has been superceded by the Game Boy Advance (right).
Whilst it's yet to really see its own massive craze (where the original had Tetris and the Game Boy Color had Pokemon) the GBA still rules the handheld roost and features titles like Advance Wars which deserve high acclaim. The graphics are really impressive for such a diddy thing, roughly the same as a SNES (the old Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and with 3D graphics in development things can only get better. There's no getting round it though, unless you're in direct light, preferably the sunlight, the screen is quite dark and you can't always make out as much of the beautiful graphics as you'd like to. Fret not, for the handheld's visibility can be enhanced with a light magnifier…
It would be grossly unfair to compare games - such as FIFA - on the big consoles to how they look and play on the GBA. It's a simpler, smaller console that's great on the move and makes plane, train or even school bus journeys bearable. In fact you may regret the journey coming to an end! No traveller should be without one!
Generalise for me! Get a light magnifier - and be adventurous with your choice of games - and you won't go wrong with a GBA. It's also a retro gamer's dream with the amount of SNES games turning up on it!
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I have to say, I was pleased to read this, they're not polluting minds with PS2 is da beterz or GC is fur Babies! They're actually giving an opinion with no biasedatism in it. As if a omputer had analysed and created the report. SO, give GAME a bit of rest will you, it's only SOME of them who actually think crazily.
*may not be true
PS2: Is the best, nothing can compare.
GC: Crap Kiddies console with Mario and Starfox ROFL.
X-Box: We couldn't fit it in the WAREHOUSE to test it, so, it's rubbish. ROFL ROFL ROFL.
PS2 whats it like?
most popular console with GTA blah blah
Gamecube whats it like?
Great little console with mario blah blah
Xbox whats it like?
Who cares were too busy having fun on the other two.
They're all as bad as each other.
And you never could get CM on Psone. They were all the pretenders to its crown.
> Apart from the 'Jedi Outcast wouldn't work on the Gamecube' bit in the
> XBox section, that looked about right.
It also says you'd STRUGGLE to get it onto it, which isn't suprisingm not sure about Champ Manager though, never played it. But you could get those kinda games on the PS1, so, I'm not too sure.