1) Xbox & PC (tie)
2) Ultima V, Halo, Gothic, Morrowind, Zelda, Red Alert... (too many)
3) Xbox 2
First off, let me just say that the only major market that the Xbox is not selling well is Japan. It is the clear #2 in the US, Europe, and Australia. Worldwide it is recognized as the #2 console. With that said, the company with the best track record for quality, first party titles is Nintendo. The history that Nintendo has within the game industry is so legendary that in our lifetime they will always be mentioned at some point in any given “console” discussion.
But, that does not change the fact that the Xbox provides one of the best all-around gaming experiences available to date. I love my PC, and I love gaming on my PC, but I’ve pulled out more hair than I care to mention wrestling with anomalies from game to game to game on the PC. This game works great, pop in another and you could be looking at a whole different story. Hmmm, black screen but I can hear sound? Drivers… off to the web I go to track the issue down, when all the while all I wanted to do was pop in a game and play. There’s no arguing that the PC is the most versatile gaming device, but when I want to play a game, more and more I find myself going to the Xbox first because I know that I’ll be playing the game in under a minute.
Throwing Xbox Live into the mix makes it that much sweeter. Over the weekend five of us tried to get a Counter Strike session going on the PC. Two guys could find the game and three couldn’t. After nearly an hour we got to the point where four of us could actually play, but at that point one had to take off, so it was three of us. This was all done via online, phones, and IM sessions… Ugh… When I want to play against someone with Xbox Live I’m doing so in about two minutes. I’m not saying that this is a superior experience over the PC, but its leaps and bounds friendlier for folks who are less “technical” but want to game with others, and convenience is a big part of any given gaming experience.
Over the years the PC has provided me with loads of epic games, and when I say PC I’m including my ol’ Commodore 64 in there too. But fast forward to 2003 and the Xbox is proving itself to be an all around killer gaming experience, and it developers are putting loads of “PC” titles out for it to boot!
One more thing, while I have a PS2 also, I have to say that quantity does not mean quality. Of the bazillion titles that are available there, the ratio of “killer” games is still the same as the Xbox and the GC. There may be 1000s’ of more games available, but there are still only a handful of “must play” titles, just like the Xbox, GC, and PC.
