novice requesting advice

[Bake]

I am investing in some new home theater stuff and would like a gaming system to complement it. What do folks recommend for me?

Here is a brief descriptor. I am not a great gamer, so I am not looking to conquer the toughest games, but to have some fun after the kids go to bed. I dont expect to want to bother with online gaming, mostly single player stuff. I like role playing (think Myst on PC), shoot 'em ups (Doom), and flying/space battle type stuff.

Which consol provides the best graphics and performance?
Which has the best games associated (specific game recommendations appreciated - keeping in mind that I want to enjoy myself at a lower skill level than you)?
Finally, can we expect a new generation of consoles in the near future, so would waiting a few months help?

Thanks a ton, and pardon my general ignorance.
-Bake

[TwiztidFreakMike]

well Xbox provides the best graphics, will have doom 3, half life 2 and the almighty halo 2 :-). it has myst 3 on it...Morrowind is another RPG to look at but i'd suggest getting it on PC, or the game of the year edition comming out on xbox which includes all of the expansions.

Xbox is the best for FPS's, and PS2 is the best for japanese RPG's. if you don't like them, well yea those are the only good RPG's ive seen on it heh.

i believe the next generation will be released in winter 2005...

I play xbox for sports, FPS's and the the 2 RPG's it has(which happen to be my fav RPG"s of all time behind FF7) morrowind and Star Wars: kniights of the old republic. i play PS2 for Final Fantasy (japanese turn based RPG's), and....thats about it and Nintendo is only really good for adventure/puzzle 1st party games like mario...and zelda.

thats just my take on it. but then again im an idiot :)

[Tappy_Tibbons]

Lemme break it down line by line...

home theater? Xbox is superior

roleplaying? depends...myst was American so you're not mentioning Japanese games, if you like Star Wars ANY whatsoever, get Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic you won't regret it...the story line is better than 90% of the movies coming out nowadays. Distinct taste likes a distince gametype. I hate Japanese games myself.

shooters? there are so many on Xbox you wouldn't be able to play through them all, start with Halo, it is the Xbox mothership game, the killer app all other consoles get green over. The difficulty on easy is just that, easy, but still provides a cinematic experience with HUGE levels and marines fighting along side you and if you decide to bump up the difficulty to the max, the aliens are so tough it takes me hours to get through some levels I could breeze through in 30 mins on normal difficulty. Halo is like getting 4 games in 1 because each difficulty offers something of a unique experience. Enemys act differently. I bought it almost 2 years ago but I still pick it up ocasionally. Also, if you want something a bit more realistic, try Ghost Recon for something in between, try Return to Castle Wolfenstien which gives you a pc perfect Wolfenstien 3d when you finish it!

Flying space battles? well...umm...you won't find many of those on Xbox

best graphics and performance? Xbox by a landslide...if you're hooking up home theater surround sound and what not, Xbox has in game 5.1 and if you're getting HDTV, all Xbox games support 480p some up to 1080i. Also the Xbox doesnt require keeping up with memory cards to save games due to a built in hard drive and you can rip your own cds onto it and use the songs from your personal cd collection in the background of many games which support this feature it will really blow your mind the first time you experience it. As far as bells and whistles, Xbox cannot be beat. There's also little to no load times on Xbox either.

also, there's a lot of great bargain games.

See, you speak like you don't want the deep gameplay, PS2 offers Grand Turismo 3 which is a geeky racer that's just not fun to play. Fun to customize your car, sure, but actually playing the game isn't fun. Burnout is a good fun shallow arcade pick-up-an-play-anytime type of game and it is on both PS2 and Xbox.

Theres plenty of variety on Xbox, there's nothing on PS2 you want sir. Trust me I can tell from your paragraph that things on PS2 are not your style. Don't bother with it, it's got horrible graphics and long load times. WHy not rent both consoles for yourself and figure out on your own.

[Bake]

What is FPS? Thanks for the patience.

[steve711]

Fps = first person shooter. Thats where on teh screen you see the gun infornt of you and not teh whole body. Halo for xbox is the best fps shooter there is. And xbox does have much beter shound. When i play splinter sound with surroudn you actually listen to hear where ppl are. When i visited my firneds house who had a ps2 and surround sound it sounded horrible in comparison. So being that you are older and have a good home theater system xbox would most likely be the best choice.

[Bake]

sounds like xbox is the way to go. I will check it out. I really appreciate the game suggestions and the surround sound / HDTV heads up.

any other game suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,
Bake

[mass]

<div class=\"smallfont\">I am investing in some new home theater stuff and would like a gaming system to complement it. What do folks recommend for me?

Here is a brief descriptor. I am not a great gamer, so I am not looking to conquer the toughest games, but to have some fun after the kids go to bed. I dont expect to want to bother with online gaming, mostly single player stuff. I like role playing (think Myst on PC), shoot 'em ups (Doom), and flying/space battle type stuff.

Which consol provides the best graphics and performance?
Which has the best games associated (specific game recommendations appreciated - keeping in mind that I want to enjoy myself at a lower skill level than you)?
Finally, can we expect a new generation of consoles in the near future, so would waiting a few months help?

Thanks a ton, and pardon my general ignorance.
-Bake</div>

Waiting a few months won't help. Console prices may see another cut, but, winter 2005 would be the earliest for the next generation and I'm betting late summer of 2006.

For home theater, the xbox supports dolby digital and features the best separation of sound out of all the systems. It also supports ripping of tunes from cd to its harddrive. So you can use the hard drive as a juke box player, and several games supports custom soundtrack options. Most xbox games support progressive scan at 480p and a few support 720p.

Doom style games, the xbox. Generally speaking if you take a multiplatform fps game, the xbox version will generally feature higher quality textures, greater detail, and a smoother framerate. The xbox controller is also the best console controller of the three for these type of games because of the superior analog sticks which are offset.

RPGS. Japansese style, ps2 by a landslide. Lots. American style RPGs, the xbox has two standouts in Morrowind which will have a special edition coming out shortly and Star Wars KOTOR. Other than them the pickings get slim.

Flying space battle type games. Probably the upcoming Rogue Squadron 3 for the gamecube would be the best.