What is the greatest games console of all time?

[chikiwighi]

I have to say the playstation 1, or the Gameboy colour, since i grew up with both, and played for hours on both..

Nothing beats the old times playing first pokemons with friends at school and at home, all trying to be the best (was the first to get a blastorie(or how its spelt)

Playstation 1.. ahh my first console, bought it with tekken 3, man it was awesome and rayman.. good times good times..

Since that i got playstation 2, and know 3.. so im a PS guy, i never played a xbox, other than some few times in the games shop..

[Lost]

This should go under the video games section.

Also, how are you going to measure greatness? If you measure by commercial success, the Nintendo DS wins hands down at over 100 million worldwide. If you measure by nostalgia, Famicom, Super Nintendo, and all those 4th generation consoles are going to win, then.

Wii and Nintendo DS are kicking ass in the sales departments, far above the competition and anything else the rest of the industry has tried to throw at them.

Best selling video game of all time is Wii Sports at 45 million units worldwide.

[Guilmon and a shotgun]

This should go under the video games section.

Also, how are you going to measure greatness? If you measure by commercial success, the Nintendo DS wins hands down at over 100 million worldwide. If you measure by nostalgia, Famicom, Super Nintendo, and all those 4th generation consoles are going to win, then.

Wii and Nintendo DS are kicking ass in the sales departments, far above the competition and anything else the rest of the industry has tried to throw at them.

Best selling video game of all time is Wii Sports at 45 million units worldwide.

Agreed, economic success cannot reflect gamer opinion, especially when those are family consoles, not gaming consoles. Also, this:


In my opinion, the best console by gamer opinion has to be the Xbox 360. Why? Well at a low price and high game range it's a well balanced system, with lots of wonderful online features, a comfortable controller, a dedicated fanbase and it's a very popular choice.
However, i will admit that microsoft regains profits by charging stupidly high prices for add-ons such as wireless adapter and even games. It's even more rediculous that they felt the need to copy the Wii's Mii system and even are doing their own motion control fad system. As for more players, it does mean you'll run into a couple of douchebags but mute them and their ear raping can cease to be.
Finally, the best thing about this console is it's adaptability. Because most operating systems on a home computer are Microsoft, connecting the xbox to your computer couldn't be simpler, so more Machinima, funny game moments, creations, walkthroughs and achievements can be shared with friends. Another thing about this console too, they're customisable. Mine for example has a Halo faceplate and set of side stickers, which makes it look cool and stand out.

No other console that i know of tops this, not even my nostalgic Sega Genesis 16 bit.

[Crimson Fox]

Yeah, this is one of those questions that can be interpreted several different ways whether by sales, popularity, library of games, or cost effectiveness.

The first great dedicated "games console" I believe was the Atari 2600. If you lived in that time period, you probably have a lot of love for the system. After playing it on an emulator though, I found it to be very, VERY primitive. The spacey beep sound effects and such are kind of cool, but the graphics are really basic and most games won't last very long. One of my favorite games on it, Adventure was a pretty cool game on there though, and probably influenced better games like The Legend of Zelda and also gave us some joke fodder (Those freaking ducks!).

In any case, it helped to really start the trend of games consoles, but I'm not sure I would call it the best. It sold about 30 million if you count all of the various versions like the 2600 Jr., but it also contributed to the video game crash of 1983 due to poor quality games like E.T. and the 2600 port of Pac-Man.

If I were to call one system the best, it would probably be the Nintendo Entertainment System. To be honest, I grew up in the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo era, and I played and loved those first. Eventually though, I got a NES around 2000-01 and loved it just as much. I'd say if it weren't for this console, modern video games would probably be WAY different. Besides introducing many of the iconic characters in video games today, it also severely upped the ante of what a game should be. Consider the difference between Super Mario Bros. and any Atari game. SMB gave us many colors, light hearted music, multiple levels, good controls, and (assuming you don't use warp zones) actually does take some time to beat. The NES also introduced the notions of a pause feature, save files (for some games anyways), and a wider range of game genres such as RPGs.

Maybe I'm being unfair though. The Atari 2600 is primitive, but it's certainly better than what came before it such as those Pong consoles everyone was making and those consoles that had Vectrix graphics.

To be honest, most consoles have something great about them and have helped to bring video games to new levels. Besides better graphics, consoles like the Dreamcast helped bring systems online, which lead to systems like the XBOX and XBOX 360 which have a major focus on online content. The Super Nintendo was one of the first systems to introduce 4 player action with it's multitap while the Playstation One made the idea of CD based games popular and effective. And of course, the Game Boy helped make portable games into a popular way to play games as well.

Bleh, I guess I didn't really answer your question. I'll stick by NES, but really, the question is kind of broad. Also, I did not include PCs or computers in my consideration since I'm assuming you're talking about dedicated game consoles.

[Wisemon]

I say Sega Game Gear for me.

[AetherRose]

Best Game Console Ever: PS2.
Solid, cheap, great games. Need I say more?

Best New Gen Game Constole: PS3.
No, this is not some sony bullshit, it just worked that way. (I very much enjoyed, and still do enjoy, my gamecube)
The PS3 has the best graphics, the best capacity, is dead solid, doesn't red ring, is the most versatile system to date, and to top it off, it has free online play.
Now, you may begin complaining about the games...

Last I checked, this thread said nothing about videogames, just videogame consoles.

[Ghostiemon]

In 1983 the video console market crashed. people juat threw out their console, their was no originality in the games they were all the same. Everyone and their mother had a game released on some console. Breakfast cereal companies were releasing video games, kids copied off current games and released them through mail orders out of their own rooms. People were just bored of this and all intrest was lost.
Unrill 1985 when the nintendo entertainment system was released. Nintendo saved the entire video games console market. Without it we would have no xbox, ps3 or wii. Especially wii. The nintendo entertainment system saved the entire market and for that ir is the best console going.

Oh and for the record the first console was the magnovox odessy.

[UnknownH]

Forgive me for be a tad bias but since Ghostie already mentioned that, I can just say Nintendo's systems. But, Sega's stuff does come in at a good follow up. That is my answer.

[Lost]

Nintendo found a way to regulate their market back then, because before that, people were releasing content on the Atari and Commodore without the companies' acknowledgment or even knowing. Not only that, but a lot of games were mere copies of other games.

Basically, Nintendo governs their console with an iron-fisted rule and decides what can go on it and what can't. It helped regulate the market and bring things back to a more stabilized level. It was due to over-saturation that led to the market crash of 1983.

Nowadays, it's a little harder to over-saturate the market because the cost to make games is so high. However, most non-game companies and people still see games as little more than an elaborate Scooby Doo lunchbox. The movie industry still follows this mentality and doesn't put much effort into making the plan for a movie-based video game to be released at the same time as the movie, which generally ends up ranging from mediocre to being E.T. Why? The producers of the movie generally hope the game will sail on the coattails of the movie, and as I said before, they, along with half of the world, shit on the collective heads of the video game industry, as they still follow an old-school mentality and believe they're little more than an elaborate Scooby Doo lunchbox.

[Crimson Fox]

Nintendo found a way to regulate their market back then, because before that, people were releasing content on the Atari and Commodore without the companies' acknowledgment or even knowing. Not only that, but a lot of games were mere copies of other games.

Basically, Nintendo governs their console with an iron-fisted rule and decides what can go on it and what can't. It helped regulate the market and bring things back to a more stabilized level. It was due to over-saturation that led to the market crash of 1983.

Nowadays, it's a little harder to over-saturate the market because the cost to make games is so high. However, most non-game companies and people still see games as little more than an elaborate Scooby Doo lunchbox. The movie industry still follows this mentality and doesn't put much effort into making the plan for a movie-based video game to be released at the same time as the movie, which generally ends up ranging from mediocre to being E.T. Why? The producers of the movie generally hope the game will sail on the coattails of the movie, and as I said before, they, along with half of the world, shit on the collective heads of the video game industry, as they still follow an old-school mentality and believe they're little more than an elaborate Scooby Doo lunchbox.

Eh, it really depends if the company making the movie actually wants to spend money to have a decent game made. Yes, most movie license games are mediocre to just plain terrible, but then you get some real gems that really are great.

Aladdin on the Sega Genesis gave us some fun action platforming while providing really good sprite animation. The Super Star Wars games and Batman on the NES are pretty damn fun too. They're hard, but fun.

Oh, and that's a low blow against the Scooby Doo lunchbox. At least there would be a reason to reuse it, unlike a Scooby Doo game. :P

Hmmm, I wonder, what would be the worst games console of all time? Sure the Virtual Boy and Sega CD sucked, but they at least had a few good games on them. What system out there was a true abomination?