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[Satchel]

I thought the whole point was to create an intelligent reason-based list of consoles, instead of emulating gamestm and making a goofy list based on fanboyism.

Wait, so the PS2 had 4 controller ports? Were the other 2 hidden?

Did my launch PS2 fat have an Ethernet port I wasn't aware of?

Making a personal top 10 that requires I use sales as a metric seems far more fanboyish than what I did. By the way, even on a sales basis, the 360 would be 4th. Does that fuck with your mind?

 

[mclem]

GamesTM is a *UK* magazine. With that in mind:

This gen is garbage. SNES shits all over it. I grew up with N64 and have no nostalgic memories of those games. I've played most of those classics through virtual console or GBA/DS ports. Nothing on the 360 comes even remotely close to:

Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Super Metroid
Megaman X
Link to the Past
Donkey Kong Country 2
Chrono Trigger - Not released in Europe
Final Fantasy III - Not released in Europe
Super Mario RPG - Not released in Europe
Earthbound - Not released in Europe
Super Castlevania IV - Has PAL slowdown

 

[SteveWD40]

this is getting silly....

What is?

 

[StoppedInTracks]

if the 360 is #1 how is the pc #10

360 inventend FPS games with Halo and online gaming with Xbox Live!.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

I'm a bigger fan of this gen than most, but 360 being #1 is a joke.

Absense of the Wii makes me happy, though. Too bad this list is completely meaningless.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Let the rage begin!

15. Game Boy
14 NES
13 ZX Spectrum
12 Commodore 64
11 Gamecube
10 PC

9 Amiga
8 Playstation 3
7 Dreamcast
6 Mega Drive
5 Nintendo 64
4 PlayStation
3 PlayStation 2
2 Super Nintendo
1 XBOX 360



Taken from GRCade

1. PC
2. Playstation 2
3. SNES
4. Playstation 1
5. Dreamcast
6. Nintendo DS
7. Playstation 3
8. NES
9. Xbox 360
10. C64
11. Mega Drive
12. Gameboy
13. N64
14. Amiga
15. Atari 2600

Mine would look something like that although it's little hard to rate ancient devices as you can rate them on significance only since games from the '70s or early '80s don't hold up so well.
PC is clear #1 though.

 

[Resilient]

Agree with Xbox 360 being number 1. Industry would be vastly different if it weren't for the 360.

 

[Bumhead]

Agree with Xbox 360 being number 1. Industry would be vastly different if it weren't for the 360.

In what way?

 

[meppi]

Absense of the Wii makes me happy, though. Too bad this list is completely meaningless.

lol

Shit list is shitty, but at least the Wii isn't on it, even though it's a shit list without any meaning.

 

[JaseC]

The SNES deserved the #1 spot by virtue of having received Super Metroid first.

 

[acm2000]

not bad list, mine personally is:

1. 360
2. PS1
3. Megadrive
4. Dreamcast
5. PS2

why do people get their knickers in such a twist over these types of polls? its an impossible poll to get right unaimously as voters only vote on their personal experiences with consoles THEY owned

 

[herod]

Yeah, what this list shows is how unaware of the wider aspects and history of their hobby a particular section of console owners are in a rough order of awareness.

 

[AniHawk]

In what way?

 

[Phonomezer]

Where the fuck is the Saturn?!

 

[Dabanton]

In what way?

Well online console gaming and the broadband explosion in the UK for instance would have certainly not taken off as much as it did with consoles. Sony wouldn't have pushed it that much and Nintendo would not have bothered at all. I get the impression they despise online and having to facilitate it.

For impact ask yourself if a console manufacturer would dare release a console that doesn't go online now and allow MP and access to a store. Even Nintendo now knows no online on your console means you'd be a laughing stock. And risk failure right out the gate.

Certain genres would have been shelved or pared back to maybe a handful of titles. The experimentation that XBLA and PSN have pushed in getting certain games that would have had no chance at retail on their services has been most welcome.

With no 360 pushing the way,do you think Sony would have even bothered to put any effort into making their store work?

 

[NIGHT-]

Well online console gaming and the broadband explosion in the UK for instance would have certainly not taken off as much as it did with consoles. Sony wouldn't have pushed it that much and Nintendo would not have bothered at all. I get the impression they despise online and having to facilitate it.

For impact ask yourself if a console manufacturer would dare release a console that doesn't go online now and allow MP and access to a store. Even Nintendo now knows no online on your console means you'd be a laughing stock. And risk failure right out the gate.

Certain genres would have been shelved or pared back to maybe a handful of titles. The experimentation that XBLA and PSN have pushed in getting certain games that would have had no chance at retail on their services has been most welcome.

With no 360 pushing the way,do you think Sony would have even bothered to put any effort into making their store work?

Couldn't agree more! This is why competition is a good thing!

 

[GeoramA]

It really is a case of recency effect. It'll cool off once the next gen is out.

100% correct.

The proof is the original Xbox not being on the list. The 360 will be just as easily forgotten once next-gen arrives.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

Well at least the SNES was second?

I don't hate the 360 (chose to get one over a PS3 back in '08 at least), but I can't really see how from a technical, historical or library perspective it could be considered the best. Its most/only popular exclusives are all shooters which are similar enough to what you can find on competing consoles and the PC and one of which is already starting to die down in relevancy until more details about the next trilogy crop up. The rest of its library can either be found on the PS3 or PC or are games which bombed either critically, commercially or both; I'm looking at every non-Kinect Rare game and the Fable series falling by the wayside here. Unless they just looked at it from a sales perspective and how 3rd party games, CoD in particular sell gangbusters on it than I really can't see how it's so highly revered in this poll unless most of the voters were teenagers. EDIT: Completely forgot about online. Know Microsoft was the first console company to popularise it to non-PC gamers, but how much more action does XBox-Live see than online PC-gaming (since this poll considered the PC its own platform instead of something separate like I sometimes see argued)? If you were voting for this reason wouldn't you prefer the alternative which gives you the same service but without the $60 annual fee?

I can understand the Wii not being on the list, even though it's stupid considering how big an impact (not saying positive or negative) motion control had on the industry and the other two modern consoles which did wind up on this poll.

 

[NIGHT-]

100% correct.

The proof is the original Xbox not being on the list. The 360 will be just as easily forgotten once next-gen arrives.

Yea.. No... There's a huge difference from what Xbox 360 is bringing to the table than what Xbox did. Though Xbox was pretty huge with Xbox Live and Halo..

 

[Monty Mole]

I would agree regarding 360 because of one key feature: XBLA.

XBLA as a platform alone is up there with some of the best. Throw in the retail games and it's in my top 3. But I have such nostalgic memories regarding my Megadrive, C64 and Amiga that won't go away.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Agree with Xbox 360 being number 1. Industry would be vastly different if it weren't for the 360.

There would be no industry without a PC to make games on.

There would be no industry without the NES.

 

[NIGHT-]

There would be no industry with out a PC to make games on.

That's nice.. But most people prefer to play on consoles over PC. Unless there doing facebook or some mmo

 

[Monty Mole]

I wonder if those people who think the SNES, Megadrive, Dreamcast etc should be at #1 will happily swap their 360/PS3 for one?

Also PC shouldn't have been counted on this list. I mean, are we talking DOS? Windows 3.1? DirectX 7? 386? 3dfx? The PC I owned in 1994 sure as hell can't play Crysis. It's difficult to count just "PC" as a platform on that basis, when it has had hardware generations in itself.

 

[Asparagus]

Surprised the nes made the cut to be honest, really surprised the snes is so much higher than the md, I'm pretty sure only myself and one other friend owned one round my end.

 

[Rebel Leader]

That's nice.. But most people prefer to play on consoles over PC. Unless there doing facebook or some mmo

Where were those console games made? On PC =3
PC#1 =D

 

[kaizoku]

Xbox 360 is a fantastic console, coming from someone who was really against a 3rd console, nevermind it being from "evil" Microsoft. I've really enjoyed what they've brought to the table and their XBL stuff has really been the defining aspect of this gen alongside motion controls.

I don't mind it being number one but I reckon the SNES, PS2 and Nintendo DS push it hard. I think those consoles have the sheer weight of great brilliant games but I honestly would miss XBL experience the most.

Less amazing games but overall experience is amazing and what great games do exist are much stickier.

 

[Phonomezer]

XBLA is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Corto]

I wonder if those people who think the SNES, Megadrive, Dreamcast etc should be at #1 will happily swap their 360/PS3 for one?

Also PC shouldn't have been counted on this list. I mean, are we talking DOS? Windows 3.1? DirectX 7? 386? 3dfx? The PC I owned in 1994 sure as hell can't play Crysis. It's difficult to count just "PC" as a platform on that basis, when it has had hardware generations in itself.

The unfair advantage of PC is that it can play almost all of those platform titles (emulated) and even on current consoles the multi plat titles run with better graphics and performance. That's why it shouldn't be on the list. It shames all the rest.

 

[user_nat]

I love the 360, but even excluding non console platforms I would have a hard time putting it above the PS2 on a list such as this.

 

[mclem]

The unfair advantage of PC is that it can play almost all of those platform titles (emulated) and even on current consoles the multi plat titles run with better graphics and performance. That's why it shouldn't be on the list. It shames all the rest.

I think it's a little unfair to include emulation, personally. They're not games that are *designed* for the system, as such - the system wasn't the reason the games were created. I'd argue that you'd have to regard any system's library in terms of not the games they *play*, but in terms of the games they *created*.The PC can run SMB3 via emulation, but it wasn't where SMB3 came from, and if it wasn't for the NES, SMB3 wouldn't exist (at least in any form we recognise).

The PC has an excellent library of games that were *made for PC* anyway. Civilisation wouldn't have come about on consoles. Day of the Tentacle wouldn't have seen the light of day. That, I think, needs to be the metric by which we regard the 'greatness' of the platform - not the games it plays, but the games it inspires.

 

[Monty Mole]

The unfair advantage of PC is that it can play almost all of those platform titles (emulated) and even on current consoles the multi plat titles run with better graphics and performance. That's why it shouldn't be on the list. It shames all the rest.

But even then, my PC certainly can't play multiplatform titles with better graphics and performance than my 360 or PS3. So we open a whole other can of worms

 

[PetriP-TNT]

That sound you hear is ten thousand sadsack Amiga devotees high-fiving themselves backwards through time

lmao. In your face pc-neckbeards.

 

[charlequin]

Anyway, what some of you guys seem to be forgetting is that game libraries are not the only thing that matters.

Game libraries are the only thing that matters. For anyone but the most die-hard fanboys, 100% of the other things about a console are just little inflections on experience of playing the games. Even the much-touted online features of the 360 ultimately come down to two things: a better digital library (i.e. more games) and a more feature-filled and smooth online experience in games with online MP (i.e. better versions of multiplatform games.) Anything above that is really just empty tech fetishism.

 

[yankeehater]

PC should be #1 since you can play any game from old systems on it plus all the current PC games. 360 should have been second. It has a huge collection of arcade games, plus it has custom sound tracks, in game chat, achievements for all games, tons of great games, and the best online of any console.

 

[HK-47]

That sound you hear is ten thousand sadsack Amiga devotees high-fiving themselves backwards through time

Sweet, sweet victory

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Well online console gaming and the broadband explosion in the UK for instance would have certainly not taken off as much as it did with consoles. Sony wouldn't have pushed it that much and Nintendo would not have bothered at all. I get the impression they despise online and having to facilitate it.

For impact ask yourself if a console manufacturer would dare release a console that doesn't go online now and allow MP and access to a store. Even Nintendo now knows no online on your console means you'd be a laughing stock. And risk failure right out the gate.

Certain genres would have been shelved or pared back to maybe a handful of titles. The experimentation that XBLA and PSN have pushed in getting certain games that would have had no chance at retail on their services has been most welcome.

With no 360 pushing the way,do you think Sony would have even bothered to put any effort into making their store work?

Pretty much all of this, even if most of it has roots in the original Xbox. The cliffsnotes version:

- unified login: we wouldn't have it on consoles, and it's debatable whether we would (or still do) have it on PC

- gamerscore, unified matchmaking, achievements/trophies, invites, cross-game chat - forget about it

- XBLA, not the first service of its kind (there were some similar undertakings on PC even before that), but the first on consoles and the first genuine success; it also marked the return of arcade style gaming (and especially 2D gaming) to consoles which was marginalized in the previous generations.

The 360 will be just as easily forgotten once next-gen arrives.

See you in 10 years. Then again in 10 more.

Game libraries are the only thing that matters. For anyone but the most die-hard fanboys, 100% of the other things about a console are just little inflections on experience of playing the games. Even the much-touted online features of the 360 ultimately come down to two things: a better digital library (i.e. more games) and a more feature-filled and smooth online experience in games with online MP (i.e. better versions of multiplatform games.) Anything above that is really just empty tech fetishism.

I usually agree with you on most things, but this is where I'll have to say I respectfully disagree. A lot.

 

[DCharlie]

In what way?

the insinuation that this must be because it's COD kiddies voting up X360 and they never played SNES.

Game libraries are the only thing that matters

yup - i'm putting X360 > SNES on game library alone.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Such a broken console with such a big focus on multi-console over exclusive should not be number one.

With PC on the list, it's an indisputable number one. Not counting that, PS2, SNES, and DS all warrant inclusion first.

 

[charlequin]

I usually agree with you on most things, but this is where I'll have to say I respectfully disagree. A lot.

What can I say? Some people buy game systems to play games on, and some people buy them to lick.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I don't own a 360 but I have played it all the time at some of my friend's houses.

I never got the love for it. Few exclusives, online you have to pay for, communities being so mundane, boring, and hostile, and a horrendous interface.

 

[cj_iwakura]

No Sega Saturn, no-nsense.

 

[SYNTAX182]

What can I say? Some people buy game systems to play games on, and some people buy them to lick.

Agree on this.

Such a weird list, the top 3 should be PS2, SNES, PC hands down, maybe switch in PS1/Saturn for one of those. The Xbox 360, the only game I really got into was Modern Warfare 1/2, everything else was average/boring to me, and the thing I hate most is paying for online MP. And what the hell at no Sega Saturn.

 

[Bullza2o]

Wouldn't the 360 be the #1 dudebro games machine of all time?

 

[LowEndTorque]

1. PC: If by "PC" you mean the entire history of PC gaming from beginning to present, there is absolutely nothing that should even be mentioned in the same breath

2. PS2: The library. No other console will ever match the PS2's library.

The rest: not gonna go through the trouble, but I will say that I'd put PS3 above 360. Much bigger and better overall library than 360 imo, and it doesn't force you to pay for access to a game's basic online functionality. To me, the only things 360 has going for it over PS3 is a much better controller (kind of a big deal, but not as big a deal as library) and infinitesmally better versions of most multiplats (not a big deal at all)

 

[DopeyFish]

I would say Xbox 360 is #1 with relative ease, once you subtract the RRoD issue that will never be rated over time and if you were to discount PCs induction

To date: best games library[opinion], best media options[unquestionable], and best online service[unquestionable] and probably the most innovative console of all time considering previous generation options

I would rank the systems as follows

1. Xbox 360
2. SuperNES
3. Playstation 2
4. NES
5. Playstation
6. Playstation 3
7. Nintendo 64
8. Xbox
9. Dreamcast
10. GameCube
11. Wii
12. Sega Master System

Etc etc

but it's really hard to gauge... 20 years from now, when live is down for 360 - the opinion may change... Digital content is dependent entirely on connectivity... And we are discussing this in the present generation- I have a hard time playing PSX, N64 games now so I'm seemingly placing them in the list due to how good they were in their time

The bar of quality and level of acceptance keeps evolving, what I perceive as quality today may not be considered good later

If I were to list consoles due to their importance, i would probably put the 360 in fourth, behind NES, SuperNES and Playstation

PS2/GameCube/Xbox/DC generation was the most evolutionary generation of all (outside of rather short but fun leap between DC multiplayer and Xbox Live) and I think the generation after this might be the worst generation yet... evolutionary, media taking over gaming, cookie cutter games

As much as I think Xbox 360 pushed console gaming forward... I think that it's eventually going to hurt more than its going to help in the long run

 

[Island]

That sound you hear is ten thousand sadsack Amiga devotees high-fiving themselves backwards through time

This post nearly made me fall off the toilet in laughter.

 

[Christine]

Flat lists are nothing more than a method to avoid actually having to write about a topic. It's even better if it's a reader poll, because you don't have to do the hard work of creating an ordered set AND you can disavow responsibility for the results.

 

[GTP_Daverytimes]

Oh my.

gamestm Top 15 Game Machine of All Time, sponsored and brought to you by Microsoft.

Spot on or not since this was a reader poll, readers with bad taste that is.

 

[Yoshi]

I don't see how anyone could make a serious argument for why PC shouldn't be number 1.

If you love platformers, action-adventures, skill/arcade games (don't know how they are called in English, something like Monkey Ball, Kororinpa,...), fun racers, but absolutely hate western RPGs, first person shooters and strategy games, PC doesn't stand a chance against most consoles. Considering emulators is not fair, expecially as no console is emulated 100% perfectly and even then most games played on an emulator are not available through legal ways on a PC. When considering PC, one should only count native PC games.

Besides all this it's absurd to include PC into this, what PC generation is it, that they mean? Of course you can emulate DOS games on new PCs but considering all generations of PCs (for which one had to buy multiple PCs to experience at time of release of the games) as one system is like counting NES, SNES, N64, GCN and Wii as one system. Then, of course it would also be absurd to place the GameCube above Wii, which can play all GameCube games (natively), its own games on top of this and a big chunk of Nintendo's gaming history, too.

All that being said, as an Xbox 360 owner I have to say: This console is so far off the best console of all time, despite all its potential (fantastic controller, great online, very gaming oriented approach in the beginning). It's so sad that the 360 - after some quite varied and good years - turned into a fps, action, kinect & realistic racer machine that is only saved by a few notable (multiplatform!) games like Portal 2.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

What can I say? Some people buy game systems to play games on, and some people buy them to lick.

If you don't think that gaming-related things like online services and community features may have a strong impact on one's perception of a game system... Well, I don't know what to say, except that you're wrong.