With all of the hubbub about the next console generation (or the current console generation, depending on when you start counting), I got to wondering just what makes a good console. Games? Functionality? Online capabilities? Ergonomic controllers? After some thought, here is what I came up with.
Short amount of time between turn on and gameplay : This is a gripe I have mostly with modern consoles. When I turn on a console nowadays, it's kind enough to give me enough time to calmly eat a full-course meal while it loads all of its goodies. Considering how consoles never really turn off anymore, why do we have to wait? I'm in a hurry! I got things to do! I want my games to hurry and distract me from all of those things.
No need to phone home : I think the rage towards Xbox One's former always-on policy is well deserved. The last thing I want is for any of my consoles or games to be bricked because the servers they require connections to have been turned off. I'm cool with online games requiring this, for obvious reasons, but hands off my single-player games. Imagine a world where the NES needed to connect to external servers. That thing came out about thirty years ago. I can guarantee those servers would be dead and buried by now.
Four controller ports : The perfect number for split-screen gaming. Also, more games need split-screen multiplayer!
Wireless/Wired controllers : As of right now, the PS3 has the best controller. You can play wirelessly for those times when you're lying upside down on the sofa. But, when the battery gets low, you can sit up, plug in the controller, and keep playing without any interruption (well, aside from the act of plugging it in). This also allows for indefinite marathon play without the need to hot-swap batteries.
External save game backups : This is the main thing I wanted to write about. The ability to save a game on something other than a cartridge, console, or proprietary memory card is such a big deal to me. I have lost many save files to faulty consoles (I'm looking at you, Wii). However, I was also able to rescue some save files because I could copy and store them elsewhere (again, Wii). Memory cards are a nice middle ground, but I'd like something standard, like SD cards, so I could spread the backups around.
Speedy menus : If a console is going to have a main menu, accessing it should be quick and painless. The Xbox 360 has become my favourite console from the last generation for this very reason. I hit the menu button on the console and instantly have the main menu. While the boxy, advert-laden home menu is... unwieldy, to be generous, the main menu is quick and gives me everything I need. The PS3, on the other hand, is slow and unintuitive.
Stability : As of this writing, I have burned through one PS3 and two Wiis. Meanwhile, the NES, Genesis, N64, and other consoles I've had since grade school are still in perfect, functional order. This includes putting them through several ordeals such as: multiple household moves, countless rage quits, spotty usage in later years, and, in the N64's case, having a box of books dropped on it. Is it too much to ask for a console that works perfectly forever and ever? Or, at least, for more than a decade?
Good games : Console manufacturers really have little to do with this (unless you're Nintendo), but having great games will always sway people, myself included, more than any wizz-bang features.
That about sums it up. Maybe I'll do a part two if I think of more things. Console producers, get on it!
Full disclaimer: My favourite console was the Nintendo 64. Crappy controller, but nothing got between you and the amazing library of games.
