A recent survey of 2,450 people at this year’s Eurogamer Expo in London conducted by Gamesindustry.biz found that the most important factors that your average gamer considers when purchasing a new machine are its exclusive content (34%) closely followed by its price (29%).
This got me to thinking, If this is what gamers want from their new machines, than which 8th generation console satisfies these criteria best, at the current time.
I could have gone into a long analysis before reaching my conclusion but It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the best console to spend your hard earned moolah on, for the time being at least, is the WiiU.
The goods are coming soon for PS4, But why buy the console now to play great games later?
Just to clarify, I’m not saying don’t buy a PS4 or an Xbox One ever. In fact I’d recommend getting both come March – June next year when the likes of Titanfall and Infamous: Second Son come out. But right now, this holiday season, I would say your best bet, if you were thinking of getting a new machine, is to cosy up at home with Mario, Zelda and the Wonderful 101.
If exclusive content is the most important thing for most gamers than at the moment at least the WiiU has a huge advantage on both the PS4 and Xbox One.
Last week we published an article in which we analysed the critical reception of each of the 8th generation machines launch exclusives and found that the WiiU came out on top with New Super Mario U being the highest rated retail launch exclusive with a metascore of 84 and the whole lineup averaging 78, 5 points higher than the Xbox One (73) and 14 points higher than the PS4 (64).
Sure there are going to be some great exclusives coming for both the PS4 and Xbox One with the likes of Infamous and Titanfall due out by April. We know Naughty Dog are working on a new Uncharted for PS4 and 343 are hard at work on a new Halo. However right now both machines don’t have much in the way of quality exclusive content. Just the promise of it soon,much the same position the WiiU was in this time last year.
Nintendo have finally awakened a sleeping giant
I say this time last year as the WiiU has over the last six months started to build up a rather impressive portfolio of exclusive games such as Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and Wind Waker HD. More important still is the fact that WiiU has just recieved what could be described as the 8th gens first killer app and strong contender for Game of the year in Super Mario 3D World.
The second most important factor according to the survey was price. Yet again the WiiU is the clear winner here as the premium version of the console is £120 cheaper than the PS4 and £ 200 cheaper than The Xbox One and includes a game in the box something neither the PS4 or Xbox One do.
Nintendo have also released several new bungles which all cost £250 including a limited edition Wind Waker HD bundle so in theory you could get a WiiU with two 90+ rated games for £290. Whats more the average price of games on the WiiU is £10-15 cheaper than the PS4 or Xbox One.
This + Super Mario 3D World = a very good time indeed
It may have taken them the best part of a year to finally get their act together, but now that they have and the games are finally coming, with more promising exclusives just around the corner such as Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8. Now is the perfect time to get yourself a WiiU.
