What’s the Best Gaming Console?

Many, many years ago, back when I was in college, I somehow found myself becoming quite addicted to a computer game called “Unreal.” I played it for a while, loved it, got through a bunch of boards and then got stuck. I think there were about 35 boards in all. Since I was getting restless and since the game’s intensity was becoming unbearable, I decided to visit GameSpot.com for some cheat codes. I browsed the codes, decided on ghost mode and finished the game. While in ghost mode, I saw things I would have never been able to get through.

Moral of the story? I fell in love with first person shooters. Unreal was one of the best games in that genre back then with an even better soundtrack. Today, things are a bit different. While Unreal’s graphics are up there with the best, they seemed to have switched things over to be more “Tournament” focused. Since I don’t necessarily like to connect with others online while playing video games, this really doesn’t do anything for me. Unreal is out.

A few months ago, I was looking through Youtube for another game I might like…something similar to Unreal. Well, just as luck would have it, I stumbled across a wickedly awesome game called, “Crysis.” You have to check this out. Look at these graphics:

Crysis 3 – CryEngine3 Tech Trailer

Did you see that? Did you set to HD and use full screen? It’s amazing and I want to play Crysis 3. There’s only one problem.

I already purchased Crysis 1 and 2. We installed Crysis 1 on my beefy, beast of a computer that I picked up a few years ago and had less than magical results. There were only 4GB of RAM installed and I am pretty sure the video card was nothing special. The processor was great, but even with that older game, the graphics weren’t spectacular and the video was choppy. It lagged at times. If you are a gamer, you know what I’m talking about. Typical scene.

I was going back and forth in my mind whether or not to purchase a serious gaming computer somewhere down the road. Something that can easily handle Crysis 1 (since Laura isn’t finished with it yet), Crysis 2 and eventually Crysis 3. They are fantastic games and I really want to enjoy them.

Here’s the thing – to get a gaming computer that can handle games like that is going to be really expensive. I hate expensive. I want cheap. And since gaming really isn’t a full time thing for us, it can’t be more than a few hundred bucks.

About two nights ago, Laura said to me, “Hey, what’s wrong with just getting a gaming console?” She’s been trying to get one of those race car games for the longest time. She said, “The rest of the world is apparently happy with XBOX, PlayStation and Wii, so what’s wrong with us?” I didn’t really have an answer for her. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

I explained to her that I just want to make sure the graphics are going to be up to snuff. I want to see, up close, all the nooks and crannies that the developers put into designing Crysis. I really don’t want to miss out on that.

So I did a little searching around online. My goal was to see if the graphics for Crysis 3 would be as good on an XBOX as they would be on a PC. I found this video:

Crysis 3 | First Interactive DEMO Walkthrough on XBOX 360

It looks pretty good. As far as I can tell, as good as the PC version.

So, my questions are, how are the graphics on high-end games built for XBOX? How do gaming consoles compare to PCs? And lastly, what is the best gaming console to get?