Now I know its not likely to be an opinion that is going to be held in the highest regard on these here internets, but I have to say that the system I enjoyed the most last year was the Wii. Since I was (finally) able to pick one up last January, I've really had nothing but great things to say about the console, and have played it just about every day since, everything from from brief to epic sessions. Now granted, at my place theres always a bunch of people around, so of course not only do they usually want to "check out the Wii", but, as been much lauded about the system, it really shines as a multiplayer or 'party' system once they do. But even aside from that, its just really had the most games that I personally have wanted to play, and have had a blast playing. Let me elaborate.
I've been gaming since the arcades/2600 days, and have enjoyed or owned nearly every home system released since then. One thing that has pretty much always remained true about this industry is that anything good or original that gets popular at all will be copied and repeated ad-nauseum. Pac-Man, Mario, SF2, Doom, these are just a few games in the past that created or re-invented genres, and in turn inspired countless imitators that often end up killing the popularity gained by said games or genres due to over-saturation. It happens all the time, and will probably not stop anytime soon. But this negatively affects gamers. Because as much as many of those imitators turn out to be equal or better than their inspirations (Sonic, King of Fighters, GoldenEye, etc.), there is always way more crap to wade through (Keith Courage, Fighters History, Daikatana[!], etc.), and this affects gamers' trust and faith in future games released for that genre, and often their interests turn to other genres. I speak of my personal experience, and from having many gamer friends and knowing their gaming habits well. We get bored of the same old thing, and get into something new. Sure, we'll still play and love the odd good game in each respective battered genre that still gets released, but for the most part we move on, in a sense.
All this talk of genres and repetition does relate to my answer, I assure you, and here's why. I think the 360 is a phenomenal gaming console, and I'd hate to not have access to that wonderful library, but for the most part I've just been kinda bored with everything getting released for it lately. It's really starting to feel like 'been there, done that' with a lot of 360 games for me personally. Too many shooters. There, I said it. I just feel that too many of the AAA games on 360 are shooters of some kind, especially in the past 6 months or so. The crazy thing though? These games are awesome! Bioshock, Gears, Halo 3, anything Tom Clancy, CoD 4, The Frickin' Orange Box, geez, these games are perfecting shooters lately. And yes, I do like (quite a bit actually) these games, but overall I don't feel that 'pull' to play what really amounts to the 'different but the same' feeling I get from them all. They start to blur together, and start to feel like repetitious activities in a way, honestly. Actually the saving grace of the 360 to me is XBLA, which has an incredibly attractive and robust library, and many games only available there are now all-time favorites of mine that I would never give up. For the most part, when I think of playing 360, and its not for Guitar Hero or Portal (a FPS I never find boring), its usually an XBLA game I'm itching to play.
With all that said (whew!), I feel the Wii has truly been a breath of fresh air to the open-minded gamer who truly places an emphasis on getting 'fun' out of 'playing' their 'games', over graphics and raw power. I just wanna play some godamnn video games, and I don't need it all to look true to life or have epic storylines. Those are very important apects to games these days, and I love how the industry's matured to this point and do enjoy these titles, but, shit, that's why I watch movies, I don't necessarily need it from my video games too. It's no secret there's been garbage released thus far for the system, but the same can be said about every successful console, including the 360 & PS3. Geez, look at the PS2! But as a so-called "hardcore gamer" I don't buy those turds, so I've been very satisfied thus far with it. The good games, to me, are just SO good that I really WANT to play them. Galaxy, Corruption, Zack & Wiki (I SO love this game), Strikers, WarioWare, Godfather (admitted guilty pleasure), GW:Galaxies (which first captivated me on XBLA, mind you), ExciteTruck, Ghost Squad (so fun w/2 or more), SPM, even Wii Sports still, just to name a few a few of the 19 games I have for the system already, and I want to play all of these games all of the time (well, I could forget about Red Steel and Wii Play to tell you the truth, and Elebits was only really fun for about a week or two). I feel I don't even have enough time to play everything I have, never mind all the games I want sitting on shelves still, or soon to be released (No More Heroes and Brawl are both eagerly anticipated). And that's not even counting the many VC games I've downloaded thus far. Heck, I spent a couple weeks pretty much only playing Sin & Punishment when it was released.
Sure, not every game released is brimming with originality, and I'd like to see less reliance on ports and mini-games, but to say that's all this system has to offer is incredibly short-sighted by anyone who truly considers themselves a gamer, I feel. In a way, the Wii is the only real "video game" machine out there. That statement could burn me, but what I mean is that is has the most games that are just that; pure games. No pretentiousness, no elitism, no in your face-ness, its not really pretending to be anything other than a video game player, pure and simple. And as a long-time "hardcore gamer" I like that, and am drawn to that, more and more than I am to yet another game that simply has me aiming a gun, for example. I must say that I am incredibly interested in the PS3, and would love to own one of those as well. If I pick one up this year, and with the games released thus far and slated for release this year, this could be a VERY different answer next year. PS3 looks poised to show why Sony has been so cocky about it all along, and I think they're gonna make a lot of people believers. But, for the last year, the Wii (aside from my trusty DS) has been the most played and enjoyed system in our household, by far.
