By Randall Hull
Tech Talk
This biweekly column offers solutions to personal technology questions from our readers. Neither the author nor this newspaper endorses products or companies mentioned.
Q. Christmas is approaching and I have been considering a video game console for my kids. The last time I went shopping for video games, PacMan was still the rage. What should I be looking for this year?
A. The top three game consoles on the market right now are the Sony PlayStation2 (PS2), Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s new Xbox.
The $299 Xbox might prove to be more PC than console with faster chips, more memory and features for robust action games. It sports a 5x DVD drive, a 250 MHz NVIDIA CPU, an ethernet port for online gaming and an 8 GB internal hard drive. Definitely for the older, hard-core gamer. Xbox launched with 17 titles including “Halo,” “Dead or Alive 3″ and “Shrek.”
Last year’s big hit, the Sony PlayStation2, remains at $299. It has a 24x CD-ROM, 4x DVD-ROM, 294 MHz CPU, 32 MB direct RDRAM memory with an internal hard drive bay for later expansion. PS2 can use old PlayStation peripherals. Unlike Xbox, you can watch DVD movies on PS2 without additional equipment. The PS2 is backward compatible with previous PlayStation games, slightly improving their graphics and sound. This season there are close to 70 new PS2 games including “The Weakest Link,” “Jurassic Park Survival” and “Spider-Man2, Enter: Electro.”
The $199 Nintendo GameCube is great for a younger audience with the venerable Mario games, a new “Legend of Zelda” title and a Pokemon game coming. Sega also announced a “Cube” version of “Sonic the Hedgehog.” GameCube comes with a 162 MHz CPU, a proprietary 8 cm DVD drive that won’t play DVD movies and 4 MB Digicard flash memory. To run “immersive” games you’ll need a 64 MB SD-Memory card, which costs about $169. Included is a high-speed serial port and a network adapter port for a 56 K modem or broadband, four controller ports, two Digicard memory card ports, a standard audio/video-out port and a digital-out port for HDTV. Additionally, you can connect the popular GameBoy Advance portable game player to the GameCube and use it as a game controller.
Supply is always a factor for hot Christmas gifts. Sony might have the edge with more units currently in stock. But the Xbox could gain ground since its main assembly plant is in Guadalajara, Mexico. Sony and Nintendo still ship from Asia. All three consoles are shipping to the big retailers including Best Buy, Kmart, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart.
Be warned, like Christmas past, you may end up playing “find Waldo” in your search for that elusive, must-have game console.
Please keep questions to 100 words or less. Send to: Tech Talk, Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022 or e-mail: techtalk@latc.com.
Randall Hull is a Los Altos resident and owner of The Br@nd Ranch, an advertising and marketing agency.
