Gaming platforms find variety of student fans

Nowadays, the video game console market is a shell of its former self, with only three real competitors fighting it out for the public’s attention and money: Sony’s Playstation, Microsoft’s Xbox and the Nintendo Switch, with a fourth competitor in the personal computer or PC market. 

Senior Aidan Fobian said Playstation was his preferred console. However, he grew up with the Nintendo Wii and Gamecube and Wii U. “I grew up with Nintendo. I own a Switch, but there’s so many games on other platforms that the Switch just won’t get, so the Switch is like a side piece to a home console or a PC.”

For senior Nick Adelmund, he said his preference is “whichever console my family has or what my friends are playing on.” 

He grew up with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, along with the Wii and Wii U. “Even though I mostly use my PC now, my consoles of choice are either the Xbox series X or the Nintendo Switch,” Adelmund said. “Xbox is the console I grew up with, how I played with most of my friends online, and had my favorite games at the time (Minecraft, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, Skylanders, etc.)”

UNI student George Kimmich said his preferred console was actually a PC. “I had a Wii, then a 3DS, then a PC and then an Xbox 360.”

Regarding how his childhood consoles affect his choices now, he said, “I will, and will always be, a big fan of PCs and PC gaming. At the same time, I still have a big soft spot for Nintendo consoles and especially games. Plus, just growing up with a variety of consoles made me realize that a lot of the console and graphic wars were stupid. I can proudly say that I enjoy not only PC games, but Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox games, as well as some Sega, Atari and TurboGrafx games.” 

Kimmich also said he now prefers PCs. “Not only are there a lot more games at my fingertips with platforms like Steam, GOG and Epic, but there’s also an excellent market for game mods. Those launchers give out more sales and have more older games than any other platforms out there. Mods also help keep things fresh or help make the game more enjoyable as a whole.”