Wii versus the world, analogy style

Wii's and diamonds Joystiq is having some fun with George Harrison’s recent interview about the console wars, in which he invokes cars to make the whole war thing easier to understand. It’s not the first time this has happened. Sony was also caught making similar references with food and restaurants in a GamePro interview. We all know how that turned out.

In an interview with The Motley Fool, Harrison compared the Wii to a hybrid competing against two SUVs with chrome rims. While all three are technically cars, Harrison said the markets for each aren’t likely to overlap. “Two companies are going in one direction, and we’re headed in another,” Harrison said.

My oh my, I wonder what that rascally Joystiq will do next?!

Joystiq says:

While he’s definitely right on that last point, we’re not sure the hybrid/SUV comparison is the most apt analogy to describe the current console wars. Here’s a few other contenders we’ve managed to come up with:

* A nutritious Apple (the Wii) vs. two heart-clogging double bacon cheeseburgers.
* A pea-shooter vs. two rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
* A $99 suit vs. two custom-tailored Giorgio Armanis
* A Casio digital watch vs. two diamond-encrusted Rolexes.

Sounds like a fun exercise. Let’s dissect what’s already been said above. The first is pretty spot on. Firstly, the Wii is literally more nutritious, as many rettirement homes and cancer survivors can attest. Second, you can do more with an apple than you can with two cheeseburgers. There’s more potential, and someone can always come along and make something completely new with the Apple that no one else has thought of before. Those cheeseburgers, well, they’re already cooked and processed. Not much you can do other than eat them. Some may argue that these cheeseburgers are a little bloated with ingredients, and that they may give you a stomach ache. But that’s just what some people say.

The second analogy is also accurate. The Wii is not as powerful, but I’d rather have an incredibly accurate, reliable pea shooter than a grenade launcher with so many features in it that you never actually get around to firing the thing(PS3). Or, a grenade launcher that’s potent but breaks on you 30% of the time (Xbox 360).

The third analogy I chewed on for a while before agreeing that it, too, was accurate. I’ll never be able to afford an Armani, but I know I’ll have more fun in my suit from Macy’s because I’ll have plenty of money left over for the party I’m going to. I’ll also look pretty sharp and no one but the most discerning of suit aficionados will know the difference. My only gripe with this one is the custom-tailored part. If either of the two power systems were like that, I would be able to strip out all those unnecessary features, like TV show downloading and Blu-Ray. I can’t. In fact, with firmware updates the systems actually get more bloated with TiVo-like features, etc, which firther threaten the life of the system as it must now compete not only with Nintendo, but also with movie companies, Apple, and DVR manufacturers. To modify the analogy even further, the PS3 and Xbox are like Armani suits off the rack. And the racks are pretty full right now.

The watch analogy is similar to the grenade launcher one. My Casio does as advertised: it tells time. It tells time well. It is a reliable watch that doesn’t break and doesn’t have any unnecessary bells or whistles. Those diamonds look great on those Rolexes, but they do little to help me tell time, which is the primary reason I bought a watch in the first place. Diamonds on watches are also something that appeal to a very small niche of the population. That doesn’t bode well for diamond watches getting picked up by a large number of people. Plus, many many more people have a Casio than a Rolex, because in the end when a majority of people buy a watch, it is to tell time. I can relate to that way of thinking.

Any more bright ideas out there?