Just what was the best looking Console of last Gen?

[chipsgravy]

I always prefer the original look of a console. I can't stand the later revisions. Which may have improvements, never seem to try as hard in the looks departments. PS3 Phat for me then. (Although the changeable faceplate feature on the 360 nearly won me over.)

[moonwhistle]

I agree that none of them look very good so I'd probably go for the slim 360 or wii as being the least offensive and not taking up much space. The fat ps3 while distinctive was a hideous looking scratch and dust magnet, and the stupid curved top means you can't stack stuff on top. Yuck.

[Asura]

Bit random, and not really relevant, but I think that none of this gen's consoles looked as nice as the Dreamcast, PSOne or the matte white PS2.

[Dogg Thang]

I liked the Wii, mostly because of the simple form coupled with the lovely blue light. The design of the other consoles last gen did nothing for me outside of handhelds where the PSP looked sweet in just about all its forms.

[Kit]

Anything silver by Sony looks naff. It just does.

I associate Sony with silver/grey with a flick of colour for the logo.

I owned a japanese version of the middle one for a while basically to play MGS 4 and Condemned 2.



Defo the least hassle to clean, and it looked alright too.

[nakamura]

Anything silver by Sony looks naff. It just does.

I do agree here.

[Asura]

I do agree here.

These days. They used to do some pretty good Minidisc players that weren't.

I think the problem now though is that you see silver, Sony, and you think "plastic".

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Easily the Wii for me. Looks best in black but the white one is a close second. Did they make a silver one?

[charlesr]

My sony walkman was silver and it was awesome. Metal case, barely any larger than a cassette, auto reverse, touch sensitive buttons, rechargeable. Epic.

[DeathAdder]

Very few consoles have actually been nice to look at. Didn't like any of the last generation - the Wii is probably my favourite of a bad bunch.

I have liked the Dreamcast, the Gamecube, the PSP, the Vita and, of course, the original white PC Engine. The Atari 2600 was OK in a kind of 60's mad scientist's control panel way.

On a semi-related note, here is the similar discussion on cartridges a few years ago.

http://www.bordersdown.net/threads/71136-The-most-aesthetically-pleasing-cartridge-size-and-shape

[sj33]

Funnily enough, I know what designs I dislike rather than designs that I like.

I'm never really a fan of glossy consoles. They just become dust and fingerprint magnets, and are awful for people like me who get OCD about cleaning them. They might look pretty when you take them out of the box, but that's the only time they look pretty. Matte all the way. Even the glossy stripe on the PS4 is annoying.

None of the previous consoles looked particularly memorable, despite the amount of investment that clearly went into them (in particular the 360). I think that's why both the PS4 and XBox One both have utilitarian designs - it's not so much of a selling point anymore in today's market where design popularity moves on so quickly (the 360 was designed to resemble Apple designs of the time, after all), the slanted design of the PS4 seems almost like an afterthought (and one that wasn't very well thought out, it's difficult to connect many USB devices into the tight gap). I have a soft spot for the Wii design simply because it's so small and doesn't take up so much space, it means I can just keep it set up as an emulation box. But this is from a practical standpoint, rather than the console actually looking nice.

I generally prefer front-loading CD drives because I think they are cooler, but ironically I think some of the genuine 'gamer' focused console designs have been top-loaders. The Dreamcast and GameCube, for example.

The fat ps3 while distinctive was a hideous looking scratch and dust magnet, and the stupid curved top means you can't stack stuff on top. Yuck.

This is often done on purpose to actually prevent people from stacking things on top and causing potential heat issues!

[fishbowlhead]

Slim PSTwo for me. Gorgeous little box of awesomeness. Quiet as a mouse too.

[dataDave]

The Wii. It's the easy option. I'd have loved a black one with a red LED mod.

[nakamura]

Sony Walkman silver is a completely different silver to the ones used for consoles. They are lovely.