Critics Club V: The Best Looking Console Ever Face Off - Round 04

[Neon Ignition]

Time for the fourth installment of us whittling down the selections you've all made. Here we move through to ever more modern machines and may be hiding the final winner in this batch.


Which of this round of machines is the best looking of the bunch?



01 - Nintendo Wii U Premium Black





02 - Xbox One White





03 - Xbox One Halo 5






04 - Xbox One FIFA 15






05 - Xbox One S White




06 - Xbox One X White








07 - Xbox One X Gears






08 - Xbox One X Outlaws






09 - Xbox One X Free to be Me





10 - Xbox One X Paul Walker






11 - PlayStation 4 Anniversary Edition






11 Consoles - 1 Choice

[Brad]

PS4 anniversary. One X White a not very close second place.

[Solar]

Pity the WiiU didn't have sharper lines, would have been a clear winner otherwise.

[Cassius_Smoke]

PS4 anniversary. One X White a not very close second place.

Yep agreed.

[Neon Ignition]

Wow. Amazed by the love for the PS4 as the grey does nothing for me, looks drab

The Wii U... it's not a vote taker but I never understood the hate for it. The gamepad is what attracts the heat I think, the console itself is unremarkable but very inoffensive.

Telling that so many of the Xbox choices circle the same design appearance

The Gears one for me though, the White X does look very nice but the Gears one takes it just

[fuse]

I do really quite like that Xbox One X White, however I notice that it's a picture of the packaging, so I feel obliged to point out that it's actually the Xbox One X White box. Comparatively the other white MS systems (Xbox One White box, and the Xbox One S White (box and unboxed)) don't look anywhere near as good, it's really just that particular look that I think they really nailed on that one system. That FIFA one is hideous, and whereas the gamepad for the WiiU is pretty ugly, I don't mind the system itself.

10 - Xbox One X Paul Walker

I'm still holding out hope for a Roy Walker one. RIIIIIIIIGHT!

I am still voting for the PS4 Anniversary Edition though, but I want it on record that it's still a slightly begrudging vote. It tickles my nostalgia sense but I think to your average punter who doesn't get the callbacks it's not anywhere near as pleasing to the eye.

[wakka]

With the WiiU, I get on the one hand what they were going for. The console itself is meant to be a sort of base station, virtually unnoticed, and crucially sized to be swapped out in a TV stand for where a Wii currently lives (NB this is all in the Nintendo strategy department's fantasy land, where they thought all 100m Wiis were still in active use, owned by people eager to immediately buy an upgraded version - rather than stuck in cupboards for the previous five years after Wii Sports got boring).

But the result isn't just ugly - and it is, what with its strangely lengthy appearance and pudgy little curves - but also probably actively contributed to the machine's catastrophic failure. It's such a non entity visually, and was so downplayed by Nintendo, that no one actually figured out till year two of its life that the whole edifice was a new console and that it wasn't an add-on for the Wii.

So yeah. It's a no from me.

Then we get the One X, proof if any were needed that the PS2 remains a relevant design. You want to communicate power and modernity in your console design, you look to the PS2 it seems. It's pretty much the exact same shape, although it looks a bit more contemporary with smoother lines. It's a nice looking machine, probably the best looker of last gen, and the Gears 5 version gets credit as being one of the most elaborate production LEs ever.

My pick of these though is the PS4 Anniversary. Two things here - first of all, I think the PS4's design overall was pretty good. Not great but pretty good. The diagonal lines made it look like it was surging forward, and the bar of light striping across it lent it quite a cool futuristic feel. Compared to the ill considered exercises in discretion that characterised the original Bone and the WiiU, it looked like an actual games console, and a cool one.

Secondly, I loved the Anniversary colour way. I wanted one of these sooooo badly (but never got my hands on one). As a piece of fan service, it's brilliantly done. And that OG PS1 grey with the colourful logo is still a great combo. So that's my pick.

EDIT: Oh wow, I'm in good company. Practically everyone else picked it too!

EDIT 2:

I am still voting for the PS4 Anniversary Edition though, but I want it on record that it's still a slightly begrudging vote. It tickles my nostalgia sense but I think to your average punter who doesn't get the callbacks it's not anywhere near as pleasing to the eye.

Yeah, I'd 100% agree with this. It's a fan service piece. You need to get the refs to 'get it', so it's not something I think stands up as a truly great piece of console design.

[Neon Ignition]

A Roy Walker version of the Xbox would be good... but it wouldn't be right