22nd June 2013, 10:43 PM
Oh yeah, the Wii Mini does indeed get rid of the SD card port, and the 360 E also cuts one of the USB ports, so it has only four instead of five as the S did.
So yeah, there are some systems which improved in their second revision, and even a few which were best in their third... but most third revisions are downgrades, that is certainly true, and so are some second revisions too.
Quote: Huh... Well that means the 360 S is the best model of the 3. It adds a LOT more than it taketh away (the only thing it takes away is the custom memory card slot the first model had. This isn't any real loss because no games specifically targeted those slots (they were chosen in the OS), and standardized flash memory of all kinds can easily substitute. Worst case scenario, someone needs to transfer data from an original 360 to the 360 S, but even there a far better option is to use a standardized memory card, which a firmware update allows the original model to use. So while it does technically "take away" the slot, all actual uses for the slot are far better replaced with standardized memory solutions so nothing is really missing.I'd forgotten that the first model had that... but yeah, that's no loss. The internal flash memory in the 4GB model more than makes up for that. It also added that internal wi-fi adapter, of course, instead of requiring an external one as the original 360 did.
Quote: As for the PS3, while the third remodel only takes away the automated disc slot, remember that Sony's been taking features off the PS3 ever since the system came out. Even before the PS3 Slim, they had cut out two of the original four USB slots, memory card slots (in this case, these were standardized memory card slots, so they mattered just a little more, but only a little because one could use a USB adapter and plug the same 3 types of memory into that, but this does take up yet another USB slot, cutting it down to one), and let us not forget PS2 hardware slowly being leached out of the system. In the case of the PS3, the very first model, of which I'm lucky to be an owner, ended up being the very best one.What kind of memory card ports did the PS3 have at one point? I thought that using PS1/2 memory cards with it always required an adapter... but yeah, the slow removal of PS2 hardware was a definite issue.
Quote: Weird thing about the mini? If ANY system this gen didn't need a smaller compact revision, it's the Wii. Very odd, but expected considering Nintendo's history.Well, it's actually only barely smaller. Not much size difference. The biggest difference is how different it looks (it's red and a toploader, after all).
Quote: Ya know, the 360 S, a second revision model, actually being superior to the first model is a very rare thing in video game consoles. I can't really think of any consoles off the top of my head where a revised model was actually superior to the first (outside of internal revisions to fix fatal hardware flaws, like the poor quality disk drive in the original Playstation, or the faulty hardware in the original Famicom). In fact, only two systems come to mind. The A/V Famicom which added a higher quality video cable (composite instead of R/F) and removable controller ports, without removing anything else. Hmm, actually even there they never released a controller w/ microphone so games that used the microphone on controller 2 were out of luck. Hmm, the Sega Genesis 2? Yeah, that one was an all around superior version... well if you got the right internal hardware. Too many of the early revisions of that remodel had really poor audio and video. I happened to know exactly what to look for and snagged a later revision that had extremely good quality components, so mine's got great sound.The AV Famicom's one. How about the PC Engine (Turbografx)? The CD systems, particularly. The first model is okay (once repaired), but has some issues. The second model is even worse; it's got bad capacitors, like the Game Gear, TurboExpress, and such, and is the least reliable. The last two models, the Duo R and Duo RX (both Japan-only) are the most reliable models of the system, and are the most sought after. The second model Sega CD (the toploader) is also more reliable long-term than the first model, since toploaders last better than try-load drives. And as for the Genesis, for Genesis 1 vs. Genesis 2, which one is better depends on what you want; there isn't a clear winner.
So yeah, there are some systems which improved in their second revision, and even a few which were best in their third... but most third revisions are downgrades, that is certainly true, and so are some second revisions too.