Feedback Does anyone else miss when game consoles were designed like chonky bricks?

Jayro

MediCat USB Dev
OP
Developer
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
13,056
Trophies
4
Location
WA State
Website
ko-fi.com
XP
17,247
Country
United States
I really miss the days of the very VCR-like styled game consoles. They fit almost anywhere, and also usually come with the option to stand vertically as needed, while still remaining stable and not looking ugly as sin. But it seems those days are behind us, as all the newer consoles coming out are being marketed as vertical towers now, with laying sideways as an afterthought, along with the external designs being very weird, curvy, and overall not very useful.

Some of my favorites include the PS2 Phat and Slim, the Xbox One X, and the Wii with the add-on storage caddy. I actually own the storage caddy for the Wii, and find it significantly more useful than having the Wii by itself or standing upright. The storage section can hold your USB HDD/SSD inside, helping stealth the system.

Here's some example pics of what I'm talking about:

xbox-one-x.png PS2 Phat and Slim.jpg Wii with horizontal stand.png


...I can't be the only one that misses this... :unsure:
 

Latiodile

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 27, 2022
Messages
471
Trophies
0
Location
Ontario
XP
1,351
Country
Canada
aren't the series X/S chonky bricks lol

also afaik consoles have always tried to be at least somewhat sleek and curvy, and cumbersome, the xbox 360 and ps3 had curved everywhere, the genesis didn't have a solid surface anywhere
the nes is the only one that instantly comes to mind when it comes to "chonky brick", and that's if i ignore the second revision exists
 

Dust2dust

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
2,439
Trophies
2
XP
4,454
Country
Canada
The fat PS2 is the best looking console I ever had. It looked majestic standing up. It actually was outclassed by both its contemporary competitors, GameCube and OG Xbox, but not in the looks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CoolMe

Windaga

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
1,189
Trophies
1
Age
35
Location
New England
XP
2,789
Country
United States
Not necessarily "chunky" consoles...but I do miss being able to place my console inside of my entertainment system and it not sticking out (physically or design wise) from the rest of my set boxes. Of course, all of those DVD/sound system/audio/video boxes have since been replaced by the TV itself and a single console, so that's nice. But I do miss the overall aesthetic a bit.
 

tech3475

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
3,693
Trophies
2
XP
6,103
Country
I prefer it when consoles are stackable and can go vertical to maximise shelf space.

The Xbone is annoying in this regard, as it's so close to being able to do both but they made it do neither.
 

eyeliner

Has an itch needing to be scratched.
Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
2,899
Trophies
2
Age
44
XP
5,586
Country
Portugal
The fat PS2 is the best looking console I ever had. It looked majestic standing up. It actually was outclassed by both its contemporary competitors, GameCube and OG Xbox, but not in the looks.
Excuse me. The GameCube is one of the most beautiful consoles ever designed.
 

CoolMe

"Action-packed movie" star
Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2019
Messages
7,573
Trophies
1
Age
29
XP
34,164
Country
United States
People were making fun of the Xbox One vcr design, i had no issues with it apart from it being somewhat big (for an underpowered system), the Xbox One Slim and X look much better, and definitely better than the XSX tower design..
As for Sony, the PS2 fat was maybe my fav design, i mean whether it's set vertically or horizontally it's just looks majestic, simple rectangular design with no BS.
 

Ryab

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Messages
3,264
Trophies
1
XP
4,510
Country
United States
I prefer it when consoles are stackable and can go vertical to maximise shelf space.

The Xbone is annoying in this regard, as it's so close to being able to do both but they made it do neither.
That sounds like overheating issues waiting to happen lol.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It's not a Nintendo / iQue official product, it's a 3rd party custom.
    +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Nothing special about it other than it's more comfortable than the Lite
    for people with beefy hands.
    +1
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I have yaoi anime hands, very lorge but slender.
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I'm Slenderman.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I have hands.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    imagine not having hands, cringe
    +1
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    ESPECIALLY for things I do to myself :sad:.. :tpi::rofl2: Or others :shy::blush::evil:
    +1
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @SylverReZ if you could find a v5 DS ML you would have the best of both worlds since the v5 units had the same backlight brightness levels as the DS Lite unlockable with flashme
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    but that's a long shot
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    i think only the red mario kart edition phat was v5
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    A woman with no arms and no legs was sitting on a beach. A man comes along and the woman says, "I've never been hugged before." So the man feels bad and hugs her. She says "Well i've also never been kissed before." So he gives her a kiss on the cheek. She says "Well I've also never been fucked before." So the man picks her up, and throws her in the ocean and says "Now you're fucked."
    +2
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    lmao
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    anyways, we need to re-normalize physical media

    if i didn't want my games to be permanent, then i'd rent them
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Agreed, that why I try to buy all my games on disc, Xbox anyways. Switch games (which I pirate tbh) don't matter much, I stay offline 24/7 anyways.
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    I don't pirate them, I Use Them :mellow:. Like I do @BigOnYa 's couch :tpi::evil::rofl2:
    +1
  • cearp @ cearp:
    @BakerMan - you can still "own" digital media, arguably easier and better than physical since you can make copies and backups, as much as you like.

    The issue is DRM
  • cearp @ cearp:
    You can buy drm free games / music / ebooks, and if you keep backups of your data (like documents and family photos etc), then you shouldn't lose the game. but with a disk, your toddler could put it in the toaster and there goes your $60

    :rofl2:
  • cearp @ cearp:
    still, I agree physical media is nice to have. just pointing out the issue is drm
  • rqkaiju2 @ rqkaiju2:
    i like physical media because it actually feels like you own it. thats why i plan on burning music to cds
  • cearp @ cearp:
    It's nice to not have to have a lot of physical things though, saves space
    +1
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    Nor clothes 🤮 . Saves on time, soap, water and money having to wash them. :D
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @rqkaiju2, Physical media is a great source for archiving your data, none of that cloud storage shiz.
    +1
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    [squeezes @SylverReZ onto a physical media, then archives you in my old stuff box] :tpi::rofl2::tpi:
    +1
    AncientBoi @ AncientBoi: [squeezes @SylverReZ onto a physical media, then archives you in my old stuff box]... +1