186: Console Lines

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Console Lines

Title text: If I get a Wii, it will be the first game console I've owned.

Explanation

This comic relates to video game consoles. At the time this comic was published, there were three major competing products: the Playstation 3 by Sony, the Xbox 360 by Microsoft, and the Wii by Nintendo. When a game console gets released, fans are often seen queuing outside the stores or camping on the pavement in order to be among the first to get their hands on a console. The comic shows such a console camp and points out the differences between the fan communities. While the fans waiting in line for a Sony or Microsoft product are very rude, the Nintendo fans are apologetic and try to comfort (that is to say, console) those who arrived too late to obtain a package. The cliché that Nintendo fans are nicer and more polite may be attributed to the fact that the Wii is targeted at children and families, while the PS3 and the Xbox are targeted at the more "serious gamer" crowd.

The title text primarily expresses Randall's distance from the console wars (he has never owned a game console before), but also indicating an inclination towards the Nintendo Wii.

Transcript

Fans turning away latecomers to all-night game console campouts:

[Two different lines, presumably leading to video game stores, are shown.]

[In the line labeled Sony/Microsoft:]

Cueball: The line is full, asshole! Fuck off!

[In the line labeled Nintendo:]

Cueball: I'm so sorry, all the consoles are spoken for.

Cueball: Do... do you want a hug?

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Discussion

What if the Sony/Microsoft line is rude but honest while the Nintendo line is polite but lying? -MD

"If I were to approach the other line, what would they tell me?" 199.27.129.155 07:20, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

Which 'other line'? --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 12:42, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

They're referencing the two guards riddle. --Lackadaisical (talk) 20:08, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Oh. Okay. Got it. (also, just for future clarification's sake, remember to put a '--' in front of your name ;) --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 11:20, 30 September 2016 (UTC)