Next-gen consoles mean more power (used up)

One of the things you learn about in science class is that we live in a very fragile world. We don’t have unlimited resources, and we do have a responsibility to look after those resources by making informed decisions. Perhaps this is the time to offer some information to add to your stock of knowledge by reminding you of one of these limited resources: energy. Over at Phicons, they’ve made an article that puts gaming in the spotlight, because like it or not, consoles eat up a lot of energy.

What does this have to do with you? For one thing, you should always look at the hype from multiple angles. Remember the details on the Wii? In a previous article, we mentioned that “they wanted to make the Wii’s power really low without sacrificing its performance, and that resulted to the Wii’s ability to be turned on for up to 24 hours without overheating.”

We see that as a good thing, but with a different spin, Phicons also notes that it’s contradictory: “any designed power savings are lost as the Wii console is designed to be left on standby mode 24 hours a day enabling it to download content from the Wiiconnect24 service (emphasis theirs).” As much as you love your consoles, Wii, PS3 or 360 fanboys ought to unite in acknowledging that their consoles will be eating up a lot more natural resources in the long run.

How can you help? Even small things can make a difference. For instance, don’t use more power than necessary. If there’s no need to put your console on standby, then turn it off. The same thing goes for turning your TV off when you’re downloading a demo but don’t intend to use the TV for now. There are a bunch of other ways you can do to help, but just remember that you ought to just make those nasty lawyers eat their words by gaming responsibly.

One of the things you learn about in science class is that we live in a very fragile world. We don’t have unlimited resources, and we do have a responsibility to look after those resources by making informed decisions. Perhaps this is the time to offer some information to add to your stock of knowledge by reminding you of one of these limited resources: energy. Over at Phicons, they’ve made an article that puts gaming in the spotlight, because like it or not, consoles eat up a lot of energy.

What does this have to do with you? For one thing, you should always look at the hype from multiple angles. Remember the details on the Wii? In a previous article, we mentioned that “they wanted to make the Wii’s power really low without sacrificing its performance, and that resulted to the Wii’s ability to be turned on for up to 24 hours without overheating.”

We see that as a good thing, but with a different spin, Phicons also notes that it’s contradictory: “any designed power savings are lost as the Wii console is designed to be left on standby mode 24 hours a day enabling it to download content from the Wiiconnect24 service (emphasis theirs).” As much as you love your consoles, Wii, PS3 or 360 fanboys ought to unite in acknowledging that their consoles will be eating up a lot more natural resources in the long run.

How can you help? Even small things can make a difference. For instance, don’t use more power than necessary. If there’s no need to put your console on standby, then turn it off. The same thing goes for turning your TV off when you’re downloading a demo but don’t intend to use the TV for now. There are a bunch of other ways you can do to help, but just remember that you ought to just make those nasty lawyers eat their words by gaming responsibly.