We all (including me) tend to bitch at times about gaming all for different reasons. Reading the latest Games magazine on the ferry home yesterday it struck me we are currently living in a transition stage which is pretty awesome.... The top ten must have games for each of the current platforms cover: XBox 360 PS3 Wii Xbox PS2 Gamecube PSP DS Is it not cool as f*** to be living/gaming in a period where so many good platforms are simultaneously publishing great games?.... And those games on the xbox,ps2,gamecube are probably at their technical peak for those platforms(which I agree doesn't equate to quality), while the next gen is slowly blowing us away with some brilliant games. As the xbox, ps3, cube die away we get to buy some brilliant games/kit cheaply......even better. Looking forward - if you were to project in the future 3 years from now what would it look like? Xbox HES (Home Entertainment System) Wii Squared Xbox360 (now old gen) PS3 (now old gen) Wii (now old gen) Nintendo Super DS (NSDS) PSP2 Nokia Nexus (3G phone and game system) PSPhone (Sony + Sony Ericsson joint venture of phone + PSP) iGame (Apple join the race with a unix gaming platform) At the moment, I'd question whether they'red be a PS3 sucessor..just IMHO (I'm writing this sober in case anyone asks!)
Mein gott, the idea of Apple joining the gaming market! What an interesting thought lol Apart from that, yes it's a cool gaming moment, however I've thought the same at other points in the past.
The trouble with living in a transitional period with so many platforms, is that my wallet empties too quickly! It will be interesting what happens between now & the next next generation platforms. Given that 2 of the major next-gen platforms probably aren't exactly making piles of cash on each sale right now, the question of how they'll be succeeded is still very much an open one. Will we see some stepping back from pure computing muscle power (as with Wii), or a continuation of the horsepower race? Personally, although I adore beefy, powerful hardware, it'd be nice if some more innovation on the software design side can find its way in, too. I don't need a basketball/football/baseball franchise update every 12 months, thanks. As for Apple, unless they can engineer something that doesn't intially bleed lots of cash (again, like the Wii), I still can't see them wanting to get into the traditional gaming market, after the Pippin. However, they may well encourage some gaming usage of the iPhone/iPod platforms. Even though something like an iPhone/beefed up DS hybrid would be interesting, I just don't see a dedicated gaming platform coming from them. The PSP phone idea has been floating about for some time - given Sony's involvement with both markets it would seem like a natural idea to pursue, but so far the phone+gaming market has been small & met with lukewarm reception by buyers. The PSP size is just about right for mobile gaming, but it's too damned big for a phone, IMO.
Apple already tried to join the game market and it was quite pathetic, I am not big fan of the PS3 but I'd still like Sony to be their for the next gen. AS for Nintendo their should called their next console the ghost "the console you hear about but never see on the shelves" :thumbsup:
I would hate to see Apple try to muscle in on the gaming industry. I can't see them trying unless Sony or Microsoft quit.
I'd argue that this generation of gaming is worse than every other generation if for no reason other than that arcades are on the downslide. Arcades used to be huge and all over the place, and all the newest technology would be showcased there, plus there was the social aspect. Not any more. Most arcades (if you even have one nearby) are crappy and small nowadays, with rarely anything new, and moreover new arcade games are rare and crappy. Pretty much everything is running on some crappy PC-based hardware. It sucks.
That's my usual comment to fanboys....why do you want one console to "win"? Any one console that dominates will just reduce options in the marketplace for gamers. Also, why not add an imaginary console from China onto the list? 3 years is pushing it I'd imagine, but what about 5-10?
the day will dawn that everyman and woman over the age of five will own at least one compulsory nintendo piece of hardware. I ll lobby that!
I personally feel last generation was best. We had DC, PS2, XBox, GC, PSP, DSLite (last two are kind of pushing it I suppose). Pretty amazing.
In a scale I'll say: 8bit: completely overrated, mostly becos nintendo was the only player in town. Dont be a complete nostalgic fanboy over those days; one console isnt a generation, and criticizing the exclusivity deals of sony and MS when nintendo had the most unfair license contracts in history is just plain hipocrisy. 16bit: Were great, read WERE. Today I can hardly pick up a game from those years without being bored with the dull graphics and limited gameplay. Those were golden years no doubt, but is over now. 32bit: like a half raw hamburger theres people who like it, and other that dont. For me it was way overhyped, and failed to deliver. I'll say it was halfway between the former and the next gen, trying to make lowquality 3D trendy while it could've had 2D lightyears beyond the 16bit. 128bit: Started great, looking like a 16bit revival, with great ideas and great games, then everything started going downhill after the DC died and Xbox and GC failed to keep a sizable chunk of the market while PS2 had more than 70%. You cant expect a wonderful performance out of a semi-monopoly. 16bit were great cuz the Genesis and the Snes were almost tied most of the time. Current Gen: started poorly but is looking better. My only complaint is that the amazing success of the Wii may create a new wave of outdated hardware and overhyped games, leading to a situation like the one of the 2600, which ended with the 83' crash. My two cents...
Those NES games were hella fun though. I don't think it failed to deliver anything...we had all these new types of games, the best RPG's, etc. Nowadays it is sort of hard to go back to though, and yeah, could have used more 2D games.
Check any mag from 95 to 96 and you'll find countless cases of vaporware. The rate of vaporware and canned games today is much lower that back then. Then theres were the tricky ads, like the FFVIII campaign. If today a game was shown to the public using only FMV CGs instead of real gameplay footage they can kiss their credibility goodbye. Just see what happened when they showed CGs for Killzone and Motorstorm: you can still see the consequences on PS3 sales...
