Page 1: The Next Generation Is Here....Or Is It?
E3 was supposed to show us what we've all wanted to see and tell us what we've all wanted to know about the next home consoles from the big three: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. All I've been left with after all the hype is past us is a bad taste in my mouth and a bunch of promises that are sure to be less than fulfilled. All three companies have been building up the hype for their respective machines for years now, and we all hoped that this year's E3 would finally give us the gory details we wanted, and for the most part they left us wanting more. Some people think that is a good marketing strategy, while others (like myself) feel ripped off by yet another lame waste of time and energy.
Let's start off with the reigning champion of the video game world, Sony. The Cell processor and all it's glory has been the marketing machine for Sony in the last year or two, promising us unparalleled power and sophistication that will blow away any competition that they could possibly have. I personally am taking this with a grain of salt, because I have been disappointed with Sony's product post-Playstation. What I mean is, I don't think that Sony has done a whole lot in terms of impressing me with their hardware since the debut of their original Playstation console.
At the time, the Playstation was the pinnacle of gaming power and blew my mind with its graphics and the CD medium. When PS2 came out, it was the first real "next gen" console to hit the shelves and that strategy worked out for Sony in ways that cannot be explained. By the time Microsoft and Nintendo released their much more powerful systems, they were all but an afterthought for at least a year, when game systems started to go down in price to more reasonable levels. When doing a direct comparison, PS2 is simply not capable of the same level of gaming that X Box and Gamecube are capable of, and towards the end of the life-cycle for this current generation of gaming consoles, it is becoming painfully more obvious. As game companies are finding new, more efficient ways of tapping into the power of the respective systems, console-exclusive games are showing us that the PS2 is simply not powerful enough to handle some of the games that developers are capable of making, and it was because of this that I lost my faith in PS2 as a console. The PS2 has its game lineup going for it, which is by far its biggest selling point. This exists primarily of contracts with companies that have existed since the times on the original Playstation and new contracts that were made in preparation for the then-new PS2. Companies like Rockstar, Square and Capcom are starting to go elsewhere now, and I think that this will hurt the Playstation 3 when the time comes. I will need to see a real concentrated effort on the part of Sony to win me back as a gamer. Hearing Sony’s press release that the Playstation 3 “is NOT a game machine” is definitely NOT the way to do that for me, that is for sure.
Sony's presentation at E3 left me with not much more information than what I had before the show. I got some mind-numbingly boring technical specs, consisting of uninteresting terraflops and the like. Things that don't instantly equate to gaming in my head don't make me excited, but maybe that's just me and my simple mind. They also gave us a peek at what the console and controller will look like, complete with the very-obvious Spider-Man fonted Playstation 3 logo on the side. Talk about a pathetic attempt to steal the thunder from something that was successful and spin it into something of yours. Come up with something original for the love of God, don't shove this ripped-off crap down our throats. The controller looks like a PS1/2 controller got pulled too hard between two kids fighting to play and it looks entirely uncomfortable. I hope this is just a developmental possibility and it isn't the final product, because I thought the console as a whole was lacking in....."pop." At least it doesn't look like a car stereo amplifier....
Next, we have the heir apparent to the throne of gaming glory, Microsoft. The X Box started out slow, but when X Box Live started to really take off, the console went along for the ride, and it won me over in the process. Microsoft is the only company to get online gaming (for this generation of systems) mostly right, and that is a huge bonus for the next-gen systems. Microsoft is beating the other two companies to the punch this time around, getting the X Box 360 out to the public months before the other two. As a matter of fact, we don't even know when the other two systems are coming out, just that it will be roughly in 2006. Microsoft hopes to ride Sony's past success train ride when they led the next-gen into market and subsequently dominated it. What Microsoft doesn't have going for it is the unflinching loyalty Japanese gamers have towards their home-grown Sony, which I believe will really hurt their numbers in the long run. Microsoft actually did give us some real information at E3, but I don't know how seriously to take it. We got some real good looks at the system, the controllers, many games, and even the new X Box Live 2.0 services. What we need to realize is that pre-hype is nothing more than a marketing machine, geared solely towards getting a buzz going and having people want the system and games more than things like fresh air, decreasing debt and sleep. Many of the “screenshots” we saw looked almost too good to be true, or at least believable. Maybe I’m underestimating the power of the new consoles, but I find it hard to believe that the jump in power was so great that we went from an over-the-head view of gameplay with relatively small characters in Madden 2005 to the ridiculously gorgeous “artist’s rendition of gameplay” we were shown of Madden 2006. I’m tired of companies giving us obvious cut scene footage and touting it as “the game.” I saw scenes of gameplay from Ghost Recon 3 that looked very promising, but the difference in graphics weren’t nearly as drastic a difference when compared to Ghost Recon 2. Don’t get me wrong, the graphics were strikingly beautiful and much better than its predecessor, but it wasn’t like watching a movie, which Madden clearly rivaled.
X Box Live 2.0 looks to be really sweet. The layout looks to be much nicer, and some of the proposed features are incredibly impressive. I am a bit worried about the intention of the X Box 360 as a system however, much as I was concerned about the Playstation 3 not being a game machine. It seems like Microsoft is trying harder and harder to turn the X Box 360 into one of these “multimedia PCs” that are popping up in computer stores like a bad case of herpes. I don’t want my game system to let me download movies and the like. I want it to PLAY GAMES, and maybe at best download new bad-ass content FOR MY GAMES. I don’t need yet another device that can play movies and MP3s and surf the web, I want a game machine. My PC can do all those things anyway. Leave multimedia to devices they are meant for, like DVD players and computers and so on and so forth.
We wrap things up with the champion of yesteryear, Nintendo. What can I say? The highlight of their presence at the show was the hyping of their new Zelda game…..for the GAMECUBE…..the very same game that was the hype when the GAMECUBE was being hyped as the next-gen system at E3 so many years ago, which incidentally got scrapped for a cel-shaded version that was met with mixed reviews at best. Their entire presentation about the Revolution was nothing but smoke and mirrors, pretty much telling us nothing and rubbing it in our faces. They were so intent on keeping the secret of the nature of the “Revolution” that they wouldn’t even let us see a controller. The highlight news of the system was that it would include wireless networking finally, something that Nintendo has previously been very vocal against. That is just sad.
Nintendo has always given quality products, I do have to admit, but I worry that the “Revolution” is going to be gimmicky. If it is, it could mean the end of Nintendo as a console manufacturer. Nintendo has taken gambles on gimmicks in the past and generally they succeed. Virtual Boy was just a bastard-child of what overall has worked for the company. The DS seems to be meeting with fairly decent reviews, despite the PSP being the baby of what seems like the entire media world, and despite what in my opinion is a fairly gimmicky product. The bongo drums are another product that I think are gimmicky and have succeeded temporarily but will quickly wear out their welcome. If the Revolution is similar, in that it will seem cool for a while but eventually be a nuisance, I can’t see Nintendo surviving with Microsoft and Sony out there looking to bury the competition.
So that’s my thoughts on E3, like them or hate them. I think that we have to wait and see just what will actually come to pass. Promises that are made at game conventions rarely are met in their entirety (does anyone remember what Fable was SUPPOSED to be versus what it actually WAS?), so we’ll see where things go from here. I can personally say that there are some things I want to actually happen and some that I hope get scrapped, and I’m sure there are some things in the middle. Keep those fingers crossed!
Let's start off with the reigning champion of the video game world, Sony. The Cell processor and all it's glory has been the marketing machine for Sony in the last year or two, promising us unparalleled power and sophistication that will blow away any competition that they could possibly have. I personally am taking this with a grain of salt, because I have been disappointed with Sony's product post-Playstation. What I mean is, I don't think that Sony has done a whole lot in terms of impressing me with their hardware since the debut of their original Playstation console.
At the time, the Playstation was the pinnacle of gaming power and blew my mind with its graphics and the CD medium. When PS2 came out, it was the first real "next gen" console to hit the shelves and that strategy worked out for Sony in ways that cannot be explained. By the time Microsoft and Nintendo released their much more powerful systems, they were all but an afterthought for at least a year, when game systems started to go down in price to more reasonable levels. When doing a direct comparison, PS2 is simply not capable of the same level of gaming that X Box and Gamecube are capable of, and towards the end of the life-cycle for this current generation of gaming consoles, it is becoming painfully more obvious. As game companies are finding new, more efficient ways of tapping into the power of the respective systems, console-exclusive games are showing us that the PS2 is simply not powerful enough to handle some of the games that developers are capable of making, and it was because of this that I lost my faith in PS2 as a console. The PS2 has its game lineup going for it, which is by far its biggest selling point. This exists primarily of contracts with companies that have existed since the times on the original Playstation and new contracts that were made in preparation for the then-new PS2. Companies like Rockstar, Square and Capcom are starting to go elsewhere now, and I think that this will hurt the Playstation 3 when the time comes. I will need to see a real concentrated effort on the part of Sony to win me back as a gamer. Hearing Sony’s press release that the Playstation 3 “is NOT a game machine” is definitely NOT the way to do that for me, that is for sure.
Sony's presentation at E3 left me with not much more information than what I had before the show. I got some mind-numbingly boring technical specs, consisting of uninteresting terraflops and the like. Things that don't instantly equate to gaming in my head don't make me excited, but maybe that's just me and my simple mind. They also gave us a peek at what the console and controller will look like, complete with the very-obvious Spider-Man fonted Playstation 3 logo on the side. Talk about a pathetic attempt to steal the thunder from something that was successful and spin it into something of yours. Come up with something original for the love of God, don't shove this ripped-off crap down our throats. The controller looks like a PS1/2 controller got pulled too hard between two kids fighting to play and it looks entirely uncomfortable. I hope this is just a developmental possibility and it isn't the final product, because I thought the console as a whole was lacking in....."pop." At least it doesn't look like a car stereo amplifier....
Next, we have the heir apparent to the throne of gaming glory, Microsoft. The X Box started out slow, but when X Box Live started to really take off, the console went along for the ride, and it won me over in the process. Microsoft is the only company to get online gaming (for this generation of systems) mostly right, and that is a huge bonus for the next-gen systems. Microsoft is beating the other two companies to the punch this time around, getting the X Box 360 out to the public months before the other two. As a matter of fact, we don't even know when the other two systems are coming out, just that it will be roughly in 2006. Microsoft hopes to ride Sony's past success train ride when they led the next-gen into market and subsequently dominated it. What Microsoft doesn't have going for it is the unflinching loyalty Japanese gamers have towards their home-grown Sony, which I believe will really hurt their numbers in the long run. Microsoft actually did give us some real information at E3, but I don't know how seriously to take it. We got some real good looks at the system, the controllers, many games, and even the new X Box Live 2.0 services. What we need to realize is that pre-hype is nothing more than a marketing machine, geared solely towards getting a buzz going and having people want the system and games more than things like fresh air, decreasing debt and sleep. Many of the “screenshots” we saw looked almost too good to be true, or at least believable. Maybe I’m underestimating the power of the new consoles, but I find it hard to believe that the jump in power was so great that we went from an over-the-head view of gameplay with relatively small characters in Madden 2005 to the ridiculously gorgeous “artist’s rendition of gameplay” we were shown of Madden 2006. I’m tired of companies giving us obvious cut scene footage and touting it as “the game.” I saw scenes of gameplay from Ghost Recon 3 that looked very promising, but the difference in graphics weren’t nearly as drastic a difference when compared to Ghost Recon 2. Don’t get me wrong, the graphics were strikingly beautiful and much better than its predecessor, but it wasn’t like watching a movie, which Madden clearly rivaled.
X Box Live 2.0 looks to be really sweet. The layout looks to be much nicer, and some of the proposed features are incredibly impressive. I am a bit worried about the intention of the X Box 360 as a system however, much as I was concerned about the Playstation 3 not being a game machine. It seems like Microsoft is trying harder and harder to turn the X Box 360 into one of these “multimedia PCs” that are popping up in computer stores like a bad case of herpes. I don’t want my game system to let me download movies and the like. I want it to PLAY GAMES, and maybe at best download new bad-ass content FOR MY GAMES. I don’t need yet another device that can play movies and MP3s and surf the web, I want a game machine. My PC can do all those things anyway. Leave multimedia to devices they are meant for, like DVD players and computers and so on and so forth.
We wrap things up with the champion of yesteryear, Nintendo. What can I say? The highlight of their presence at the show was the hyping of their new Zelda game…..for the GAMECUBE…..the very same game that was the hype when the GAMECUBE was being hyped as the next-gen system at E3 so many years ago, which incidentally got scrapped for a cel-shaded version that was met with mixed reviews at best. Their entire presentation about the Revolution was nothing but smoke and mirrors, pretty much telling us nothing and rubbing it in our faces. They were so intent on keeping the secret of the nature of the “Revolution” that they wouldn’t even let us see a controller. The highlight news of the system was that it would include wireless networking finally, something that Nintendo has previously been very vocal against. That is just sad.
Nintendo has always given quality products, I do have to admit, but I worry that the “Revolution” is going to be gimmicky. If it is, it could mean the end of Nintendo as a console manufacturer. Nintendo has taken gambles on gimmicks in the past and generally they succeed. Virtual Boy was just a bastard-child of what overall has worked for the company. The DS seems to be meeting with fairly decent reviews, despite the PSP being the baby of what seems like the entire media world, and despite what in my opinion is a fairly gimmicky product. The bongo drums are another product that I think are gimmicky and have succeeded temporarily but will quickly wear out their welcome. If the Revolution is similar, in that it will seem cool for a while but eventually be a nuisance, I can’t see Nintendo surviving with Microsoft and Sony out there looking to bury the competition.
So that’s my thoughts on E3, like them or hate them. I think that we have to wait and see just what will actually come to pass. Promises that are made at game conventions rarely are met in their entirety (does anyone remember what Fable was SUPPOSED to be versus what it actually WAS?), so we’ll see where things go from here. I can personally say that there are some things I want to actually happen and some that I hope get scrapped, and I’m sure there are some things in the middle. Keep those fingers crossed!