With this new generation of consoles now all released, there are going to be a whole host of new expectations awaiting them. Sony has given us raw power, Nintendo has given us a new way to play, and Microsoft has given us a truly solid overall console. Now with these tools, it's up to the publishers: Sega, Atari, EA, Ubisoft, and all the others, to give us a library of games to play. In this new generation, I don't want it to be more of the same: Madden, Final Fantasy, Halo, etc. Rather, I'm looking for a whole new experience, something that truly is “playing beyond” my normal experience. Within this article, I'll go into my expectations for each console over the next couple of years.
Nintendo and its Wii/DS: I really do have to applaud Nintendo for the work that they've been doing by going in a different direction with gameplay, while still creating games that appeal to those who aren't looking for a lot of innovation in their games. Their “Touch Generations” label gives a whole new experience to gameplay, by providing something that's fun, addicting, and easy enough for anyone to play. Just look at Elite Beat Agents, it takes a new twist to the music genre by providing a unique play experience that is truly unique to the DS. At the same time, though, there are games lie Twilight Princess and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the Wii, where the game play is enhanced by having the Wiimote, but it doesn't make it all that much of a new experience.
The Wii offers a lot for developers and publishers to put out really unique games that we won't see anywhere else. Sure, games like Katamari Damacy won't be able to work on the system, but it seems as though there will be enough games like Rayman, Elebits, and Cooking Mama to keep the Wii very fresh, although not with many killer apps. Nonetheless, I think the Wii will have a large enough library of innovative games that will be enough to sustain themselves in the market.
There also exists a great likelihood that there won't be very many good ports for the Wii, with the controls feeling really tacked on and gimmicky. My biggest concern about the Wii is that there is no room on the Wii for RPGs. In my opinion, it would be just too damn boring to play a traditional RPG on the Wiimote. Sure, I could tilt it on its side, but I see that as being a great waste of the controller, unless they include certain movements as macros. This is going to hurt Nintendo greatly, I think, and they'll be facing an uphill battle to major success 3-4 years down the road.
Sony and its PS3/PSP: First, to address the PSP: I expect nothing from it, except to go crawl in a hole and die. Moving on. From Sony's giant black behemoth, I am looking towards this system truly being the one for RPGs. Sony has had one of the most prevalent ties to the RPG market over everyone else, that I can't really fathom the 360 taking that audience away from them. Most of the highly anticipated games on PS3 are RPGs: White Knight Story and Final Fantasy XIII, for example. The PS3's library will probably look similar current one, with a lot of RPGs, a decent amount of action games, and a hell of a lot of multi-platform games that will suck. Overall, their game library is going to be fairly unimpressive, but I think offering PS1 games on the Playstation Store at a price that's cheaper than SNES games is a definite attraction for me, actually. I hope that they'll be able to develop it into something that can rival Xbox Live, but they'll need to hire someone really innovative to manage the Playstation Store, which I hope Sony will be smart enough to do.
As for the Blu-Ray player in the PS3, I'd like to think that it won't adversely affect the system, but I'm having a harder and harder time arguing that to myself. My feeling is that it'll provide the opportunity for a lot more content to be put into the game, but I have a feeling that the space is going to just be used for more cutscenes or be filled up with pointless items. What would be nice is if they filled it up with extra features, like interviews with the staff, like how the concept of the game came about, inspiration for certain scenes, etc.
Sony won't go out of business or anything from the PS3, there's no way. I mean, look at Sony's arrogance that they've been showing, there's no way that they'll go out of the console business, but it's impossible for them to take the lead in the foreseeable future. They'd have to develop a huge line of killer apps. I expect Sony to take 3rd place in this race for the next couple of years, and then overtaking the Wii in the last year or two of the system's life.
Microsoft and its 360: Now, I have not been a fan of Microsoft and the Xbox since it launched. I mean, I refused to look at anything Microsoft in the news for a while. At this point, though, I really see the 360 becoming the next PS2. What changed my mind wasn't playing Gears of War, though. Rather, it was when I played a demo of Lost Planet the other day. The game really blew me away in terms of its innovative play style. Like the PS2 being carried along by strong RPGs, I think the 360 will be carried along by a long string of good 3rd person action games, like Lost Planet and Gears of War. Over time, I'm sure the market will become saturated with those games, much like FPS games have been, but by that time, there will be other games that will come out for the 360 that will be just fine.
Their Marketplace is actually in the worst shape, I feel. The games they have on there aren't “must haves,” unlike the Virtual Console and Playstation Store, which can offer games like Earthbound and Vagrant Story to their audiences. Downloadable content like movies and TV shows isn't exactly a bad idea, but I don't think I'll want to be paying for it. I'm looking at the XNA development kit to really take off after a while, with some innovative games available for downloading and critiquing, so that it might end up being a recruitment arena for developers and publishers, picking up designers and programmers in hopes of bringing out a really innovative game. Zune compatibility will be nice, but I don't know if the Zune is worth it yet, since I haven't gotten my hands on it to play around with and see it in person.
In the end, I think Microsoft is going to have a hard time screwing up their position. Really, if they manage to put some thought into their acquisition process and actively pursue exclusive titles, they'll really pull ahead. Their initial launch really screwed them over, though, leaving a sour taste in some gamers' mouths, but they're really working to improve that image, and if the console drops in price right after the new year (or right before Christmas), they'll probably be looking at another million units sold, above and beyond their goal (which, at this point, I actually expect them to meet). I'll expect Microsoft to be living high and mighty in first place this generation.
Contest:
11:50 AM on 12.10.2006
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Anyway, I agree that the Wii is looking good. But I still feel that since it's not appealing to hardcore gamers, it might acquire an unbelievable position, much like Pokemon did. Did anyone expect Pokemon to be a killer ap?
It took the world by storm...
But what is up with this "not enough consoles for Christmas" move by Nintendo and Sony? The systems are hard to find, even the Wiis, which were expected to have a lot of supplies to meet the demand.
Taking advantage of the Wii mote with RPGs is not a huge problem imo, youre just not looking at the right situations...RPG combat is getting stale, and with games like FF12 making combat more automatic...it would be great to see the wiimotes use in certain things, adding elements of skill to RPGs which are games generally defeated with time>skill...
for example...Limit breaks in recent finalfantays seem to have their own mini game like execution...for instance swinging the wiimote at appropriate times to increase dmg, ala squall's limit in FF8, similarly, combinations of gestures can be used in a hand to hand characters moves...for the most part, i beleive RPGs should stay traditional in their controls simplicity when navigating the maps, but in combat, the wiimote could bring a new lvl of excitement to new elements of battle. If done well, the timing and motions could be made different each time to prevent the system from becoming too repetitious.
spells could be cast with motions of the wiimote as well, and their effectiveness could be based on their execution, similar to the time effect in traumacenter.
the option to just never use these should remain, and allow for a traditional RPG experience...and some challenges could be overcome just by grinidng out lvls if the player chooses....but by becoming better at execution with the wiimote would hopefully reward the player with more effective combat, as well as lessen the amount of grinding random battles which eventually tire out even the most veteran of RPG players.
And really, I'm failing to imagine your point of how RPG's on the Wii could be any worse than RPG's on any other system. RPG's tend to only use the d-pad or analog stick and two buttons anyway (confirm and cancel) which the Wiimote certainly has. Maybe elaborate on that point if you can?
PS3/360 on the other hand i will cut NO slack. If call of duty 4 comes out and they still dont have destructible environments i will be pissed. PISSED! red faction started the idea a long time ago and i'm sure others before it even, now is the time for games to start sucking it up and taking gameplay to the next level, even if it's just 5-20 feet of crater-able soil. and AI? let's get with it designers. "enemies hide behind tables" is not only just cool, it's almost expected. lets get some enemies shit talking us while we shoot at them and actually smart, not just upping their accuracy.
ok well maybe not COD4. i give ps3/360 until 2007 to get their shit together, i'll be rating their games pessimistically after then. i see PS3 catching up with Wii by 2007, but i hope 360 keeps the lead to at least 2008, altho i really doubt it will. i still think 360 deserves a ton of applause for launching LAST year with better launch options than either the ps3 or wii.
and for the wii - i demand lots of interactions - let me use the wiimote to have the hero be able to pick up every item on the shelves of houses u visit.
on a note about 1handing DS games, i was slightly upset that i couldnt make the L button my yes button in FF3, as i newyorker i play my games on the subway, and when its crowded, i need my other hand to hold onto something instead of falling onto drunken bozo/stressed out business guy
PS thanks for writing original stuff, its always a refreshing to be reminded of why i read multiple blogs, and not just time delayed versions of the same ones.
Well that didn't take me long to change my mind!
*goes to Google it up*
Thanks for that intelligent and thoughtful insight.
so i guess RE4 was lowbrow, uncreative, and for kiddies, not to mention eternal darkness,a game that broke down the 4th wall, or Twin Snakes, a great remake of one of the best PSX titles.A game like Killer 7, while fairign clumsy controls, does ANYTHING but pander to the audience you claim nintendo is aiming for. Viewtiful Joe, harkens back to the old NES games, when sidescrolling adventures were a challenge and made you through your NES pad across the room. if you looked at that list of upcoming wii games, project hammer also looks to be geared towards the more violent, or as you might call it "adult" gaming audience
ill admit, i played the titles i wanted on GC,zelda metroid, and smash brothers, but the ps2 had more to offer for what i wanted. SC2, i just prefer the ps2 controller, SF:AE for the close to arcade perfect SF3:3S, GodoWar, shadow of colossus, Okami, Fatal Frame2, and im aware that RE4 came out on PS2 as well. I did buy a wii, but am also anxiously awaiting GoW2.
Granted Nintendos recent track record shows that they have favored the younger audience, but sony has made its fair share of youthful games, katamari, and the floundering loco roco, MS is jumping on this as well, with viva pinata, which is alot of fun to play and watch.
As nintendo is now opening up to all audiences, and i would assume hoping to regain some of the older audience that grew up with it in its hey-day. MS and Sony are looking to pull in that wider audience, that nintendo has captured so well.
And as far as the smart, game-knowing people, developing a game that takes advantage of the wii or the DS in a way that is fully engaging and more than a gimmick will take more than an idiot to create. But thats another discussion entirely. Even Itagaki, whose daughter is buggin him to make a DS game, hasnt done so yet because he doesnt want to make a game that makes poor use of the touch screen.
Nintendo is like the gateway drug of video games. You start there you don't end there.
A number of the people that come into video games via the Wii are eventually going to look for something more challenging and then they are going to move on to the harder stuff. The Ninja Gaidens, the Devil May Cry(s), Elder Scrolls, KotoRs, etc.
Also I think to many people underestimate Sony and the PS3. Remember they are shooting for a 10 year life span (I think they will only get 8 years). But multi-core processors are the future and programmers are going to have to adjust. So, while PS3 games are going through hard times now game devs aren't going to have to build brand new tools from scratch in 5 years like they will have to do with the Wii and 360.
For the short term I agree with the article, but long term I think Sony will win.
rounding off with 30% for the wii, and 34% for the 360, and 36% for the PS3, or something like that
microsoft was really smart for releasing their 360 a year earlier though, it will probably really help them in the long run
Great article, DMV.
http://www.destructoid.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=39661#39661
(/shame)
As for the next-gen systems I think Sony has truly dropped the ball, not just with their lack of systems and no good games, but their PR effort is non-existent; they seem to forget that they are not the market leader anymore. 360 FTW!
thenewblood and his ilk however, piss me off. Saying nintendo only have "kiddie" games is like saying xbox only has FPSes or ps only has RPGs, it's just plain not true. This is a hardcore gamer blog, yes? So what, 80% of us are going to get more than one console this gen? I think anyone who doesn't have the wii as one of their choices is a foppish twit. You'll get games for the wii that simply wouldn't work for other consoles, whereas the ps3 and 360's libraries will be almost entirely interchangeable. It won't beat the ps3 for RPGs, and probably won't beat the 360 for action titles, but it'll kick the shit out of both of them in terms of innovation and, dare I say, fun.
I feel I must diagree with purist. I have a psp. If it didn't have 1.5 firmware, I don't think I'd ever use it. If someone wants a home console(sub-ps2) experience, but without the burden of a TV(and with shite controls), it is a good choice. I personally just have waaaay more fun with the DS. It's not just the touch & dual screens, though(as much as I like them); it just plain has better games.
as a generalization i would agree, the more challenging games are on the PS2 and Ninja Gaiden on xbox, but i would chalk that up to the fact that devs want their games to reach the massive audience that is the PS2 owner...except for itagaki who just loves making games for MS(i dont blame him, ease and power ftw)
PS2 has great games like God of War, DMC3 and the overlooked Gradius 5. But, GC did have one of the most difficult and inventive games of last generation as well...Ikaruga. i already pointed out viewtiful joe...which while not as hard as the others is no walk in the park...hopefully games will be challenging on the Wii, but thats up to the developers. unfortunately so far..while i had a blast with zelda..it was a cakewalk...mabye its time for a 3 heart run?
honestly, i have no loyalty to systems, but more so to game companies and franchises. i picked up a wii because its affordable, Virtual Console, and Zelda...im waiting a little longer to make my decision on MSvsSony... till then i have my roomates 360 to try out.
The PS3 is going to be the true test of what graphics and hardcore cpu processing power can do for gaming. With Namco saying that companies have to sell 500,000+ games in order to earn a profit for selling on the PS3 will make exclusives become increasingly difficult to justify when you have the 360 right next door, or hell even the Wii. Thus we'll probably only see the big big titles from companies like EA which means we're going to be just seeing the Maddens, Final Fantasies and MGSs (which after 4 might be the last one in the series). After that what do you have? No new gaming studios can justify creating a title for the PS3.
A bunch of people thought that with the N64, Nintendo would reign over the PSOne, but look what happened. That might be the same case this time around. You have a system that is expensive to develop and manufacture for (Blu-Ray Discs are not cheap) You have a un-centralized network system (while 360 has Live) and you now have to second guess yourself and see if the PS3 can ever overtake the 360.
I honestly think this time around we might see a close duel between the Wii and 360 and PS3 lagging behind. Why develop for the PS3 when you have already over a 8 million consoles sold for the 360 and 1.2 million for the Wii? Sony may have shot themselves in the foot trying to force the Blu-Ray onto market.
More importantly, Nintendo makes games that everyone can enjoy, not games for kids. There is a BIG distinction. I have a big problem with the seeming reliance on blood and gore that games seem to need just to get 'gamers' to look at them. I don't have a problem with the games having it, but they don't, under any circumstances, REQUIRE it to be a good game for me to enjoy. I guess some people never got over the whole "faux maturity" that they seemed to grow into (binge drinking and rebelling against 'the man').
Why did companies make games for the PS2 when the Gamecube and Xbox were more powerful? They could both do what the PS2 could do, and better. The answer is: They had a bigger user base. Without a userbase, you have no games. With no games, you have no system. Nintendo has 3 major advantages that MAY win them the console war. These are: a unique control system, lower cost of game development and the system, and widespread media attention. Nintendo might drop the ball on this, but the launch does give a lot of promise.
This was a great article and you made some excellent points, but I see Wii's control scheme personally as being a huge benefit for RPGs. Selecting menus & targets would be much easier with the remote interface. There's a reason they sell one-handed controllers for RPGs, you simply don't need access to that many buttons. And for the perverts who want to fap to Yuna during cutscenes.
New Super Mario brothers whooped major ass.