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Do we really need any more consoles?
RainbowDespair
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I'm starting to feel like after this generation, I'm going to stop with new console purchases. It's not because I'm starting to dislike videogames (which is most definitely not true), but rather because I'm starting to feel like there's no point to making new consoles. With the recent batch of new consoles, we've gotten features like gesture based controls, downloadable games (of both the indie and nostalgia variety), online play as a common feature, downloadable game content, wireless controllers as the default, and HDTV support. Really what more can you add with an additional lineup of consoles? I suppose various kinks can be worked out (like a sequel to the Wii in 5-6 years with HDTV support & enhanced control), but it really seems like we've past the point of diminishing returns when it comes to hardware and that if games are going to continue to improve, they'll be relying more on advancements in game design techniques than advancements in hardware.
In addition to the diminishing returns on hardware advancements, there's the sheer number of quality games that are out there. I'm a big fan of JRPGs. Back in the 8/16-bit days, it wasn't too hard to play every good RPG out there as long as you had a little money. Nowadays, I really feel swamped with all of the quality titles out there and that's just one genre. Given that I like a wide variety of genres (just about everything aside from sports games) & the number of very fun games with near infinite replay value (Guitar Hero, Civilization IV, various fighting games, classic arcade-style twitch games, etc.), I'm starting to feel like I could avoid buying any game made after 2007 and still have enough to keep me occupied for years. Heck, though I own a Wii & XBox 360 and enjoy both greatly, I still haven't come anywhere near close to finishing or even playing all of the games I'd like to play on my PS2.
To put it another way, do we as gamers really need systems that are more powerful than the Wii, XBox 360, and PS3? Would it be better if console makers decided to stick with these systems and just make them more affordable and more reliable and game makers just focused on making more enjoyable and better designed games without having to relearn how to make games every time the next set of systems come up? Or do you prefer having a new generation of consoles with advanced technology come out every 6 years or so?
In addition to the diminishing returns on hardware advancements, there's the sheer number of quality games that are out there. I'm a big fan of JRPGs. Back in the 8/16-bit days, it wasn't too hard to play every good RPG out there as long as you had a little money. Nowadays, I really feel swamped with all of the quality titles out there and that's just one genre. Given that I like a wide variety of genres (just about everything aside from sports games) & the number of very fun games with near infinite replay value (Guitar Hero, Civilization IV, various fighting games, classic arcade-style twitch games, etc.), I'm starting to feel like I could avoid buying any game made after 2007 and still have enough to keep me occupied for years. Heck, though I own a Wii & XBox 360 and enjoy both greatly, I still haven't come anywhere near close to finishing or even playing all of the games I'd like to play on my PS2.
To put it another way, do we as gamers really need systems that are more powerful than the Wii, XBox 360, and PS3? Would it be better if console makers decided to stick with these systems and just make them more affordable and more reliable and game makers just focused on making more enjoyable and better designed games without having to relearn how to make games every time the next set of systems come up? Or do you prefer having a new generation of consoles with advanced technology come out every 6 years or so?
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With such great graphics, we should have just stopped there.
Just because you can't think of many improvements, it doesn't mean there's nothing to strive for. If video games stop advancing before full-on indiscernible-from-reality Virtual Reality games are around, I'm going to be pissed.
I do agree, though, that there could be some more time before generations. I certainly think the last gen was cut off a little prematurely, but that's no reason to think that the 360, Wii and PS3 are the end-all be-all of all gaming ever.
I am rocking 'Bwiihind the curve' for the time being. I feel like getting the most out of the games i missed out on from this generation just gone, whilst getting my waggle on with the Wii. Then by the time I want to get a 360/PS3, I can save a bit of money, and they will have more diverse libraries.
What will really change future consoles is control. The success of the DS controls will force Sony to come up with something that can compete for its next handheld, the same goes for anyone new trying to get into the market. If the Wii eventually spawns mainstream games that use the control well, as opposed to the novelty game and ports with motion control tacked on that's out there now, the effect it has on the next generation of gaming will be profound. I'm pretty sure that this will happen; titles like Cooking Mama and Trauma Center show potential for entirely new styles of play, Madden 2006 showed that innovative approaches can be applied to existing games, and given that the Wii is still selling as fast as Nintendo can make it, game companies are going to bite.
And in a decade or two we're going to see brain-scanning devices as affordable game controllers. Non-implanted units are already being custom-made for medical research, and given the countless applications of such technology, it's use will explode and prices will plummet as soon as it's ready for the mass market. Combine that with teledildonics, a technology that consoles looking for adult sales will be forced to accept if they want to compete with PCs for the inevitable combination of Second Life sex and teledildonics, and you have a new world of consoles that will blow our fucking minds.
People like to talk about "fluid mechanics" being the next thing that physics engines in games need to be capable of. Personally, I don't see how advanced fluid physics could really help a game as a general feature. If a game were based somehow on fluids as a gameplay mechanic, I could see that; but then, I'm not so sure it's a requirement to have a full featured "fluid physics engine" rather than some specific code work for the feature of fluids they'd need; like in that Mercury game. Plus, fluids are a very difficult thing to model, virtually, because of how much they change depending on so many different variables; flow rate, friction, viscosity, temperature, pressure, etc.
Just thinking about it makes basic mechanics in games, like the physics engines (Havok, PhysX) we have now look really basic and limited.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Other limiters are things like voice acting and complex in-engine cinematics. There still hasn't been a long RPG where every single line of text was vocalized, has there?
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Imagine what's going to happen in the next 10 or 30 or 100 years.
I don't think the game console market will stagnate until video games are indiscernible from reality in any way.
Really... See that GoW screenshot above? I'm not about to confuse that with reality any time soon. Even if it did look true to life, I'd still be controlling it with a joystick and buttons.
I wouldn't mind if the time between consoles was a bit longer than 5-6 years, but eh, what can you do? The second one of the big three hits the market, you know the other two won't be far behind.
Well, perhaps for the ones trying to look realistic.
I'm more interested in how this generation will provide interesting new artistic styles. Too bad most 360/PS3 games, so far, have been all about the 'zomg teh reaalistizic!1!'
With some exceptions, like Viva Pinata and Blue Dragon and.. well Crackdown is meant to have a comicbookish look to it, but I don't much care for its visual style.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games