I’m starting to really feel burned out by next gen gaming and I think that there are many on here that would agree with me. I don’t know what it is anymore, but those $60 games just don’t look as appealing to me anymore. This 4-5 year console cycle has been the norm over the years, but we are getting to the age where it’s just about the graphics and no innovation in our gameplay. Why do I say that? My beloved XBOX 360 is an example of that and nothing against Microsoft, but the 360 has become the land of beefed up “pretty” ports, games that are just plain terrible, and a few gems.
I still feel like the PS2 and XBOX still had some life left, but I can understand why MS had to release the 360 as they were losing tons of money on the XBOX due to bad contracts that they signed on the hardware. I’ll give Sony the benefit of the doubt here as their PS2 just celebrated 6 years on 10/26/06 here in the US and in Japan their heading towards 7 yrs. I’m not going to condone what they have done with the “Frankenstation 3”, and yes, that’s what I’ll be calling it from now on, the “Frankenstation 3”. Sony has gone way over their heads here trying to push technology that the public is not ready for or even their pocket books aren’t ready for.
Let’s look at the PS3 launch line-up, oh my, I see “PortCity Part 2”. There are only 2-3 titles on that list that are original IP’s, and the rest are titles that we have either played on the 360 with a few tweaks fixing any issues in the 360 versions. And rumor has it that 3rd party games may cost $69, the consumer will really have a hard time trying to buy more than 1 title.
When we went from the NES to the SNES, SNES to the GC, GC to the N64, and PS1 to the PS2 you didn’t have ports being released on the new system. Now that we are moving towards next gen, it shows to me and maybe to many that Microsoft and Sony really weren’t prepared for a next gen system. You have game companies taking what they had on the XBOX/PS2 for the 360 launch and then they decide to just “pretty” up the graphics (with some games they ended up not even looking good when ported over), provide less features in many of the games compared to last gen (especially with sports titles), and no real innovation to the gameplay. I’m seeing the same thing with the PS3, their getting what we have been playing on the 360 for the last year in a prettier, tweaked up version and possibly be paying $70 a title.
So far, there have been a few titles imo with the 360 that have been innovative, but there are way too many games that are just ported over from the XBOX/PS2. Games like Oblivion, Dead Rising, and Call of Duty 2 have shown what can be done if these companies put their time and money where it should be at.
As much as I like the XBOX Live Marketplace, I think that Microsoft really needs to start placing some type of regulations with what these companies can release on there content wise. The biggest offender so far has to be ELECTRONIC ARTS. It started with them charging to purchase uniforms and stadiums with Madden NFL 07. It gets me as all of these features/items are available in current gen games, but they are going to make sure that they can squeeze an extra buck on the Marketplace. Then to take things further, take a look at what they did with Need For Speed Carbon on the MP. They have placed content on there where if someone were to buy it all, they would be spending an extra $50. OUCH! I can see if developers are releasing more maps or tracks in a package where you can get 6 more race tracks or missions as an add-on, then I can see spending the money. Not to spend $1 to buy a vehicle. I’m sorry, these vehicles should be a $.25 or $.50 each, if they were to release more cars people would buy at that price.
I’m hinging next week on the release of Gears of War; I’m just hoping that the game is not a disappointment. If GOW does not live up to expectations, I feel like next gen game quality wise will have a really hard time getting off the ground. It almost makes many of us feel like we could have stuck with the good old XBOX/PS2 combo for another year or two since all these companies are doing is porting the same game to next gen with prettier graphics.
I think my last hope right now has to be that Gears of War turns out to be really good next week and that the Nintendo Wii does deliver with what they are trying to achieve, bringing back gameplay to the market. As a gamer, I am really frightened where this could possibly lead if these companies continue to go down this path. It happened once already and history tends to repeat itself as humans we don’t always learn all our lessons from mistakes. As DXZeke and I were talking last night, we could see the Videogame Crash of 2007/2008 as we did with Atari and it took Nintendo to bring back the masses to the gaming world.
Sorry for the long rant, but I’ve been feeling like this for quite sometime.
I still feel like the PS2 and XBOX still had some life left, but I can understand why MS had to release the 360 as they were losing tons of money on the XBOX due to bad contracts that they signed on the hardware. I’ll give Sony the benefit of the doubt here as their PS2 just celebrated 6 years on 10/26/06 here in the US and in Japan their heading towards 7 yrs. I’m not going to condone what they have done with the “Frankenstation 3”, and yes, that’s what I’ll be calling it from now on, the “Frankenstation 3”. Sony has gone way over their heads here trying to push technology that the public is not ready for or even their pocket books aren’t ready for.
Let’s look at the PS3 launch line-up, oh my, I see “PortCity Part 2”. There are only 2-3 titles on that list that are original IP’s, and the rest are titles that we have either played on the 360 with a few tweaks fixing any issues in the 360 versions. And rumor has it that 3rd party games may cost $69, the consumer will really have a hard time trying to buy more than 1 title.
When we went from the NES to the SNES, SNES to the GC, GC to the N64, and PS1 to the PS2 you didn’t have ports being released on the new system. Now that we are moving towards next gen, it shows to me and maybe to many that Microsoft and Sony really weren’t prepared for a next gen system. You have game companies taking what they had on the XBOX/PS2 for the 360 launch and then they decide to just “pretty” up the graphics (with some games they ended up not even looking good when ported over), provide less features in many of the games compared to last gen (especially with sports titles), and no real innovation to the gameplay. I’m seeing the same thing with the PS3, their getting what we have been playing on the 360 for the last year in a prettier, tweaked up version and possibly be paying $70 a title.
So far, there have been a few titles imo with the 360 that have been innovative, but there are way too many games that are just ported over from the XBOX/PS2. Games like Oblivion, Dead Rising, and Call of Duty 2 have shown what can be done if these companies put their time and money where it should be at.
As much as I like the XBOX Live Marketplace, I think that Microsoft really needs to start placing some type of regulations with what these companies can release on there content wise. The biggest offender so far has to be ELECTRONIC ARTS. It started with them charging to purchase uniforms and stadiums with Madden NFL 07. It gets me as all of these features/items are available in current gen games, but they are going to make sure that they can squeeze an extra buck on the Marketplace. Then to take things further, take a look at what they did with Need For Speed Carbon on the MP. They have placed content on there where if someone were to buy it all, they would be spending an extra $50. OUCH! I can see if developers are releasing more maps or tracks in a package where you can get 6 more race tracks or missions as an add-on, then I can see spending the money. Not to spend $1 to buy a vehicle. I’m sorry, these vehicles should be a $.25 or $.50 each, if they were to release more cars people would buy at that price.
I’m hinging next week on the release of Gears of War; I’m just hoping that the game is not a disappointment. If GOW does not live up to expectations, I feel like next gen game quality wise will have a really hard time getting off the ground. It almost makes many of us feel like we could have stuck with the good old XBOX/PS2 combo for another year or two since all these companies are doing is porting the same game to next gen with prettier graphics.
I think my last hope right now has to be that Gears of War turns out to be really good next week and that the Nintendo Wii does deliver with what they are trying to achieve, bringing back gameplay to the market. As a gamer, I am really frightened where this could possibly lead if these companies continue to go down this path. It happened once already and history tends to repeat itself as humans we don’t always learn all our lessons from mistakes. As DXZeke and I were talking last night, we could see the Videogame Crash of 2007/2008 as we did with Atari and it took Nintendo to bring back the masses to the gaming world.
Sorry for the long rant, but I’ve been feeling like this for quite sometime.
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