The Poisoned Darts Are at the Ready! - Editorials

Omni talks next generation consoles and some of the politics behind them.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

The Poisoned Darts Are at the Ready!

With the number of “I hate the games industry” editorials I’ve written you might think I’d pack it in – distance myself from gaming and make some observations from the outside. But there’s always a game coming down the pipe that I’ve got my eye on, one I really want to play, so I hang around. But with the kind of revelations that came out of the recent Game Developers Conference (GDC) about next-gen hardware, I could feel my ire rising.

The nature of technology is to continually improve – go faster, look better, be more efficient. This cannot be denied (just ask the Luddites). But my ire flares because just as the current consoles have reached maturity the major players have their blowguns out to cut the consoles down in their prime!

I’m paraphrasing slightly here but in 2003 when I was in San Francisco, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi said there’s still room for “refinement” with Playstation 2 hardware. Still room for refinement? PS2 was released in 2000 and developers are still saying there’s room for refinement? Have you seen Gran Turismo 4? This situation isn’t limited to the PS2 either. We’ve also seen it with the likes of Resident Evil 4 on GameCube and the unreleased Forza Motorsport on Xbox – both stunning examples of form, function, and artistry in motion.

At the GDC, just before he gave away 1,000 high-definition TVs, Microsoft Corporate Vice-President J Allard provided some hypetails (minor details accompanied by a Powerpoint show and thumping music) as to the specs and capabilities of Microsoft’s next console. And if the Great Internet Well of Speculation and Obnoxious Fanboys is to be believed, it’ll be on shelves before the end of the year. Does that mean developers have hit the ceiling with what they can do with the Xbox? Is there a movement of developers out there that complains the hardware is just too damn limiting? The Xbox recently hit the three-year anniversary date and we’re already planning for Xbox 2?

Sony is actually downplaying early mentions of the PS3. For obvious reasons, they’re concentrating on the launch of their PSP handheld. I suspect there’s more riding on the PSP than bragging rights from a PR and Marketing standpoint but you can bet they’ll have something “revolutionary”, “earth shattering”, “mind-blowing” and/or “orgasmic” on display at E3 this year to hypetail the PS3.

Not to be outdone, Nintendo has made some hints of its own regarding a possible next-step in the GameBoy evolution and the successor to the GameCube, “Revolution.” At GDC, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata was short on rock-solid

Advertisement

specifics but long on “I love games!” But onceagain, if the Internet Well of Speculation and Obnoxious Fanboys is right, both will be released before the end of the year. Nintendo has promised to show us a whole lot more at E3. Whatever it is, I hope Reggie Fils-Aime announces it – shouting, screaming, maybe even biting the head off a live squirrel. That would really grab some attention.

Advertisement

In fact, if there were any true justice in the world, every upcoming console would ship on the same day. Further I would stick an executive from each company into a cage match just for the hell of it.

Back to my point though, why cut down the current batch of consoles as they hit full stride? Just so we can suffer through 12 months of lackluster titles (with one or two standouts) as developers attempt to acclimatize to a new hardware setup? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Then again not much does when you’re sleep deprived. (Yeah, thanks a bunch NCSoft for re-activating my City of Heroes account!)

There’s absolutely no stopping it though. Bigger, faster, stronger (and lighter I hope, Microsoft) technology thunders forward. But that doesn’t mean I have to embrace it or even like it.

- Omni

(March 23, 2005)


PC \| Gamecube \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums