System developers: Losing respect for gaming?

[theskald]

As all of you know, XBox 360 and PS3 are already bearing down on us. My question is: why so soon?

Miyamoto is biding his time with the revolution, and personally I think that's what Sony and Microsoft should do. First of all, what of semi-poor people like me who won't even be able to buy the systems when they first grace store shelves? It's troublesome enough that there are already three big companies with good games on their systems--and I haven't even been able to scrounge up enough money for an XBox what to play Halo--But now they're making more, which means new games (like MGS4) that I and others like me won't be able to play at all. In addition, I wonder how much better these systems really are. Admittedly I am impressed by the graphics desplayed on the 360 with the next Morrowind game (don't like the series, but those are top notch graphics), however, what about gameplay? Have they worked to create the best controller they can, or just make it different? Have they made sure there are no bugs in the BIOS? What about reliability, something Sony really has to work on, speaking from personal experience.

From where I'm standing, Microsoft turned the Gaming world into nothing more than a hyper-competitive orgy of idiotic business with no thought given to the consumer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the gaming industry should be strictly reserved for Sony and Nintendo, but with such bafflingly rich competition, Sony seems to be getting desperate (Nintendo seems confident in their fanbase).

I want to know what the goddamn rush is, neither myself or many others can just crank out the money for new systems like this, and all this rushing is going to do is worsen the sales of the systems.

Sorry if this has already been posted, I'll delete it if it has.

[GundamGuy]

First None of the Footage showen at E3 for the PS3 or the X360 was running of a real machine... something I detest.

Really If I were you... I would wait a year till a price war breaks out... and the systems are selling for less.

[Xaenn]

Is this really a rush? It seemed about time that there should be new consoles...

[theskald]

Is this really a rush? It seemed about time that there should be new consoles...

=\ really? It seems like just yesterday the PS2 came out, to me...

[GundamGuy]

Is this really a rush? It seemed about time that there should be new consoles...

Microsoft is rushing to the market... X360 should not come out till Q4 2006... and it's coming out a year early...

That is according to historical console life data.

The PS3 is not quite as rushed... but they could also have waited till Q4 of next year...

[Xaenn]

Oh, that's not too bad then. Who cares about Microsoft anyway?

[Cyberxion]

As all of you know, XBox 360 and PS3 are already bearing down on us. My question is: why so soon?

I'm sure you're aware of the trend over the past several generations, of consoles having a typical five-year shelf life before new technology is dreamed up to replace it. With that in mind, it would seem like the new systems are just about right on time, give or take several months.

Should consoles be replaced every five years? Once we've reached a technological peak, I suppose such a question would become moot. However, as long as companies can bring out exciting new technology that one-ups the last generation every five years or so, I'm betting the trend will continue on unabated.

My concern lies in wether or not the games will just be prettier versions of the games we're already playing, or if the new-found power these systems put into developers hands will translate into new and exciting experiences for the gamer. It's too early to say just now, as none of us have had any hands-on time with the new consoles.

At any rate, I don't think the timing is that odd. With the exception of the XBox 360, the next generation consoles aren't even going to hit until well into next year. So when you say that they're bearing down on us, I think you're sensationalizing things a bit too much. Heck, even the 360 is still five or six months away.

First of all, what of semi-poor people like me who won't even be able to buy the systems when they first grace store shelves? It's troublesome enough that there are already three big companies with good games on their systems--and I haven't even been able to scrounge up enough money for an XBox what to play Halo--But now they're making more, which means new games (like MGS4) that I and others like me won't be able to play at all.

Again, I'll re-iterate what I said just above; With the exception of the 360, the next gen systems are still pretty far away from hitting the market. You have ample time to scrimp and scrounge if you're truly interested in buying one. Save up a few bucks here and there whenever you're able to, and you'll find it adding up in due time.

Also, you might want to consider passing on being an early adopter. If the timing of these systems seems odd to you, why would you want to rush out and buy one on day one anyway? That gives you even more time to save up the cash required to buy one.

In addition, I wonder how much better these systems really are. Admittedly I am impressed by the graphics desplayed on the 360 with the next Morrowind game (don't like the series, but those are top notch graphics), however, what about gameplay? Have they worked to create the best controller they can, or just make it different? Have they made sure there are no bugs in the BIOS? What about reliability, something Sony really has to work on, speaking from personal experience.

I do agree with you, in that I'm wondering how much better games on these new systems will be. Power only takes you so far, after all.

That said, this onus falls on developers to take the strengths of these systems and use them to produce great games. The system is only the canvas, and you're still required to have expert painters sitting before them, in order to turn out something truly amazing. I'm hoping that developers will be up to the task. I guess we'll see.

From where I'm standing, Microsoft turned the Gaming world into nothing more than a hyper-competitive orgy of idiotic business with no thought given to the consumer.

Competition has been part of the industry since the industry was born, and to blame it on Microsoft, or to try and pass it off as a trait that's ingrained solely in them, is silly.

Hell, if they weren't concerned about the consumer, they wouldn't have survived in an industry that's driven by the consumer. I would imagine the fact that they've survived and become a force that their rivals take seriously, means that they're doing something right.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the gaming industry should be strictly reserved for Sony and Nintendo, but with such bafflingly rich competition, Sony seems to be getting desperate (Nintendo seems confident in their fanbase).

I hate to break it to ya, but throwing money around only takes you so far. It's the quality of your product that dictates wether or not you survive in the end, and the fact is that there are plenty of gamers out there who've thrown their support in the Microsoft ring.

Now as far as Microsoft's cash having anything to do with Sony getting "desperate", you seem to be oblivious to the fact that this is a pretty reactionary industry. Companies make announcements all the time to try and soften the blow of something thier rival just announced, or to draw attention away from said announcement. It's why Microsoft announced Halo 3's release date when Sony was showing off the PS3 at E-3. Sony announced the PS3 to take some steam away from the competition, Nintendo included.

I would imagine that if Microsoft's decisions, or indeed their money, ultimately had anything to do with Sony's business decisions, the PS3 would be coming out sometime in September.

I want to know what the goddamn rush is, neither myself or many others can just crank out the money for new systems like this, and all this rushing is going to do is worsen the sales of the systems.

I don't think system sales are going to be all that dire, just because you couldn't buy one. Which seems to be the crux of your post, now that I look at it. Hmn.

Read my advice above. Save up a little here and there when you're able, and then buy one of these systems when you can afford to. That is, if you're still interested. By the time you can afford one, you may just have come to the conclusion that they're not worth owning.

[MasJ]

Actually, Cyber, considering that the systems themselves are getting more and more expensive (isn't that true ?) and the time span is remaining the same, there does tend to come about a financial stress if you want to buy all three next-gen systems..
Also, I'm more and more feeling that the true power of the current generation systems hasn't completely been shown to us through whatever games have come out. I mean, we have better and better comes coming out everyday, it's not like we've hit a plateau with the current systems.. In that respect, I think the PSX and N64 were pretty maxxed out. (Dreamcast was not... sadly, it was a great system..).

[Cyberxion]

Actually, Cyber, considering that the systems themselves are getting more and more expensive (isn't that true ?) and the time span is remaining the same, there does tend to come about a financial stress if you want to buy all three next-gen systems..
Also, I'm more and more feeling that the true power of the current generation systems hasn't completely been shown to us through whatever games have come out. I mean, we have better and better comes coming out everyday, it's not like we've hit a plateau with the current systems.. In that respect, I think the PSX and N64 were pretty maxxed out. (Dreamcast was not... sadly, it was a great system..).

Well, being that Microsoft aims to release the 360 at somewhere near the same price-point as the current-gen XBox, and niether Nintendo nor Sony have announced a price-point either way, it's difficult to say.

Even so, if the consoles do come out at a higher price-point then that of the current generation, you don't have to be an early adopter, nor do you have to buy all three at once. You can save up for the one that appeals to you the most, and buy the other two at a later date, if you're intent on owning them all.

As for wether or not the current generation has given us all it has to offer, it's hard to say. I feel that developers are doing great things with what they have to work with, and that there's no reason to abandon our systems right now in anticipation of the next-generation of consoles. That said, I can't help but be excited about the possibilities less limiting technology will give developers. Gah. I think I'll go play some PS2.

EDIT: At any rate, I think a better argument to support wether or not Console designers are losing respect for gamers, would be their insistance on moving consoles away from pure gaming machines, into all-purpose multi-media machines. In that respect, they seem to be losing focus about what gaming is, instead, placing more focus on what their machines can do beyond playing games.

As cool as it is that the PS2 and XBox can play DVD movies, it's not something that would effect ones enjoyment of those consoles had it not been included. Instead of adding all these bells and whistles that have absolutely nothing to do with gaming, they should focus on making their consoles the best gaming machines they can possibly be. That seems to be their secondary focus, and that worries me.

[J]

It will be interesting... for those who understand the hardware that these new systems have (except Nintendo, who has kept the Revolution's specs top secret) it will be really a cool thing to see what these systems are REALLY capable of ( I do like the morrowind series and that is reason number one that I am going to be an early adopter... Lord, I haven't been one since the SNES days.)

Gears of War has me very hyped about what this machine is capable of (I drooled when I saw what the newest revision of the Unreal engine is capable of displaying... beautiful), and I have to admit that Microsoft at least looks like if they were doing things the right way (release date before Christmas, an wide selection of games at launch and a very powerful console, more than current high end computer systems running on DX10)

Yet I cannot ignore the power of the PS3. Although their reliability is next to zero, the PS3 with it's dildo shaped controller (yes Sprung, if you throw it it WILL come back at you with a vengeance) has cutting edge technology that quite frankly has my expectatives high... (even if the system looks like the 1000 watt rockford spyder amp in my car... UUUGLY)

Nintendo... Nintendo, here comes my loyalist side. I cant help than feel a bit sorry because I must admit that I am losing my faith in them... if Revolution doesn't save their rep as a kiddie system they will be really left in a niche market... and they should release some specs to hype us tech-savvy guys, right Admin?

I can say that, it was about damn time to see another console wars! But that's just me .

EDIT: Cyber, you are right... the pure console days are almost gone...maybe in that sense they do not respect us gamers, I agree... well, I can't say the same for Nintendo. They haven't shown us what their blackbox can do yet. I hope it remains true to what it was designed to do: run games, good games.

[theskald]

Read my advice above. Save up a little here and there when you're able, and then buy one of these systems when you can afford to. That is, if you're still interested. By the time you can afford one, you may just have come to the conclusion that they're not worth owning.

Thanks, that was quite enlightening It seems I am underinformed, Thank you.

Edit: I am also worried about the movement away from pure gaming--computers are intended for multimedia, not consoles. <--opinion, of course

[GundamGuy]

Nintendo... Nintendo, here comes my loyalist side. I cant help than feel a bit sorry because I must admit that I am losing my faith in them... if Revolution doesn't save their rep as a kiddie system they will be really left in a niche market... and they should release some specs to hype us tech-savvy guys, right Admin?

Well Nintendo has stated many a time that Specs don't matter...It's rumored that Nintendo and ATI are working on a New method of rendering graphics...that uses less processing power and produces better graphics. There is a patent that suggest this. Nintendo has also stated that they are going in a totaly diffrent direction from the PS3, and X360... They have stated that the Revolution will provide experiences that you can not get on the PS3, X360... Kind of like how Playing games designed to take advantage of the touch screen on the DS on a PSP is not entirely possible. You could port them... but you lose some of the experence.

Nintendo's Idea is not to produce the most powerfull system to gain Developer Support. Which is what Sony and Microsoft is trying to do... but to produce a system that it's hard to port games from... but will get games that use a feature that the other Consoles don't have and have a feature that Produces will enjoy developing into there games, and gamers will love to play with to farther the gaming experence.

In short Don't worry about Nintendo...

I agree with you Cyber on most of the Points you made.

[KIMBRE]

Quite annoying this rush is, IMO I haven't seen many quality games on both consoles so why rush why all idiotic processing power you dont need the best stats for the best games. SEGA made Shen Mue for the DC and I haven't seen something as good as Shen Mue on thoose consoles except the Shen Mue 2 port to xbox :O/. The game developer should make more 2D gameS

[Mikey_]

I haven't seen something as good as Shen Mue on thoose consoles

you must not play many games then. i don't really care for the rush of the systems. i'll have the money for only two of'em upon their releases. 360 i know i'm gettin. now its a toss up between nintendo's new kid system thats supposed to do NEW things that the other systems supposedly won't, and the power of the ps3. i'm leaning towards the revo right now cuz of its kid friendliness which will appeal to my nephew.

[Cyberxion]

We know absolutely nothing about the Nintendo Revolution. So even if one were to base that comment on the kiddy image that's been forced upon the last couple of Nintendo's systems by people lacking enough brain power to run a light-bulb, one wouldn't have anything factual to support such a claim.