How rude of me, not posting in my own thread.
This is a strange and unusual time for the gaming industry. Last
month Nintendo moved an astounding 2.5 million Wiis (for a frame of reference, only 2.8 million PS3s were sold this
entire year). In total Nintendo has sold over 40 million Wiis worldwide. On the flip side of things, in the same month Microsoft sold 830 thousand 360s and poor Sony has only sold 370 thousand PS3s. Both are a far cry from Nintendo's massive number.
The Wii-hater side of me says, "Well...I guess that's just another two and a half million Wiis that will be gathering dust in a couple of months." However, the
objective side of me says, "These are 2.5 million more reasons why Sony and Microsoft are probably thinking long and hard about their plans for the next generation."
I don't think anyone in their right mind can deny Nintendo's huge success and influence, but I think it's important to note that nobody can replicate it, either.
Hopefully *crosses fingers* Sony and Microsoft won't even try.
I suppose this brings me to my thoughts on the next generation.
I'm just going to get this out of my system and out of the way right now...
**** CASUAL GAMING. "Casual" is just an excuse used by Nintendo so they can get away without putting any effort or artistic thought into designing a game and a buzzword used by anyone looking to get in on this casual trend so they can con people into buying their shovelware and make a quick buck. I think that's all I have to say on the matter.
I sincerely hope that Sony and Microsoft (hereafter referred to as S&M
) continue to use the twin analog control pad as the standard. Of course, since motion control is so popular these days it should be a feature, but hopefully (and I know this is nothing S&M would have any real control over) it will only be used when appropriate in a game and won't be used in a gmmicky fashion or have entire games designed around it. I would also like chat pads to be included in the controllers as standard, or at least have "premium" versions with them already built in. Also, is a good d-pad too much to ask for? I'm looking at you Microsoft.
It would be great to have a cross-platform profile system, but I doubt that would ever be a possibility. Microsoft copied Halo 2's party and friend list system for the Xbox 360 and I would like to see them copy Call of Duty 4's leveling system for the Xbox 720. (Your level would be shown on your gamercard and the more you game, the more you level up, and the more stuff you unlock. Such as options for your avatar, gamerpics, themes, maybe even arcade games.)
S&M each
really need a pack-in game next time around. I think Wii Sports has been one of the major keys to Nintendo's success. People buy a Wii and within minutes they're playing a game and having fun exactly how Nintendo intended. Obviously S&M shouldn't just make their own Wii Sports knockoffs, but they definately need to offer a simple game that plays to each platform's strengths right out of the box. I think this would be instrumental if they want to try and take on Nintendo.
Downloadable content and digital distribution. I'm sure we all remember Bethesda's downloadable faux pas known as "Horse Armor". It seems Bethesda has learned from their mistake as they are going to be offering substantial content at a fair price for Fallout 3. (For
some of us anyway. Sorry Timstuff
) I really don't have much more to say on downloadable content, except that I hope other studios will follow Bethesda's and to a greater extent Criterion's example. Without a doubt S&M need to follow Valve's lead on digital distribution. And hopefully the good arcade titles won't drown in an ocean of Geometry Wars clones next time.
Price points. 400 dollars for a console is pushing it. 600 dollars is ****ing insane. I don't care if they have to tone down graphics a bit or whatever, but I
absolutely will not pay more than $400 for a video game console. Feasible video game graphics technology is starting to plateau for the time being, anyhow. 300 dollars seems to be the magic launch number and that is what they should aim for. To reiterate my point S&M need to put out consoles that launch at cheaper prices than the current ones did and they need to be able to easily run currently existing content.
"Evolution" over "Revolution" I can't stress that enough. I don't sense that many people are clamoring for something much more bigger and better than what we have now because what the consoles we have now are capable of is pretty ****ing good. At least I think so. What I mean by "evolution over revolution" is that it's pretty obvious that most game studios know how to make a good looking game on the current hardware, so I think that the next gen consoles should essentially be better versions of what we have now. This way developers are mostly familiar with the hardware and are able to do more with it right away and make better games sooner. At this point I'm not looking to be wowed by graphics, I'm looking to be wowed by gameplay and new experiences. Basically I want the
next generation to deliver on
this generation's empty "Next Gen" promise.
