Next Generation Consoles - Innovation or Power?

With all three mainstream consoles coming to the end of their lifecycles, the time has come to look ahead at the next generation.

Rather than discussing what we are getting, it would be more interesting to discuss what we want from these consoles. The most pertinent question is whether we want a focus on innovation or power?

To better define this, the current Wii console can be seen as pure innovation. It's completely different and provides a new tool to create new games with.

On the other hand, focussing on power would be what the other consoles have essentially done. The Xbox 360 and PS3 are, simply put, powered up versions of their predecessors. Sure the technology is technically innovative but the games we have seen produced are mostly sequels, albeit improved to some degree (mostly).

At this point in time, I think our games will have to be much more innovative. This is simply because ratcheting up the power isn't going to necessarily produce better games.

This is not to say that more power is bad, just that coming up with innovative gimmicks is not the way forward either.

Discuss!

Final Fantasy - James Bond Of The Gaming World

A multi-million pound franchise with a massive international following. This would aptly describe both the Final Fantasy and James Bond series. However, you could also describe them both... as "boring".

Naturally, facts and figures can be used to refute this claim outright. Both these brands have entertained hundreds of thousands of people around the planet, if not more! However, if you move past all the superlatives and lavish praise, they can be seen to be guilty of:

• Recycling the same basic story
• Repeatedly using the same character types
• Repacking the same themes of love, violence and fantasy.

Arguably, there is very little to find in them which is distinctly different. Every new entry may bring things that have not appeared before but they are very rarely off in completely another direction. Those who were disinterested before remain disinterested now.

Having said all this, it is irrational to simply dismiss these products simply for being iterative. We don't begrudge our favourite types of food for being "the same" every time do we?

The problem lies in balancing the things we consume. Whilst it is fine for Final Fantasy to be the stereotypical "JRPG", we don't want every other game out there to be imitating it. Conversely, we shouldn't despair at great games producing better sequels.

Final Fantasy and other franchises we have grown up with are akin to our childhood heroes. If they change with us and continue to entertain us, then we can happily grow old with them.

Pray the day never comes when the things we love fail to excite us.

~ TheArkAngelOfKaos ~

Let the games begin

I've created this mainly as a forum for discussion of games, talking about the concepts and theories behind games, as opposed to rating or slating individual games. There's a few main contributors, who you will hopefully get to know as you read what we think, but we're always open to new opinions and views.

Anyway, here's to a long and hopefully interesting future