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!
Epic games have said that the Unreal Engine 4, which is supposed to be shown next week at the Games Developer Conference, is going to need a games console that is 10 times more powerful than the Xbox 360. Which I guess means that power will have to be something that is increased dramatically. I do think though that there will be a huge focus on innovation, as the casual market has exploded in the past few years.
ReplyDeleteI can see them focusing more on getting rid of the controller, as Sony are rumoured to have a Kinect type controller in development, or at least giving a relevant option for each type of gamer. E.g a normal controller for hardcore, motion/ no controller for casual.
The problem is the amount of time and money it takes to make the triple A titles. As an example, GTA 4 cost $100 million and Metal Gear Solid 4 cost about $60 million and took about 4 years each to make... Imagine having consoles 10 times more powerful and the cost of making games on those. I am not sure if many developers or publishers will be willing to risk innovative titles or technology with the increased costs.
"Yeah, cost is a major issue.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that we need some really innovative tool for easily creating graphics and animations, so developers can save lots of time and money on it..."
I think innovation nowadadys has become a bit of a byword for 'motion-controls' or 'casual market'. Real innovation needs to be about more than just a more physical, less acurate mode of inputting commands (which is all motion controls really are 99% of the time).
ReplyDeleteLike Ed says, innovative tools can just be to help create better graphics, making it easier for developers so they can focus more on the 'game' side of gaming rather than purely on the technical; kinda comes under both camps really, as you naturally want to be both increasing power while decreasing file size/development needs.
Also its going to be a sad day when they get rid of controllers. For all of you who claim motion controls to be fun, innovative, whatever, the reality is, and I imagine will be for a long LONG time, that controllers/joystick will always be more accurate than using your arm/hand/finger.
When I say 'all of you' btw, thats not aimed at anyone - we prob all agree here! :P I just remember what Yahtzee Croshaw of 'Zero Punctuation' fame said in one of his reviews once (me paraphrasing). Basically that all our attempts at more interactivity with games through motion controls and all this enlargement of movements are counter productive, because the reality is the quickest way to get something from your brain to the screen (which is surely what we are trying to achieve playing videogames) is by flicking a control pad or pressing a button, not waving your arm. I thought it was a pertinant point
ReplyDeleteAmen, I hate motion controls. However if you look at that reverse Wii controller 3D effect, that is AWESOME innovation. I would really love to see better stuff like that, cause it actually immerses u in the game without crappy 3D glasses.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I would love is to have a single player experience online with other ppl, like for real. A game where users actually create the game somehow, without being in a sandbox in any sense. To do this I imagine you would need some epic distributed computing power and super internetz...
I have been thinking about this quite recently just after I read that Sony announced scrapping the cell processor in the next Playstation. Considering that the was claimed by Sony as an innovation on it own shows how hit and miss these ideas can be.
ReplyDeleteOverall it's likely that power will be the safe bet for Microsoft, Sony will go for power as well as they are a bit down in the dumps in terms of leadership and costs. Nintendo are in a similar situation to Sony however considering that the only products they make are games consoles they have nothing to lose by going just balls crazy when it comes to ideas (i.e. Wii U).
I feel like this is slightly controversial but for me it needs to be power all the way.
ReplyDeleteLike has already been mentioned, there have been relatively few innovations recently that haven't just been gimmicks. The kinetic, the move and even to a certain extent even the Wiimote have been either completely under-utilised by 'serious' titles, or where they are the focus have frankly produced poor games.
For me, by the far the biggest innovation in the most recent generation has been the rise of XBLA. Changing the idea of a games console being a machine for which you go out and buy £30-40 games to instead being a complete gaming system, with indie games from £1 and major titles for around £5, as well as the big budget games is a complete game-changer. Wii and PS3 have similar systems, although to a lesser extent.
My main point is that innovation will always come from small developers. At EG expo, I loved Skyrim and Arkham Asylum, but the games that really blew me away were Awesomenauts and Bastion. Giving indie and small developers the chance to work with serious hardware, and giving them a bigger platform on which to market it is something that can only help the next gen consoles
I think the problem is not power in the sense of hardware, as we obviously have plently of it.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that we need innovation at the software level, things to make making games easier...
Things would be a hell of a lot easier if there was just one standard platform for games to exist on, software wise I mean. If you look at it, there are many PCs but they all run Windows, genrerally. The DirectX libaries on there help a lot, along with OpenGL....
But yeah, interesting stuff!