The Dude
09-17-2005, 04:34 AM
As the dawn of a new generation of consoles nears, we take a moment and ponder what the future of gaming has instore for us. If the industry stays on its current path, well it will be nothing we have not seen before.
Video games have been following a formula that grown stale. The concept behind the last 3 generations of video game systems has been 1) better graphics 2) more buttons on the controller, and 3) more mulitmeda functions, like a PC. In an industry that revolves around creativness and innovation, it has somehow not changed since the N64/PSX area, when true 3-D games were born.
Today we see the PS3 and the Xbox360 continuing down the same beaten path, while throwing in features that have little or no effect on the most aspect of a video game, the gameplay. What does HD do for gameplay? What about a hard drive? What about graphics? Sure, they offer connection to the internet but that is hardly anything new. The PS3 and Xbox360 are doing nothing but blurring the line between the home console and the PC. That makes one wonder if this path continues, what will the generation after the PS3 and xbox 360 look like? It will be a PC. Is it so hard to see why Microsoft entered the console market now?
The home console could die out within the next five or six years if this path continues. Unless Nintendo, and only Nintendo (who has the balls to do it), can change the home console from this plight. In order for the console to survive it needs to offer something that a PC cannot offer. Something that requires more then just pushing buttons on a control pad. Something that actually puts you into the game. The Revolution is the perfect machine to do this with. If Nintendo does this right, it will change the way games are played forever, but If Nintendo fails and the Revolution is just another DS like gimmick, this next generation may very well be the last one faught on the home console...and the end of Nintendo.
Video games have been following a formula that grown stale. The concept behind the last 3 generations of video game systems has been 1) better graphics 2) more buttons on the controller, and 3) more mulitmeda functions, like a PC. In an industry that revolves around creativness and innovation, it has somehow not changed since the N64/PSX area, when true 3-D games were born.
Today we see the PS3 and the Xbox360 continuing down the same beaten path, while throwing in features that have little or no effect on the most aspect of a video game, the gameplay. What does HD do for gameplay? What about a hard drive? What about graphics? Sure, they offer connection to the internet but that is hardly anything new. The PS3 and Xbox360 are doing nothing but blurring the line between the home console and the PC. That makes one wonder if this path continues, what will the generation after the PS3 and xbox 360 look like? It will be a PC. Is it so hard to see why Microsoft entered the console market now?
The home console could die out within the next five or six years if this path continues. Unless Nintendo, and only Nintendo (who has the balls to do it), can change the home console from this plight. In order for the console to survive it needs to offer something that a PC cannot offer. Something that requires more then just pushing buttons on a control pad. Something that actually puts you into the game. The Revolution is the perfect machine to do this with. If Nintendo does this right, it will change the way games are played forever, but If Nintendo fails and the Revolution is just another DS like gimmick, this next generation may very well be the last one faught on the home console...and the end of Nintendo.