| Next gen superiority in question |
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Next gen is now today?s gen
Remember a few years ago, when all the hype started about the ?next gen? consoles, and the ?next gen? era? There was a lot of talk about bringing you a console that will ?deliver? and that was ?capable?, there was also a lot of talk from spokesmen bringing games which are like ?nothing you have ever seen? and they will have ?awe inspiring graphics?, okay, that's perhaps a little bit over exaggerated and not quoted word from word, but that was the general idea and their definition of ?next generation? gaming. Now we?re here, in the seventh generation, that ?next gen?... it?s now today?s gen and have we been brought everything which was promised? Well, a question like that can?t really be answered in a sentence, but as a start I think we can look at ?what? was promised.
A one word feature which was emphasized in the early beginnings of seventh generation games and that was ?graphics?, most probably over emphasized and if you want an opinion, it was made too significant, but that?s not what we?re here for.
Before the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 (less likely the Wii) were announced there were visions and purposes put in place for these consoles, what was the new reason for buying this piece of hardware? What was missing? When those questions were asked, the designers thought about other avenues, and then looked at the PC. What did the PC allow you to do which the consoles didn?t? Communicate efficiently, customise menus, download extra content easily and experience graphical prowess. The computer could (and still can) potentially allow for some pristine and convincing looking graphics, if you had the high end graphics card of the time, the latest processor, the necessary amount of RAM and the high res monitor then you can delve into a great looking game. The problem that restricted a lot of users, and a lot of gamers, at the time was the price, you had to pay for this great experience, and by the time you found the money to pay for the latest CPU and GPU, you find that there is a new game which recommends an even better CPU and GPU. For some it was a never ending cycle, for console developers it was a perfect opportunity.
Microsoft and Sony went into the design process thinking of the most efficient and cheapest way they can make a console which offered great looking visuals, but was also affordable for the regular consumer. It also needed the potential for other audiences, but that was more to do with the software provided, and was something thought about more thoroughly later down the line. HDMI and HD ready TV?s were very important, if you wanted to show off the visual quality of your game you wanted a clear and sharp picture, these consoles were good but they still couldn?t quite match the capabilities of the PC. There needed to be more of a reason for the hardcore PC lovers to buy a console, and it attracted some, others still weren?t convinced and carried on playing PC games, but we are now seeing a lot more gamers (hardcore and casual) using their console and less using their PC, releases for the PC have slowed and we?re seeing fewer PC exclusives. Most people still know that the PC offers the most variety, whether it be with gaming or social interaction, there must be other contributing factors. So what?s the seventh generation status of the PC and what does it offer?
A PC what?
The seventh generation of consoles has made an impact on the PC, no question about it, and definitely in its gaming market, but there are many other reasons for its change in direction. Firstly, the PC doesn?t really have a new model every five or so years, you don?t really split the system into generations and there aren?t companies boasting major new features of a graphics card. I suppose you could say the seventh generation for the PC was Direct x10, or dare say it, Vista. The one essential problem with this though is it takes a long while to get PC users to upgrade, many general , everyday PC users are happy with that they have and are not willing to pay out for a new operating system, or a PC which supports the new operating system. Secondly, all the features of which an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 is offering is really already offered in a PC, companies such as Microsoft are basically saying ?those great graphics, that extra content and easy connections with mates, you can do it all for this price? the seventh generation is making the console multi functional and ?wowing? the users by what you can do in such a small box.
Now, those are just a couple of general benefactors of why PC?s are becoming less of a gaming attraction, or a less of a type of a gaming attraction as it used to be... more about that later. Piracy has always been a major problem for the PC, it?s so easy just to download a legal P2P (Peer to Peer) application, browse the internet and download a game, it?s almost impossible to track and practically impossible to stop and you can download a 6GB game without moving an inch, and with a half decent bandwidth, potentially in a few hours. Developers have introduced many different types of DRM (Data Rights Management) software, but it?s generally been at the expense of legal buyers and made people download illegally even more, it?s all counteractive. This has forced a good majority of developers to either port their games over to the console or move over to the console primarily, the reason why you?re seeing a lot of games coming out later on the PC. However the developers who have stuck to the PC are taking a different approach, making MMO?s. They?re mostly online dependant, cannot be played illegally and chances of being successful are very high. So arguably you could say PC gaming hasn?t deteriorated at all, but then again you can also argue that MMO?s aren?t technically a game experience but a form of socialisation too. We could go on forever, but the point is, PC gaming has been forced to change instead of ?evolving?.
Sixth and Seventh generation
Moving away from altered systems and developer visions, and onto the games themselves. If we now put all the systems together, (excluding the Wii again, sorry) and look at it as a large picture, a developer?s ambition when designing a game seems to have changed slightly, or more accurately, their priorities have changed. Comparing two titles and putting them into the console generations, Morrowind (sixth gen) and Oblivion (seventh gen), both fantastic games, however Morrowind seemed more about the details and options of the game, whereas Oblivion seemed to be showing off its graphics and gameplay achievements thus losing some of its depth, which is fine... whether that?s a good thing or not is a matter of opinion, but this is just one good example of how the seventh generation is shaping up to be.
A developer showing off the hardware?s potential and fancy gameplay features seems to be the biggest priority on the agenda, there are two certain explanations for this course of action; The developer wants to break away from just the hardcore gamer?s interest and wants to broaden its horizons at occasional/casual player, the majority of the audience. The other explanation, storage restraints, of course this isn?t much of a problem for the PC (at least not anymore mostly thanks to piracy) as online applications such as steam allow you to download games. But the Xbox 360 and the Wii still use DVD discs, which was plenty of room about four years ago, but as the quality of the textures increase so do the files, so the length of the game really has to be measured. And unfortunately though not all gamers think this is such a great sacrifice, but the cost-benefit analysis points to quality over quantity, at least most of the time.
This could all change however, we?ll most likely feel the impact in the eighth generation, but seeing as download content on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is so popular maybe, just maybe, we?ll be able to download all our games from there. Yes, the Playstation 3 allows you to download a few now, Burnout being one of them, and the Xbox 360 allows you to download Xbox originals, but having the choice of just downloading all your Xbox 360 games online could quite easily bring the best of both generations, making casual and hardcore players happy alike.
A final verdict before looking to the future
To bring this to a close, there are many contributions of change to a generation, whether they?re for the good or bad is usually an opinion. PC gaming has changed from a fairly large market of different types of games, to the odd few dedicated to the PC or developing MMO?s, now, the main cause is a bad thing, but it has brought in the huge wave of MMORPG?s we now all see, which are hugely successful, so it must be keeping someone happy. Console gaming normally has a vast change within generations, and the seventh generation being large due to making the consoles open. They have a lot more features and uses (Private chat, browsing the web/market place browsing and downloading movies), but they?re ?open? because they have the potential to do so much more, so much which would really open up and please the majority, and I feel the Xbox experience could be the first sign of the real ?next gen? superiority.
Posted By: Lee Burton
Date: 2008-09-21
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