Future of Gaming

Another Year, Another Year of Gaming

As an Xbox 360 owner and the sibling of a Wii owner, any perceived bias towards or against specific consoles is due to my lack of disposable income. If I could I would also buy a PS3, but as a student, that is not possible. Please forgive any disproportionate coverage; I do my best to cover issues that affect all consoles, without focusing on or neglecting individual systems.

Hello everyone and welcome to 2010, very belated I know but this is the first issue of the term so it is appropriate. I hope everyone’s holidays went well, seeing family and friends, enjoying the break from lectures, assignments, lectures, tutorials, lectures, exams, and of course lectures. I also hope everyone got some gaming time in between the holiday cheer.

As we enter a new decade we see a change in the outlook of the big three gaming systems, perhaps in recognition of the global change in economics. While just a few months ago both Microsoft and Sony were hinting at the ‘next’ next generation consoles, with the current console life cycles ending around 2012; they have both changed their tune. Both Microsoft and Sony have reaffirmed their commitment to their current consoles, expecting the current gaming generation to last for about another five years. Each have announced a new motion control system, which will no doubt attract new casual and traditional gamers as new genres are created to take advantage of the technology. Microsoft’s Project Natal, which will hopefully get a new name before it launches, has been dated for release in November 2010, with thirty Natal games ready at launch. It remains to be seen whether those thirty games are Natal exclusives, developed especially for the new technology (like Lionhead’s “Milo”) or traditional games featuring Natal support in addition to regular controllers.

Beyond the initial news release, and press conference to show off the technology, Sony’s motion controllers have remained a bit of a mystery. Very little has been revealed concerning a release date, price and initial games support. If you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned Nintendo much so far, it is because they haven’t really announced anything. They are content to let Microsoft and Sony battle for the core gamer demographic, while raking in cash from everyone else on the entire planet.

This week saw the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) take over Las Vegas, showcasing the newest technology on the planet. Sony’s booth focused mainly on their new proprietary 3DTV system, something they are planning to bring to gaming as well. 3DTV seems to be the popular topic this year, with every manufacturer coming out with their own system, and that’s where the problem comes from. At this early stage of the technology a standard has yet to be set and each company wants their system to be the one to succeed, which will invariably stop people from going out and getting a 3DTV the moment they hit the shelves. Nobody wants to be left with a system that no one makes movies for anymore – it will be HD DVD versus Blu Ray all over again, only this time with about four competitors. Sony also showcased the launch of their Network system across all their products – you will now be able to have one online profile for all your Sony products.

Microsoft’s booth was focused more on the launch of Windows 7 (which we can get for free through the University – Check out the CHIP office in MC 1052) as well as the new Xbox 360 only games coming out this year. One of Microsoft’s big gaming announcements was Game Room, a personalized arcade where you can control your avatar and play retro arcade games with friends. Games will be available to purchase for play on Xbox 360, a dual license for Xbox 360 and PC, or as a pay to play system – back to the quarter per play system of the arcade.

Once again I seem to be ignoring Nintendo – let me assure you that this is not on purpose, they just didn’t have anything noteworthy at their booth at CES. They are easily outselling both of their competitors, they already have the motion technology that Microsoft and Sony are trying to mimic, and all they need to do is keep bringing out good games to attract new gamers. Maybe they should also look into creating a Wii HD or something else that could actually compete with the other two systems on a power and graphics comparison.

As a quick side note, EA has announced that they will be keeping Tiger Woods as the figure head of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour games. Amid the storm of corporate sponsors abandoning Woods following his car accident and subsequent infidelity scandals, EA is standing by the golfer. They say it is because they don’t care what he has done, he is still one of the greatest golfers of all time. I think it might have a little bit to do with the fact that one of their biggest games series, on which they rely on to support their games division, is based entirely around Tiger Woods. That would be like DC comics abandoning Batman or Superman – it just isn’t going to happen.

So, enjoy the term, don’t let lectures get you down (I don’t really hate them as much as it might sound), and if you, like myself, are on co-op – don’t let PDEng destroy your will to live. Keep on Gaming.