Wow, back for another term. Welcome back to everyone who has been away on Co-op and good luck on your next academic term. I am currently on my fourth Co-op term, this time out in Calgary, Alberta. Unfortunately, I don’t have a gaming system with me besides my DSi, so don’t expect any game reviews.
Onto some news, and there is definitely a lot of it. Let’s start with Nintendo, which I have basically been insulting for the last year for their lack of innovation and general stagnation. Nintendo has basically been coasting on the immense success from their Wii console, ignoring the competition who have been struggling in their wake. Of course, over the last year, sales have drastically declined on the Wii; maybe they have just sold one to every possible consumer in their market or they have finally hit a wall when it comes to graphics. For the second generation in a row, Nintendo has been stuck as the technological underdog of the big three companies. The Gamecube could never compete with the Playstation 2 or the Xbox and so it fizzled into this generation. Now the Wii is at the same point – although it does have superior capabilites than the Gamecube, it is still the underdog compared to the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Well, Nintendo is going to change that.
Nintendo has officially announced that they are, in fact, working on a new console, currently code named ‘Project Café’ (let’s hope they come up with a better name, but then this is the company that gave us the Wii), which will get its official debut at E3 this July. The new system is rumoured to have significantly higher specs than either the PS3 or the Xbox 360, as well as a new controller scheme. Each controller has standard gamepad controls, as well as a built-in screen, which could be used to mirror the main screen image, allow for play without a TV, or be used for in-game info – like health bar and ammo. It will be interesting to see how the prices of these new controllers compare with traditional controllers, as well as the battery requirements.
This brings about a very interesting situation between the big three console giants. While Microsoft jumped the gun this generation by releasing the Xbox 360 a year ahead of its competitors, everything has kind of leveled off now.The PS3 is technologically superior to the 360, I don’t think anyone will deny that. The differing programming systems make the two difficult to compare, but in most aspects, they are relatively evenly matched. Now Nintendo is going to be releasing a new console around two or three years before the other two as both Microsoft and Sony have said that they will not have new consoles until around 2014 (of course, they could be developing them now, as some rumours suggest). This is going to introduce a substantial divide between the systems with Nintendo now at the forefront. Are we now going to see a shift of ‘hardcore’ graphics-intensive games being developed for the new Nintendo console with dumbed down versions for the other two, or will Nintendo still be plagued with the ‘casual’ gaming label they have had for many years? I really don’t know.
This will also lead to a unique situation a few years from now when Microsoft and Sony finally do release their new consoles. Both systems will be about two or three years more advanced than the Nintendo console (exact times depend on when ‘Café’ is launched and when the hardware for the next-gen systems is finalized). So once again, Nintendo will be left with a technologically inferior system – only even more inferior because of the increased gap in technology. Nintendo can enjoy a few years of superiority but will then have to suffer years of mockery at its ‘ancient’ technology. I can’t help but think that it is a bad idea for Nintendo to fracture the gaming generations like this. In the past, there were long periods in which a new console seemed to come out every year or multiple systems per year, but that was in an age when there were five or six competitors for home consoles and generations were based on evolving technology. Then, things shifted once the competitors were reduced to just the big three. Since then, generations have been pretty much standard; Gamecube, PS2, Xbox followed by the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. Now this could all change. How do you define a generation when one console is offset halfway through the lifespan of another? I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but it is definitely going to be interesting.
On to Sony, poor, poor Sony. The Playstation Network has now been down for a few weeks since a massive breach left Playstation users’ information in the hands of hackers. Responsibility for the attack has not been claimed publically, and the group known as Anonymous has said that the attack is against their guiding principles. Interestingly though, Anonymous has admitted that the attack could have been from a disenchanted member of their ranks, but the attack was not sanctioned by the group. The attack seems to have started as an exploit of the root code hack I have mentioned before. Users were able to sign onto the Playstation Network while making their system appear to be a development kit (the unlocked systems that developers use to design and test their games). This exploit allowed these users to set up fake credit cards and add real money to their accounts to buy things off of the Playstation store.
Sony subsequently shut down the network and announced a week later that the credit card information of users may have been compromised. Since then, the network has still not been restored, retailers have started offering huge trade-ins on PS3s and still nothing has changed. Support has been mixed within the Playstation community, with many people taking out their anger against Sony, even preparing class action lawsuits. Others have recognized the fact that this really isn’t Sony’s fault; well maybe their security could have been better, but all systems can be hacked eventually. Ultimately, the blame for this fiasco, and users being without the Playstation Network for so long, lies firmly with whoever actually hacked the system. You wouldn’t blame a bank if someone broke in and stole money from the vault; obviously, the bank didn’t want it to happen. Of course, people would be angry if their credit card information had been stolen in that same robbery. But still, this isn’t entirely Sony’s fault and they are trying to fix things and help protect users’ identities.
So far, I haven’t really talked about Microsoft, which is mostly because they haven’t really done much. Besides offering discounts on several Xbox Live products – mostly to take advantage of the Sony Playstation Network situation – Microsoft seems to be holding onto whatever news they have until E3. These announcements will undoubtedly contain some new big budget Kinect games – including a new Star Wars game. Developers have now gained access to new development software for the Kinect allowing for more accurate tracking and a significant reduction is lag. Don’t expect an announcement of a new Xbox – that is still probably some time away.
So that’s it for this article. Keep on the lookout for news, keep checking the Playstation Network, and of course … Keep on Gaming.
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