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| Videogame consoles today and tomorrow |
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| Games,
Richard Young,
02:00:00,
08 October 2001 |
Rating: F5
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The next-generation games industry in the year 2001 is in a state of flux. Firstly, the Dreamcast had evolved into a fine platform before Sega decided to cease making them due to poor sales. After hitting the ground stumbling, Sony’s DVD compatible PlayStation 2 still has little to recommend it beyond Gran Turismo 3 and some lazily converted PC and Sega titles. Nintendo released the successor to the GameBoy, the superb GameBoy Advance – and continues to monopolise the handheld market.
Now gamers world wide are looking to the future and the imminent release of the super-powerful Gamecube from Nintendo, and Microsoft’s mighty X-Box. But which platform will win the hard-earned of the multitudes? Or will people just buy them all so as not to miss that one “killer app”? Much of the smart money seems to be on the Gamecube. Industry insiders are already being wowed by the likes of the latest Star Wars tie-in, Rogue Leader, while Capcom have promised the future of it’s popular Resident Evil franchise will be exclusively Gamecube based. Meanwhile, the only beat-em-up with “ample charms” to rival those of the cast of Baywatch, Dead or Alive, is currently aimed X-Boxwards for it’s third instalment.
With the resolution, detail and speed of the in-game graphics improving with each successive console, developers are becoming acutely aware of the consequences of the task at hand. Creating graphics that not only enhance gameplay, but which can also have that “wow” factor to pull in the prospective customer, while keeping in mind programmability, budget and time-scale, is an awesome task. The PlayStation 2, for example, has become notorious for being difficult to programme, hence the delay of killer apps like Gran Turismo 3, Wipeout Fusion and Metal Gear Solid 2. This can be a real make or break situation for the console itself, for what good are high spec capabilities without the games to make the most of them? The existing movies of Rogue Leader for Gamecube look astonishing for their almost photographic level of detail, but how will they play? Even an avid moviegoer can get bored of seeing the same film again and again. The trick will be for developers to listen to what the customer wants while monitoring existing trends.
The image of the average video games enthusiast is still of a spotty teenage boy sat alone in his room, staring at Lara Croft’s texture-mapped buttocks. The social and co-operative aspect of gaming, then, needs another overhaul the likes of which Sony made by installing PlayStations into nightclubs. Phantasy Star Online on Dreamcast became a massive hit primarily through it’s online capabilities, while Goldeneye on Nintendo’s N64 championed the 4-player split screen deathmatch.
It might seem sick to talk of such frivolities in the light of current world events, but having fun is an effective way of temporarily forgetting what a hate-filled world we live in. I for one am pleased that video games are on the verge of becoming just that bit more fun and exciting, and will hopefully become as well crafted and involving as a well made movie. Let there be lights, camera, action, joypad!
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