It seems like every generation of gaming has improved the games we play. It’s not magic. There’s no mystery as to why new consoles result in better games. Science calls it evolution. Without new consoles, we would still be playing pong. Sure it costs more for both developers and the end-users alike, but that doesn’t change the fact that it has to happen. Industry veterans and recognizable names like Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford will spit out various reasons why we don’t need to look towards new consoles in the future, but if we don’t, we’ll become complacent and stagnant.
Pitchford, whose company is responsible for hits like the Brothers in Arms franchise, Samba De Amigo on the Wii and the upcoming (we think) Duke Nukem Forever, was recently quoted as saying - "I'm actually excited by the fact that we're at a point now with this generation where it's not a technical problem”. That’s the complacency we mean. Yes, technological challenges can cause frustration and increase overhead at developers and publishers. Those challenges have also resulted in some of the greatest games ever and can only make gaming better. If everyone shied away from challenges, we’d still be living in caves.
Gamers wouldn’t be online playing games that are nearly bordering on realistic visuals. You wouldn’t be able to pull up and compare games and achievements/trophies with your friends. Our controllers would still be strung up to our consoles. Would we be content with not being able to save our progress or even being able to put in codes to restart at a level we had beaten?
We need new consoles because our tastes evolve as we evolve. Each of the big three hardware manufacturers has evolved in this generation alone by utilizing in-house ideas and the ideas of their competitors. These companies couldn’t have foretold the technological advances that have been made over the last seven years (adding one or two for R&D).
If Randy Pitchford is to be believed, why is Nintendo working on Project Café? Better yet, do you really think Microsoft and Sony will sit idly by as their competitor evolves? That’s not good business and Gearbox knows as well as anyone that this is a business. Xbox 720 and PS4 will happen and happen sooner than developers like, because they’ll have to learn new hardware and processing architecture. That’s business and gaming is better for it. We should hope that more companies are up to accepting the challenges posed by new consoles. If they aren’t, someone else will step up and take their place.
Comments
-drives away!-
This is consistent across different platforms. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Perfect Dark, Paper Mario, and Conker's Bad Fur Day were all were released during the twilight of the N64. Ditto Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG, EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Harvest Moon, and Super Metroid for the SNES. Remember how barren the PS2's launch was? Had its lifespan ended earlier, we would've never received Shadow of the Colossus, GTA: San Andreas, God of War and its sequels, etc.
If you want crappier games on expensive superior hardware that hardly look better, I guess the author's idea is worth endorsing.
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