A couple months back I got real excited - a rarity for me these days - about the next Wii console. There's something magical about Nintendo, and the anticipation for their next console will always stir up some nostalgic, emotional pudding in my soul. One of my fondest memories is the years of rumours and news about Project Reality, aka the Nintendo 64. There was a flurry of systems coming out on the market at the time and it was at the height of my magazine madness; I must have collected three or four gaming magazines a month. I was a well informed consumer. It was also epic sad times as the system was being pushed back and I wanted nothing more than for it to come out. I eventually abandoned hope - my soul crushed and pierced with holes - and asked for the PlayStation for Christmas, which I did receive. And for a time, it was good.
The debacle around the N64 would tarnish me for a while. The system was fantastic when it did come out, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I would never anticipate a game system release in the same way again. Things started picking up though when the XBox 360 was trying out some crazy viral marketing campaign, although honestly I had no clue what was going on. But it's a testament to the power of it all that my buddy and I stayed up to watch some live broadcast - on television, no less - of the unveiling. It was kind of loony, really. I certainly didn't get into a fervor with the Wii, although the tech was intriguing. So the new Wii U is announced and all I can feel is "meh." Knowing full well that it really doesn't matter what they come up with: I'm going to buy it. Perhaps not at initial release, but it will find a home in mine.
It used to be simple: a new system would just be more powerful, graphically. Soundwise, and whatever. You could count the bits, and things were measurable. This is not the case anymore. Nintendo hinted at it with the Gamecube (with a focus on gaming, no extras like DVD playback) and confirmed it with the Wii (motion controls?!). So now they're amalgamating all the current tech trends: wireless, touch screens, multiple screens, etc. The Wii U should be interesting. But what about the next generation of Microsoft and Sony machines? It feels like we've reached a certain plateau: the current systems have been out for nearly six years (Xbox) which blows away any norm we've had before. There's no sign of slowing down, either: there are entire franchises coming and going on the current gen systems; they don't seem to have limits as the graphics and gameplay keep improving. Most importantly the narratives are improving: we're pretty much playing interactive movies. They are extremely engaging, and the overall quality is astounding.
So where do we go from here? Better graphics? You know that's guaranteed. The PC is eclipsing the consoles right now and I'm jealous as all hell. There's also the whole physics processing thing going on, which seems to just add more elements to what's going on on screen, which is fine by me. It's the little things that matter, right? Then there's all the accessories, like motion controls, cameras and whatnot. Basically what I suspect is that the Kinect will receive upgrades (i.e. new versions) and will be future compatible with the new system. I always thought it would be neat if we could just add expansion cards for something like graphics, or physics. Games are scalable now: look at Arkham Asylum for instance. You could crank the settings down, taking away elements like shadows, lighting effects, blowing paper in the wind (yeah that's right) and of course, graphical detail. You can turn them up into the other direction. So imagine releasing a version of Arkham Asylum that can be put into either an XBox 360 or 720. The 720 version would play the game way but would feature an assload more luxury features (graphics, physics and sound, of course). The 360 version would play just as it does. It's very PC-like, in a way, except you don't have to invest $800 in one graphics card and spend hours trying to get a game to install or play properly.
And that's my whole focus: scalability. But I have a feeling it just won't happen. Basically consoles have typically been simple, and that's where their main benefit is. Plug and play, literally. You start adding multiple hardware versions and you confuse the market. However, I think we're being conditioned: the Kinect. Systems with different hard drive bundles. There must be a few dozen SKUs of the 360 out there now, and it took no time at all for the slim PS3 to come out (typically a last ditch effort to generate sales in the bit era). The slim 360 changed the hardware a bit so that it would run quietly, and I wouldn't be surprised if they snuck in some extra stuff for future expansion. We could very well see games that are "Slim 360 Only." So take that up a notch for the next system. You did buy an expansion pack for the N64, didn't you? Same thing, really.
The other major element of the next generation is the cloud (I hate to use that term here) and basically, buying games online. The 360 marketplace or whatever it's called is so ingrained into the system it's simple. The PlayStation Store (when it's up, zing) is a good example of where we'll be buying games in the future. Look no further than a service like Steam on the PC, and it's dead simple. You're going to have a massive catalog of games available to you; they will go on sale, and you will buy them. For crying out loud, I bought Deus Ex on Steam for $2.50 just because it was so dirty cheap. I may never play it, but it's mine forever. The legitimacy of owning them like this is sure to curb piracy to some degree. Instead of bringing a disc over to a friend's place, you can just log into their system and download it. I did this with Perfect Dark on the 360. It was clunky, but it's sure to improve over time. Now this whole buying and downloading bums me out a bit as I love the physical collection of games. If I spend $60 on a title and get every penny worth out of it, I want a trophy sitting on my shelf to show off.
So there you have it, a few insights into what the next generation could be like. Scary thing is most of this will be implemented on the current systems. I mentioned reading something on the net that spawned this article, and it was some quote from Ubisoft saying that they are feeling constrained by current gen hardware. Many of the comments in response pointed out the richness of games and innovation being showcased. Seems like the gamers don't think there is a need for a new generation right now. I'm tempted to agree with them, but damn, I would be very happy if I could buy a 360 that had some beefier specs in it. Graphics aren't everything in a game, that's for sure, but it's tech. It's gadgets. We love buying them, we love playing with them. You add in gaming and tech, and you have yourself an addict. It's a great time to be a gamer, and I'm looking forward to where the industry goes from here.
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