Change is in the air, and it is anyones guess as to which way the winds will shift moving forward. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual video game con in Los Angeles, powered down this last week. With smartphone, console, PC and new browser/cloud based games using HTML 5 are all fighting for a slice of the pie, gamers are increasingly getting spoiled for choice.
This is an uneasy year for the games industry, as console catalysts compete with the rise of inexpensive, casual gaming on mobile devices and try to squeeze the last bit of juice out of their aging hardware.
It’s clear developers are hitting the limits. One of the games announced at the convention, Star Wars 1313 (LucasArts), gives us a peak at what that next gen could look like, with it’s fluid graphics and gameplay. Some gamers might say nobody who really cares is okay with the low-res textures of the current gen, low memory and resultant low frame rates when the screen becomes busy. PC gamers are unhappy because the consoles hold a lot of titles back from fulfilling their potential on the PC as well because they’re ported over.
The next gen needs a power up. What kind of speculation of specs are we talking about here?
Every indication shows that the tech would be fashioned with considerably newer processor architecture (IBM made, based on the WATSON super computer), and a video card that is at least two generations newer than the one in the Xbox. Add in a minimum of two to four gigs of RAM, and that’s a fairly powerful console without breaking the bank. Powerful enough to run Unreal Engine 4? I don’t know. Only Epic would reliably be able to say for sure.
Did I lose you there? The PS4, Xbox 720 and Nintendo’s next are still years out (Not including the Wii U-which is expected to drop later this year) but the companies are promising gaming of the likes we have never seen or imagined. Revolutionary, innovative ways to play but still a familiar experience and accessible gameplay that everyone can enjoy.
I consider myself a moderate gamer and I am content with the current hardware. Reason being, I’m a gamer, I play games. Do I crave better performance. Sure, but at what cost? For all the social networking, streaming media, and “enhanced” technology these computer/receiver/consoles are going to dish out what will the ball park figure be? Four hundred, Five…Six Hundred out the door. In all reality, I am going to use about two hundred of it because I just want to play games. I like a simple controller and I just want my console to play great looking games with an engaging story. Maybe I just need to be ‘wowed’ and to have my ‘sense of wonder’ ass kicked.
I do like tried and true franchises (I am a HUGE Ratchet & Clank fanboy). This holiday season will not be short of blockbuster titles. You can expect to see Halo 4, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassins Creed 3 ALL on the shelves. It’s obvious that the business is still big name driven. Let’s freshen up these classic touchstones with some new ideas though. Sure, the onslaught of sequels pay the bills and I DO play these games. I get it. However, for every first person shooter clone let’s have more: Beyond: Two Souls, The Last Of Us & Watch Dogs.
Motion game play, digital distribution, free-mium, mobile ‘time wasters’, streaming content, second screen, Smartglass software, hand held non-stop gaming, social…companion & multi-player experiences. These are all seeds of electronic gamings future. Color me excited to see what the paradigm shift that will define the new era of gaming. But, try not to mess with my PlayStation dual shock too much…deal?
-Dagobot
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Twitter: @markdago