Starmen.Net

So the next podcast will revisit territory that’s been touched upon in recent news round-ups, but we figure it’s still worth spending an entire episode on (especially during the calm before the storm).

New systems are definitely on the way. Not everything will be arriving this year, but we know for a fact that they’re being pieced together. And in the past, the next generation of gaming was something to be excited about, but I’m just not getting it this time around.

Actually, if anything, there’s a certain sense of trepidation, even annoyance, towards the prospect of putting down money for a PS4, Xbox 720, and Wii U. How do you all feel about them? Excited or the least bit interested? What do you think the next generation of gaming should and ultimately will embody?

And feel free to share any memories pertaining generational leaps in gaming as well! Like trying to convince your parents to get you a SNES right after they just got you a NES, that sorta stuff.

We’ll be going over everyone’s responses this Wednesday night… our normal Monday night recording session has been delayed, due to Gerritt being out of town on business. And as usual, we love getting (and playing) voicemails! That number again is 503-446-CAST.

I avoided this generation of home consoles by virtue of disinterest, or maybe ‘scattered interest’ is more appropriate? Each console had a handful of games that I wanted to play, but not enough to warrant a purchase from me. Admittedly, I focus much more on collecting and playing old stuff and this was definitely a factor in my decision not to buy into these consoles.

However, right now I am interested in getting a PS3 because there are enough games I want to warrant a purchase now and funnily enough I want it for a Blu-Ray player even though console choice has never been contingent upon ancillary functions for me.

I wasn’t even going to buy a DS when it was released, but I eventually bought one and I really enjoyed it, buying more for it than I initially figured I would. I’d say going forward, I will probably be getting the second iteration of the 3DS because I will probably be more confident in the product by then (we’ll see).

Going forward with the next iterations of the home consoles, right now I have zero interest. So until something does grab my attention, I really can’t say that I will purchase any of them. Ultimately, I crave original and engaging experiences, the creative and the unique. So many consoles promise “innovation.” Really, so many games promise this too to the point where it often becomes a buzzword meaning “the same thing, just with a different interface.” It needs to be more than waggle or body controllers or whatever.

I think that next generation, ANY generation should be the refinement of the qualities that sets each platform apart. In how many DS games did things feel tacked on for the sake of saying all of the functions were used (ie horrible microphone integration in Spirit Tracks)? I’m positive there will be gems on the consoles that will eventually be released, it just becomes difficult to find them.

There comes a point when you realize that you are no longer the core demographic of these companies. That’s fine, and it happens. Please be aware that I am not “against” any company by any means. It’s just that I’m more interested in demonstrated value for my purchases now rather than just prospective value. So I am fine with waiting.

I’m going to be living the full student life experience after this school term, so I won’t be investing in a Wii U/720/PS4.

But what is one of the main drawbacks to this coming generation is that all of the new features are not particularly compelling or any incentive to buy them (as yet). The Wii U will work with your Wii controllers and comes with a slightly larger controller with a touch screen, and it was all be HD. So what, the jump between SD and HD is no-where near as big as the jump between the crude N64 polygons and smooth GCN graphics. I didn’t buy a Wii, but because my brother wanted one for Christmas, and I had many games that I wanted to play on it, we traded Xbox 360 for Wii (he’s into his EA sports games, which work much better on the HD platforms with no shoehorned gimmicks). I love my Wii, there are plenty games that I still need to play, but this backlog extends back to NES games unavailable on VC. My point is there is no reason for me to get an upgraded Wii or other console when I have so much I still want to play on previous consoles.

I am definately jumping the gun with my decision though, there is still plenty of time for Nintendo and others to get me hyped. I just feel like some of the magic has been lost. The Wii U doesn’t even have a cool secret codename :(

I’m going to go with all of those who said they’re sticking to PC gaming. I’m running decent computer computer (Sandy Bridge i5 / AMD Radeon 6850) which plays everything I throw at it including both Deus EX HR and Just Cause 2, and presumably Skyrim. It’ll stick around for a while. My next upgrade (after picking up an SSD) would logically be either throwing a second of the same graphics card in for a Crossfire configuration, or a new mid-range graphics card, both of which which shouldn’t cost more than 200 dollars. PCs are cheap to upgrade, especially if you build them yourself and I can use it for both work and play. I imagine my current built will last me maybe another 3-4 years with upgrades.

I just find the range of games available on the PC to be more to my liking than what’s out there on the consoles. Thanks to Steam, I can easily get access to everything from FPS games to platformers to a plethora of indie games from both current generation and many past eras of gaming with a few clicks of a button. I can purchase a game on one computer and have it available to any computer I install steam on. Plus, going beyond Steam, I’ve got my visual novels and doujin games to play. My only reservation is that JRPGs are few and far between. Recettear I guess counts as one.

Unless there’s a compelling set of games in the category of games I can’t get on the PC, I’m going to skip picking up a console next generation.

I’m waiting until it hits $1/GB to pick up an SSD. Hoping that this’ll happen towards the end of the year.

I’ve only just recently really started getting into console gaming – for most of my life, the vast majority of games I played were on some form of PC.

I bought a Wii 3 years ago but never really got that much use out of it; two years ago, I bought an HDTV, and decided I should finally try out a modern console and got an XBox 360. And I discovered that there are certain styles of games that I much prefer on the console (Bethesda-style RPGs and GTA-like games in particular, as well as party-style games like the Rock Band series and You Don’t Know Jack). I’ve actually been getting decent use out of it.

The thing is, I’m not sure that a console upgrade will really help much of what I play on consoles. Party games don’t tend to require the most phenomenal graphics, and who knows if I’d be able to use the hundreds of dollars of plastic instruments I currently own on a theoretical Xbox 720? AAA games? Yeah, updated graphics hardware could help them, but if I want to play something for the looks, I’m going to play the PC version anyway.

Honestly, what’ll probably get me to upgrade is more side functionality than better graphics. I already use my 360 for Netflix way more than I use it for games. I love that it can act as a Windows Media Center Extender to allow me to stream audio, video, and photos from my desktop in the other room. So if they add more functionality (Pandora, etc.) then I might upgrade.

Then again, I could always just build myself a cheap HTPC to accomplish the same thing.

I haven’t bought a console game in months. (Well, not for this generation of consoles. I still grab SNES titles.)

I regularly throw money at Steam and I pick up every Humble Bundle that gets released. I’ve spent hours playing Skyrim on PC at a higher resolution and with a stabler experience than I could hope for on a console. Why throw my money away on a PS4?

Each console iteration leaves me with less to get excited about. PCs far surpass consoles in graphic and processing power and the exclusive titles for PS3 / Xbox 360 are generally not compelling enough to warrant console purchase.

The only new system I would consider getting is the Wii U and only because of the Nintendo IP. I love Legend of Zelda. I love Metroid. I love Mario. I will not be getting it at launch, though.

I have to wonder: how much life is left in console gaming?

I’ve always be a Nintendo fanboy. My older brothers and cousins always played nintendo, so naturaly I picked it up too. My earliest memories of games are Oracle of Seasons and Ages (my favorite Zelda games), Super Smash Bros. Mario Kart 64, Mario Party 2-5,(on Dreamcast) Crazy Taxi, Pen Pen Triicelon, Sonic Shuffle, and Skies of Arcadia (which I am playing through for the first time… it’s SO GOOD!). I also enjoyed many Gamecube games as well. However, all of these game where made before I was 10, but when I was 10 or 11 something new came out… the wii. But, enough with the past and onward to the future! As for the Xbox720 and the PS4 I won’t bother with them for awhile if at all, but for the Wii U I will buy it ASAP! Other then that I won’t predict anthing else because I don’t want to disappoint myself. Only time will tell what happens next…

Console development used to be all about hardware improvement.

But like in all types of technology, wheel to printing press to cars to internet to god knows what, the development has proven asymptotic.

The question recently stopped being “How technologically complex can we make the video/audio/mechanics?” and became “How complex can we make the controller interface and plot?”

This makes games unintuitive. Nearly every Wii game I’ve ever played would have benefited from a standard controller. And plot is more enjoyable when we can interact with it via choice, like in Persona 4 or Dragon Age. So it’s getting difficult to invent new improvements to hardware without inventing entire new technologies to go along with them.

The solution lies in design. Games in the future, and consoles, won’t be improved through better hardware, fake swords, waggle, touch screens or online play. They will be improved via expert design.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been playing a lot of doujin games, notably shmups and foreign indie titles, as well as intense tabletop wargames and forgotten old games that were never localized or rereleased, save for the catacombs of internet shareware sites.

There are so many genres, unique fusions of play styles that were entirely overlooked and failed to see the light of day. All of them challenging, engaging and wonderful. Even the little differences between one shmup and another, between any two arcade titles, PC-98 games, early rare DOS games, Saturn and PSX JP only gems… Not to mention the entire back catalogs of things like the ZX Spectrum or Amiga!

I think if we wish to improve the analysis of video games, we must look very clearly at things that were done correctly before, but overlooked due to errors in marketing or product placement. Earthbound is not the only game that tanked due to executive screwups. But studying all this requires spending time with the unfamiliar, the rare, the foreboding.

Gaming must be given curatorial science.

@Gerritt Great episode. You were trying to remember launch games @1:24 or so… the newest Game Informer actually has launch titles for most (all?) of the consoles as well as commentary about whether they felt the launch was succesful.

Can’t speak for the rest of the crew, but dang, I didn’t know the PSP was up to those technological frontiers. I’ll take that into account in the future.

Still, I feel safe in saying that the current generation of both TV-centric and handheld systems have been relatively lax in terms of bringing new content to the frontline gamer.