As we entered the new Millennium the panic of ‘y2k’ was over and we get on with developing bigger and better games. The Sony PlayStation 2 was definitely the biggest console of the time with its new enhanced 3D graphics and better hardware capable of playing these new titles made for it. Personally I could wait to play the new Crash Bandicoot game, but as I played it there was something about it that just made it not as good as the older games for the original PlayStation, maybe it was the graphics, the similar story line or even the fact it took about a minute for each level to load.
We now talk about how computers and hardware are developing becoming better being capable of handling many things. Back then however it was sort of the first step on the road for the next generation and future generations of consoles and gaming. Sure it was great (for those who found it great) but I think it was possibly too soon? The original PlayStation was released in 1994 and only 4 years later there was the PlayStation 2 and everyone wanted it, but I don’t think they gave the original PlayStation enough time to settle in, 4 years does seem quite a longish time but there was still games being developed at the time of the PS2 for the PS1 and they, in my opinion were a lot better. At the same time the likes of Nintendo had their Game Boy consoles and Nintendo64 which were addictive and the game were much more simpler to play, were as the PlayStation sort of lead the way to the next generation were the complications were at.
Game Boy Advance 2001
Over the next few years in 2002-2003 area things for the likes of Nintendo were still running smoothly and then at that point they decided to release the Nintendo GameCube with its own brand of graphics and capabilities, which was amazing, considering that there home console could now link to their handheld consoles with some games giving a bigger advantage over rivaling companies (not just because they created it first?) but because they was working out and solving problems along the lines of platforms and programming. At the same time the Xbox by Microsoft was released with their similar looking graphics to that of PlayStation (In which inspired a certain Game Art course, starting to be written in 2003?). I guess because PlayStation had released their next generation console earlier than the other companies it gave them more time to think about the next one being the PlayStation 3. Games around this time though, were being created to be available on other consoles, so companies would program games for not just one console but all consoles therefore investing a little bit more time and money to gain a broader market throughout the 3 horse race with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony in which sold their games.
I think one of the problems they industry faced at the start of the 21st century was that with the development of 3D graphics within gaming they could go all the way to make these graphics as best as they could to compete against everyone else and rule the roost within the industry. With Sony doing it first everyone else was pretty much behind. However one thing I do notice is how it took Sony 9 years to release the PlayStation 3 after the PS2, it was as if they were copying Nintendo’s marketing scheme by launching the PlayStation Portable in 2004/05 and making it in a specific way so in the future it would be compatible with their PlayStation 3 come 2007. And they managed to achieve it again by being the first to make a handheld console capable of handling PS2 like graphics. Sony also created the Eye Toy for the PS2 which was a first of its kind also, being a camera that focuses on you, being able to see yourself on screen and being able to play games while in there to.
Sony can make anything, yet I don't see any bacon, hmm?
PlayStation 3 (2007)
PlayStation 3 (2007)
It does show how they have come a long way in terms of technical achievement, for example their newest PS3 console can handle the revolutionary Blu-Ray discs and High Definition graphics, to me they basically want to do it all and have it now before anyone else! With a 9 year period however I think that they was waiting for technology to advance possibly, because Moore’s Law state that things will double up and become faster within technology every 18 months maybe they was waiting for a little time to improve their products? In 2005 Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 which made a huge hit and still today it is classed as still one of the big ‘elite consoles’ however the questions start to arise of what will be next? A lot of companies have just re-made consoles such as the PS2 making a Slim version, the Game Boy, making a micro version and now the Xbox 360 into a slimmer version. With all these slimmer versions of consoles I do wonder are they just trying to make more money or are they doing this as ‘side consoles’ for a later date to release their big next generation console? It’s likely that is how it works now-a-days; I mean how many PSP’s does Sony NEED?!
PSP (PlayStation Portable) 1000 (2005) Slim and Lite (2007) and PSP Go (2009)
In fact how many Nintendo DS’s does Nintendo Need? They launched the Dual Screen console in 2004 and for some unfound reason DESPITE Nintendo being a JAPANESE company they decided to release their console in AMERICA first! This is a clear message to everyone saying Nintendo is using the marketing power simply because they want to make big sales from people living in the continent of North and South America first, usually everything is released for their own people first in Japan, but then come 2006 came and they released their new Nintendo Wii console again to America first! Which is just the second major example of marketing because it would be easier getting it out to Japan first with it being a much small country?
Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) 2004
The Wii console was definitely one of its kind, simply because you could now control a game with a remote control style controller and do a million different things with it. Again it looked as if they were solving problems again with this ground breaking console, Nintendo rose up and was on top that Christmas, however Sony would try to hit back with the PS3 just 3 months later, trying to state something along the lines of: “Yeah the Wii is good, but does it have High Definition and can play Blu-Ray discs?...NOPE!” That to me is kind of a way stating there is a definite war between the companies. But I think only with the technology of what they have will they only want to continue fighting by becoming better. At this time Xbox was just sitting back and taking it all in of what the rest were producing in which tells me that they are going to soak up all of Sony and Nintendo’s ideas and create something even better...
Nintendo Wii 2006
The week I’m writing this blog the new Xbox Kinect will be released, it maybe just an add-on for the normal Xbox 360 but one thing it’s got is the fact that you don’t actually need a controller for it, that to me is copying what Nintendo has achieved and made better but also including some of that marketing power by getting 3rd party companies to produce game specifically designed for that format only. PlayStation has also released its new Move controller, which to me is a bit to late for my considering it’s more or less another Nintendo Wii controller just 4 years later, however it’s probably another add-on in the countdown to ‘PlayStation 4’ to keep things running smoothly in the mean time.
One for the pressures the industry faces from now on is the fact that they need technology to advance, because if the technology doesn’t advance then they can’t make anything better than we already have, Maybe one of the problems is that they may find themselves having to invest in speeding up the process of gaining the new improved technology and tools. However another problem is that people will new to learn new skills in managing and using the new equipment, or maybe if we do invest then maybe it will get to the point where machines are doing everything for us, it’s a risk to take and it has been said before that to create a machine that is 1500 times better than the PlayStation 2, we would have to wait another 20 years to be able to make it. We simply can’t wait that long, if we bring the future faster then maybe it will eventually backfire and we could have made a huge mistake in the end ‘cause it’s getting to a point where we’re asking the question “where do we go next and how can we improve on this?” I don’t think there will be a way, and perhaps the internet will control everything for us that we want and need, getting new people into the industry may not eventually be required, we could just get lazier and perhaps games will only take a few days or weeks to create in the future, we possibly won’t need all of the anything we have now, it could be as simple as pressing a few buttons with a bit of imagination and it’s done. However one thing we do need is the people to create this new wondrous technology is the programmers, because without it nothing will work, just like a 3rd party company wanting to make a game across all formats, they need someone there to make that work and of course earn their companies more money, but a complicated process, with the investment of time in the end they would deserve it. We can see the rate at which everything is advancing, the PlayStation 3 has a backwards compatibility which allows it to play old PS1 games, however when have personally tried them the processing power in the PS3 is sometimes way to fast for the old PS1 software to keep up with, either in sounds and syncing, display of models/textures and the biggest one the speed of game play.
It is that demand for better games and hardware to support it that’s one pressure the industry will always face but maybe making the demand easier to keep up with is something we’re always trying to constantly solve but getting things done faster will make them lack the quality they need also for the demands, so it maybe just safer to play the waiting game?
I think they are trying to use everything they can to get one over on their rivals within all companies in the industry, like tools such as the internet and paying for online gaming, new ways to play games through the use of new controllers and new addictive titles etc. I think if they all dropped it and joined together there is literally nothing they can’t achieve, it’s a big dream picture that will now never happen all because it’s being torn apart by new ways of making more profit than each other.
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