Wednesday, February 02, 2005
The Future Of Gaming - Part I
So last night I had a chat with my woman about video games - and it allowed me to sort out some of my thoughts leading up to E3 (which I think is in May - pardon my ignorance)
Anyway, here's what's up.
Nintendo has been saying for quite some time now that they are going to be at E3 with their a new console system - rumored to be called the "Revolution".
Recently Sony committed to showcasing their new system, the PlayStation 3 at E3 this year as well. Not to be outdone, Microsoft followed suit the same day.
So now we've got all three major players in the next round of console gaming showing up at E3 THIS YEAR.
While this may not seem significant (after all, these things seem to happen in "generations" with all systems being of approx equal power and being available at approx the same time) I think this will be a very significant happening.
What's most notable from the outside is the technology. Sony's intent with the PS2 was to create a machine that would not be surpassed in power for quite some time, so that it could enjoy the same type of longevity it did with the PSX. I forgot what the interval was, but in something like a year after the PS2 was released, the XBox came out, essentially bringing PC gaming (hard drive saving and memory swapping, PC style busses and memory architectures and graphics systems) making development fast (because let's face it, these things are developed using PCs, so it makes sense that the closer to PCs you make your system, the less work there is in "transcribing" it, whatever form that might take) and making the PS2 old news in terms of capabilities.
So now Sony's pissed. They very quickly got something going with IBM and Toshiba and created the Cell Processor to make every other type of console technology obsolete, and make Sony the crown jewel of gaming technology once again.
And then Microsoft signed up to buy ~50 million of them (Cell processors). As I understand it.
So the XBox Next and the PS3 are both going to be based on this new Cell technology, which has the potential to not only change gaming technology (which it will surely do) but also to change many other types of technology as well. (the article linked to above suggests that it may take over as the dominant PC processor - scary!)
Meanwhile, Nintendo says that Sony and Microsoft are going at this the wrong way. They say that more/faster processing and greater capability is not the way to add value to the gaming experience (which is pretty much what Sony is up to, and DEFINITELY what the XBox guys are going for)
Nintendo says that the future of gaming is all about incorportating NEW elements to the experience, not simply making the same experience we've already got go faster and look more real. That is the philosophy that begat the second screen on the DS that is also a touch screen - that thing will have many many uses, and is a great example of incorporating existing technology into the gaming experience in ways that haven't been explored before. One of the things I've heard about the revolution is that the controllers will be motion sensitive!
Anyway, here's what's up.
Nintendo has been saying for quite some time now that they are going to be at E3 with their a new console system - rumored to be called the "Revolution".
Recently Sony committed to showcasing their new system, the PlayStation 3 at E3 this year as well. Not to be outdone, Microsoft followed suit the same day.
So now we've got all three major players in the next round of console gaming showing up at E3 THIS YEAR.
While this may not seem significant (after all, these things seem to happen in "generations" with all systems being of approx equal power and being available at approx the same time) I think this will be a very significant happening.
What's most notable from the outside is the technology. Sony's intent with the PS2 was to create a machine that would not be surpassed in power for quite some time, so that it could enjoy the same type of longevity it did with the PSX. I forgot what the interval was, but in something like a year after the PS2 was released, the XBox came out, essentially bringing PC gaming (hard drive saving and memory swapping, PC style busses and memory architectures and graphics systems) making development fast (because let's face it, these things are developed using PCs, so it makes sense that the closer to PCs you make your system, the less work there is in "transcribing" it, whatever form that might take) and making the PS2 old news in terms of capabilities.
So now Sony's pissed. They very quickly got something going with IBM and Toshiba and created the Cell Processor to make every other type of console technology obsolete, and make Sony the crown jewel of gaming technology once again.
And then Microsoft signed up to buy ~50 million of them (Cell processors). As I understand it.
So the XBox Next and the PS3 are both going to be based on this new Cell technology, which has the potential to not only change gaming technology (which it will surely do) but also to change many other types of technology as well. (the article linked to above suggests that it may take over as the dominant PC processor - scary!)
Meanwhile, Nintendo says that Sony and Microsoft are going at this the wrong way. They say that more/faster processing and greater capability is not the way to add value to the gaming experience (which is pretty much what Sony is up to, and DEFINITELY what the XBox guys are going for)
Nintendo says that the future of gaming is all about incorportating NEW elements to the experience, not simply making the same experience we've already got go faster and look more real. That is the philosophy that begat the second screen on the DS that is also a touch screen - that thing will have many many uses, and is a great example of incorporating existing technology into the gaming experience in ways that haven't been explored before. One of the things I've heard about the revolution is that the controllers will be motion sensitive!
