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Next Gen - Are we there yet? /moan

Published: Thu 30 Oct, 2008 | 24 Comments
Tags: Sunshine, Moonlight, Goodtimes, boogie

 

OK, first blog in a while – and while my timing is ironically around the Gears of War 2 competition, it has nothing to do with that.

 

The above is a lie. Its ALL about GoW2.

 

Anywho – the topic of my blog today will not be about ‘Hi Im Uber and heres a short list of games I like just to get above the word limit’. No – today Id like to ask the question as to whether we have truly reached the ‘Next-Gen’ yet.

 

In my opinion – no. How far have we actually come since the PS2 and Xbox?

 

The only game at the moment that seems to come close to next gen is LittleBigPlanet – and that’s only based on what Ive seen and read. Obviously haven’t played it. But it looks like something that’s truly original and pushing the perceived boundy of what is possible with these machines.

 

LBP looks less like a game and more like Lego for ‘grown ups’. I haven’t heard a thing about a story or anything like that. Its all ‘user created content’ this and ‘ZOMG Sackboy Nariko!’ that. But the point is, developers have given players a whole bunch of tools and some pretty graphics and basically said ‘Go wild!’

 

Which kind of puts it in this weird space where your enjoyment of the game comes from what you do…not what the developer has done. If that makes sense. So, essentially if you don’t enjoy it –its your fault for being as creative as Michael Cullen with the Budget.

 

 

But I digress. It at least looks like something new and exciting. Not another Space Marine FPS. Not another JRPG with a young male lead that’s actually written and rendered like a chick. Not Madden 2078.

 

At this stage one could be forgiven for thinking Next Gen = pretty graphics and playing online against racist little pricks in Texas.

 

And I know Wii isn’t technically next gen…but its barely last gen. Hell, anyone else play Lock On about 10-15 years ago? Same thing – but with people. But really, those that enjoy Wii aren’t those looking to push the boundry anyways. Preferring to play Mario, Zelda and maybe a couple other surprise titles each year. Plus, you know, when they’re all grown up – we’ll be up to the PS7 and Xbox1080.

 

 

Another thing Im not a huge fan of is that these days we seem to be getting games that are released as a ‘work in progress’. What I mean is with the reliance on Online features, and with developers having to hit the crazy deadlines – we get games that are maybe 90% done…or need a truck load more testing. We essentially become the paying testers for games to help find bugs until they ‘patch it’. That’s moving a bit too close to PC gaming for my liking. Maybe if so many games weren’t fundamentally broken it wouldn’t be an issue.

 

So, what Im trying to say is – are we expecting too much from this Gen? Should we just accept pretty graphics in hope that some titles might arrive that are truly unique? Im not complaining at all. Hell, Ive got waaaaay too many games on pre-order to say Im not enjoying whats out there. Just something to think about. And fire some games below that you think are Next Gen.

 

Now Im off to play some more Fable 2 and give the thumbs up to some chick 12 times – which apparently will get me laid – and hope I don’t hit another game breaking bug that wasn’t found – at least the sunset looks pretty…next gen baby.

 

 

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