Page 1 of Anybody else plotting to stay a generation behind from now on?

I dunno....

I got myself an Xbox (original) not too long ago, May iirc, after owning a PS2 and a Gamecube, and I love it. It pretty much does everything I could ever want from a games system. It`s got GTA and PES, I`m just starting to get into Halo, I`m still loving up Burnout 3 etc, and everything looks so lush on it. Particularly after the PS2. And it`s got me really thinking about whether or not it`s going to be worth "upgrading" to the 360/Wii/PS3 in the future.

I mean, especially when I look at the 360, there really doesn`t seem to be anything on it which I`m interested in. Microsoft seem to be putting all their emphasis and efforts into the online side of things, and that`s just something I really don`t care for at all. Not one bit. With the original Xbox, online was very much optional, but with the 360 it`s clear that MS are really pushing for you to get into it. And what the Lumines debacle/sh*tstorm this week, it just about confirms my worst fears regards online and videogaming. And Sony look set to be following this business model with the PS3.

There`s always Nintendo of course, but after the GC mess I`m not sure I care anymore for Zelda, Mario and the like. I hardly play my DS, and I`ve just about sold off my entire Nintendo collection.

So, that`s me. The next gen is looking really unappealing as far as I`m concerned, so I may be "stuck" with my Xbox for quite some time yet. And if that does happen, I can see me either staying a generation behind for the foreseeable future, or just never bothering again. Only a console return for Sega could possibly get my attention now!

Sorry for the long, miserable post. Am I alone in all this? I can`t help feeling that videogaming`s future is looking a bit unsure. Could we be close to witnessing another crash? I really feel it`s on it`s way...

nah, I`m a gadget whore so as soon as some games come out that I must have in HD I`ll be getting them on 360 :D

But you`re the smart one. Stay a generation behind, spend very little and get a lot.

I got my original PlayStation shirtly after launch,

Generation after that I waited until a year after XBox and GC were out and got a GC. I was still happily playing PSOne games, I got Tony Hawk 3 and4 for it, it was only when I saw that running on a 360 and could see the difference in the same levels I thought I`d upgrade, well that and my mate was flogging his GC cheap, made up my mind, i was still working out which of the 3 to get.

That`s the good thing about waiting, you can pick up some early AAA titles so cheaply for XBox, PS2, and GC I`m in no need to rush.

I`ll do same as last time, wait till all 3 are out, and have been for a while, then make an informed decision, `cos I`ll only get 1. At the mo Wii looks most tempting.

Al

I got an Xbox about a year and a half ago, and like Mark, it pretty much covers all my needs.

I was in Virgin over the weekend and saw some kids playing Lego Star Wars on the 360, and can`t say it blew me away.

And i too am extremely put off by online gaming with a console. I`m sure if i got into it i`d love it, but the prospect of a monthly subscription fee on top pf the exorbitant cost of new games is not appealing

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Am I alone in all this?

No. I bought a 360 several months after all my gaming friends and I`ve been pretty underwhelmed since. It`s the only console I currently use so i can`t comment on the others but I think there`s very little to get excited about.

The games industry is like mainstream Hollywood now. Originality and creativity are strangled at birth and replaced by yes-man development teams with 3D modelling packages churning out the same recycled `safe` product that, they assure us, is what gamers want. Look at some of the next big things on the horizon - you`ve got Gears of War, and you only have to watch a few of the videos of that doing the rounds to see how limited the gameplay is; it`s 10-year old Quake in higher definition and with more blood, but it`ll sell by the bucketload because of the hype and the gore; Call of Duty 3 - the 3 is a bit of a giveaway, it`ll be virtually the same as CoD2 with sharper graphics and a potentially rubbish melee attack; Rainbow 6 Vegas, which looks the same as all the other ones; two more football data discs masquerading as new games, and even though it won`t see the light of day till the end of next year, the over-hyped Halo fanboys are already dribbling at the prospect of the next in that franchise.

It wouldn`t be so bad if games developers actually knew how to get the most out of the live service. Even now, years after its launch, Xbox live is still plagued by games not working properly until they`re patched, if at all. Add to that the dubious practice of selling partial games and putting additional content on marketplace. Tiger Woods 07 for instance has unlockables you can only get by parting with more cash, others you can buy instead of playing the game properly. Fair enough the gamer doesn`t have to buy them, but every one that does is lining the pockets of Electronic Arts - who are laughing all the way to the bank because they have the only golf game on the 360 and if they get their way will buy up all the other licences too. It`s the tip of a huge, nasty iceberg.

So no, you`re not alone. I`ve been playing games for decades, and I`ll carry on doing it for the simple reason I`m a games fan; but the market stinks, it`s all graphics, hype and graphics, and screw the gamers.

Rant over.

This item was edited on Sunday, 22nd October 2006, 16:04

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I was in Virgin over the weekend and saw some kids playing Lego Star Wars on the 360, and can`t say it blew me away. Thats hardly a game to demonstrate the 360 on. In fact its well known that the 360 version offers very little difference, in terms of image quality, compared to all the other releases. Basically they made a lazy job of porting the game onto a next-gen system.

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Look at some of the next big things on the horizon - you`ve got Gears of War, and you only have to watch a few of the videos of that doing the rounds to see how limited the gameplay is; it`s 10-year old Quake in higher definition and with more blood, but it`ll sell by the bucketload because of the hype and the gore


Funny you should highlight this game. I`ve heard a lot about it from a 360 owning mate at work who thinks it`ll revolutionize gaming, yet when I saw it on GamerTV it looked like it had loads of problems. That`s not to mention it`s utterly derivative nature. I was left really unimpressed by the thing, and it certainly wouldn`t make me buy a 360. But then, there`s so much baggage with Microsoft isn`t there? Like this...

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Even now, years after its launch, Xbox live is still plagued by games not working properly until they`re patched, if at all. Add to that the dubious practice of selling partial games and putting additional content on marketplace.

It seems this week has been crucial in the life of Xbox Live as the "future of gaming". I don`t like it, mostly because it`s so open to abuse from publishers, and also other users are prone to spoiling it too from what I gather. I reckon it`s only going to get worse as gamers "accept" it as the norm, and then you`re stuck with it. As Arf so rightly says:

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It`s the tip of a huge, nasty iceberg.

I just feel that the games companies are starting to dictate what we want, rather than actually giving us what we want. Too much credence is given to what tops the charts. Licensed crap may sell extraordinarily well, but without real heart at the future of gaming, the long term doesn`t look good. It`s funny to me how Okami looks light years ahead of any Xbox360 title out now. It`s funny to me how there`s no room for something as beautiful as Shenmue these days. Where are the artists? The genuine innovators? I`m not sure a wavy controller is going to make gaming any more innovative.

I mention Shenmue again, though I`m fully aware many of you hate the thing. And I respect that, though I don`t share in it. Shenmue to me was a real pinnacle in gaming achievement. I don`t think I`ve ever been so utterly immersed in someone else`s...well...life in a game before. It wasn`t online, or even an especially long game, but I`ve never played anything like it either before or since. Gaming needs artists that understand what to do to encourage these feelings when playing a game. Not everything has to be kill, blast, death, kill, blast, death. Gaming has so much to offer beyond these things, but unfortunately Arf`s right again when he says:

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The games industry is like mainstream Hollywood now.

It`s run solely to appeal to the lowest common denominator. That`s where the money is after all.

Sorry again for the long rant.

To be honest I think its difficult for anyone to comment without playing a variety of the best titles on the Xbox 360. I`ve been hugely impressed with it since buying it.

I`m to a gadget whore too :/

Although because I don`t really play games the idea is to pick up a load of older 360games when they are on sale after christmas. Then they can sit on the shelf and gather dust for a while :/

My DVD collection

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue."

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And it`s got me really thinking about whether or not it`s going to be worth "upgrading" to the 360/Wii/PS3 in the future.

Well, its all relative. I mean, you went from a system with no games on it, to one with loads, so, I mean, thats an upgrade. My mate has now got a 5 year old who plays on his old PS1. He loves it and its an upgrade from his junior leapfrog console. If you dont want better games, fair enough, but the fact that you havent bothered to look into it properly doesnt make it true.

I played pretty much every decent game on the Xbox and bought my 360, pretty much, when they stopped releasing AAA titles. The problem is, people expect the `Next gen` to fire rainbows out of its arse and be the next gaming epoch. It wont be. It will be the same as now but with better graphics, physics and AI.

Next gen is just a retarded buzzword, made up by marketing men in suits and it can only lead to dissapointment by the idiots who buy into it.

I mean, take the f***ing platforms on their relative merits. If the 360 doesnt have games that appeal to you, fair enough. Its the 360, not `TEH NEXT GEN!!!`. It doesnt reflect on the Wii or the PS3.

I mean, for me, I had exhausted the Xbox and saw some excellent games coming out on the 360. Dead Rising, for example can have up to 800 zombies on the screen at once, something impossible on previous gens. Test Drive unlimited has an enormous, persistant island that you can find people racing round at all times of the day, you can fight perpetual, persistant wars on Chromehounds...........I mean, I got a 1500 hit combination on Ninety Nine Nights a few weeks ago because its capable of generating literally thousands of enemies on the screen at once and as I stated in another post, PES is supposed to be better on the 360 as the graphics make the game more immersive.

Basically, the problem is, debates like this are started by people who want to justify not upgrading to themselves. I have no problem with that, to be honest, but it is just like everything that people comment on without trying. The fact is, there are great games on the 360, there are great ones coming up. If you dont like the look of them, fair enough, but im damn sure the PS3 or the Wii will give you something to whet your appetite. Dismissing a whole console generation, just because you are happy playing old Xbox games is pretty dumb. No offence ;) I mean, Super Mario Galaxy looks absolutely fabulous. Im sure that a lot of the games will be enough to melt the hardest nintendo heart. Just go to youtube, type wii and prepare to change your mind. Honestly, I mean that. Even my irational hatred of Nintendo melts when I see someone reeling in a fish with the wand on zelda.....

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I just feel that the games companies are starting to dictate what we want, rather than actually giving us what we want. Too much credence is given to what tops the charts. Licensed crap may sell extraordinarily well, but without real heart at the future of gaming, the long term doesn`t look good.

Well, thats just the thing. You say companies are starting to dictate what we want, but then saying licensed crap sells extraordinarily well. There is a reason for that. People want it. If people didnt buy an incarnation of FIFA every year, then they would stop releasing them. No one forces the mass market to buy this stuff.

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It`s funny to me how Okami looks light years ahead of any Xbox360 title out now.

Its because Okami uses cell shaded graphics which makes it look good and saves system resources. The fact that you say that clearly shows you havent even really looked into the 360. Project Gotham racing on an HD TV looks almost photorealistic, for example.

To follow suit, sorry about the rant, but this type of thing really does annoy me. Just because people appear to arbitrarily decide that a platform has nothing to offer, doesnt actually make it true. A problem which is also largely down to the marketing men when things dont measure up to the god like NEXT GEN!!!!!!! we are supposed to be witnessing.

This item was edited on Monday, 23rd October 2006, 10:13