Console Predictions


While Rumours of a Playstation 4 and a new Xbox have been surfacing and not surprising as we now know about the Wii U revealed at the last E3 earlier this year in I think June, I am not going to be spreading any rumours haha, but instead I've been thinking about what all of this means and maybe will make some predictions along the way...who knows.. lets start to find out.

Wii U

Nintendo have revealed their Wii U to be the successor to the Nintendo Wii (although in some ways to me it's more like Wii 1.5) so I'd imagine other companies will think about bringing out their own eighth generation console to compete. Although perhaps playstation 3 and Xbox 360 can hold their own against the Wii U? I'd actually imagine so. Their is still a big place for traditional gaming using controllers and the Wii isn't really a promoter of that. But I have heard and fear it may be slightly true that soon or even with the arrival of the Playstation 4, all games will be downloadable only so they won't be stored on physical discs. They did try this with the Psp Go, which didn't seem to do very well and I hope they learned their lesson. We want to buy games from shops! But nintendo as far as I am aware have no plans to scrap purchasing games in this way. Although all 3 main consoles have ways of downloading games, updates etc from their console and/or a shop of some kind which may suggest they are all preparing for the future and the next and final phase is to make all purchase of games done in this manner. Why do I think Nintendo will keep with physical media? I'm not sure really, just a feeling but have you noticed something? The Playstation 3 has smaller cases and consequently manuals than the Playstation 2 (although interestingly before that the playstation 1 had smaller cases than the PS2 so they actually got bigger before getting smaller, but perhaps that's because the playstation 1 was more around the time of CD's and their sized cases and the playstation 2 was of the DVD era and I might be wrong here but Ps2 discs were dvd related?) and I assume this was done by Sony to reduce packaging (under pressure from law, targets to meet etc perhaps) but also costs. Although Microsoft and Nintendo don't seem to be worrying about things like that.... (perhaps the PS3 cost Sony more than they let on...bankrupt Sony...now there's a thought you never thought you'd hear)
Sony's original PSP's of course used UMD's but they were a one of a kind never seen before type of media and also being for a portable console it's natural they would be slightly smaller and thinner although they are a nice size, thin but tall and room for a nice thick manual. (if you live in Europe the reason for the thickness is to accomadate about 300 different languages....now who says we ever discriminate?)

I fear, it may sound very silly but I really think the Wii U will either be a slight disaster or it will be...well not in the Guiness book of records for fastest selling console...but will do relatively well. Perhaps like the 3DS and I don't remember about the Wii but maybe true for that as well, it will take a while for people to actually take notice of it but once they do their sales gain momentum and the rest is history. As long as they don't make Sony's PS3 mistake which they made with the 3DS and sold their new hardware way too expensive. Sure you need to make profits but if no-one can afford it, especially if people are worse off these days, your not going to get any profits. Silly Nintendo. It all depends wether people want what Nintendo is giving, which is another great interactive console! But one that has unique innovative controls and I guess it depends on wether people are ready for that or want more of similar things as it probably will be quite like the Wii to play despite Nintendo wanting to grab "hardcore gamers", we know Nintendo has a reputation as a family friendly company and if I had the mobile number of the President of Nintendo I would tell him to stop trying to change their image...or they may end up with no reputation at all.

But for me, The Choice of Launch games and even perhaps their marketing although slightly less so, will determine the future and success not only of Wii U but of Nintendo itself. I will play all consoles, they all have a great uniqeness about them but I know many who are tied to certain consoles and even companies because of the images both of them have made for themselves or even others have made for them. (through the kinds of games they have which I was hinting about earlier and kind of developer support etc) But Nintendo seem in danger of ruining it all.... I read a statement from a Nintendo President, he might not be president any more but he basically said he realises Nintendo need to branch out to more hard core gamers. No! I said this before when Sony went out and brung out the Playstation Move and Xbox 360 gained the Kinect. (ok they adapted well, I'll give them that, they upgraded their systems to compete with the Wii instead of bringing out a new console and the Kinect and Move do look good but in terms of strategy it's a terrible move) By Nintendo trying to appeal to more gamers.... ok it may sound good..more money..more profits...but no! Nintendo made their image and i'm not sure if they can ever change that but even if they can they'll have to wait till the Wii U to do so. Nintendo are known as the family company and should stick with that, not just because it's a big market but because it's their uniqeness and says exactly what they do best. Halo on the wii? Mario on Playstation 3? Come on. I'm not saying both consoles aren't capable of keeping those games true...well no actually I am. Would we jump up and down in joy if we saw Mario in HD with beautiful, breathtaking, more real than reality water rippling beneath his feet? (and AGAIN, i'm not saying Wii isn't capable of great things, it is) Would we be enthusiastic if a Halo style game was on the Nintendo Wii. Yes and no I guess is my real answer and it's fine if Nintendo want to make some different games or have support from different developers but I am afraid they may do more than that...in a bad way. (Has anyone noticed the classic Dragonball Z setup which defines what I was saying? Dragonball Z games, beat 'em up style (with the exception of dragonball Z budokai Tenkaichi 1/2/3) always appear on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 BUT the adventure style games, like Dragonball: Revenge of King Piccolo and Battle card games like Dragonball Z: Goku Densetsu appear on The Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS) Because that is what they are best at! Play to your strengths and yes in time work on your weakness's if you want to but surely there's enough to be getting on with at the moment. As in the case with Dragonball Z games which are multi-platform we get to experience all kinds of games depending on the console it is on and so we can with all games. So on a similar note, while it seems Video game console developers are trying to give appeal to us with everything they can think of or we can think of, it might not be long until we are actually getting less choice and games even start to look identical, and the consoles that play them do as well and thus no uniqueness anywhere. I hope I am wrong.

Playstation 4

Well it seens a new playstation won't be coming any time soon (can you believe playstation 3 has been out for so many years?!) but you never know. Perhaps they are bluffing and have already finished many prototypes. Maybe they even have warehouses full of consoles all ready to be shipped, lined up like some elite army ready to take on the threat of the Wii U which is set to invade most countries in late 2012. Or perhaps Sony do have consoles ready or concrete plans for one ready but will not act until they see the damage or lack of damage Wii U does to their PS3. Which while may not be true it would make sense. Think about. If you made plans for a console but didn't actually make them, you've not paid anyone to make it yet but you have a design if you really need to and thus you can also adapt/modify that design as you see fit, even steal some ideas of Nintendo's new console if you fancy it.

Xbox 720.

Well at CES Microsoft were keen to say the future of xbox........is Xbox 360! They even had some oh so staged demonstrations of a young girl they roped in and probably didn't even pay, playing with Elmo and friends, showing how certain shows can come into your living room or you can even go into their world. Like you can throw things at Elmo.... Yes....Amazing technology..... No seriously, I'm sure it's fun for children or other people but I did think of a problem. Obviously shows would need to be specially made to be compatible with the interactive features and will vary by show but I listened to the woman with the girl and she made me think of a flaw. She was hinting at the young girl to throw something at Elmo who would catch it on screen. NEEDLESS TO SAY. YOU DO NOT PICK UP ANYTHING! YOU PRETEND TO THROW! Lol I just wanted to stress that point in case people started picking up fruit and throwing it at their T.V. screens hoping it would somehow be absorbed and land majestically in Elmo's beloved Fruit Bowl. (Now that would be awesome technology. Expensive but awesome) So the girl lifted her hands and made a throwing motion and sure enough Elmo caught it. But then the slightly attractive woman said something like "Are you tired? Let's take a break". And so they sat down. Ok your still not getting it are you? Well then after a break they continued. Because they were prompted! Aha! Yep it seems Elmo and friends had been at the Coca-Cola again and wanted the girl to play which nicely brings me to my flaw. You don't get to choose when you stop playing and when you continue, it's all as staged as the whole CES show (who said that). So while it is a good idea, shows need to be designed better (maybe you can pause but they never demonstrated that and I would of thought they would of made a point as they were discussing everthing apart from how shiny a new Xbox is.) because I wondered if that poor girl was getting worn out, I'm sure she has loads of energy..but do you have to see the show through to the end? Ok you can exit the show i'm not denying that but the point is the show was made for a reason, yes it's an interactive show but during the "pauses" it's supposed to become a regular show. So I think this is the danger of mixing interactive elements with shows..aren't shows to watch? I do welcome the idea..but you have to be very careful with it and many adults will just want to watch a show meaning this will be aimed at children more. They could have a feature where you say how interactive you want the show to be, (developers creating different "levels") e.g. one where your jumping up and down nonstop to Elmo and only have a long enough pause to quickly tie your shoelaces, one where you run rampant and then sit down watching funny stuff for 10 minutes and one where you throw random things at Elmo before going back to the sofa every 4 minutes. It is a good idea, and could help keep children and adults together having fun and even keeping fit although not as important has having fun of course and theres nothing better than the great outdoors, but I do think it has it's uses...just a little more thinking on it first please Microsoft and related developers.