Is the Dark Age of Console Gaming upon us?
I know what you’re thinking. Here is yet another “doom and gloom” blog post about what has come to pass with the Xbox Reveal event that happened this week. I wasn’t lucky enough to catch the event (given I was working at the time) but I did gleam, gather and read up on all the known (and speculated) facts of Microsoft’s new console: The Xbox One. If anything I have to say that at least Microsoft actually showed us an actual console, unlike what Nintendo and Sony did during their big reveals. So I do give them points for that aspect of the xbox reveal event. The rest though was a mixed bag for me.
After seeing the actual event I couldn’t but think that this new console seemed to be gauged toward the causal users than actual gamers as a whole. Perhaps it was because they showed us more aspects of the system that was devoted toward multimedia functions than actual gaming. Indeed the reveal was more centered on what the system could do that enhance the multimedia experience. Voice activation, Kinnect II commands, multitasking on the fly, integrated skype calling, enhanced TV functionality, the whole thing started to give me a Roku feeling when I learned all of this.
So unlike most gamers out there I wanted to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and figure we’d learn more about the gaming aspects of this new system at E3. Sure they gave us SOMETHING to remind us this system could also play games. But that wasn’t the thing that stuck in my mind after all was said and done. No, what stuck in my mind wasn’t the snafu about how the system would handle gaming, it wasn’t the talk about cloud process computing, it wasn’t even about the new Kinnect requirements, but what stuck in my mind the most, what I got waking away from all of this, was the very thought that is the title of this blog: The “PC”ing of our gaming consoles has begun. And if the current console generation is any indication, none of this should be the least bit surprising to ANYONE.
Allow me to clarify.
We’ve already seen some aspects of “PC”ing (and no, the “PC” doesn’t mean “Political Correctness” but meaning consoles being built/functioning like a traditional Personal Computer) already starting to creep into consoles when we were introduced to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Here are a few examples:
Day One patches and game updates are now the norm these days with our current systems. Yet it was bad enough that some games released on both systems required a mandatory install just for the games to run on these systems. Sure we had a handful of games that made a hard drive install an optional choice, if only to help with the game’s load times/have better graphics but these days the optional choice is slowly no longer an option. All that was missing from this formula was the game to fully install on our hard drives and require an access key like a PC game.
DRM and online verification was quietly used when we downloaded digital games from XBLA and PSN respectively. Depending how the specific system handled it, the game was either tied to the systems’ hard drive, the system itself and/or the person’s gamertag/screen name account. I can’t recall how many times I had to bring my whole console(s) to family get-togethers if we wanted to play a certain XBLA/PSN titles because my game downloads were tied to my hard drive/system. It didn’t matter if I was able to plug my hard drive into my bro’s Xbox and log into my gamertag, the system would still convert them to game demos since my brother’s system wasn’t connected to the internet. And forget trying to install my PSN screen name on a different Playstaion 3 despite originally having the option to have your screen name on five different systems (Now lowered to 2), the time it took to download a title from your download queue you’d be better off just lugging your system to your gaming destination. All that was missing was a secondary program running in the background, or a full-fledged system running in the foreground, to connect to the internet and auto verify that the games I bought were still installed to the system I downloaded them into and used the same gamertag/screen name account that was assigned to them, almost like a PC!
We saw the introduction of full on downloadable content being offered to us gamers as an added new feature to help enhanced our games. The adventure didn’t have to stop at the end of the game! We could be given more with additional missions, side quests, extra items and/or different modes of play. We were no longer limited to what was offered on the game disc we bought. We were able to expand our horizons with what DLC had to offering. New levels, new multiplayer maps, episodic content! We didn’t even have to BUY a certain game anymore if we wanted to. Instead we were offered “free to play” game like XBL’s “Happy Wars” or PSN’s “EVE: DUST 514” and could decide to expand our gaming experience with the use of microtransactions, you know just like on PC!
We saw the push for our consoles to be connected to the internet. If not only for online multiplayer games that raised the bar in console gaming interaction, but so that we could enjoy other features that no other system has ever experienced before. We could now rent and buy movies, tv shows and songs right off the digital marketplace. We could send and receive limited voice and emails on these systems. And with the right programs we could see each other on screen and voice chat with the respective headset and webcam peripherals. We saw the advent of Facebook and Twitter account integrations as well as apps to your favorite websites like YouTube along with web browser functionality. And when streaming services became available we were able to listen to music and watch old movies/TV shows right off the net, once again almost like a PC!
Noticing a pattern everybody?
Even looking at the system builds of these systems one can see they have more in common with PC builds than with gaming consoles of old. Sony had done away with cell processing and has moved on to an x86-64 chip instruction set while Microsoft is doing the same and upping the core-count. Sure they still have their on GPU’s and thus the heart of a gaming console, yet in the process in creating these new generation systems they’ve ended up losing their SOULS as gaming consoles.
So to answer the question if this mean the Dark Age of console gaming will soon be upon us, I have to give a resounding “Maybe”.
Oddly I find myself saying this since I’m willing to give these new systems the benefit of the doubt till E3 later in June. I’m able to do this because despite all the signs pointing to the “PC”ing of our gaming consoles, there are still a lot of unknowns to be answered. Despite the Playstation 4 being built like it is, the focus of the system still seems to be toward the aspect of gaming. During Sony’s reveal they did show us the new way to play games with a touchpad controller and better ways to share games with the “share” button. They are even revamping PSN to make it more like a social network, far more than what was offered on Xbox Live. And despite the kinnect II being “always on” even when the system is off, there are ways to circumvent that. And with so much confusion being said on what will become of the “constant-on” aspect of the Xbox One, along with the contradicting statements made on the used game issue with BOTH systems leaves some hope that perhaps all that was mentioning may not be the final solution.
But then again both systems are not backwards compatible with their previous game system software offerings, along with their digital releases…..
Perhaps that’s the one good thing that might come out of our gaming consoles being “PC”ed. We have yet to see an emulation program to be released on them, much like current PC’s. It will only be a matter of time to see if the consoles of the future are the consoles we were truly meant to have. By all indications from the last gaming generation that seems to be the case. Did not people bemoan how our consoles were severally aged and were in need of an update? Did not people originally declare that PC gaming was dead, only to see it not only survive but flourish? Did not PC gamers say console gamers were only limiting themselves given the raw power a PC could offering in gaming goodness? Who knows! Perhaps things will work themselves out by the time E3 comes around. Perhaps Microsoft and Sony will realize the error in their ways and try to make nice with core gamers of the world. Perhaps they’ll see that they can have all the strengths that PC gaming has to offering and remove the potential weaknesses.
But if they do not, and indeed what we have seen during the reveals is what is to be expected in the coming console generation, I only ask that we try to do our best to hold down the ranting and raving about how this isn’t want we wanted. That this was not what we were expecting. That no one in the gaming world asked for this, because from all indications of the last gaming generation seems to say otherwise. I can’t help but be reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies that seems to answer the question on why gamers got what we got with the PS4 and recent Xbox One reveals. It’s seems fitting to end this blog with that quote. Hopefully the irony won’t be lost to anyone.
“How did this happen? Who's to blame? Certainly there are those who are more responsible than others. And they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty you need only look into a mirror.” – V.
Ta-ta
“N”
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