Today’s gaming world seems to have taken something of a turn
for the worse, in order to properly analyze the climate of the current digital
entertainment market it is important to first look back to our routes.
In my own case, I remember being a small child not much
older than six or seven years of age when I first played the Sony PlayStation 2.
I am able to recall it being a machine used to play video games and something
that gave me hours of unique entertainment and enjoyment through a number of
games. Back then I found that it was much simpler, I could put a game in and
simply play it, be able to enjoy what the game could offer as a result of the
platform capabilities. When I look at today I find that console gaming is much
more frustrating and even PC gaming comes with the requirement of technical
knowledge. Much of this could be down to the fact that I am now much older and
therefore able to perceive the inner workings of a console and its sales, but
at the same time much of it could be down to the methods in which they are made
and marketed.
The idea of a console is to be an affordable way to enjoy
high spec video games, and to make it much simpler to do so. What I mean by
this is that a console would come complete with its own high end computer
hardware and unique operating system, bios, firmware and drivers which are all
designed to handle the complicated stuff for the user. By doing this one could
simply turn it on, put in a disk and play the game through a relatively simply
GUI. But in our days consoles seem to be just as bad as PC’s in the sense that
if you don’t have a vast understanding of computer hardware and software, you
could ultimately fall short of buying the best evaluable product. I give an example;
it was with the original Sony PlayStation 3, if you were not ‘computer savvy’
you would fail to notice that the form structure and coolant methods were
unable to sustain such a high end processor and graphics card, and ultimately resulted
in the machine overheating and melting vital soldering on the chipboards. The
underlining point being if you weren’t aware of certain form structure concepts
like ATX or Micro ATX you would fail to notice this problem and potentially end
up with a broken console. This was something of a bad example as it was
specific to the physical design, so I venture a second for good measure. The
Xbox 360 had a firmware problem which resulted in the now famous ‘red rings of
death’ which would cripple the machine and render it useless.
Such massive problems like this were never
present with the 6th gen or any generation before that. Obviously
these problems have now been accounted for, but it seems that in order to get
the most for your money you must have to keep track of the various advantages
and disadvantages to each available option. One of the best things about the
PS2 was that I only chose it over and Xbox or Game Cube because it looked far
cooler in my book. This argument renders the debate of ‘which console is better’
void, as I find that I am worrying less about which console is more capable for
the hard processing requirements, and more about which console will last the
longest before it craps out on me. This is odd when considering how I have an
original PlayStation 2 that has outlasted two PlayStation 3’s and an Xbox 360.
This raises the question, are we building them wrong? Many
could say that the strengths in consoles is mainly down to the more modern line
ups due to advanced graphics, gameplay parameters, and multimedia housing and
sharing. But I say that all of that is worthless if the console can be
outlasted by a much older and much simpler design. I write this with the goal
of getting my point across on whether or not console gaming is even a
worthwhile commodity anymore, this being a topic that has been brought to my
attention with the arrival of the frankly disappointing 8th gen line
up.
When I look at a console today I find that it is less about
the cool games that it can house and more a showcase of advancements in modern
computer technology. I am already well aware that new form structures, chipsets
and concepts are being devised in order to make bigger and better computer
components, so I do not need it showcased with a console that I only want for
the sake of gaming. That said I know that computer advancement is something of an
inevitability with gaming, as it always has been. But I find that people are
now more interested in things like one console having slightly more central
processing power than another, and for what reason? Surely if someone cared
that much about performance, to the point where he/she hinges on the tiniest
details, this individual would consider an investment in a performance PC to be
worthwhile? All I can realistically see
as an explanation; is that big brand names like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony
have been around now long enough for people to grow attached and form loyalties
as consumers and therefore wage verbal wars with each other online in an
attempt to protect their beloved corporate saviors.
If this observation of
mine is accurate, I do find it a little worrying that people can so easily fall
victim to marketing hype, but then that is more of a representation of a
failing education system that a failing gaming market.
With all of the above considered I find that the judgement
boils down to two essential qualities specific to consoles. The first being;
that a console in our days (PS2 onward) should be a lot cheaper than a PC but
with near the same capabilities. When looking at the 8th gen soon to
be realised, with starting estimates of £600 per unit, and considering how they
will also be more expensive than the 7th gen units, the price seems
too high for it to be classed as an ‘affordable alternative’. And I imagine that
prices would only increase from there with every generation, meaning that the 9th
gen could be even more. As for the same
price one could buy a decent PC, and upgrade it over a year or two from afterwards
for the same amount it would cost of Xbox Live membership and digital
distribution purchase, or hell even with buying a new one when the console
breaks. The second being; that a console should be simpler and easier to
operate, with less high tech computer know how required from an average user
than with a PC. And in regards to this I find that consoles are so much like PC’S
they may as well exist in the same spectrum, as with each new generation a more
vast understanding is required for sustained use. With the greats like the NES
and the PS2 I didn’t have to know shit about the ins and outs of gaming, but
now it seems that if I don’t study up and learn I will end up wasting more
money than I can afford to. Luckily I am already well educated and
professionally advancing through this field, so it is no hindrance for me, but
to others this is something of a problem.
As console line ups can no longer meet these two
requirements, what is the point of them? It isn’t like they can get through
just on their controllers, especially when PC literally has unlimited input
methods. What it comes down to is that there is no point to a console anymore,
not now that they fail to meet those requirements, and not now that a PC can do
it better anyway.
So is this the end? Well, possibly. The 8th gen
could well be the end of console gaming, which wouldn’t be a massive loss now
that consoles have clearly made what I would call a turn for the worst. But
luckily I do find that there is some good news to this, as without consoles
people will turn to PC gaming, and with all the demand, companies like ‘NVIDIA’
and ‘RAZOR’ will thrive. The more people who buy from PC specific companies
like this, the cheaper the unit costs become, as these companies buy in bulk
and can therefore afford to lower their prices for such high demand. Making PC
gaming; cheaper and easier, so in a way; thank you 8th gen.
Thank you for reading and i hope you have enjoyed what i have to say on the subject, if you would like to give any feedback or opinions in regards to the subject matter you can contact me at Twitter via the link below.
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