I hope this blog finds you well, its been a good while since I wrote up my last gaming/personal blog here at GiantBomb.com and I have a few reasons for that. One, I've been busy playing a good few games of late so when I have had the time to write they have been in the form of reviews or previews and two, well I haven't been doing to well with my Arthritis these past two weeks so my mind as been occupied with that. Anyway, as I may have said previously I only like to do a gaming blog on matters that need discussing and today I have a good mix of topics. First of all I'll be discussing the matter of all this 'Next Generation' console talk currently hitting the gaming media. It seems theres a lot of Halo 4 talk going about and whose actually developing the game and if it is actually being developed for some brand new Microsoft hardware we haven't seen yet. I'll also be taking a look at Playstation HOME and give my own personal view on it as we hopefully get nearer its launch sometime this year.
THE NEXT NEXT GENERATION OF CONSOLE.... ALL A LITTLE TOO SOON!
So as you may have read these past few weeks, there as been some talk about the possibility of the next generation of consoles revealing themselves in the very near future. Well at least from Microsoft's end there is. A lot of this talk seems to have appeared from rumours concerning Microsoft's much loved Halo series originally created and developed by Bungie Studios. But what's next you ask for this money making console FPS? well if you are like me and thought the series had seen its end you must have been as dumb as a very poorly designed doornail as it appears Microsoft still want to see Halo games (of all forms I suspect) hitting the gaming market in the years to come. Of course we all know about the surprisingly unhyped Halo Wars hitting XBOX 360 and PC sometime first quarter 2009. But after the somewhat dispointing Halo 3 Single Player Experience we shouldn't be trully surprised to hear that Microsoft are looking to continue the series and see it launch their brand new console sometime in the coming years. But the question on the media's lips is who would be developing the next installment in this hugely successful (both financially and critically) series of games. Of course Bungie Studios are understandly off to make other games and I can't blame them. I enjoyed Halo 3, but it was painfully clear that Bungie wanted to start something new and fresh then do yet another Halo game. So it makes perfect sense that Microsoft would look to some solid studios who would simply jump and even kill to get their hands on an I.P like Halo with its huge fanbase. Early rumours were stating that Gearbox Software were developing the game for a brand new console for Microsoft. In fact to be fair these rumours concerning Gearbox Software and something 'Huge' have been around for a good while now so its no surprise that the media put one and one together to get a news article where they could finally put up that picture of Randy Pitchford as a Halo soldier wannabe. Randy Pitchford.... Prepared for Battle!
I will admit that I'm a big fan of Gearbox Software and there games. Especially their Brothers in Arms series which in my own personal opinion is one of the most underated and underappriated franchises currently in gaming. Everyone seems to think that because it's set in World War Two, it would be some same old FPS game and they don't look at the fantastic Brotherhood storyline Gearbox are telling with the series and the fantastic gameplay on offer. Anyway, so the rumours began that this 'huge' game being developed by Gearbox Software was indeed Halo 4 for Microsoft's new XBOX. Whatever Microsoft are going to call their new system is for future discussion but already rumours are circulating that big M's recent ownership of the trademark 'XBOX PURE' as lead many to believe that this is infact a new name for this so called new XBOX system. Of course its to be expected that Microsoft are working on a new system for the next generation of consoles, the same can be said for Nintendo and Sony who I'm sure are hard at work right at this moment developing new hardware. Its how gaming consoles have grown over the many years and I don't see why it should be any different. But the big question as to be asked, are we ready for a new console generation?
My own personal opinion is a big fat NO! simply because it still feels as if there is so much more to come from the currently avaliable consoles on the market. I guess its understandable that Microsoft's future consoles are the first to be rumoured and discussed considering they were the first to launch a brand new console in this current generation with the XBOX 360 which was launched in 2005. But even with that it still feels a little to soon in my view. Plus, the all important costs of these consoles must be considered when talking about future consoles. There are still many folk out there who simply can't afford the consoles currently avaliable and for those that did purchase them, are still feeling the burn in their wallets from the overall cost. I know for a fact that I paid over the odds for both my Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii but I still don't regret purchasing either as both clearly have a long live cycle in them and thats where this debate gets a little tricky.
Sony famously predicted a 10 year life cycle for their Playstation 3 system, now I agree with them to a certain degree. I do infact believe that this current generation of consoles still have a lot to offer us and I'm pretty sure a lot of developers would agree with that to. Its a gamers nature to want to discuss the future of gaming so these types of rumours are to expected. But it still feels as if there is so much we still haven't seen from the consoles of this generation. The Wii is still yet to meet its ambition for perfect motion controlled gaming and there all sorts of the PS3 we have yet to see to its full potential. Its only this past year or so that the XBOX 360 as started to show its limitations with the most recent discussion being about id's RAGE Engine that will appear on the 360 console next year if all goes to plan. id have stated that the 360 is holding its RAGE Engine back and that the game will have to be distributed on two disks due to the 360's limited Harddrive space. Now you maybe thinking ''but can't you upgrade the 360's harddrive?'' and you'd be right. But of course you have take into account that not everyone as upgraded their harddrive due to the expense of doing so. For example, I payed £60 for a 320GB HDD for my Playstation 3 console yet I at to pay over £100 for Microsoft's 120GB HDD. Currently, there are still many gamers using the original 8GB HDD found on most 360 consoles nowadays.
All of this means that at one point in the future a turning point will be made where the 'next generation' will come into focus, possibly for all three of the major companies. Even if Sony might not be ready to discuss a Playstation 4 I suspect Microsoft will force them to discuss it with whatever they unveil in the years or so to come. Of course its also important to remember that games consoles take time to be developed and most commonly find a year later release from first being showed to the outside world. Its possible that next year we could see the first signs of the advertising bandwagon from Microsoft as they get set to show the world whats next for the 360 fanbase and the gaming media alike. I do honestly believe it will be Microsoft who will be the first to unveil a future console, I was never totally sure if they felt the same about their console as Sony feel about theirs. I don't believe Microsoft see a 10 year life cycle in the 360 at all, though I'm sure it will still sell well even after the launch of a future console due to its solid mixture of titles avaliable for the system. There are already signs of this happening with the recent 360 price-cuts around the world, though I'm still not sure if I am ready for the next generation of consoles. I'm not even sure if I'm ready to talk about the next generation of consoles, even though I'm doing so now! But Gaming being as big as it as ever been, who knows what the future might show? so many questions are to be answered, but I'm not totally sure that I want the answers just yet.
SONY WANT YOU TO FEEL AT HOME ON THE PLAYSTATION 3!
Remember Playstation HOME, you probably do but not for the right reasons I suspect. Sony's much hyped new virtual world is still yet to be released despite being in Beta for what feels like an enternal lifetime. Despite being in development since 2005 it might not surprise many when I say that its got a huge possibility of falling flat on its face. Simple fact is Playstation HOME is a huge risk for Sony, but the question is if the risk is worth it? I think so, Sony are desperate to make their console different to current competitors on the market and when you consider the money Sony have piled into this project its no surprise to see Sony give it 100% considering its so far down the line. Now recently Sony have told the gaming media that HOME will indeed be seeing a 2008 release, and maybe sooner then we think as rumours speculate an October Release of HOME Version 1.0. which seems very realistic considering they have just reopened the HOME Beta to a much bigger audience of Playstation fans. Your True English Gentleman as sadly missed out on getting a HOME Beta code, though he as been keeping a close eye on developments as the beta as progressed. HOME as seen a lot of changes this last year or so, and most for the better I'd say. But as I have seen HOME develop and grow, I can't removed that spec of doubt in the back of my mind.
When taking a closer look at HOME, its hard not to compare it to the Online Virtual World Second Life. Even though they are appearing on two different platforms they are offering a very similar experience. Except hopefully HOME won't run at two frames per second like my experiences with Second Life, a virtual world which I didn't enjoy visiting. Thankfully the signs for HOME are much better, even though it won't be as open to experimentation (or abuse, depends on how you see it) and will be a more Sony driven experience. I don't see why that should be such a bad thing. Concerns and questions about HOME are understandable, is this really what Playstation 3 users want? and how will it expand to actually be beneficial to the experience of the user to spend the time and visit HOME. It could turn out in one of two ways, it will either be a surprise success and become the must have feature for all future consoles or it could be a simple feature that will be forgotten and maybe even abandoned by Sony in a years to come. Its hard to tell at the moment, But one thing is for sure and thats that the experience of HOME will totally depend on the users found in this virtual space. I can't personally see myself spending a whole lot of time with friends in HOME, its not because HOME wouldn't work its more because I don't see the point. If I want to hang out with mates I'll hang out with mates in the real world, not some virtual world with my virtual self being. Of course there may be friends that live overseas where this feature might be nice to have, but yet again the question must be asked if the PS3 really needs this? and does it have much of a future. A lot will depend on HOME's first couple of months when it launches sometime soon, if it offers a chilled out environment for PSN Friends to hang out, talk about the lattest games or play a good round of Resistence Multiplayer then HOME could possibly be a surprise to those that have continually doubted it. But if it starts with a bug infested experience then it'll do nothing but provide more paper to add to the fire of Anti-HOME gamers. Surely that's a flood risk? I still don't know what to fully think about HOME. I would love to see it work, and in all honesty the foundations are there for it to be a unique experience on any console. But that spec of doubt continues to get bigger and bigger as time goes by, I haven't even discussed the fact that you'll need to pay for 'virtual' items with 'real' money. Its another concept that doesn't sit well with me and shouldn't even be in there. But I'm sure folks will still buy virtual furnishings for their HOME Appartment. Maybe I'm just a tight fisted English Gentleman, who knows!! its just that theres far more opportunities for HOME to fail then there is to succeed. There does seem to be a lot riding on HOME, and although I'm not convinced it will please the masses of PSN users out there. I'm pretty confident it will find a nice place in the heart of some PSN users looking for a more unique experience then they'll find on any other console currently on the market.
The actual future of HOME is a little more foggy. Will we see paid expansion packs? Will we see developers actually making games for use only in HOME? and will folk actually spend real life cash on virtual items? in fact quickly returning to virtual items, the more I think about them the more it reminds me of the DLC avaliable for most music rhythm games. Whats the difference between a Downloadable Song on Guitar Hero and a chair on Playstation HOME? There both virtual items and they both don't actually physically exist so maybe I need to rethink my view on purchasing virtual items with real life money when HOME Launches. Maybe its not as mad a sounding idea then I first thought.
Both Sony and HOME fans are hopeing HOME will be a success. As I have already said a lot of it will depend on how its viewed in the first couple of months, and I will indeed be taking a closer look at HOME when it launches as its a concept that as interested me ever since I first saw it unveiled sometime ago. At the moment the gaming media enjoy seeing Sony fail with there many concepts and ideas, for Sony I hope HOME is a success because I still feel the PS3 is a console that needs to prove to people that it can be up there with the 360 when you consider the Hardcore audience of gamers. I won't go into details concerning my own opinions of specific features found in HOME, I'll do that when the feature officially launches in the coming months and I think I've spoken enough concerning the matter.
Hopefully my next Gaming Blog will be sooner rather then later, though I will be busy these next two weeks with a few real life matters (including some less then joyful Hospital appointments) so I'll be updating my page as much as I can. I hope to get around to finishing some games off so I can get around to writing up my reviews on them. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. I do greatly appriate people reading them and please add me to your Friends Network if you wish, I'm currently in the phase of accepting anyone due to the fact that the friends network bug seems to have quiet.
Thanks for Reading and Keep on Gaming!! True English Gentleman! For Queen and Country!
