There are a few terms attributed to
video game culture that leave a bad taste in my mouth. First and
foremost is just the word “gamer”. In a world where more and more
people play video games, I find it hard to believe that we need a
specialized term for that. Of course, “hardcore” gamers are a
thing, but so are “casual” and “mid level” ones. Moreover, I
feel like its just overused by media and especially marketing
establishments. This leads me into today's topic: Console Wars.
Console Wars is another term I'm pretty
sure was conceived in a board room with a long table surrounded by
soulless marketing experts. Creating rivalry is a great way to
promote a product, and cultivate followers so fanatically loyal that
there would be cults telling them to tone it down. However, I don't
think the term is that legitimate. After all people are probably
going to systems not based on the specs or features, but on the games
that will be available.
That said, I do have a preference for
consoles and games. Starting with the worst of the bunch (in my
opinion) we have the X-Box One. Yes, yes, insert your “beating a
dead horse” joke here.
We all know the stellar reception that
the console got on the day its features were announced, so I won't go
into too much detail on what they were. If you don't already know,
lets just say “ridiculous amounts of DRM BS” and leave it at
that. I'm told that a lot of “really cool features” could have
been introduced through this, and that X-Box just did a terrible job
of marketing the plus sides, but here's the thing:
I neither want nor need to make video
games and the playing thereof more complicated than it already is.
I know that change is inevitable, and
evolution will always take hold sooner or later, but what X-Box
seemed to have forgotten is that not all (in fact I'd go as far as to
say “most”) people who play games aren't looking for the
“definitive gaming experience” or an “all in one entertainment
system”. Let me explain this in the simplest terms that I can:
We want to play games.
That's it. That is literally the
starting and ending goal for most people who turn on a console.
People got so offended by the concepts the X-Box One originally
introduced because it seemed to further follow the path started by
things like extreme DLC. The game itself seems to become secondary to
the “gaming experience” and more importantly the revenue creative
from it.
So at this point it should
come as a surprise to few when I say that if I bought a next-gen
console it would almost certainly be the Wii-U. I used to sign up for
the Nintendo hate in favor of the better graphics and more realistic,
grittier games, but in recent years I've realized what's been keeping
Nintendo afloat long after all its original competitors bit the dust:
it understands why it exists.
Nintendo
understands that games need to be fun.
They seem to understand more than any of their competitors that the
highest resolution graphics and most detail oriented sub-machines are
meaningless if the player isn't enjoying what they're doing. They
don't innovate new ways of keeping their consumers on a leash, or
letting developers come out with half-finished products to be
completed for an additional fee with DLC, they innovate new ways of
having fun. That's what the Wii-mote was all about, and that's what
the new touch-pad interface is for, unlike the Sony or X-Box motion
sensing clones.
Now,
Nintendo's weakness is that few developers seem to share this notion,
and that for the most part just want to make the same kind of
“successful” games that Sony and Microsoft produce. But its
always worth it you find those few games that weren't about making a
surefire investment, and make you lose track of time because you're
enjoying yourself. So rock on Nintendo, and may I not doubt you
again.
Oh,
and PS4 will probably be okay. I guess.
