Sony vs Nintendo: Game On!
It’s taken me a while to allow myself back into the gaming world. Having spent about 5 years as a freelance games reviewer for The Independent I lost my enthusiasm for the gaming industry in general somewhere between writing copy for the banal Mary Kate and Ashley: Mystery Mall (0.5 Stars) and the unending line of Marvel vs Capcom beat-em-ups. Don’t get me wrong, I know I was privileged to have held such a job for so long, and from such a young age, but come on, what would you do if you were confronted with a game like this?
So, after a few years of steering clear of all new consoles and closing my eyes to the shiny new games that came out, in the last year I finally gave in to temptation and embraced the world of next gen consoles; namely the Nintedo Wii and, very recently, the PlayStation 3. And funnily enough I’ve now found that I have less friends, less time on my hands and less money. Monetary and social-life issues aside, it must be said that I’ve not regretted a moment of owning either of these two machines.
The Wii has undoubtedly changed the way we think about gaming. Although motion sensor games were far from new when it was released, it was the fact it got people playing games in a far more natural way: swinging golf-clubs and tennis racquets, firing off arrows and even cooking up a stir-fry.
There is, of course, an inherent danger as these games become more physical, and that is the risk of injury. In fact this very fate befell one of Altogether Digital’s developers quite recently, as he attempted to smash the world record for the hammer event in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Thankfully he has since made a full recovery, and has even gone on to break the offending world record.
And the future only looks more exciting for the Wii, with the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game already getting the gaming world chomping at the bit.
In contrast, the PlayStation 3 has had a relatively muted existence so far. Like the Wii, the PS3 has motion sensor with its wireless six-axis controller, but this is yet to be successfully utilised in any of its new titles. It is the highest powered games console in the world, with more processors than you can shake a stick at and a graphics card that makes real-life look bland, and this has resulted in some very good games: Call of Duty 4 and Assassin’s Creed particularly worthy of note.
However, these games don’t push any boundaries - players go through the usual motions of running, jumping, firing, and figuring out puzzles as they did on the PS2 games, just with far superior graphics. Compare this to a game like Super Mario Galaxy and you’d be forgiven for wondering how Sony are justifying the £350 price tag they’ve slapped on their latest gaming beast.
The answer, however, may lie in longevity. Although many of the new Wii games are genre defining, can the motion sensor action really make up for the Wii’s lack of processing power on a permanent basis? And how many more games can companies invent that will allow users to play in new and innovative ways? The PS3, on the other hand, has yet to be fully exploited in terms of the power it offers, with Sony’s President of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison claiming some time ago that “nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability”.
Admittedly we will probably be enthused for many months to come with the graphically wondrous but unashamedly unoriginal revamps of old favourites like Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto, but I truly believe we are yet to see the best of the PlayStation 3. Besides, at least you can buy them easily at RRP in most highstreet shops.
As a special added bonus feature for reading this article in full, I offer you a brilliant little article about the worst game names ever produced, thanks to gamerevolution.com.
I don’t think Lucasarts has ever been a good innovator of games. You’ll probably find that The Force Unleashed is more of what they offered a few years back with the Jedi Knight titles. Most of their games have been rehashed versions of what other games companies have been doing only with Darth Vader in it.
Games to look out for which will potentially blow away anything you mentioned would be KillZone 2 which is closely looked at by industry insiders as being a Halo 3 beater and a killer app for the PS3. The newly released Nathan Drake title on the PS3 is also turning heads and has revitalized the Tomb raider style genre.
We’ll always have the sequels and rehashed formats as games development has become so expensive on the next gen consoles. Companies are more inclined to stick to tried and tested formulas! A Hollywood mentality I call it.
This is replying to Dave Chung’s comments, I agree I was sceptical when i heard about this game. Turns out it will be like a giant tech demo. It uses three different physics engines, Havok, Euphoria(which enables the character to move according to his skeletal system) and Digital Mollecular Matter. Look them up
I still enjoying button bashing on World Olympics, so I’m not much of a professional gamer but I think there’s still a bit more to be squeezed out of the Wii.
If you haven’t seen it already, have a look at this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
My husband and I, both avid gamers were battling for months on which console to purchase. I’m blessed with a brother in law who’s due to graduate this year as a game developer so games are his life and sould and he has most consoles…and apart from the PS3 we sampled the rest of them through many weekends of playing till early morning hours. We opted in the end for the PS3 and I have to say I am glad we did. Apart from the great (already mentioned) graphics, the motion sensor in games like Heavenly Sword is excellent and I dare I say even better than the Wii. Don’t get me wrong I love the Wii and it’s interactivity, but I think what Wii’s games lack is the feel of a “real” game. Wii is more enjoyable when played with others but the comments I hear more and more often from friends who opted for the Wii is that they are now missing playing “real” games like call of Duty 4 or Drake’s Fortune where you can actually sits for hours playing on your own and feel like you’re getting somewhere with regards to completing the game so unless Nintendo steps up to the next level my predictment is that all those who bought a Wii will soon (within the next 12 months) buy a PS3 too. Some of our friends have already started.