Not Impressed With Next-Gen Graphics

Yeah I said it. I'm completely unimpressed with the "next generation" of gaming graphics. I thought I was the only one who thought this, but comments from the gaming community have assured me otherwise. Perhaps it's too early to say, but the PS4 and Xbox One are getting ready for launch. Here's a trailer of some of the upcoming titles...

Pretty damn impressive, right? But honestly, is this the next-generation?  To put it as nicely as I can, it's just a tad bit better than the current gen. Maybe we're just used to the enormous leaps that have occurred in previous generations. I mean, we went from this...

to this...

And then from this...

 to this..

Perhaps we've hit a plateau? I think perhaps we're not quite ready to take that enormous leap. It's merely due to the rules of marketing that Sony/Microsoft had to release new hardware to compete with after so many years. It's hard to argue with that, but there's a part of me that thinks maybe we can wait a few more years. 

I think the main reason so many of us are unimpressed is that it's hard for us to detect the minute improvements with our lousy human eyes. The difference between 8-bit and 64-bit is obvious, but what about super high polygon HD graphics and super-super high polygon HD graphics with better lighting effects? Yeah, it's getting a little less obvious. 

To be fair, the trailer just shows a bunch of development footage and pre-rendered scenes. Just like with the current gen, the graphics will improve once developers get a hang of the new hardware. But for now, all I can say is that I'm underwhelmed. What do you guys think? 

[PS3] All Future Online will Require PSN Pass

Sony recently confirmed that Uncharted 3 will require an online pass for multiplayer, and now it seems that this will be the case for ALL future releases with online play. Basically, games with online multiplayer with come with PSN codes, kind of like CD-keys for PC games. Read the source article here: http://www.gamesradar.com/sony-confirms-all-future-online-games-will-utilize-psn-passes/

I'm not really sure how I should feel about this. I mean, in general, it sucks. We're going to have to type in 12 digit codes every time we get a new game, but we'll only have to do it once so it's really no big deal. However, it's going to be near impossible to lend people games and expect them to enjoy online. Also, if you buy the game used, you'll have to pay a small fee to get a new code.

It is a bit of a let-down, but then again, I rarely ever play online multiplayer, and I always get my games new, so it won't bother me as much. The gaming community is obviously riled up, but that's to be expected when something changes I guess. The point of this is to encourage people to buy games new, but honestly, if games weren't so bloody expensive more people would be buying them new. I don't ever buy used games, but I rarely buy them when they just come out either. I mean come on, $60 for a 12 hour experience? I've spent less money on dinner and a movie.

Square Enix Wants to Redo FFXIV...

As most of the gaming community already knows, Final Fantasy XIV was pretty much one of the biggest flops in recent years. It was almost as if the game were only 20 percent done, but they decided to just throw it out into the public anyway. I mean, it only as a score of 49 on metacritic. For a Final Fantasy game, or any game for that matter, that's just depressingly awful. But it seems Square Enix is still trying to make it work, even after doing as much as they can do.

Here's the juicy part. Square Enix's CEO, Yoichi Wada, recently stated that FFXIV's studio is willing to start again from scratch, fully re-doing the game. You can read some more about that here: http://www.gamesradar.com/square-enix-determined-redo-ffxiv-defends-dragon-quest-x/

I understand that the game was piss-poor, but those are some drastic measures. I guess its mostly a big deal because the Final Fantasy brand is so well-established and respected around the world, and each of its games has brought in critical acclaim and millions of dollars. For a flagship title to do so poorly is certainly very embarrassing and damaging to their name. But I'm gonna have to support their decision on this one. There's nothing more they can do for FFXIV in its current state; the best course of action is definitely to start an entirely new game.

Anyway, the real point I wanted to make is, I feel like this could have been less of a disaster if the online games were NOT a part of the main series! I feel like they could have easily made it into a sub-series and called it Final Fantasy Online. Even Final Fantasy XI was only half-decent and I really feel like it doesn't belong with the other flagship titles, considering it is an MMORPG. It really breaks the flow of Square's line of amazing RPG's. Now look what they did with FFXIV, it tanked and hurt the brand even more. Remember Dirge of Cerberus? That got lukewarm reviews, but it wasn't a big deal because it was just a spin-off title.  All they need to do is keep these MMO's out of the main series. Quit taking up precious space that belongs to our beloved Final Fantasy games, ok?

3D Gaming is...just annoying?

A recent study showed that nearly 30 percent of players thought that the 3D feature on the 3DS actually detracted from the gaming experience. You can read more about the study here: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/24/3d-gamings-approval-rating-low-blamed-on-inherited-wars-and-ec/

I've always hated this sudden 3D trend, but I hadn't realized that a good percentage of people actually thought the 3D feature on the 3DS is just distracting and unnecessary. I mean, the whole "3D without glasses" thing was  the selling point of the 3DS. However! I've feared from the beginning that people would just be ignoring the 3D, turning it off completely while playing games.

Developers keep ignoring the fact that people just want to play GAMES. They want to sit back, relax during their free time, hold a controller, and look at a normal television screen. This obsession with new trends has gone far enough. Motion controls are an unnecessary trend that should be dying very soon too, but that's another story. 3D, however, is just silly. Why is it that a stupidly simplistic technology that we've had around for DECADES is suddenly becoming the biggest thing in media? We don't need 3D for movies, and we certainly don't need it for video games. Moving around to play games is stupid enough, I don't need eye-strain to go with it.

Times are tough for the 3DS. It was selling poorly to begin with, but now its entire concept is meaningless. Nintendo needs to get with the times, and fast.

Xbox 360 being phased out in Japan

Apparently, the Xbox 360 is officially becoming history and stores will no longer stock them in Japan. I was aware that the 360 was already doing extremely poorly in Japan, but I didn't expect them to just do away with it completely. You can read the rest of the article here: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1188829p1.html

I think this is an interesting example of the differences in demographics and culture between the east and west. The Xbox and its sole reliance on western brands is understandably unappealing to the Japanese market. On the flip side, you may have noticed the millions of anime games that come out in Japan every year but never make it to the U.S. Still, I think this shows how limited the Xbox 360 is in terms of appeal.

Note that I'm not saying any of this out of fanboy bias; everything I've observed is purely logical. I've always felt that the Xbox 360's appeal is too narrow and limited to extremely western gamers. This is proven by the fact that the PS3 has still outsold the 360 in every region except the United States (Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada). The 360's sales are strong, but its clearly concentrated greatly within its own territory. This is what it owes its already minuscule 3 million unit lead over the PS3 to (and of course, the one year head start).

This is why I have always stuck by the Playstation 3. Brand familiarity was a part of the reason, but it was mainly the exclusives I was looking at. The only exclusive titles worth noting on the 360 are the Gears of War and Halo series, and I don't care for either of them. As I've said, they rely too much on the western preference for shooters. On the other hand, the PS3 had Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, inFamous, Uncharted, God of War 3, the upcoming release of FF Versus XIII, and a few lesser titles like Heavy Rain and Valkyria Chronicles. Note that half of those titles are from western developers, so no one can argue that western developers are all on the 360's side, as all the best ones seem to be with Sony.

Couple its game library with its blu-ray capability (no contest here, since blu-ray is technically the current format king and HD-DVD is considered obsolete) and superior hardware, and it was no wonder I preferred Sony's machine. Again, I'm trying to be unbiased here. All I considered were the plain facts, and the fact was that the Playstation 3 was more appealing to me in every way. This is why I think it has always been the superior choice, and why the rest of the world seems to embrace it over the 360.