Is It About Time? You must login or register to view this content.
Source: You must login or register to view this content. // By:420 // March 20th, 2011.
2005 was a celebrated and praised year for gamers around the world. We were lastly able to put down are horrific Xbox controllers and Dualshock 2’s to pick up the territorial, ground braking, gaming platform, the 360. Through that experience, a new world was open to gamers. One of which included HD graphics, accessible achievements and friendly and large online game play. Soon after, the gaming world was impacted with the PS3 release. It was similar to the Xbox 360. We were on the border of technology. Games which looked incredibly realistic and online play that was user friendly were with us.
Now, it’s 2011, the sixth year since the release of the 360. Though we’ve made outstanding discoveries in the gaming world, it seems that now, we’ve come to a standstill. The current gaming era emit’s a feeling of the final days of the PlayStation 2. Games are getting repetitive and only look a tad bit better than their previous arrivals. Though some games are revolutionary, many seem dreary.
The first and most obvious factor when it comes to gaming is the way it looks. Graphics overtake gameplay during a gamers first impression. Our existing generation stunned gamers with current generations consoles ability to produce such highly standardized graphics. Back then, it was something only believable when seen through a persons own eyes. But those were the older days. Even now, graphic engines are evolving. For example, what Epic recently did to their engine technology.
Cliff Bleszinski, leading graphics director for Epic, said the following about the Unreal Engine coming to mobile platforms: You must login or register to view this content.
As of now, even Android phones posses the ability of outputting Unreal 3 visuals to an HDTV: You must login or register to view this content.
Phones aren’t the only ones in the race. Sony is trying to extend the NGP’s capability so that it can play full on PlayStation 3 titles. You must login or register to view this content. You must login or register to view this content.
Digital distributions and DLC are seemingly the future in gaming. The older versions of the current generation consoles didn’t come with very large hard drives so having digital game content stored for the older version owners is an issue. People are getting lazier. Getting up to change the disc which is presumably 5 feet away from you seems like a daunting task.
Developers have to compress the video and sound in order to fit it in to the DVD discs. Xbox isn’t the only problem, the first generation Blue-ray drives for the PS3’s propose one as well. Though Blue-ray is the next step above DVD’, being inside a first generation drive doesn’t help output it’s maximum capabilities. For example, the Gran Turismo 5 initial install:
Installing a highly anticipated game which takes around an hour isn’t necessarily a gamers dream. Both consoles are at an agreement when it comes to installable games, it’s the way of the future. Games are taking much more space up than before. The leaked Killzone 3 game weighed around 40 GB.
It’s hard to tell when the next generation of gaming will be put into motion, but it seems like now would be a good time. There was a six year gap between the PS1 and PS2. Coincidentally, the exact could be said about the upgrade to the 360 and PS3.
Though most of us are happy with the way things are at the moment, our imagination comes into play. We can’t help but to think of what the future hold for gaming. With such fast advancements of technology, it’s only fitting to hope for a new generation console such as the PS4. So, do you guys think it’s time for a new console?