Next Gen Consoles Are Here, Or Soon Will Be

Next Gen Consoles Are Here, Or Soon Will Be

Well, can you believe it? The big three companies Microsoft, Sony and who could forget Nintendo are gearing up to launch their next consoles. Am I excited? Um, duh. It is exciting to me to see where gaming is headed.

E3 is this week and I, as usual, am always curious about it. I can't help it. *shrugs* Anyway, the console wars rage on as usual and here is what I think and links to what the consoles look like and what their specs are.

Sony's Playstation 3

I'll start with Sony's Playstation 3 by saying I think it looks very streamlined. From what I have heard about the press conferences Sony came out ahead with their presentation of their console and it's games. Plus, they had a rubber duck demo! O_O So many duckies in such a little tub! Kawaii!!! I wish I could find the pics of the duckies to share, but alas, I have failed you all. There were even little ships!!! *flails*

One thing I'm glad Sony decided to stick with is the backwards compatability. Here are the specs, here are the games so far (Yes, you do see Devil May Cry 4 and MGS 4 *smiles*), and here is what the console looks like and this is the controller. To me the controller looks big, but I won't judge until I hold it in my excited, tiny hands.

Sony has shown a lot of unbelievable footage and right now that's what it seems like, unbelievable. They say it is real time, but it really makes you wonder if they A) touched it up, or B) it is prerendered. The trailor for Killzone 2 especially makes me wonder. It would be great if games actually looked like that when you were playing them, but is technology really that far? Apparently there is a lot of speculation over this very issue. I guess we will find out if the PS3 can do what Sony says in the future. The release will probably be in spring 2006. Whether that is Japanese launch, or North American launch I am uncertain, but I assume Japanese? Maybe?

Microsoft's Xbox 360

Next we have the Xbox 360 and I have never really been a fan of the Xbox. The one big thing that turned me off when it came out four years ago was the honking controller. I have small hands, even compared to other women, and I was unable to get my short fingers to feel comfortable using it. They have made the controller smaller and I commend them for that, but it is still a little big for me. Anyway, Microsoft has realized Sony did a good thing by making things backwards compatable and mentioned in their press conference that the 360 will be "compatable with our top selling game." Wait, "top selling"? Does this mean only games like Halo will be backwards compatable? *confused* I really hope they aren't dumb enough to go through with something like that. I hope they realize it should be all, or none.

The 360 specs are close to the PS3, but they fall a little short. One thing I did find interesting is that the 360 will now have memory cards. I guess they didn't want to save games on the actual console anymore. Here is what the Xbox 360 will look like. A lot different from the current model. It looks more aesthetically pleasing if you ask me and from what I understand they did this to make it more appealing to the Japanese market. The current Xbox did very poorly in Japan. No surprise really. It was huge and I don't think they have many games that appeal to that market.

One thing Microsoft is trying to obviously do is get a bigger market. I was confused about this when the presenter was talking about Velocity Girl and how she will play with the 360 more because she can make t-shirts. o_O What? They should focus on the actual gamers, not Velocity Girl making t-shirts and selling them to a hardcore gamer like Striker. It just sounded confusing and it didn't make sense. *shakes head* I am still boggling over it actually. T-shirts? @_@

Nintendo's Revolution

Last, but certainly not least, Nintendo's Revolution. One thing that sounded cool was that they are going to release the NES, SNES, and N64 games on the Internet so the gamer can download them onto the Revolution and play them. "Sweet classic gaming action," was the first thing that entered my brain when I heard this.

Can you believe the Revolution is going to be smaller than the Gamecube? O_O It's like tiny! However, Nintendo didn't have too much to say about the Revolution. They showed the little black box, but they didn't even show the controllers. I think it is great that the companies are finally realizing that backwards compatablitly is key because you will be able to play the Gamecube games on the Revolution. Of course, I am surprised Nintendo didn't do this with SNES and the N64 since they did it with the Gameboy.

Here is what the Revolution looks like. I mean, dang it is small. The guy said it is the size of three DVD cases. What is up with Nintendo's fascination with tiny things? This article was the closest thing I found for specs. I was disappointed that Nintendo didn't have a lot to say about the Revolution, but oh well.

Like I mentioned earlier Nintendo has a fascination with things that are small and the fact that they are coming out with a Micro Gameboy Advanced proves it. Nintendo, think about this, do we really need a baby GBA? The answer is, no, no we don't. You have the SP and the DS, lets just leave it at that.

This is all I can offer at this time, but you can bet I will keep an eye on this junk just so I know what console I want when the time comes. Which one would I buy if I had to make the decision right now you ask? I would have to say the PS3. It is compatable with my PS1 and PS2 games and their presentation seemed better. *shrugs* If you want to make your own decisions on what I have said click here to watch the conferences in their entirety if you actually care. I for one have not seen them and I doubt I will see them, but I give you the link for your own amusement. I have learned about all this stuff by what I have read on the Internet and seen on G4, so now you know my resources. I hope this wasn't boring and I hope you feel somewhat informed about the near future of gaming. ^_^