Engadget says: Xbox 360 Helped Define The Decade

[goddog]

Khuutra said:

Darth Tigris said:
@Khuutra

That was very passionate and well presented.

Except nobody is copying the DS. While its 'gimmick' has been used in creative ways, if anything the DS has just replaced the Gameboy as THE standard for portable gaming. Its the PS2 of portable gaming.

As for the Wii, is it being copied? Well, yes, but not this decade. And while everyone loves to call the Wii innovative, it was NOT the originator of motion tech for gaming. Not even close. Nintendo found a way to capture the hearts and minds of casual gamers en masse with it, though. In that sense, its not really that much different than what MS did with XBL. Well, with one exception:

XBL has defined gaming more this decade than motion tech. XBL is a platform that an untold number of devs have been able to uniformly take advantage of to enhance their products and the experience by gamers. The Wii, while having HUGE successes, has not achieved that for more than a handful of mostly first party titles. After a few years, Nintendo is still the main benefactor of the Wii's success while with XBL all game developers have benefited.

In the end, though, this is Engadget's choice, not ours. They're the ones with the big money making website.

That wasn't what I was talking about. Rad the last third of it again.

It's about the "cheaper, more accessible" paradigm. DS smashed the PSP because of it, and set th standard for the Wii.

I would say the DS smashed the PSP due to the legacy of the gameboy, the strong software library of the DS. and sonys lack of foresight with regards to not including a second analog stick and not porting enough of the PS1 games to it quickly enough.  dont get me wrong i love my PPS and sing the graces of loco roco. but every time i pick it up i know what it could have been with just a little more revision in the planning and implementation stages.

 

Nintendo has excelled in  making back catalogs accessible in the handheld market, and now on the console . (though the DSi for some reason killed this I feel is a mjor failing).  This feeds nostalgia especially for gamers who grew up in the 80s now wanting to share with their children.  Sony will not benefit form this quite the same way due to its games being  more adult appeal during its run.

The cheaper is better might seem like a new move, but has been going one in cyclical cycle for ages, development cost and aging studios cost to much and bust a new generation of cheap developers and game makers emerge and replace them, only to balloon costs over the years and repeat.

You could argue that xbla and their ilk are new to consoles but even then your ignoring the development help given out free by sony, Nintendo, and sega in the 90s to start ups and fledgling groups to get first IPs out. There may be less capital investment involved now by the fledgling studio, but there is also less investment by publishers.

 

Id also say that  “Developers who don't adhere to it are dying.” Is bit extreme as I indicated above this is more due to a glut of studios then the type of game they make. There will always be major money games, they might reduce in number, but that will only be until the next big thing everyone will want to develop towards and will spiral costs.

 

As for more accessibility/casual that’s a dangerous line for companies to follow if you look up the arcade/console crash of the early 80s an attempt to market greater accessibility combined with flooding the market with cheaper games and a major lack of quality control lead to the first major gaming crash. Accessibility/causal consumers are the first ones to leave when the fad or other priorities require them to relinquish a luxury.

Further I would venture to say more core customers (not core gamers mind you) are not in the accessibility casual crowd. These are the customers that are the most valuable, they are the ones that will sustain your company through market crashes and dark times (look at apple mid 90s for perfect example of a core that kept it afloat). You must keep them happy, and then work to grow beyond, while keeping them. To abandon the big budget game and new tech would lose them.

 

*Note have not had time to proof read, leaving the office after I finished typing it ill look it up when I get home.