Obiwanshinobi wrote:You don't need EVERY console game to make the most of hardware, do you? This is not even possible (and I doubt From Software tried to achieve that with Demon's Souls). I'm all for developers focusing on things more relevant to gameplay and aesthetics alike than squeezing the very last drop of horsepower out of the platform. When Guild Wars came out, it obviously wasn't pushing PCs to their limits, and yet it was (still is if you ask me) a looker and all around very accomplished effort. FALCOM keeps making low tech games exclusively for the PC (where technical possibilities are greater than everywhere else at this point), and I can't complain about it as long as they look good and play well. If Burnout Paradise is a multiplatform compromise, then I'd like to see more compromises along those lines etc.
I like flashy exclusives taking advantage of platform's unique qualities as much as another person, but keeping your game exclusive doesn't warrant it's gonna be that special. It takes more than that.
Not *every* game, just enough that there is some differentiation between the platforms. These differences are things which can inspire or permit things that would not otherwise be done. When every game is designed for the same specs, you lose a lot of what can make games special. And it doesn't need to 'push' the console developement to the limits, it just needs to take advantage of what exists. Taking advantage of the Hard Drive on a PS3 is just one example of this. For the Wii it was the WiiMote. Although I think that was overdone to death, especially now with the Kinect/Move showing how limited 'motion' control is when you are actually making games worth playing use them. Xbox's main draw after it's bigger/faster/better was probably a combination of Live and how the controller is setup making it easier for some to play FPS with.
Obiwanshinobi wrote:
When such a move was any good for console's welfare? How many consoles sporting this sort of expansions were something more than underdogs? Did additional RAM turned the cogwheels of fate in favour of N64 and Saturn? Last thing I want from a console game is to force me to buy some gizmo or the whole new unit when I already own one in working order. No, sir, if they screwed up hardware design first time around, getting around its shortcomings is up to developers who have chosen the platform despite those shortcomings. Worked for the PS2 (take Shinobi for example - looks plain, but has got most important areas secured: fast killing, good character animation, immaculate performance).
As for the PS3, bringing full backwards compatibility back would be most likely a smarter move (at this point not as smart as porting PS2 games to PS3 and peddling them as "HD remakes", though) than throwing in more RAM and hoping for developers to make PS3 games incompatible with older PS3s.
Such a move was good for the console's welfare! You don't have to go too far back to see why. Genesis = Sonic, (S)/NES has Mario, PCE/Turbo had 5 player multi and Bonk, Ys, etc. (Even if NA management of that system was complete failure.) Each system had its strengths/weaknesses, and when games were made with them in mind we got some great games as a result.
I'm going to go out on a limb however and say that sadly, the days of there being major differences between the systems is nearly over with along with the rise of 3D over 2D games. There are going to be tradeoffs in how programming is done for the graphics, but it's those details that are going to mean better games/sooner, rather than more mediocre games built slower for multiple targets. It's going to be thing more along the lines of DX versus OpenGL, and color vs draw distance, etc. Things that make a difference, but only after you stop and take a look. No the difference most people will actually see themselves right now, is the Network, the Downloadable environment, the Disk (HD and removable) and the 'little' extras like wireless/bluetooth etc.
As far as hardware goes though, *THAT* has never been a great idea. You can get away with adding a single piece, like a CD to a Cartridge system, but much more than that and you do end up killing your system with too many addons. (Or too soon) The Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Jaguar, PCE, Saturn, etc. Pretty much all of those hastened their demise by throwing out way too many 'upgrades' and pushing 'revised/updated' consoles too fast for consumers to go for them. 'Little' extras/peripherals in moderation are tolerable, but things that segregate your games on more than your control scheme are very bad.
And you say you don't want to buy all the extra crap? Well that is what multi platform is breaking things on. PS3 has a HD, the 360 does not...not every multi platform game made HAS to compensate OR it must require a HD on a system that did and still doesn't *require* or come with one. Ditto for the extra space BluRay has over DVD media. (HD-DVD was an add-on, and it's dead now.)
), and that's before I even get into any other genres. Been successful so far in resisting Trails in the Sky, though...
