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Console Launches Good And Bad
Another interesting feature from 1up: rundowns and scores for console launches from the last twenty years. From the article: "The DS, on the other hand, is hardly the system one would have expected from its launch. The system's U.S. debut was a dull thud, with the one truly notable title being a port of Super Mario 64 with compromised control and jaggier graphics. (It also popularized the lamentable concept of "launch windows.") Chalk this up to the fact the developers only learned about the system's existence half a year before its debut. Fortunately for early adopters, the system has gone on to accumulate a killer lineup."
"The graphics seemed on par with the N64 version, so I don't see what they're griping about."
It's a mixed bag. The textures aren't filtered as nicely as on the N64, but the polygonal edges are anti-aliased giving it a nice crisp look. Also, the characters are more detailed etc. SM64's a great game on the DS. Okay, I've played it before, but it wouldn't take long for anybody to realize that it's a very good 'play on the go' game, mainly because of it's 'small portions but many many servings' mentality. You'd almost think that game was made specifically for a portable system. (and I mean that in a good way. The first PSP game I ever played acted as though the 'LOADING' screen was an epic mini-series.)
I'll give the guy partial credit for the control, that game does ache to be played with an analog stick. On the other hand, I've actually gotten rather adept at it without the stick. I don't even notice anymore. It certainly makes control of characters like that significantly smoother, but the game wasn't built so that it was absolutely required. Still, I'm envious of the PSP's analog stick. I just wish they made games for it on Memory Sticks instead of UMDs. (Or cached them to the stick...?)
"Derp de derp."
PSP gets 4 stars but PS2 gets 3 stars? I call shennanigans on this article. I remember people camping out for the PS2 and in the Washington,D.C. area alone people were getting mugged for them. The PSP was a little more of a whimper. People were like "it looks cool but I'm not blowing 250 bucks on it." Also within the first day there was reports of crappy hardware production on the PSP. Remember the dead pixel issue? The arthur of this article is just pulling stuff out of his ass.
-Dipster
Here are my scores for console releases:
NES - (4 Stars)
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) came about not long after the bottom fell out of the US gaming market. Atari, Colecovision, Intellevision, and even Commodore were flooding the market with subpar game titles because in their minds quantity = profit, but today we know that quantity is no where nearly as important as "quality". The NES gave us quality games that were better than some of the title on many of the exisiting, and extinct gaming platforms.
Gameboy - (2 Stars)
When it first appeared most people weren't all that certain about the Gameboy. The green/blue LCD screen was very hard to see, and its initial release wasn't too spectacular. As more and more games were released and the handheld became more and more popular that is when the system really took off, but it wasn't until it had been on the market for a few years.
Turbografx-16 - (2 Stars)
Its sad but I have to give the launch of the TG-16 a small score. The TG-16 known also as the PC-Engine in Japan, during its day was the #1 Top Selling system in Japan. It had a vast and innovative library of cartridge and CD-ROM based games, but mismanagement and lackluster marketing on the part of NEC eventaully killed the system before it even had a chance to make an impact in the US. The TG-16 is technologically superior to the NES and the PC-Engine had a library of truely spectacular games, but NEC failed to bring many of the more innovative titles to the US. They should have, could have, done much better.
Sega Genesis - (3 Stars)
The Sega Genesis was an overall success for Sega, by far it was their most successful console in the company's history. It wasn't all that technologicall superior to systems like the TG-16 and later the SNES, but during its day the system did well. The launch of the Genesis saw a lot of activity, but some of the first generation games for the console were subpar. It wasn't until a year later that some really impressive games started appearing. The Genesis was also the first console to offer games that broke the 8 megabit barrier.
SNES - (4 Stars)
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was almost as big a success as the NES but it fell slightly short. Their saving grace was the inclusion of Super Mario World which incorporated nearly every special effects feature the hardware could do and wasn't all that bad a game either. We also have the SNES to thank for the existance of the Playstation. Nintendo first made a deal with Sony to develop a CD-ROM addon for the SNES, but the deal fell through and Nintendo got in bed with Phillips and their CD-I technology. That also failed to show anyting, but in the meantime Sony was hard at work using what they learned from being burned by Nintendo to develop the Playstation. The SNES provided us with the first true 3D graphics games like StarFox, FX Traks, and Doom which used the SuperFX chip. The SNES not only had great graphics but its Sony designed sound chip forever changed the world of console game music. I still load up a SNES emulator to listen to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy II (Final Fantasy IV in Japan).
Sega Saturn - (1 Star)
This console had problems from the get go. Sega didn't have all of the developer support they needed to keep a steady stream of new games coming to the market, and their development tools were also lacking. Many game developers found the dual processor architecture of the system too difficult to work with. It wasn't until the system had been out for two years that really great games start to appear, but it was too little too late to save the system.
Nintendo 64 - (4 Stars)
Critics blasted Nintendo for not using the popular CD-ROM format for the N64, but they followed SGI's recommendation that CD-ROMs would be too slow for the system. That would later come to haunt Nintendo as one of their most important developers, Squaresoft, jumped ship and began work on a game for the Playstation. That game was Final Fantasy VII, a
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
I posted on Penny-Arcade forums. Basically the conversation talked about how it's a good idea to wait for a game you want to play before you buy a system. With each new system, you see less difference in games than the last system, and the original launch titles are must buys because there isn't a whole lot of options in games. I think Nintendo 8 bit was the biggest step forward in gaming, and will remain so for quite sometime. These new systems don't impress me though because there isn't a game out that I want. Sure I am waiting for next gen online competitive games personally, but universally many people are agreeing to wait for good games before deciding which console to buy.
God spoke to me.