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What do we all really want from a next generation machine?? Surely somebody should have asked us, the gamers first.
Yes, we all want a next generation console, like the playstation 2 which is hundreds of times more powerful than our current machine! But where are the extras that count. It was nice that Sony put a DVD drive in with the PS2 as standard, but couldnt they have put in some more ports for some extra pads. I love the original playstation, and when playing ISS Pro, me and my mates crowd round a little multitap and play away..hours of fun...but its such a hassle to set up! This is where Nintendo were tops with the N64. But surely Sony has no excuse now as the Playstation 2 is powerful enough to have decent four-player split screen games.
Another thing I would have liked to seen implemented in some of these next generation machines would have been an MP3 chip inside the console... What Im trying to say is wouldnt it be nice if Sony, Sega or the others could come up with a way of Taking Music off your CDs...then using MP3 compression technology to allow you to save your favourite songs to your memory card! If this was standard in a console then all games on that console would support this feature and instead of having the Games Soundtrak you could choose in the Games Music menu to play your own favourite Tunes. I for one would love this feature, no longer would I have to play a game with a horrific soundtrack. It would also mean that games would cater for a wider audience..Wipe3out is a great game, but Dance tunes arent everyones cup of tea.
I would also like a feature built into a next generation console that would allow you to change the joypad configuration, too many games Ive played have had the potential to be classics. But are let down by poor control system.. usually because the game has been rushed out to meet a release Deadline. This is not really the fault of the console manufacturers, but the software developers. Still it would be nice to have a console that allowed you to get around this problem.
So what features do you want to see in the next generation consoles?? Do you want support for Foreign Titles, or built in digital camera - so you can digitise yourface in for online gameing...you tell me.
Yes, we all want a next generation console, like the playstation 2 which is hundreds of times more powerful than our current machine! But where are the extras that count. It was nice that Sony put a DVD drive in with the PS2 as standard, but couldnt they have put in some more ports for some extra pads. I love the original playstation, and when playing ISS Pro, me and my mates crowd round a little multitap and play away..hours of fun...but its such a hassle to set up! This is where Nintendo were tops with the N64. But surely Sony has no excuse now as the Playstation 2 is powerful enough to have decent four-player split screen games.
Another thing I would have liked to seen implemented in some of these next generation machines would have been an MP3 chip inside the console... What Im trying to say is wouldnt it be nice if Sony, Sega or the others could come up with a way of Taking Music off your CDs...then using MP3 compression technology to allow you to save your favourite songs to your memory card! If this was standard in a console then all games on that console would support this feature and instead of having the Games Soundtrak you could choose in the Games Music menu to play your own favourite Tunes. I for one would love this feature, no longer would I have to play a game with a horrific soundtrack. It would also mean that games would cater for a wider audience..Wipe3out is a great game, but Dance tunes arent everyones cup of tea.
I would also like a feature built into a next generation console that would allow you to change the joypad configuration, too many games Ive played have had the potential to be classics. But are let down by poor control system.. usually because the game has been rushed out to meet a release Deadline. This is not really the fault of the console manufacturers, but the software developers. Still it would be nice to have a console that allowed you to get around this problem.
So what features do you want to see in the next generation consoles?? Do you want support for Foreign Titles, or built in digital camera - so you can digitise yourface in for online gameing...you tell me.
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Consoles should be primarily for games, but as long as little additions such internet access dont cost too much more (£10 - 30), then I'm all for the extras. Sega's Dreamcast is a good example of this, as is Sonys DVD player. Although the latter does not seem obvious at present, when you consider how many CD's the playstation version of FinalFantasy7, etc. come on, its clear that a DVD was a necessity in a next generation machine such as the Playstation2. A few years from now, no doubt the latest FinalFantasy game will come out on Playstation2... on more than 1 DVD.
DVD is the future of video aswell as videogame entertainment, it makes sense to have both features in one machine. Something Sony has had the foresight to implement in the Playstation2.
DVD is the future of video aswell as videogame entertainment, it makes sense to have both features in one machine. Something Sony has had the foresight to implement in the Playstation2.
Yes, I think that sony and everyone should concentrate on creating a console to play games and nothing else, that way nothing else can get in the way. I will not pay for a machine that has lots of extras but costs lots more because of it. If I want a DVD player or an MP3 player I will buy them separately and then if one goes wrong I don't loose everythign at once.
People are making tvs with videos built in and other things like that too, if one bit goes wrong then all of it is useless, then you nearly always have to pay as much as buying them sepeately anyway, or else they are not as good as the seperate parts. So gaming consoles have to be for games and nothing else unless it is neccessary or easy to do like segas internet access.
People are making tvs with videos built in and other things like that too, if one bit goes wrong then all of it is useless, then you nearly always have to pay as much as buying them sepeately anyway, or else they are not as good as the seperate parts. So gaming consoles have to be for games and nothing else unless it is neccessary or easy to do like segas internet access.
Of course we don't want to go down the line of the PC world, were you have to continually upgrade your machine to play the latest game. Consoles should be easy to set up and play, but to say we don't need the extra features some of these new consoles have is silly. I for one am glad that the Playstation2 has a built in DVD player, Sony believes that the future of its console lies on the DVD format.. therefore the console would have had a DVD drive anyway! It would have been stupid to have a DVD drive, without allowing it to play DVD films.
The diversification of Sony's product reflects the drive of the company, and the realisation that the age of the average gamer is now in the mid twenties... we no longer want a machine that can just play games. We want consoles that provide us with all our entertainment needs, be that DVD films on the Playstation2, or surfing the internet with the Dreamcast. It remains to be seen what strategy will prove most fruitful.
Both machines offer excellent value for money... if you consider what a DVD player and a new console would cost separately the Playstation2's price is cheap, and if you don't want a DVD player then the Sega Dreamcast has proved what a great gaming machine (with games like House of the Dead 2 etc..) and is now available cheaply.
As for Nintendo, press releases suggest they'll be keeping to a purely videogame based strategy, as for Microsoft's X-box we can only guess. I for one wouldn't mind a Playstation2 with a few of the latest videogames and DVD videos this Christmas.
The diversification of Sony's product reflects the drive of the company, and the realisation that the age of the average gamer is now in the mid twenties... we no longer want a machine that can just play games. We want consoles that provide us with all our entertainment needs, be that DVD films on the Playstation2, or surfing the internet with the Dreamcast. It remains to be seen what strategy will prove most fruitful.
Both machines offer excellent value for money... if you consider what a DVD player and a new console would cost separately the Playstation2's price is cheap, and if you don't want a DVD player then the Sega Dreamcast has proved what a great gaming machine (with games like House of the Dead 2 etc..) and is now available cheaply.
As for Nintendo, press releases suggest they'll be keeping to a purely videogame based strategy, as for Microsoft's X-box we can only guess. I for one wouldn't mind a Playstation2 with a few of the latest videogames and DVD videos this Christmas.
The only real problem that I can see with the games consoles being able to do more and more, like email, play DVD movies, edit programs and so on, is that the console is losing sight of what it was built for; to play games! As a gamer, I want a console that will do just that, nothing else, I've got a PC if I want to do anything fancy. I think that the big 3 manufacturers have fallen into a vicious circle of continually having to add more and more features to their product just to keep up with their rivals, and all 3 are now losing sight of the fact that their consoles were originally only successful because they were good for playing games.
Sony's DVD fiascos are an example of a company just trying to hard. Nintendo and Sega seem to be trying to stick to games, but Sony seems to be trying to hard to diversify it's product. Why does it need to add a DVD player to the PS2 when Sony already make perfectly good top of the range DVD players? Why should Nintendo and Sega risk their capital on trying to add these products to their next-gen consoles when Sony are already the market leader out of the 3 when it comes to peripherals of this nature?
I dunno. I just want to play games.
Sony's DVD fiascos are an example of a company just trying to hard. Nintendo and Sega seem to be trying to stick to games, but Sony seems to be trying to hard to diversify it's product. Why does it need to add a DVD player to the PS2 when Sony already make perfectly good top of the range DVD players? Why should Nintendo and Sega risk their capital on trying to add these products to their next-gen consoles when Sony are already the market leader out of the 3 when it comes to peripherals of this nature?
I dunno. I just want to play games.
Your right, gameplay does need to improve luckily for us it has done steadily over the last few years. It looks like were not going to be disappointed with the new generation of games for the Playstation2 either, Tekken Tag Tournament looks great, I just cant wait to see how games like Driver make the transition from Playstation to Playstation2. Better Graphics and Music, on top of the already great gameplay will make these games great fun to play.
It would be nice if their was one truly cross platform machine, but then one company would have the monopoly..which wouldn’t help gamers.
The best we can hope for is that programmers can produce the best games on different systems, but putting in features that allows say someone whos playing Quake 3 on the Dreamcast to play online against someone with Quake 3 on the playstation.
A lot of the new hardware features are nice too, I liked the keyboard for the Dreamcast which allows you to email effectively. Theres even talk of a Hard drive and USB modem add on for the PS2. All this means is that the games machines, and the games will continue to get better.
It would be nice if their was one truly cross platform machine, but then one company would have the monopoly..which wouldn’t help gamers.
The best we can hope for is that programmers can produce the best games on different systems, but putting in features that allows say someone whos playing Quake 3 on the Dreamcast to play online against someone with Quake 3 on the playstation.
A lot of the new hardware features are nice too, I liked the keyboard for the Dreamcast which allows you to email effectively. Theres even talk of a Hard drive and USB modem add on for the PS2. All this means is that the games machines, and the games will continue to get better.
Like the MP3 idea. Personally I'd like to see consoles come out that just enhance the gamer's experience of playing games, and all of your suggestions would do that to some extent. If graphics can be improved, and sound can be improved, then the only thing left is gameplay, which is more of a software development problem than a hardware one.
For the moment, the PC can be used to emulate most platforms both legally and illegally, but it would be nice to see a console one day that is truly cross-platform, i.e. take out your N64 game and pop in a Sega or Sony one as an when you want to. Then as gamers we would only have to fork out for software instead of the major purchase of a console which restricts us to just one manufacturer.
For the moment, the PC can be used to emulate most platforms both legally and illegally, but it would be nice to see a console one day that is truly cross-platform, i.e. take out your N64 game and pop in a Sega or Sony one as an when you want to. Then as gamers we would only have to fork out for software instead of the major purchase of a console which restricts us to just one manufacturer.
What do we all really want from a next generation machine?? Surely somebody should have asked us, the gamers first.
Yes, we all want a next generation console, like the playstation 2 which is hundreds of times more powerful than our current machine! But where are the extras that count. It was nice that Sony put a DVD drive in with the PS2 as standard, but couldnt they have put in some more ports for some extra pads. I love the original playstation, and when playing ISS Pro, me and my mates crowd round a little multitap and play away..hours of fun...but its such a hassle to set up! This is where Nintendo were tops with the N64. But surely Sony has no excuse now as the Playstation 2 is powerful enough to have decent four-player split screen games.
Another thing I would have liked to seen implemented in some of these next generation machines would have been an MP3 chip inside the console... What Im trying to say is wouldnt it be nice if Sony, Sega or the others could come up with a way of Taking Music off your CDs...then using MP3 compression technology to allow you to save your favourite songs to your memory card! If this was standard in a console then all games on that console would support this feature and instead of having the Games Soundtrak you could choose in the Games Music menu to play your own favourite Tunes. I for one would love this feature, no longer would I have to play a game with a horrific soundtrack. It would also mean that games would cater for a wider audience..Wipe3out is a great game, but Dance tunes arent everyones cup of tea.
I would also like a feature built into a next generation console that would allow you to change the joypad configuration, too many games Ive played have had the potential to be classics. But are let down by poor control system.. usually because the game has been rushed out to meet a release Deadline. This is not really the fault of the console manufacturers, but the software developers. Still it would be nice to have a console that allowed you to get around this problem.
So what features do you want to see in the next generation consoles?? Do you want support for Foreign Titles, or built in digital camera - so you can digitise yourface in for online gameing...you tell me.
Yes, we all want a next generation console, like the playstation 2 which is hundreds of times more powerful than our current machine! But where are the extras that count. It was nice that Sony put a DVD drive in with the PS2 as standard, but couldnt they have put in some more ports for some extra pads. I love the original playstation, and when playing ISS Pro, me and my mates crowd round a little multitap and play away..hours of fun...but its such a hassle to set up! This is where Nintendo were tops with the N64. But surely Sony has no excuse now as the Playstation 2 is powerful enough to have decent four-player split screen games.
Another thing I would have liked to seen implemented in some of these next generation machines would have been an MP3 chip inside the console... What Im trying to say is wouldnt it be nice if Sony, Sega or the others could come up with a way of Taking Music off your CDs...then using MP3 compression technology to allow you to save your favourite songs to your memory card! If this was standard in a console then all games on that console would support this feature and instead of having the Games Soundtrak you could choose in the Games Music menu to play your own favourite Tunes. I for one would love this feature, no longer would I have to play a game with a horrific soundtrack. It would also mean that games would cater for a wider audience..Wipe3out is a great game, but Dance tunes arent everyones cup of tea.
I would also like a feature built into a next generation console that would allow you to change the joypad configuration, too many games Ive played have had the potential to be classics. But are let down by poor control system.. usually because the game has been rushed out to meet a release Deadline. This is not really the fault of the console manufacturers, but the software developers. Still it would be nice to have a console that allowed you to get around this problem.
So what features do you want to see in the next generation consoles?? Do you want support for Foreign Titles, or built in digital camera - so you can digitise yourface in for online gameing...you tell me.
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