In my opinion, if you support Sony's Playstation 3, essentially you're telling them that it's alright to give huge promises to your customers and not keep them. It may be all about the games, true; but doesn't your trust (or lack thereof) in a company to deliver promised features also factor into your buying decisions? As consumers, if you get a Playstation 3, essentially you're letting them 'get away with' what they pulled last year. And no doubt, if Sony succeeds this generation, they will use these marketing tactics again.
Heck, if Sony succeeds this generation, most likely both Microsoft and Nintendo will follow their lead and start using the same deceptive practices as Sony just to win consumers...in the end, we encourage these big console makers to continue to lie to us if we let Sony win. The pressure to deliver 'real-time' results IMO makes these three companies work harder to deliver truly next-generation games and experiences.
Now it is true that companies do give big promises and sometimes end up compromising their initial vision, but in my humble opinion, the degree to which Sony did it is so incredible and so mind-boggling. People really thought we would start seeing CGI-quality games TODAY because of the Cell tech and Blu ray. Just totally unreal. As consumers are we supposed to let them get away with that just to get the latest sequel to some game franchise? If that's the case, then we've really fallen hostage to corporate greed; they know we can't escape anymore from their clutches, and they'll then solidify in their minds that lying to their consumers is the best way to succeed in the console business.
On that note, I admire how Microsoft has been trying to push for showing real-time graphics as opposed to CG. These kinds of 'arguments' didn't exist before, to the degree that we're seeing today, with the past generations of consoles---arguments over whether or not certain footage is CG or real time. Back then (maybe ten or so years ago), if the CG was great, that's great....heck I bought some games because they had great CG back then, and I don't even regret doing that---because at the time it was really a 'new' thing to see CG movies in games to introduce the story or to move the story along. But nowadays we are so used to seeing CG introductions and sequences that there has to be something more. Nowadays, notice how some game trailers have to put a disclaimer that says 'MADE ENTIRELY OF IN-GAME FOOTAGE', or something to that effect. That need to see 'real-time' imagery is Microsoft's unwitting influence/contribution to the console industry.
I think the question of 'What is Next-Gen' has already been answered by gamers: Next-generation gaming is all about delivering a great gaming experience entirely with real time three dimensional graphics. Now there's nothing that sounds quite profound in that statement, but consider this...every conversation that's been had about these new consoles always has that question in mind, "Is it real time? Is it footage? Am I always 'in the game'?". It's no different from back in the nineties when the question was always "Is the game in 3D or are they still using 2D sprites?". Graphics may not be the final deciding factor of the quality of a game, but the reality is that it is very difficult to go back to old style graphics, other than for the occasional five minute nostalgia run.
Original place where this opinion was posted:
Sony: The Truth Behind The Hype thread at Teamxbox.com
Heck, if Sony succeeds this generation, most likely both Microsoft and Nintendo will follow their lead and start using the same deceptive practices as Sony just to win consumers...in the end, we encourage these big console makers to continue to lie to us if we let Sony win. The pressure to deliver 'real-time' results IMO makes these three companies work harder to deliver truly next-generation games and experiences.
Now it is true that companies do give big promises and sometimes end up compromising their initial vision, but in my humble opinion, the degree to which Sony did it is so incredible and so mind-boggling. People really thought we would start seeing CGI-quality games TODAY because of the Cell tech and Blu ray. Just totally unreal. As consumers are we supposed to let them get away with that just to get the latest sequel to some game franchise? If that's the case, then we've really fallen hostage to corporate greed; they know we can't escape anymore from their clutches, and they'll then solidify in their minds that lying to their consumers is the best way to succeed in the console business.
On that note, I admire how Microsoft has been trying to push for showing real-time graphics as opposed to CG. These kinds of 'arguments' didn't exist before, to the degree that we're seeing today, with the past generations of consoles---arguments over whether or not certain footage is CG or real time. Back then (maybe ten or so years ago), if the CG was great, that's great....heck I bought some games because they had great CG back then, and I don't even regret doing that---because at the time it was really a 'new' thing to see CG movies in games to introduce the story or to move the story along. But nowadays we are so used to seeing CG introductions and sequences that there has to be something more. Nowadays, notice how some game trailers have to put a disclaimer that says 'MADE ENTIRELY OF IN-GAME FOOTAGE', or something to that effect. That need to see 'real-time' imagery is Microsoft's unwitting influence/contribution to the console industry.
I think the question of 'What is Next-Gen' has already been answered by gamers: Next-generation gaming is all about delivering a great gaming experience entirely with real time three dimensional graphics. Now there's nothing that sounds quite profound in that statement, but consider this...every conversation that's been had about these new consoles always has that question in mind, "Is it real time? Is it footage? Am I always 'in the game'?". It's no different from back in the nineties when the question was always "Is the game in 3D or are they still using 2D sprites?". Graphics may not be the final deciding factor of the quality of a game, but the reality is that it is very difficult to go back to old style graphics, other than for the occasional five minute nostalgia run.
Original place where this opinion was posted:
Sony: The Truth Behind The Hype thread at Teamxbox.com