The internet is abuzz this week with news from E3, the annual get-together that is to the electronic gaming industry what the Republican convention is to gun-totin’ fundamentalist “librul”-hatin’ rednecks named Jeb, or the Democratic convention is to, oh, I dunno, maybe people looking for a market where they can sell replacement spinal columns?
Now, for me, the biggest news out of E3 is the announcement that signups for the beta of Lord of the Rings Online have begun. But what the press seems to be focusing on is the rivalry between the Big Three of console gaming. While I’ve owned a few consoles and currently have a Playstation 2, I’ve always preferred PC games for the most part. All the PS2 has been used for in over a year is to entertain children (and occasional adults, myself included) with “Eye Toy” games. So a while back when the trio of next-generation consoles was announced, I was interested from a detached point of view, but shrugged off questions of “which one will you get”; at the time I figured, “probably none of the above.”
I’m beginning to rethink that opinion. Not because of the possible tremendous strides in graphics and processing power (the PC has or will soon pass the consoles by once again), but because of interface innovations on the new machines. The XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 will both have Eye Toy -like peripherals available. I like the PS2 Eye Toy, but it is limited in resolution, is vulnerable to low or changing light levels in the environment, and has a very limited selection of software to support it. Microsoft has already demonstrated a camera type peripheral for the XBox360 that displays in a higher resolution and recognizes such minute movements as hand gestures, and likely Sony’s product will follow suit if they ever get their act together on the PS3 in general. In any case, it remains to be seen what kind of software support these devices will have, and unless someone figures a way to coordinate 2 cameras from different angles to map a player’s movement in 3D space, they’ll always be limited to 2-dimensional gameplay.
Enter the Nintendo Wii. Dumb name, yes, I agree, but it certainly has drawn a lot of attention to the machine. (I dare Nintendo to produce a portable version called the Wee Wii!)
Way back when the machine, then code-named Revolution, was announced, the pictures of the simplistic, rectangular TV-remote-like controller made a lot of folks scratch their heads and wonder aloud, “What were they thinking?” Since then, of course, we’ve learned that this controller can in fact sense its position in space, so it can be swung like a sword, aimed like a gun, etc, and the game environment will react to the player’s movements through three dimensions. I wonder if there is the possibility of using multiple controllers to say, wield two weapons in-game, or to attach similar devices around one’s ankles so the game could track leg movements like kicks?
The Wii does in fact trail the other two new consoles in terms of sheer raw power, but based on the information available now, it’s the one I’d choose. The fact that the 3d-sensing controller comes with the system means that pretty much every Wii game will make use of it, and it will enjoy much more support than the Eye-Toy-alikes ever will.
Price is also a concern, of course. The Wii looks to be a lot less costly than the XBox360… and for the price of a PS3 (if and when it ever gets here), a person could by an XBox and a Wii!