The hype surrounding the launch of a new console generation is a remarkable phenomenon, one that I have had more than my fair share of in the past. The launch of the seventh generation of consoles came in the perfect time in my life. I was beginning to gain a much greater appreciation for games as a medium, I had been playing the current generation for some time due to the virtue of older siblings, and I had recently been introduced to the concept of disposable income from working a summer job or two along the way. I got caught up in the hype wholeheartedly, trying(and failing) to acquire a Wii at launch, and dreaming about the way-out-of-my-price-range PS3. I remember excitement and the thirst I had for reading all that I could about each new system.But now, I just don't have it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm intrigued enough through my interest in gaming and my love of all things technical to sift through previews, news and reviews about each upcoming system, but I find myself unable to summon even a shadow of that same excitement. This has led me to wondering exactly why that is. Certainly part of it is that I'm older now, and less prone to being caught up in the media hype(at least I like to think so), but I can't help but feel like its more.
Some credence has to be given to the idea that there is nothing particularly exciting about this console generation, rather than me simply being too cynical to be excited. Perhaps its a combination of the two. But lets be honest, if the last generation was promising the moon, then this generation is promising something at about sea level.
The seventh generation had something to capture the generation. The Wii, despite any personal feelings or opinions about it, promised to be a gaming experience unlike anything you had before. It conjured images of lightsaber duels and....well, for me it was mainly lightsaber duels. What does the Wii U promise? Touch input, like we've all seen in our phones and tablets. Now I am intrigued by the Wii U, and I do think its interface has promise(if used correctly), but it certainly doesn't have the 'can you imagine?' factor that the Wii U did.
Then you have Sony and Microsoft's offerings. To say that I'm tired of the graphical arms race would be putting it lightly, but at least last generation it made sense. Bringing consoles to HD was a logical, and extremely impressive step at the time. The graphics it was able to produce were(and still are) remarkable, and the worlds it promised were miles away from anything we had on the PS2 or XBox. But now? I feel like we're approaching the ceiling of how much graphics can improve the experience, and graphical upgrades for me register with a resounding "thats kinda cool, I guess". Gaming is all about the experience, and I can't help but feel like they are missing the point.
Finally, I start to wonder if I just I'm just a bit too critical, if I've spent just a little too much time trying to immerse myself in the industry. I can't help but try and look at the big picture. When I see new consoles now, I invariably see rising development costs, the difficulties smaller developers will face, and the less risks the industry will be willing to take. I also see the one good and twelve mediocre launch titles per system we'll have to put up with, until 3rd party developers can catch up. Some might call it jaded, but I would say that I'm...no, jaded pretty much says it.
So I guess all in all, I'm curious, I'm interested, but I just don't feel that same excitement in the air like before. But who knows, maybe I'll be surprised, and maybe this generation will take gaming to places its never been before. I guess we just have to wait and find out. After the launch titles, that is.
