Consoles: the next generation

Almost four years after the release of the Playstation 3 and five years after the unveiling of the Xbox 360, we are still no closer to getting our hands on the 8th generation of consoles. Sure we’ve been given the slim versions to placate our voracious appetite for something new and shiny (or new and matte if you’re a PS3 owner) but beauty is more than skin deep after all; yes my Xbox may have been on a diet and is flaunting its slick new contours about town for all the boys to see, but inside, it’s the same dowdy old processor.

Both consoles were cosmetically redesigned, slimmed down and hushed up, with increased storage capacity and a few extra USB ports thrown in for good measure. And now; silence descends…and it’s not down to the new whisper quiet fans. As we stand squinting, facing the horizon, waiting for the dawn of a new era of super consoles, Microsoft and Sony lurk just out of sight, making no mention of their next gen plans. It looks like we’re in for a long wait…

But what exactly are we waiting for? Both consoles, particularly the Xbox 360, would benefit immensely from a much needed upgrade to their innards. 5 years is a healthy lifespan for a console. However, with the announcement of the slim versions, we could be looking at another 2 or 3 years tacked on to their life cycles.

With the wave of developers bashing our bargain bin games and the recent influx of titles requiring online passes in order to access the online content (EA being the biggest culprit), it might be reasonable to assume that we are being steered towards a more download exclusive market. And what could be better than a console designed specifically for this purpose.

Money, money, money, money...Mooooooney!

Could it be that the tact being adopted by such avaricious developers such as EA, THQ, Activision and very possibly Ubisoft, which is spreading like bed bugs in a “Beds! Beds! Beds!” depot, is casting its golden hued spell on the console Gods? The colour of money can be very persuasive.

There is already a wealth of games available on the Xbox Live Marketplace to download and with just a few clicks of a button, any one of these titles can be yours, conveniently installed right to your hard drive and all at full price no less. Incidentally, I bought my used copy of Mass Effect about a year ago for £8. It’s currently on the Marketplace for £19.99. That’s incentive for you. Pay over the odds and wait an eternity for the game to download and eat up all of the space on your hard drive when it’s finally installed. Of course, at this juncture, your gnarled old hands will already be at the mercy of arthritis and the grandkids will probably be heading over on their hover-scooters so the game will have to wait until after dinner. But then you’ll be free to crack open a beer, take a journey into the past and play that crazy Mass Effect game with its antiquated genre of space travel. Yes, it takes that a long to download a full game…well almost.

There’s no real cost saving for the consumer when purchasing a download only title and not everyone will have the broadband speed required to make this a viable option. This problem would become even more pertinent on release dates, with the huge numbers of people simultaneously wanting to download the same title. Then there’s the problem of hard drive space, which Microsoft have only exacerbated, as an upgrade to your hard drive means having to purchase an Xbox HDD which is very much over priced, unlike the PS3 which allows the use of any external hard drive with the console. And should you download a game, you’d pretty much have to delete it once completed to make space for your new titles…but what if you want to reminisce and play it again at some point in the future? You’d have to download it all over again and we know how long that takes. It’ll be the great grand kids coming over for dinner before it’s installed.

Conspiracy theories are rife; proclaiming the console of the future will be released sans disc drive. But consumers would need to be offered a reasonable price for downloadable games and cheaper, larger capacity hard drives before even contemplating purchasing such a console. And the issue of broadband speeds isn’t a problem that can be resolved by Microsoft or Sony. Are these concerns going to be seriously addressed over the next few years before releasing the 8th gen console as envisioned? Or will we be coerced down this path against our will, with all developers eventually adopting EA’s strategum and making chargeable DLC and online passes the status quo; before hammering the final nail into our coffins and making the games themselves download only, with no cost incentives, enormous strains on our hard drives and broadband speeds becoming the bane of our gaming existence?

If this is the vision of the future, making the used game market a relic of the past, frustrated consumers could consider donning thier pirate hats and actually start cutting into the developers profit margins; they would stand to lose a lot more through potential piracy than they could possibly be losing now as a result of the buying and selling of used games. More often than not, I’ll buy a used game that I would never have even considered purchasing at full price, find I enjoy it and buy the DLC. That’s a fiscal transaction which wouldn’t have occurred without the likes of CEX or Gamestation selling discounted second hand games.

In the face of boycotting and piracy, maybe the likes of EA will regret the position they’re inevitably sailing towards. Arrr mateys! Maybe the used game market wasn’t so bad after all…

Xbox Live Summer of Arcade

The Xbox Live Summer of Arcade is now well under way with 3 of the 5 titles having already been released; the first two of which were Limbo and Hydro Thunder Hurricane. Microsoft couldn’t have chosen a more starkly contrasted pair to release within the space of a week with the juxtaposition of a new art house style offering and a revived retro classic.

Limbo presents an eerie world of subdued charcoal tones. No sound other than the hushed whisper of the wind rustling through the leaves can be heard. Stumbling upon macabre scenes of corpses swinging from nooses or floating, bloated, face down in the water is the norm. You truly feel a sense of isolation as you navigate your character (a silhouette of a small boy with glowing eye sockets) around this world, deciphering puzzles and avoiding the sadistic traps set by the natives. “Company!” I hear you cry. But alas, finding a friendly face in this piece is not to be; dark, silent figures watching you expire at their hands offers little comfort…no surprise there.

The game play is very simplistic and pared down, in line with the aesthetic style of the game. In addition to the basic movement, your character can jump and hold on to objects to push or pull them as needed. The puzzles increase in difficulty as you progress and you really have to get your timing nailed on some of them in order to succeed. But whilst the puzzles are challenging, they’re not impossible; it’s certainly no Braid (sadly I was not a part of the elite set that actually managed to complete that game!).

Limbo is a game noir that presents a bit of a puzzler but not to those of you who relish a challenge! The opening act of the Summer of Arcade is a tough act to follow.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane on the other hand…this is the sequel to the arcade classic Hydro Thunder which later debuted on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999. The testosterone fuelled adrenaline fest with its garish colours, raucous soundtrack and the over-enthusiastic-verging-on-aggressive voice of the announcer booming the words “Hydro! Thunder! Hurricane!”at you, all combine perfectly to transport you back to a simpler time of nineties arcade racers. All that’s required to complete the experience in its entirety is a gaggle of pre-pubescent kids doing some back seat driving over your shoulder, waiting for their turn at the wheel.


The handling is very similar to Wipeout; the futuristic anti-gravity racer. This is probably due to the fact that your boat spends a lot of time airborne, skimming from peak to peak of the turbulent waves. The aim of the game is to accumulate credits to unlock the further content and the way to do this is very simple…win; poll in the top three and they’re yours.

The four race events are Race, Gauntlet, Ring Master and Championship. Speed is of the essence in all of these modes and they’ve given you a sweet looking choice of power boats to facilitate this. Race is a simple race to the finish, Gauntlet is a race to the finish in a given time limit with a smattering of exploding barrels bobbing around the track, Ring Master is (that’s right!) a race to the finish in a given time limit, guiding your boat through rings which will earn you a boost. Missing rings means no boost and seconds added to your time. And lastly, Championship; all of the above modes played in either novice, pro or expert.

The controls are simple enough; acceleration, boost and jump. But a certain amount of skill is required to utilise these at precisely the right moment to reap the most reward. Power-ups aplenty also litter the tracks along with a few random surprises that will have your pit crew at a loss for words. This isn’t all bad as they don’t hold back vocally if you place outside of the top three!

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a trip down memory lane...on acid. Enjoy the ride!

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

Konami’s flagship series returns to the Xbox a second time following the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in 2007, originally released on the Sony Playstation in 1997.

Instead of once again releasing a previous title on a different console, Konami have taken it one step further and gone all Frankenstein on us, creating a monster mash-up of what is essentially a 30 minute time attack mode.

No new characters, no new graphics; instead, we have an amalgamation of graphics, bosses and characters dragged from their platforms on the Game Boy Advance, Sony Playstation, and Nintendo DS to face off in 6 co-op levels, slaying the monsters standing in their way on the path to defeating Dracula.

The fan base is going to be split on this one. Whilst there’s no story and no RPG elements, we do finally have a multiplayer Castlevania game, with up to six player co-op. Whilst you can play single player, it’s pretty much a given that the game has been optimised for the multiplayer format, as trying to navigate your way through a level solo proves to be quite a challenge and this isn’t just down to the various levers and lift arrangements that require two characters to manoeuvre in order to progress; there are no save rooms! If you’re playing single player and take one hit too many, its game over and you’re back at the beginning. If you’re enjoying a co-op game however, your fellow vampire hunters can resurrect you with the Water of Life potion when you’ve been killed, as your character takes the form of a skeleton with a golden halo marker above its head upon your untimely demise. And its even armed…with a bone; a pitiful bone to throw at the multitude of enemies baying for your blood. But that should keep them off you until help arrives. And if it doesn’t, running away usually does the trick.

Whilst one might argue that Konami have churned out a multiplayer game which cannibalises previous Castlevania titles in order to make a quick profit, I think that in this instance, it’s a means to test the waters before they invest in creating a brand new multiplayer experience. This is the first time Castlevania has had the option of multiplayer after all and the reception it receives will surely dictate if this is to be incorporated in the future.

Konami’s motives aside; whether you’re a long time fan or a newcomer to the Castlevania games, accept it for what it is; a multiplayer offering from one of the most popular long-standing series of games of all time that’s a hell of a lot of fun to play.