The Video Game Revue

Console Biases

I've had some interesting conversations about the Xbox 360 and its place in the industry lately. There's been something of a revelation bubbling up in me, and I've finally found the words for it. For a long time I was biased against the Xbox (for good reasons), and when I finally cracked and got my 360, it was with the realization that the Xbox 360 isn't a cultural or political movement--it's just a console.

This is a powerful idea. Microsoft has spent a tremendous amount of effort making the Xbox into a cultural establishment for "hardcore" gamers--aka. jock gamers. The original Xbox was the console to have if what you wanted was primarily shallow, military-themed shooters and sports titles (or if you were a modder and wanted a cheap, easily cracked PC.) But recently I've started to meet Xbox 360 owners who are more the kind of gamer that I can relate to. These are people who don't like Halo, don't like most sports games, and openly embrace JRPGs and other kinds of games that jock gamers think of as "gay." The existence of such Xbox 360 owners challenged my notions of who the system is meant for.

Leading up to recent releases of Eternal Sonata and Blue Dragon, I thought of these games as flimsy attempts by Microsoft to woo the Japanese market, but now another possibility to apparent to me: maybe the Xbox 360 is out-growing its image as a jock gamer platform and becoming something that people simply play good games on. In other words, the Xbox 360 is becoming less of a "hardcore" accessory and more of a real gaming platform; hence, just a console.

There's something else strange going on here as well: the console FPS genre is maturing. For most of their early history, FPS games were PC-only affairs, with console versions being lame adaptations. The development of mouse-look controls is what sealed the deal, and ever since the likes of Quake 2 and Half-Life, consoles have been playing catch-up.

Lately, however, we're seeing more FPS games tuned specifically for play on consoles. In this category, one could include such games as Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, and Gears of War. These games are generally only barely FPS games in important ways; they have funny movement schemes or lock-on targeting controls that defeat what the genre is generally all about. In spite of that, these games are good in their own right.

I've had chats with my buddy Matt, who is a big fan of the great PC FPS classics, about what makes Resident Evil 4 great. One of the arguments that Matt has made (directly or indirectly) is that RE4 could be considered something of an FPS with a crippling control scheme and really easy computer opponents to balance that out. But RE4 isn't really like that; the controls are actually really good, even though they're not nearly as efficient as PC mouse-keyboard FPS controls.

The analogy that I made was to sports. Sports are often defined by the limitations that they impose on their participants. Consider basketball: one of the rules of basketball is that you have to dribble the ball while you move. Once you pick the ball up, you have to pass it before you can move again. These rules are very restrictive; obviously, it would be a lot easier to not have to do these things. But without these rules, the sport wouldn't be basketball anymore.

To consider a simpler example, look at water-skiing. Why would one bother with water-skiing when one can go faster and have better control from within the boat? Because then you wouldn't be water-skiing anymore: you'd be driving a boat. Being on skis is what makes the sport, even though it's not the fastest, most efficient way to get around.

Resident Evil 4 is like that. Certainly players could aim faster and move much more easily with PC FPS controls (think wasd + mouse), but then it wouldn't be RE4 anymore. For that matter, PC FPSes would be easier if everyone had aim-bots; then you could really crank up the AI difficulty. Why even require the player to navigate? Try turning the game into an aim-bot rail shooter and see how fun that is. While you're at it, maybe just code up a game where the user clicks the mouse once to see a huge "you win" flash across the screen. Yay!

I bring this up largely because a lot of worthwhile console-style FPS games are coming out, and for the first time I'm really seeing the benefit to these games being console titles as opposed to PC titles. All three of the current-gen platforms (Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3) are seeing this happen, and I think that it's a positive trend overall. I just had to get over my bias about what console FPS games are in order to see it. And now the Xbox 360 isn't just a console for jock gamers who don't realize how terrible console FPSes (like Halo) really are because the console FPSes aren't quite so terrible anymore (Gears of War, BioShock.)

While we're talking about console bias, I want to point out a very annoying trend in Wii games. Many developers and publishers have lamented missing out on the Wii launch because they underestimated the console. The Wii now has a massive, and still growing, install base, and there is little doubt that it will remain a driving force throughout the current generation of consoles. But because of a lot of preconceived notions about what the Wii represents, I think that developers and publishers are still missing out on the Wii market.

Look at EA, for example. They're convinced (and hardly alone in this) that the Wii is a "casual" and "family" platform for games like Boogie and EA Playground. While they've recognized that the Wii is a very popular system that needs to be capitalized on, they're still assuming that "normal" gamers will still have an Xbox 360 or PS3 which is the preferred platform for "real" games. And while it is true that the Wii has attracted a record-breaking amount of attention from "non-gamer" consumers, the simple fact of the matter, from where I stand, is that the Wii was chosen by gamers and it is still just a console.

The big hits on Wii aren't going to be cute family games like MySims, or dumbed down physical activity games like Wii Sports. The real hits are going to be deep, emotionally involving games; not necessarily ones that require a huge time commitment or are difficult to learn, but ones that players can get lost in nonetheless. People want to see another breakthrough in presentation and storytelling like Final Fantasy VII, with provoking themes and challenges. In spite of its lacking hardware and current marketing image, the Wii is the perfect platform to deliver those experiences because of its install base and the frenzy of attention surrounding it. Everything else is just glitter and fluff, and publishers like EA are missing the boat just as much now as they were last year at this time.

Of course, I'm just a gamer, and these are just my opinions. :)

posted by Parappa @ 6:50 PM