Why Microsoft needs a fresh user base for the Scorpio to succeed.

The moment is almost here and as gamers all around the world count the hours, we get near to the final unveiling of Microsoft's new console, up until now called Scorpio (which is a kick ass name so they should keep it). Now the question is... how can Microsoft convince gamers that their new console is the real deal after the Xbox One lost the battle against the PS4?

The answer is easy... They need a fresh user base with a more open mind. 

Take a moment to think about what happened to the Xbox One. Regardless of how dumb the initial pitch was and how their PR disaster hurt the console's launch, it managed to recover and sold relatively well. Some people thought that they were going to have a comeback in the console race, especially after the console had a really strong Christmas 2016, but once January 2017 came it all deflated and has been practically inert ever since. You want to know why? Well prepare yourself.

The main reason the Xbox One lacked the strength to close the gap was because its user base was really narrow in their gaming selections and that limited not only the amount of players, but also the opportunity of having a good variety of games, which most often than not turn into direct sales of the console itself. Sadly the Xbox One carried the effects of the blight of 2008 and that really hurt the potential of an otherwise awesome console.

What was the Blight of 2008?

I like to call "the blight of 2008" to that period in the previous generation of consoles where all the attention in the market shifted to two three genres which were first person shooters, racing and sports games. Every other genre was basically ignored and month after month the leaders in sales were games in the genres previously mentioned. Don't take me wrong, I love those types of games too, but on those days they were like a giant black hole that was swallowing everything. It was so bad that even the once proud Japanese companies started imitating their Western counterparts in a desperate attempt to have better sales. It was the couple of years that had sad incidents like the president of Square Enix giving his infamous "ultimatum" about them catering to the west and the death of many good games because of  poor sales. This went on and on with many franchises been either changed or dumbed down until the current consoles came and brought back the balance we had enjoyed for the previous 20 years and had momentarily lost in the days of the blight.

So what does the Xbox One has to do with the blight?

It makes me sad to say it, but it seems that some people believed that we are still living in the days of the blight and so they didn't supported anything that went away from their comfort zone as if they were still living in 2008. I am not pretending everybody to buy every game, but sales numbers show that the Xbox One user base was basically saying "meh we just want shooters, racers and sports", which is a thing that discouraged most third party companies of releasing good exclusives for the console and made the Xbox landscape to be based almost entirely of multi-platform games with some few exclusives thrown there now and then.

Don't believe me? Check out these articles:

79% of UK Final Fantasy XV sales were on PS4, 21% Xbox One

ReCore News: Sales Gone Bad? Microsoft Finally Made Their Move

Poor sales continue as Quantum Break hits Steam

You see? Those are examples of one multi-platform and two exclusives not performing well on the console in terms of sales. They were all good games so those failures were uncalled for.

Then what Microsoft needs to do to fix this?

What Microsoft needs to do from today on can be divided in two things. First they need to win over people that fled to other consoles because of the lack of the games they wanted and second, they need to re-educate they loyal fans to support more types of games than they did with the Xbox One. They need to immediately state that the console will be powerful, sexy and with lots of different games to support that power. Otherwise, they may have another Xbox One situation on their hands and that would be really devastating for the Xbox division within Microsoft.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: The Hard Challenges Ahead

Most of us were astounded when the very much acclaimed remake was finally announced at the Sony E3 conference, but after all the celebration I know many of us started thinking about it and began asking ourselves "How are they specifically going to do this?". The question comes from the fact that all of the Final Fantasy games in the 90's were more about design and style than graphics, so if this is to be a remake... What hurdles will they have to go over in order for this remake to be as good as we expect it to be? That question sets a chain reaction of doubts like the ones you will see below.

To be turn based or not to be?

The first thing that most likely passed through the mind of many fans is the fighting system. Back in the day Final Fantasy 7 was all about classic turned based combat, but in today's day and age Square Enix isn't so comfortable with it anymore. Ever since Final Fantasy XI Online, they have been transitioning from turn based to a more action oriented approach, only giving Final Fantasy XIII and XIII 2 a shot at the old school style just to turn it back into action based again with Lighting Returns. What Square Enix will do with a game as big as Final Fantasy 7 is anybody's guess, but if I had to give a definitive answer I would say that they will stick to turn based, but try to mix it up somehow or at least make it look fresh. They can't just go full action rpg on the game because then they would have to sacrifice a lot of depth that the game needs to be as epic as the original one, but hey that's just my humble opinion.

Scaled world map or something more realistic?

The world in Final Fantasy 7 is really big for a linear game, but the way it is connected has a lot to do with how fun it is to explore. Back in the day, the scaled world map not only served for grinding purposes, but also for finding hidden events and secrets that ranged from simple stuff like finding a hidden item to whole scenarios like Fort Condor. Now the people at Square Enix have to be thinking on how to do this without it looking dated. They know that they need a way for players to go from place to place, but they can't really go fully realistic (or with a boring menu based system) here because that will basically slash away 30% of the game. I know that this is a remake and it does not have to be a carbon copy of the original one, but in this aspect they will need to be really smart or else they will break the whole thing.

Materia system...Simplified?

The materia system is one of the most fun skill systems in any JRPG. It is kind of complex when you try it for the first time, but as you get good at it you will find all sorts of crazy materia combinations while you look for one that gives you an edge in battle. Now in the world we live in today, a system as complex as this can be a turn down for many players that could lack the time or patience to efficiently work with it, so it is quite possible that the developers of this remake are already thinking of ways to re-engineer the materia system in order to cater to both the fans and curious new players. There is also a chance that the system will be split in two, with the original version for fans of the game and a simpler version for anybody that feels like the materia system is too complex for them. A third and very distinct possibility is to re-make the whole system, but I personally see that as very unlikely.

Is dungeon complexity at risk?

One of the best things in Final Fantasy 7 was how good the dungeon and explorations parts where. From climbing through a mountain of junk and storming into a giant government building, to a Japanese styled tower and even a running train in a collision path, the way in which we experienced all of these places was very dynamic and had a lot of essence to it because they all were unique. Now the problem begins when translating all of those places from pre-rendered environments to full 3D ones. Will we be able to explore Don Corneo's mansion at will, peeping into every room? (Don't look at me like that, I know everybody will do that). Will we be able to invade the Shinra building in the same way we did in the original game with all the different paths and details to find? Will exploration in dungeons and places be as good as the original or will we find ourselves running through generic versions of these places? Square Enix has to give a lot of attention to this issue because it is not only about looking pretty, but also feeling like we are playing through a broader and enhanced version of the memorable places we used to know.

Are mini games and micro events at risk?

Final Fantasy games in the 90's were linear yes, but they had such a great variety of micro events and small stuff to do that they almost felt like they weren't. So how can Square Enix bring this to the remake? I know we are all hoping that they do so just like they did back then in the Square Soft days, but there's a possibility that they could take the lazy path and just throw a bunch of QTE events which is scary for any Final Fantasy fan out there and even more so when such a big game like this has a 2017 release date. Will they be hard pressed to sacrifice some of the awesome stuff that mini games and micro events added to the game or will they grind up, rise to the challenge and give us all the neat stuff? That my friends, is just a matter how much they want this game to succeed.

Wrapping it up

Will these challenges be conquered? Nobody knows...

The Final Fantasy 7 remake shows a lot of promise and has put all of our imaginations to work, but we also have to be aware that this is a big time production and a very long game. Let's just hope that they have been working on this for a long while now, or at least enough for it to be as loyal to the original as possible while giving us that little extra that the original couldn't on the technology we had back then. For now let's just hope and see because if the house of Final Fantasy does well in all of the previously mentioned challenges, we will be well on our way to one of the most epic games ever.


Bonus Stage!

Here I share you people, a video made by a friend of mine with his impressions of the FF7 remake reveal. It's really simple, but straight to the point.

Game Doctrine E3 Special

Game Doctrine is a little side project I have been working up with a friend and what better way to introduce our little wacky antics than I showing you our E3 special. If you don't understand some aspects of this episode you can look for previous ones so you can see what it is all about, hope you all enjoy it.

Game Doctrine is shaping up to be a channel that mixes up gaming discussion and criticism with a simple storyline and lots of extras that will be added as we go. I know we have a lot to improve, but we are working to make this a better channel and have lots of ideas that we will be implementing in the future. If you liked the video then help us out by liking, subscribing and sharing the video as it will be of great motivation to us.

Post E3 - The Battle for the 2014-2015 Supremacy

Well folks, the big event has passed and all that its left are the reactions to everything that was shown. Let's analyze the stuff that each of the biggest companies presented at the conference and see how well they did with their respective showcases. Anything counts in the fight for the hearts and minds of gamers around the world, so without further delay, lets begin our little recap:


Category: First Party Companies

How it went:
Microsoft content for this year E3 was actually not bad. It featured known franchises like Call of Duty, Halo, The Witcher 3 and Fable while giving us a glimpse of new things like Sunset Overdrive and even the return of the cult classic Phantom Dust and the appearance of some other third party games. This time around Microsoft focused on gaming itself, which is a good thing compared to the blunder they made last year so it is an improvement and their appearance on stage looked refreshed (even the music track at the beginning of the conference sounded like a warrior on a struggle).

On the other hand, the hype and speculation they caused prior to the conference was not entirely satisfied, as not even one of the most rumored games were shown and most of the showcase was based on obvious decisions, most of them already known to the public. In summary a good conference, but a missed opportunity to turn the tables and get the best out of the occasion.

Final Score: 7 / 10

How it went:
Sony's conference went the same path as Microsoft's, but with a game lineup that seems a little stronger. Games like The Order, Little Big Planet 2, No man's land, Let it die, ABZU, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4 and a whole bunch of good indie titles and other goodies like a new DLC for Infamous: Second Son. The only drawback was that after each trailer for a new game we had to see the numbers 2015, meaning the almost all of the games mentioned will be coming next year, which means a pretty dry Christmas season for the PS4.

As for the appearance that the company had for the conference, the first thing that very surely everybody felt was the big hole left by Jack Tretton as he left the company. Also the new CEO kind of lacked the charisma that Tretton had and that was kind of a disappointment, but let's cut the guy some slack, its his first time in that position. Another thing was talking about movies, series and apps. That kind of thing took precious time away that could had been used to promote games and talking about games well... There were no surprises which prevented the conference from having that "boom" effect that it had last year.

Final Score: 7.5 / 10

How it went:
Nintendo's conference was different as it was last year, where instead of giving a physical media briefing they gave us a 50 minute podcast with the newest things that Nintendo had to offer. The showcasing was very good and straight to the point with the occasional hilarious mini sketches made with clay figures (which reminded us all about robot chicken). This year, Nintendo did everything right with their presentation and in those 50 minutes they showed some very ineresting looking games like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Yoshi's Wooly World, Bayonetta 2, Mario Maker, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors accompanied by real heavy hitter like the real Wii U Legend of Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles, ending with a small clip of Miyamoto playing Wii U in front of a blurred TV with a game that looked like Star Fox. Later on the Star Fox game became official on the Nintendo Treehouse event, along with two other Miyamoto games that made good use of the Wii U pad in an effort to bring more interest into the heavily criticized controller (see the Legend of the 7 Stars: Nintendo keys to victory.)

Final Score: 9 / 10


Category: Third Party Companies

How it went:
EA's conference had a little more bang this year with a showcase of Dragon Age: Inquisition that clearly showed that the game has really progressed from when it was shown for the first time. The new Battlefield game, called Battlefield Hardline gave a twist to the known Battlefield formula with a more urban setting and a cops vs bad guys scenario even featuring an open beta available on PS4 from the moment the game was shown. They also showed The Sims 4, which is good news for the fans of the series (I know people that still play the previous games a lot as if they still were brand new) also showing a little bit of work in progress for Mass Effect 4 and of course their line of new sport games which is a given for EA.

The appearance of their conference was classy and directly to the point, which is a plus to any third party conference out there. The woman playing the cello was a nice touch and everything ran smoothly

Final Score: 8 / 10

How it went:
This year, the Ubisoft conference went very straight forward, announcing games like Assasin's Creed Unity, The Crew, Far Cry 4, Tom Clancy's: The Division and Valiant Hearts: The Great War and Rainbow Six: Siege. All went well  in an all around conference that sparked new interest for their upcoming games in the way that Ubisoft has done since the first time they stepped on the E3 conference floor.

The conference was neat and complete, showing the games that with the pass of time have made Ubisoft grow from a common third party / publisher to a powerful gaming force. Another story that came up just after the conference was that they did not mentioned the Wii U at any time, fueling the notion that the company has abandoned Nintendo. Ubisoft representatives said this was not true and told people from the gaming media that they still had faith in Nintendo and would be talking about new games for the Wii U at a later time.

Final Score: 8 / 10

To wrap things up

To get this out of the way first, the winner of this year E3 event is:

This is because it was a complete showcase that not only was good, but it basically accomplished most of our expectations and had nothing boring about it, been funny at times and a hype train on others. This Nintendo E3 presentation has started to make the Wii U look like the underdog that is slowly recovering (sort of like the 3DS did before it) and it gave us a lot to talk about, becoming the first time in years that Nintendo actually wins an E3 event and making us all feel like the Nintendo of old has emerged.

It is also important to point out that this year there were NO losers. All conferences were good, they showed their stuff and set the stage for a very busy (and wallet beating) 4th quarter 2014 going all the way to 2015 which will most likely be the year of the mother of all battles in the console war of this generation. The most important thing is that after all is set and done, gamers around the world are the ones with a real advantage with all the games coming up in the future. So sit tight and get ready, because this year E3 event showed us that this generation will be just awesome.

Legend of the 7 Stars: Nintendo keys to victory

This time, we will have a little change of mood, I think you had enough about industry criticism so let's go with something a little more optimistic. This week, we have all heard/read a lot about Nintendo and how they are trying to take the Wii U away from the edge of the precipice and turn it into a force to be reckoned with. Right now they had their first step in the right direction with the success they are having with Mario Kart 8, a game that has put the Wii U back in the gaming community as a cool thing to have. Now been things as they are, many people are still skeptic about Nintendo's machine and  those are the gamers that Nintendo has to get back in order to return into the console race at full strength.

Nintendo can still pack a punch, we all know that.

Most probably you people have seen how in some  pay per view boxing bouts, before the fight starts, they show what are the "keys to victory" for each of the boxers. These "keys" are the things that they should do to maximize the possibilities of winning. Now, we are going to do the same thing and Nintendo will be our "boxer", so let's begin:

Nintendo keys to victory

If you remember this box art, you live through Nintendo's best moments.

1) Revival of dead (or snoozing) important Nintendo franchises.

This is something that has been talked about many times and expressed by gamers all around the world through various forums and media channels. Nintendo has basically forgotten about some of the games that actually made them what they are. Sure, we have our fair share of Mario with the occasional appearance of a Kirby game, but we need some more of that quality content that Nintendo is capable of. It would be very good to see a new Metroid game (possibly of the prime series), a Star Fox game with an emphasis of fighting enemies in the skies or even an F-Zero game with good customization features, lots of unlockables and an online multiplayer mode. There are ways on each of these franchises to make them look fresh, while keeping the good stuff from previous games. It is just a matter of creativity and we all know that Nintendo has that and more.

Project X is one of the most anticipated games on the Wii U.

2) Tap into the JRPG gamer niche

JRPG games are a niche, but a very powerful one. Role playing game enthusiasts are the type of gamer that is very loyal to the games they like and although they have been receiving some love in the form of some few new games, it is not nearly enough. For instance PS4 owners are still waiting for a definitive JRPG to come to their machine while the people behind the Xbox One haven't shown much interest for the genre. This is a great chance for the Wii U to become "the jrpg gamers machine of choice" just like the PS ONE did in the 90's. The Wii already started this trend with games like The Last Story, Arc Rise Phantasia and Xenoblade Chronicles, so it wouldn't be that hard to continue that effort on the Wii U, specially knowing that Nintendo has bought some good rpg game studios that they haven't been using at all. A good start for this would be to present a little more about X and the Shin Megami Tensei / Fire Emblem crossover because these games even with a moderate success can very easily open the door on the Wii U for this kind of genre.

3) Aggressive advertising like the Nintendo of old.

Ever since the Wii released, back in 2006, Nintendo has taken an all too passive stance on advertising. Their adverts look too white and clean and there is no "over the top" factor to make gamers feel like they really want to buy their product (you know...Something called hype?). Right now they are relying mostly on relaxed talking and corny sitcom-like jokes to give a more "mature and family oriented" image, but what they really need to do is to go back to the style they had with the Super Nintendo. At that time, their advertising was radical. It was like they were shoving the message to our faces, a message that said "we are the best, our machine will make your head spin with great gaming experiences, you will have so much fun that you will not be able to turn it off". That sort of thing was a hype machine that made people line up to buy the SNES and made Nintendo look bad-ass and cool which is one thing they need, because skeptic gamers still believe in the nonsensical old notion that Nintendo is for kids (Yeah, go give a toddler some Mario Kart 8 and see how "kiddy" Nintendo is).

Any one who plays zombie you for more than an hour knows that the game grows on you.

4) Shoot down the criticism over the Wii U game pad.

The Wii U tablet styled game pad is something that many gamers have shunned since the Wii U was released, but none of that criticism has any facts to back it up. The game pad, is not as big and clunky as people believe it to be, it is very comfortable to play with and the touch screen is very useful when developers actually use it, so there is no reason for it to be a let down. Nintendo must look for a way to make those skeptics know that the game pad is good and not just a gimmick. One of the ways that Nintendo can do that is by enforcing the use of it on games. For example, on Mario Kart 8, while you are having a race, you can see all sorts of helpful things on the touch screen, things that would be otherwise taking unnecessary space on the big screen. Another example is Zombie U, which is a very good game that makes use of the game pad in very efficient and fun ways that add up to the overall experience and even Pikmin 3 has an excellent menu on the touch screen, full with tools that work wonders when playing the game. In a sense, the Wii U game pad doesn't have to become the next big thing, it just has to be accepted.

It cool and all, but be smart, work it separately.

5) Keep "quality of life" far away from the Wii U.

As Mr. Iwata once said, Nintendo can do other things beside been focused on gaming and he is totally right, because Nintendo has done a lot of other things like trading card games and mini (tiger electronics like) handhelds. So, in Nintendo's search for a next big thing the phrase "quality of life" is one that has been mentioned a lot of times and it can bring a whole new audience to the Nintendo platform... Just not on the Wii U. This is because the Wii U even on its limited marketing, was presented as a hardcore gamer console, sort of like a resurrection of the Game Cube concept in terms of games and mixing it with another concept that is not about gaming, may make things worse for the console, as skeptics will have even less respect than they already have. Let's face it. The machine needs to build a better reputation and that will not happen with balance boards and vital sign peripherals. Don't take me wrong, it is a good idea to tap into the quality of life trend, but it will be best to do it on a separate platform.

Here we hope that the Wii U Zelda game still looks this good.

6) Show the Legend of Zelda game for the Wii U on this year E3.

From rumors to shy announcements and short interviews on the most known gaming websites, The Wii U Legend of Zelda game is something that has been present all along and something that everybody is waiting for since the tech demo they showed when they presented the Wii U for the first time. Right now, the game has built up so much hype that many gamers believe that Nintendo would easily win the E3 battle this year if they just show it. Now with the momentum that Mario Kart 8 has given to the console, it would be perfect to top it off with a killer app and by killer app is the Legend of Zelda console game that Nintendo fans have dreamed about since Ocarina of time and Majora's Mask. There is absolutely no reason to pass on this, because it is in all its right, a golden opportunity. Sort of like been backed to a corner in the heat of battle and suddenly finding a fully loaded rocket launcher just lying beside you, waiting for you to blast away your path and even the odds.

A mystery game that could be anything at all. That would spark our curiosity.

7) Show a new mysterious new IP as work in progress.

One thing that Nintendo can do to keep our minds wondering is to show us a new IP (intellectual property or also known as a completely new game). This would keep faith and interest in the console from suddenly dropping as it has happened before and still gives us a reason to believe that the Wii U is far from out. It would be even better if they could get a respected developer to do it, like Mr. Miyamoto if it is a first party game or any other like Kojima or even one of the developers that has gone independent like Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, The Evil Within) or Koji Igarashi (Castlevania). This new game has to be barely shown, in a kind of secretive fashion so it looks so mysterious that our curiosity as gamers is poked and the hype train begins to move.

To wrap things up

The momentum is there, Nintendo has a great chance here and those 7 keys to victory are part of what can make the magic happen. There have been a lot of rumors about games and concepts, but in the end what will matter is if Nintendo is capable of changing their image of a defeated old company into a winner in the eyes of those who still don't believe and that can only be done with good content and smart company decisions. Now only one question remains.Will Nintendo deliver the goods? Let's just wait and see.

Are we complaining too much about this generation of consoles?

Any gamer that surfs the web often, has to be familiar with the intense criticism that the new generation of consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U) has received. There are many supposed arguments that seem to support the idea that this generation of consoles is not as good as the companies want you to believe. From my point of view and after reading a lot of these comments and rants I can say that we are not been realistic enough into what new consoles are and the things that consoles in the past have showed us. In order to prove it, I am going to take the most heard/read complaints out there and throw some light at them with facts.

Poor guy... His game was one of the most praised games of 2013, yet "Wii U doesn't have good games".

1) The new consoles have no good games.

This is basically the strongest complaint about the current generation, but at the same time is the weirdest one. This is because on the surface it looks like there is a "lack of games" while in reality we have more games since the launch of each new console than we had on previous generations by the same amount of time. First of all we are failing to consider "indie" games as part of the console library. I know many of these games can be found on networks like Steam or Origin, but guess what? Not everybody has a gaming PC and some gaming setups are still not based on the living room where a setup for full gaming is more convenient than an hybrid console-PC one.

Also for all 3 of the current generation consoles, we have seen games from different genres (counting indie and not indie). There's action, horror, puzzle, adventure, first person shooters, platformers, survival horror, action-rpg and even combination of genres into one. If things are like this, then how can people say there are no games when there is clearly stuff to play? If we go back 2 generations to the past, there was no digital game thing and we basically had to make ends meet very few retail games (often one of them was a killer app, while most of the otthers were not that great). So now we have more choices, but it seems that we have become so spoiled that if it isn't a AAA super-hyped cutting edge game apparently it doesn't count. Well, I leave that for you to judge, but talking about spoiled brings us to our next complaint to break.

If you sold your old console and went straight for the new ones, I have news for you...

2) The new consoles are been dragged down by the old ones.

Once again another thing from the past we seem to have forgotten. Throughout almost every generation the passing platform sticks around for a while before the new one sets in (except in the case of consoles that have died too soon like the transition from Sega Saturn to the Dreamcast). On this generation we have 2 consoles whose hearts are till beating and those are the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. These ones are still receiving love from the game companies for one reason and that reason is that they have a BIGGER established fan-base.

Lets be honest folks. The PS3 and Xbox 360 have an established user base that is still gigantic, while none of the newer consoles has touched the 10 million mark by themselves yet. If you have a game company, you will most likely target the biggest market around and up until now and it isn't the new generation. We all know that the previous generation will eventually get cold and die, but they still have at least one more year on their lifespan and because the Wii U is the only console with a solid backward compatibility feature, the PS3 and Xbox 360 will live on for a little while longer.

Do the math! Now not with bits but frames per second and resolution numbers.

3) The game is not 60fps and 1080p or does not feature a breakthrough on graphics? Well it's not next-gen then!

If this generation has something in common with the one from the early 90's, is the obsession with numbers. Back in the day it used to be all about bits. 8 bits, 16 bits, 64 bits, OH MY GOD 128 bits! Now it's more like the frame rate and resolution of games. It is understandable to ask for the highest resolution possible because nobody ever buys a good HDTV or monitor to see a game that looks like Bubsy 3D on enhance mode, but at the same time asking for the full maximum quality AND frame rate on every game regardless of how the game itself is, looks kind of selfish and unrealistic.

Not all games are the same, and while linear adventures are easier to develop and easier to make them look pretty, sandbox games for example, force developers to use their resources as efficient as possible to create giant worlds in the best way they can. Not also this is very taxing on the developers, but also on the consoles themselves which were not meant to be competing with high end PCs in terms of power (unless you wanted to spend 800+ dollars on a game console (for an example check the price tags for all the Steam box machines). Also the graphical jump on this generation will not be as big as we believed like the jump from SNES and Sega Genesis to the PS ONE, Nintendo 64 and Saturn. It is something a little more subtle which will get better with time, but not as a giant leap as some people expect. Some games may look a little "photo-realistic", but it will not be that much and it will be based mostly on graphical tricks just like Nintendo did with Mario 64 to amaze us back in the day.

Do these games deserve to be called "AA"? 

4) Huh? That is not a AAA game!

This one is caused by the debate on how a AAA game should be. On this generation of consoles, games like Infamous: Second Son and Titanfall, took the heat for not been "AAA enough". Now here is the thing. Both games featured advanced graphics graphics, good gameplay and an enjoyable interaction between player and game. Now that we looked as those characteristics then what else do they need to be considered AAA? I've even read people classifying those games as AA and I just had to laugh. AA? Wow, what's next then, A and a half? Whatever happened with games just been games and not classified by how much money the company spent on them.

This kind of thinking may happen because we got too accustomed to cinematic showcases in games rather than the gameplay itself. It is like we are asking the developers to drop content in favor of exposition. So what if the game doesn't have a thousand cutscenes and cinematic style parts showing off how much the company spent on it? What we should worry about is what happens when we are finally able to use our game pads and move the character around. Of course this doesn't mean that games should be blank and devoid of any type of exposure, but that should NOT be what sets the bar on quality over a videogame.

The elephant in the room that nobody seems to care about...

5) I wont support any new console until I see it flourish!

This one can be pretty much considered a fallacy of thought. It is a vicious spiral that can severely damage any platform (think of the PS VITA and Wii U). Let's see, you won't support the platform because it doesn't have any games (see complaint #1), but the gaming companies will not release their games on the platform until enough people buy it. So if neither of the two parties involved yield, the console suffers as the result.

The case of the PS VITA and Wii U shows this perfectly. When both systems launched, everybody was like "wow, it is a cool machine, but I wont support it until they show the heavy hitters". That alone was a set back to the consoles themselves as they had horrible sale numbers and third party companies were like "huh... How about no?" Right now, the PS VITA is slowly gaining speed, but it is because Japanese companies yielded first, released good games and got good profits. Now these games are been released on other countries and we will get to enjoy them, but not because of ourselves, so thank the Japanese people for that. As for the Wii U, they are trying to bring interest to their console with the games they are and will be announcing before and during this year E3 event, but third party companies are still not convinced that the console will make a comeback. If regardless of all their effort the console fails, it will be a shame because it is a good machine and there ARE games for it, you just have to look, just like with the Wii.

Hype and more hype, but if the companies deliver, our wallets will cry...

To wrap things up:

At the end of this argument we need to get a few things into our heads:

• New consoles start with limited libraries that pick up as time passes and the console defines its place in the market. 
• Most previous consoles will not magically die off (because of the lack of backward compatibility) so they will still get support and games for them that will not necessarily be released on the newer ones.
• Superb frame rate and resolution is something awesome to have, but it does not define the full quality of a game.
• AAA games are more than cinematic showcases so give those new games a chance.
• If you don't support a platform on it's infancy, you are creating a cycle that may damage the platform which could mean that you will never see the games you want on it, because the game companies see no profit on it.
• We need to learn to look for games like we used to in the past, with an open and unbiased mind. Doing that will makes us find good games that we would probably ignore or miss if we didn't searched enough.

So at the end of the road, this new generation is really next-gen, but it needs time to fully develop and we need to stop ranting and have some faith. E3 is coming soon and things look bright for all of the 3 competing platforms so sit tight, enjoy the ride...Just play and have fun.