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Your Next Game System
by Jeremy Horwitz for Gamers Today
Rapid technological advances have their benefits and consequences. Video games released in the past two months are so visually impressive that it almost becomes difficult to watch the choppy, pixelated images generated by games that astonished us only a couple of years ago. Case in point: Try to turn on Namco's Soul Edge for the Sony PlayStation after spending a few hours with Namco's brand-new sequel, Soul Calibur. Gameplay and audio quality barely differ between the two games. Yet even though the 3-D characters and backgrounds in Soul Edge are similar to those in Soul Calibur, the sequel's graphics are crisper, the animation is smoother, and both the characters and backgrounds are more complex - so much so that there's just no question which game the average person would prefer.
There's only one problem. Soul Edge is a PlayStation game. Soul Calibur is exclusively available for Sega's Dreamcast, so you'll have to buy a new game console if you want to play it. Think you'll skip that title and wait for something better to come out on the system you currently own? The bad news is that pretty much every major video game company is already planning to leave your old console for greener pastures. Complicating matters somewhat, no one's quite sure yet what the greenest pasture will be. Sega's Dreamcast is already on the market and attractively priced, but both Sony and Nintendo promise to release new Dreamcast-beating game machines over the next couple of years. Each of the three new machines will feature higher-resolution, smoother 3-D polygon-based graphics that improve upon the machine you're using today, though to be quite blunt, the gameplay and audio of post-PlayStation games won't be much different from what the PlayStation can handle. Besides graphics quality, the major differences between the new Sony, Sega and Nintendo machines will be their availability dates, prices, and software libraries.
If nothing else, Sony has credibility and cash on its side. One might have expected Sega or Nintendo to be on top of the games industry right now, but the majority of game programmers and players preferred the PlayStation to its competitors, and Sony has used its marketing dollars to broaden the market for video games past their traditional hard-core user base. The sequel to the PlayStation will include a DVD drive, backwards compatibility with all existing PlayStation games, and four controller ports rather than the PlayStation's two. Sony's real selling point, however, is the graphics quality of the unit: The new PlayStation promises to do in real-time what the old PlayStation could only do in pre-recorded movies, such as the cinematic openings and cut-scenes from games such as Final Fantasy 8, Ridge Racer Type 4 and Gran Turismo. (Predictably, the next sequels to these games are already being planned for exclusive release on new Sony hardware.) Even Sega admits that the visuals generated by Sony's new console trumps what the Dreamcast can do, though Sega is quick to note that Sony's planned release dates (U.S. and Japan in the year 2000) and higher price points make the machine far less enticing than a Dreamcast you can buy today.
And the Dreamcast has three immediate advantages: It's already on the market, it has certifiably great software, and it's relatively inexpensive. The $199.95 Dreamcast is roughly as powerful as the best arcade hardware currently available, on par or thereabouts with what the top graphics cards for home PCs are now offering. Regardless of whether or not the next Sony machine can do better, the Dreamcast's currently available line-up of software is visually spectacular, pulling off unprecedented levels of detail and animation in games such as Sonic Adventure and House of the Dead 2 - visuals that clearly leave the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 in the dust. More importantly, most of the Dreamcast's first generation of software is a lot of fun to play, possessing a level of refinement that suggests that the console could really have a bright future. Of note, however, is that although Sega is a formidable game maker and has some high-profile partners releasing Dreamcast games, many key software developers are offering tentative or zero support for the machine, preferring to wait and see whether Sony meets its production and sales goals. As Sega is truly betting everything on this machine, and has already lost plenty of money and placed itself in a precarious financial position, there is a very real possibility of an unexpected and unpleasant end to Sega's dream.
Of the three major hardware makers, Nintendo has the sketchiest plans and the worst track record of delivering on their promises. To date, Nintendo has promised that the Nintendo 64's successor (codenamed Dolphin) will contain an advanced IBM CPU, a DVD drive made by Panasonic, and a graphics chipset that will be at least a little bit superior to whatever Sony delivers in its next-generation PlayStation. They also say that the Dolphin will be released at the end of the year 2000, at a competitive mass-market price. Unlike Sony, Nintendo has shown no actual hardware and finalized none of their new system's specifications, which indicates that the Dolphin has little real chance of materializing in time for next year's holidays - both Sega and Sony will already be established by the time Nintendo gets to market. What Nintendo does have on its side is a collection of the most popular game franchises in history, namely Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Donkey Kong. It also has plenty of money to produce and market the new system, plus the prospect of a new management team to guide the company to greater success. So even if Nintendo arrives late and delivers a middling machine that no other reputable company will fully support, Nintendo-brand software alone will provide reasons for many people to wait for and purchase the console, and Nintendo's cash reserves will guarantee aggressive advertising. It happened with the Nintendo 64; it could and probably will happen again.
In summary, you'll eventually want a new games console because the best game developers won't be supporting your current one much longer, but you have at least four major options. If you want something flashy right now, Sega's Dreamcast is the only choice, but a very good one. If you want to wait until 2000 to make a purchase, both the Dreamcast and new Sony machine should be available, and by 2001, Nintendo may offer gamers a third choice. Of course, there's always the fourth option: Ignore all the new hardware and enjoy your current game system until it burns out. Under any scenario, Gamers Today expects you to have a lot of exciting new experiences to look forward to in the weeks and months to come.
