New screens of the psycho-thriller adventure game Alan Wake over at Xboxyde.

http://www.xboxyde.com/news_3593_en.html

The game looks startling. Amazing even. But that is not enough for me, my friends. Do we know anything about how this game plays? Have we seen any videos of in game gameplay footage? One of my pet peeves are previewing games for months at a time with little info as to how the game plays. The gameplay is what gets me to buy games so why exactly are the developers playing around acting like all people will buy games if the graphics are good?

Sorry for the late entry.

It seems next gen isn’t all that bad. The latest Tokyo Game Show was a very interesting game show indeed. While there weren’t many new game revelations, what was shown definitely has my interest.

Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon definitely impressed me from the footage I viewed. Although LO is rough on the edges in some spots, it’s still relatively early in development. Devil May Cry 4 also gets me drooling, being a big fan of that series. Ninja Gaiden Sigma, a (another)  remake of the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden is up there as well.

While Xbox 360 as of now is my number one choice for next gen consoles, the other two have some interesting games going for them as well. Although it’s a shame Wii was absent from TGS, a couple of PS3 news tidbits completely made up for it. However, I still can’t get over the turtle like approach Sony is taking with next generation. There are two more months until launch and we know hardly anything about the console’s features, online plan, connectivity, or backward compatibility. Is Sony just playing around? Because they need to get to business.

And while the games on PS3 definitely interest me, I have noticed they’re mostly all sequels. Although they’re sequels to games I know and love, I would prefer seeing new IP’s rather than old ones when the new Sony console arrives. Heavenly Sword, White Knight Story aside, the lack of original exclusive IP’s on the Playstation 3 is unsettling.
If I was to make a list of my TGS 06 winners this would probably be it:

1. Lost Odyssey (x360)
2. Blue Dragon (x360)
3. Devil May Cry 4 (ps3)
4. White Knight Story (ps3)
5. Virtua Fighter 5 (ps3)
6. Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 (ps2)
7.  Lost Planet (x360)
8. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (x360)
9. Eternal Sanata /Trusty Bell (x360)
10. Earth Defense Force 3 (x360)

I am mighty impresssed with what Nintendo has been able to accomplish with the Wii so far.

1. The most third party support out of all the new consoles.

2. The most varied roster of the three as well.

3. Decent price range, if not perfect.

4. Nice sounding features, excellent interface;etc.

As of now, at this point, it seems that Nintendo has learned from most of their mistakes in the past 10 years. The reason: the fact they have first handedly admitted to giving up on the next gen console race, by offering something new to a completely different audience as opposed to the gamer that resides in each of us reading this blog entry right now.

However, as easily as Nintendo could suceed with the Wii, it could just as easily sink like  a rock. Who is to say that American and European people (not just gamers, as they are not Wii’s target audience) will gobble Wii up? I think the Japanese success of Wii is a given. But appealling to Western crowds may be a little trickier.
I think I will be first to admit that I have always had a sort of indifference to most Nintendo consoles. I was Sega kid when I grew up; and during, before, and after that point I rarely ever put much stock or time into non portable Nintendo hardware. So with all this Wii hype, I’m really quite shocked that I’m so interested in Wii when, in the past, the games they have released were oft hit or miss with me.

I think in the end I’m just interested in getting that “magic” back. I am usually the first in line to bid against the usual nostalgia oriented fans and archaic, conventional gameplay. I am also more passionate as a gamer now than I was 10 years ago, but even I can admit a lack of magic in games these days. Whether it’s due to over exposure, the fact I’m growing older, or the fact that all forms of entertainment lose their spark after awhile, I don’t know what it is.

Perhaps the reason why everyone is so into the Wii and it’s potential is to relive the days when we were all just getting into this new form of entertainment in the mid to late eighties?

As of now, the next step of revolutionizing gaming isn’t the graphics, it isn’t the controls, it’s the way we approach our games and use them in our everyday life. That, in my opinion, should be the highest goal of any game developer. How many people do you know honestly think of games as a viable art form or medium? Not many do you? What is with these silly double standards? You can say you spent your whole day inside watching nothing but Football on tv, but if I say I spent all day playing an rpg I’ve been looking forward to for years I get funny looks?

The next step for pushing gaming forward is to abolish these funny looks.  Funny fact: Most houses do not include video game consoles with their main entertainment center. They’re usually in a seperate room altogether. We’ve hit a billion dollar profit per year with our industry now. Now is the time to make the people who don’t believe understand why it’s so damn fun to play them. That is Nintendo’s goal and I whole heartedly respect that more than anything I’ve seen from any gaming hardware maker in years. That push, that drive, that love. Whether the Wii suceeds or not shall be determined by how many people have video game consoles sitting in their entertainment centers.

If it fails, atleast they tried. But if it works, we’ll all be able to look back and wonder why we were so worried in the first place.