I think so.
Let me iterate further. I think that video game systems are getting closer and closer to being maxed out, when it comes to hardware power.
When the NES was released, it was lightyears ahead of the Atari 2600, even though both the Atari 2600 and the NES were both 8-bit consoles (Atari had less video memory and a much more limited color pallete) it seemed like the NES was absolutely amazing when I first seen it.
The Super NES, and even the Genesis, was even much more amazing when they first came out. Those two consoles made the NES look horrible in comparison.
Playstation, when it was released, was like a monster compared to SNES, with CG and full motion video, not to mention full 3D worlds and cd quality sound. Sega Saturn gets props here for those reasons too.
Now, the showrunners include Gamecube, PS2, and even XBox. The time has come, yet again, for these systems to retire. This may be a year or two off, (I actually don't have any idea) but there are already talks about each of the above three companies coming out with new consoles.
But on the technology side, take this into comparison. Intel canned all ideas for going above 3.x ghz (3.8 I believe). They shocked the world when they revealed that there would be no more pushing chips for more speed. This is rumored to be because there are no more "shortcuts" to compressing the cores to run faster without burning up, and the only way to go beyond this is to come out with brand new processor technology altogether.
More and more, software developers are making their software fit current technology, when prior, they didn't care - Developers would make a program need more processing power than what the market currently had, in turn pushing hardware companies to deliver hardware large enough to run those programs.
I feel that the same thing is already happening to gaming. Doom 3 is the only game in at least a year that pushes the envolope (Doom 3 needs unnecessary power that the game itself can't even justify) and we are seeing true "next gen" games less and less.
Also, I love my PS2 to death, but the power doesn't *seem* to be that far away from PS1 (When you compare the NES against the SNES, there was a huge difference there) but with the PS2 you have more details in the graphics, but that was about it. XBox seemed to work with a higher refresh rate to make it look more advanced (meaning things animated smoother) and the Gamecube was only marginally as advanced as XBox or PS2 (And yet still a good console).
With the current technology market, I think that we are getting closer and closer to a limit with the consoles, I can't think of anything they could do that they aren't already doing. Intel and AMD (Whom make chips for current game consoles) themselves don't have any plans of pushing the limit, so things look pretty nill.
Graphics don't matter to me all that much as long as the game is fun, but I feel that there should be less reliance on "That new system" and instead the showrunners should make a game console infinitely upgradable, like a computer, but cheaper.
What do you guys think?
Let me iterate further. I think that video game systems are getting closer and closer to being maxed out, when it comes to hardware power.
When the NES was released, it was lightyears ahead of the Atari 2600, even though both the Atari 2600 and the NES were both 8-bit consoles (Atari had less video memory and a much more limited color pallete) it seemed like the NES was absolutely amazing when I first seen it.
The Super NES, and even the Genesis, was even much more amazing when they first came out. Those two consoles made the NES look horrible in comparison.
Playstation, when it was released, was like a monster compared to SNES, with CG and full motion video, not to mention full 3D worlds and cd quality sound. Sega Saturn gets props here for those reasons too.
Now, the showrunners include Gamecube, PS2, and even XBox. The time has come, yet again, for these systems to retire. This may be a year or two off, (I actually don't have any idea) but there are already talks about each of the above three companies coming out with new consoles.
But on the technology side, take this into comparison. Intel canned all ideas for going above 3.x ghz (3.8 I believe). They shocked the world when they revealed that there would be no more pushing chips for more speed. This is rumored to be because there are no more "shortcuts" to compressing the cores to run faster without burning up, and the only way to go beyond this is to come out with brand new processor technology altogether.
More and more, software developers are making their software fit current technology, when prior, they didn't care - Developers would make a program need more processing power than what the market currently had, in turn pushing hardware companies to deliver hardware large enough to run those programs.
I feel that the same thing is already happening to gaming. Doom 3 is the only game in at least a year that pushes the envolope (Doom 3 needs unnecessary power that the game itself can't even justify) and we are seeing true "next gen" games less and less.
Also, I love my PS2 to death, but the power doesn't *seem* to be that far away from PS1 (When you compare the NES against the SNES, there was a huge difference there) but with the PS2 you have more details in the graphics, but that was about it. XBox seemed to work with a higher refresh rate to make it look more advanced (meaning things animated smoother) and the Gamecube was only marginally as advanced as XBox or PS2 (And yet still a good console).
With the current technology market, I think that we are getting closer and closer to a limit with the consoles, I can't think of anything they could do that they aren't already doing. Intel and AMD (Whom make chips for current game consoles) themselves don't have any plans of pushing the limit, so things look pretty nill.
Graphics don't matter to me all that much as long as the game is fun, but I feel that there should be less reliance on "That new system" and instead the showrunners should make a game console infinitely upgradable, like a computer, but cheaper.
What do you guys think?
The PS2 is crap compared to GC.
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