Well its happening. The end has begun, for me. I knew it would happen at some point in time and its been coming for a while but its officially here now, post E3 and after 18 years with a Playstation beside my TV and its time for me has come to an end.
Before I get into the reasons why, lets take a look back and reflect on my personal highlights of the last 18 years.
For me PSone highlights were just 3 games that I played to death and I lost many hours to.
The first mention has to go out to a developer that has been close to my heart over the last 18 years and has actually contributed to my move away from gaming altogether. Codemasters. Toca Touring Cars. for me the definitive racing game of its time, just a shame that is was pre-online multiplayer and the modern phenomenom that we all take for granted now, ultra fast broadband.
Second place has to be the first instalment of the highly popular million selling GT series. Gran Turismo. one game that has captured the hearts of every petrolhead gamer the world over. To be able to drive all the worlds supercars and race them in city locations was for some, the ultimate drivers game. The second instalment of this game arrived before the PSone was replaced with the PS2 and was another release day buy for me. i hate to think of how many days ive lost to this series over the years.
Finally on this generation i cant sign off without mentioning Lara Croft Tomb Raider, a game that bought a buxom brunette to our screens in a series of adventure puzzle games that were as frustrating as they were beautiful to look at. (at the time).
The PS2 came out and i was lucky enough to be able to get a release day model which lasted to the day the PS3 was released.
Highlights for this Gen again were GT3 A-Spec and GT4 both released to much hype and both lived up to it, with handling and physics that were second to none and raising the bar in the driving genre and was pretty much all i played for 6 years.
The PS3 was released in 2006 and i didnt have the funds to purchase a release day model and had to wait 12 months before i could get it, but boy was it worth the wait. the new phenomenom of Broadband and multiplayer online gaming made this generation of consoles the most social yet. the first time i fired up a Blu-Ray game disc and watched the HD intro of Motorstorm will forever be etched into my memory banks.
Highlights on this console are many, but briefly GT5 sits highly in my top 10 games of the last 7 years, as does the Call of Duty FPS series. both very social games and pushing the boundaries of social interaction, intergrated with external websites and youtube configuration but none of these reaching the dizzy heights of Race Driver GRiD. a fantastically involving single player game and a very highly polished problem free online racer for upto 12 people. great comms and even better racing with friends made for my number 1 racer of all time on any gen console. the developer? Codemasters.
Now, that brings me back to where this blog began, the beginning of the end.
why?
2 reasons really. Game developers and the two major console developers themselves themselves. Sony and Microsoft.
First, lets talk about game developers, ill take 2 developers as an example but you could apply what i'm about to say to any of the top developers on the latest gen.
Money. its all about the green backs. Forget the paying gaming at street level. Release a part finished game, put a large amount of payable DLC on the PSN store (before the game is released!) be slow in the corrective patches when the buying playing public discover a problem with the final product, and then after 10 months stop supporting that game when the next in the series is expected to hit the shelves on the anniversary of the first game.
Now, if you are honest with yourselves, you'll agree with me. its frustrating and infuriating and at £40 plus for a new release and thats before you've spent any money on DLC, that you incidentally have to buy if you want to play with the masses online for fear of being left out. and quite frankly i'm fed up with it!
Ill take Codemasters as an example, in the last 7 years they have released 7 racing titles of which i owned all. as i mentioned earlier in my eyes they hit jackpot with RaceDriver GRiD, almost perfection but since then they have released F1 2010, 2011, 2012. the first 2 incarnations looked great but were severely broken, so much so that i gave up with them as the bugs were too serious and never patched correctly.
They have also released DiRT, DiRT2, DiRT3 and DiRT Showdown. 4 titles that have had incredibly successful sales figures and 3 of those titles incredibly playable and fun with mates and DiRT3 is still on my playlist now. DiRT showdown however was just a mash up of 2 games with nothing new to offer after the massive hype and marketing machine. in my opinion a total waste of £40 and just a reskinned DiRT3 with demolition derby as an added extra. oh and you had to buy the DLC to finish the single player game to earn the platinum trophy!
This leads me to the recent release of GRiD2 a very long awaited sequel to my favourite console racer of all time. 5 years of waiting and they release the love child of Need For Speed and GT5. a game that HAS to be played, so that you can unlock cars to race online. Online lobbies with mismatched cars meaning if you are an infrequent gamer you are penalised. Oh and if you use the standard car online because you dont have the best car in the class cos you didnt have enough money to buy it, the game penalises you with a reduced cash reward! someone said to me, it encourages you to play the game. More like forces you to play otherwise you cant compete on an even playing field.
to be continued........
Before I get into the reasons why, lets take a look back and reflect on my personal highlights of the last 18 years.
For me PSone highlights were just 3 games that I played to death and I lost many hours to.
The first mention has to go out to a developer that has been close to my heart over the last 18 years and has actually contributed to my move away from gaming altogether. Codemasters. Toca Touring Cars. for me the definitive racing game of its time, just a shame that is was pre-online multiplayer and the modern phenomenom that we all take for granted now, ultra fast broadband.
Second place has to be the first instalment of the highly popular million selling GT series. Gran Turismo. one game that has captured the hearts of every petrolhead gamer the world over. To be able to drive all the worlds supercars and race them in city locations was for some, the ultimate drivers game. The second instalment of this game arrived before the PSone was replaced with the PS2 and was another release day buy for me. i hate to think of how many days ive lost to this series over the years.
Finally on this generation i cant sign off without mentioning Lara Croft Tomb Raider, a game that bought a buxom brunette to our screens in a series of adventure puzzle games that were as frustrating as they were beautiful to look at. (at the time).
The PS2 came out and i was lucky enough to be able to get a release day model which lasted to the day the PS3 was released.
Highlights for this Gen again were GT3 A-Spec and GT4 both released to much hype and both lived up to it, with handling and physics that were second to none and raising the bar in the driving genre and was pretty much all i played for 6 years.
The PS3 was released in 2006 and i didnt have the funds to purchase a release day model and had to wait 12 months before i could get it, but boy was it worth the wait. the new phenomenom of Broadband and multiplayer online gaming made this generation of consoles the most social yet. the first time i fired up a Blu-Ray game disc and watched the HD intro of Motorstorm will forever be etched into my memory banks.
Highlights on this console are many, but briefly GT5 sits highly in my top 10 games of the last 7 years, as does the Call of Duty FPS series. both very social games and pushing the boundaries of social interaction, intergrated with external websites and youtube configuration but none of these reaching the dizzy heights of Race Driver GRiD. a fantastically involving single player game and a very highly polished problem free online racer for upto 12 people. great comms and even better racing with friends made for my number 1 racer of all time on any gen console. the developer? Codemasters.
Now, that brings me back to where this blog began, the beginning of the end.
why?
2 reasons really. Game developers and the two major console developers themselves themselves. Sony and Microsoft.
First, lets talk about game developers, ill take 2 developers as an example but you could apply what i'm about to say to any of the top developers on the latest gen.
Money. its all about the green backs. Forget the paying gaming at street level. Release a part finished game, put a large amount of payable DLC on the PSN store (before the game is released!) be slow in the corrective patches when the buying playing public discover a problem with the final product, and then after 10 months stop supporting that game when the next in the series is expected to hit the shelves on the anniversary of the first game.
Now, if you are honest with yourselves, you'll agree with me. its frustrating and infuriating and at £40 plus for a new release and thats before you've spent any money on DLC, that you incidentally have to buy if you want to play with the masses online for fear of being left out. and quite frankly i'm fed up with it!
Ill take Codemasters as an example, in the last 7 years they have released 7 racing titles of which i owned all. as i mentioned earlier in my eyes they hit jackpot with RaceDriver GRiD, almost perfection but since then they have released F1 2010, 2011, 2012. the first 2 incarnations looked great but were severely broken, so much so that i gave up with them as the bugs were too serious and never patched correctly.
They have also released DiRT, DiRT2, DiRT3 and DiRT Showdown. 4 titles that have had incredibly successful sales figures and 3 of those titles incredibly playable and fun with mates and DiRT3 is still on my playlist now. DiRT showdown however was just a mash up of 2 games with nothing new to offer after the massive hype and marketing machine. in my opinion a total waste of £40 and just a reskinned DiRT3 with demolition derby as an added extra. oh and you had to buy the DLC to finish the single player game to earn the platinum trophy!
This leads me to the recent release of GRiD2 a very long awaited sequel to my favourite console racer of all time. 5 years of waiting and they release the love child of Need For Speed and GT5. a game that HAS to be played, so that you can unlock cars to race online. Online lobbies with mismatched cars meaning if you are an infrequent gamer you are penalised. Oh and if you use the standard car online because you dont have the best car in the class cos you didnt have enough money to buy it, the game penalises you with a reduced cash reward! someone said to me, it encourages you to play the game. More like forces you to play otherwise you cant compete on an even playing field.
to be continued........
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