Zachary Chan, Editor, GameAxis
High definition or HD in its more abbreviated form, was supposed to usher in the future of entertainment. From movies to games, HD was supposed to bring images and graphics to a never before experienced level of detail in your living room. 720p and 1080p soon became buzzwords that identified high level of visual fidelity for any media product.
Of course, PC gamers didn’t much care about all this HD hoopla since we’ve been running games at even higher resolutions for years. 1600 x 1200 was the standard back in the 4:3 CRT days, and when we moved to widescreen LCDs, 1920 x 1200. So, technically PC has been at 1200p for years.
Unfortunately, HD came to dominate all forms of marketing and soon even PC displays had to conform to the standard 1080p. If you buy an LCD monitor today, you’d notice them boasting “Full HD” support. How in hell did a downgrade from 1200p to 1080p make it any better I don’t know, but that’s another rant for another day.
Contrary to how this column has started out, I’m not here to rant about the loss of a few pixels on my monitor, but the fact the HD, for all its hype, has failed to take gaming to the next level. In the console wars, both Microsoft and Sony have embraced HD, each hyping up the features and abilities of their next generation consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively. However, after half a decade in the market, it is Nintendo’s Wii that’s made the most impact, continuously topping console sales charts around the world. The Wii has no HD capabilities, no HDMI connectivity, no Blu-ray drive, and a limited library of AAA titles – that is if you talk to any gamer worth his/her salt.
Compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3, where gamers are constantly raving about the next big title that’s pushing the boundaries of graphics, realism, immersive gameplay and visual splendor, yadda, yadda, yadda…why has the Wii been dominating the world of gaming for the past four years? Here’s a word that’s often forgotten when it comes to games: FUN.
That’s right. We lament the Wii for the lack of “real” games, poor graphics on your latest 47-inch LCD, and gimmicky peripherals. But, when it comes to FUN, the Wii has it covered.
Now, as part of the elite crowd for the longest time, I find myself overlooking this fact as well. I spend more time gaming on my PC and my Xbox 360 than my Wii. In fact, after I last moved house, my Wii was more or less permanently boxed till I decided to throw a party. And you know what happened then? The first thing that came to mind was to find the Wii and hook it up.
To take this case to point, you have to look at the non-gamers and their reaction to gaming. For years, I’ve been trying to get my partner to try out gaming. Sure, she’s shown various levels of interest in Need for Speed and Forza series, and she’ll play Lego Batman with me if I ask her to. But, you’d be hard pressed to squeeze any amount of emotion for anything we gamers consider as AAA. The moment I break out the Wii? She’s now turning it on and playing by herself. There is a pull, a drive to actually play. Why? Because it’s FUN.
After much thought, it finally occurred to me that graphics scare the non-gamer. It’s true. Let’ say I’m starting up Dragon Age or Borderlands. Gamers see art; we revel at the HD graphics, we notice how beautiful creature models are or how awesome a gun is. To the non-gamer, they see a jumble of images that’s too complex to understand. Walk past someone playing Boom Blox or Mario Party and there’s an instant pull to see what’s going on, because they can recognize the bright colors and understand that something FUN is going on. Walk past someone playing Halo, and as far as they’re concerned it’s just noise. You can swap out Halo for Bioshock and I’ll bet they wouldn’t have even known it’s a different game.
Sure, the occasional AAA title makes headlines with incredible sales numbers (Modern Warfare 2 and GTA 4 come to mind in recent times), but if you look at the best selling console games of all time, you’ll notice that games on Nintendo’s platforms dominate the list.
The Wii brought in a horde of casual gamers for the console market, the DS and iPhone have handhelds covered, and Facebook is doing the same for the PC. Where are all the HD games? Where was the HD revolution? Let’s face it, we’ve become the loud minority. And the true gamers out there are the casuals, graphics be damned.
This article originally printed in GameAxis Unwired April 2010.
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The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people
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God i love the ps3 and my pc… but they seriously need some party games….
the whole playing online and graphics is good… but when you have friends over…….
you cant just boot up L4D2 and expect people to take turns…
if the PS3 can cover that area… i wouldn’t even thinker with the idea of getting a Wii…
Fair enough. But you do realise that there is still a difference amongst all gamers. There are people who enjoy fun that do not come at the expense of
- access
- significant efforts in understanding the way of ‘the world’
- complex chores for complex rewards
- i.e. other things in life
Let’s not also forget, casual gaming of this age used to be the definitive edge of past eras. Let me pose a real life example. Sometimes industrial partners who approach modelling companies to run fluid/solid/electrimagnetic simulations really do not expect to be provided state-of-the-art modelling tools which give them 0.0001% errors, highly accurate results at the expense of 1-3months and $200k. They are contented with low order, rough figure estimates which can sufficiently support them in their businesses. But does this mean researchers should stop looking into better turbulence models or high order methods? No. Should game developers stop looking into the next generation gaming mode or display technology? I think the answer is the same. They are the trailblazers who must be encouraged at the end of the day.
@Jess :I’m not implying different demographics for different types of gamers. I was implying that HD wasn’t the one to cause the gaming boom. There will always be hardcore games and AAA titles. BUT, casual games, in all its forms, be it on the Wii, the iPhone or Facebook made more converts of the non-gaming crowd into gamers than any HD title ever did. From the new Xbox360 dashboard and avatars to games like the EyePet on the PS3 and the latest developments of motion sensing controls on both PS3 and MS camps are an effort to make gaming more accessible and friendlier to the general masses, which leads me to believe that yes, they are trying to target the same demographics. I mean, when you look at the numbers, would you want to shut out the casual crowd today?
@ShuToshio: I define a gamer as anyone who enjoys playing games. Look beyind the Wii and you’ll see that the majority of ‘gamers’ are those that spend hours and hours tending their ‘Farm’. Will you call these people wasting their time on a silly Facebook game, when they could be playing a ‘real’ game like Mass Effect 2? That’s probably the same thing the Farmville gamer might say about you. Think about it. It’s just a matter of perception.
I don’t think that Wii, Xbox360 and PlayStation3 are aiming for the same demographics. But I do agree with you, Wii is really fun to play with. But if you are a serious gamer who loves to play RPG games, then I guess Wii is not the right console to go for. Wii is the soft type of gamer and is not intended for the hardcore ones who prefer the HD “realistic” kind of game.
So that’s how you define a ‘gamer’? I call myself a gamer. I don’t think someone who has a Wii and plays Cooking Mama once a week considers himself/herself a gamer actually. It’s this basic fact that shows Nintendo sales shouldn’t be compared with sales of Xbox360 or PS3. Different target audience. I am satsified with where gaming is going along with HD, as well as possibly 3D.
Anyone played the original Silent Hill from PSone?
Graphics somewhat below average but THE GAME REALLY SCARES SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE WHO PLAYED IT. Not recommended for night play even if you are veteran!