I’m not buying into this seventh generation of consoles. Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Wii at least stands out, but how much can I take more of the same. PS3 and Xbox 360 games are nothing more than their predecessors with the ability to generate more gloss and better physics, and somehow I think the latter won’t be utilized much. It surprising to see the lack of commentary on the fact that we’ve been doing 3-D since the mid 90s. And I’m asking myself, so where is the next ‘technology leap’ to compel me to buy into a whole new console, and ever more expensive games? The Playstation 2, w/ GC and Xbox was the maturation of 3-D graphics and 3-D games. Metal Gear Solid 2 was a show stopper, it wowed everyone. Metroid Prime was unbelievable organic and smooth, and to this day still impresses me. But the this current technology leap seems like a downgrade. With so much power developers no longer need to find creative tricks to render hair or manipulate polygons counts to achieve a realistic look with low poly counts. Now they can just brute force it. Instead of learning to drive really well in your sporty coupe, you can just accelerate mercilessly and blow everyone away by sheer power, a tactic I often used playing Gran Turismo to earn quick cash. (more…)