The gaming industry moves at a lightening pace. In my time as a gamer I’ve witnessed many different technologies come and go as well as the rise and fall of various hardware manufacturers and software developers. Each of these devices/companies has or has had a legion of fans at their back but, if the loyalty of the fans was as strong as some would have you believe, how come Sega stopped producing hardware or the Gamecube didn’t do as well as it should?
The fact that one console can dominate an entire generation only to have its successor do roughly half as well (but still very well despite circumstances) is evidence that even the most loyal fanboy can ‘switch sides’ in the turning of a hardware generation. This and more suggests to me that there is almost a ‘blank slate’ at the beginning of each console generation. Of course, having a legion of die-hard fans is a factor that can help a fledging console get off the ground but, it seems to me that, the console itself, its launch games and marketing are what truly matters and the fickle fans will turn on the drop of a hat.
The rise and fall and rise (and fall?) of Nintendo is an excellent example of how ‘bad’ decisions during the development of a console can come at the cost of the ‘loyal’ fanbase. I put the word ‘bad’ in that last sentence in inverted commas for a reason, which I’d like to highlight now. It’s hard to call the decisions of a manufacturer bad when they have to pretty much guess what people want from them. It’s like having to plan your meals five years in advance; you don’t know what you might fancy next week let alone years down the line. This is made worse by the fact that the consumer doesn’t even know what the hell they want either, take the Wii for example, the majority of gamers were against the very idea of it at first but now it’s this generations highest selling console. All this goes to show how, with the coming of a new generation of hardware, there follows a level of uncertainty that far outweighs any amount of fanboyism.
I’m getting into this now because I think that next year will possibly see, at least, the unveiling of ‘next gen’ consoles as well as the launch of the Wii U and many people will base their estimates on how well a follow-up console will do depending on how well its predecessor did. This is probably a mistake; however, there are some nuggets of wisdom to be mined from the lessons of the past. Take a look at hardware failure rates this generation; how many people will be picking the next Xbox knowing what happened to the 360 early on in its life-cycle? As a usual early adopter myself I will be looking for MS to offer an extended warranty from the get-go before I repeat my mistakes. Anyway my point is that pretty much anything can happen with every generational step and you should go into each with an open mind as to which console best deserves your hard earned cash (if you can only afford one). It’s a lesson that I probably won’t even heed myself as I tend to pick up any new hardware on launch, like the tech-whore sucker that I am, but I recommend anyone with a stronger will to really think about it.
The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."
Me leaving it out should be telling of my thoughts on it. Better than 2 as a DMC game.
Still a good game though.
3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them
2.
Dmc.
4.
5.
1.
3.
God DMC2 was an awful game.
And in case this isn't obvious it goes worst to best
Order changes depending on your focus. I tend to focus on gameplay/fun factor, so...
5, 3, 1, 4, 2.
I really didn't like 4 but commend Dante's weapon diversity. The retreading of old ground was pretty unacceptable to me.
But even then... Still more enjoyable than 2 for me
TSA go hands on with the beta for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, but how is the game transitioning to the post-stylus era?
To answer your title, it does for a healthy majority imo. I think your examples prove just how few "die-hard fans" there are in comparison to the numbers of consumers who just want X console becuase that's what my friends have/will have. Given that this is the first generation with a superfluous amount of avenues for fanboys to "display their loyalty", we'll see just how rooted in a future console some people will be (despite not knowing everything it's going to offer).
Personal prediction: I imagine some people will talk about "The Cell 2" for the PS4 around E3. Where I would've initially thought this would be an announcement to a terrible Inception-like movie made in...the early 2000's, I now know this arbitrarely bestowed name originally given at PS3's announcement is referring to the PS4's components. Along with this comes speculation that this new device shall rival super-computers 20 years from now.
It's all to do with the companies tendency to suck people into buying their console. Then they can have all the fans they want. I'm half asleep, so that didn't make much sense, but that's the way I see it.
The carry-over mostly depends on whether the next console has backward compatibility. If someone only had one console this gen, having the assurance that their current games will remain playable is usually enough to keep them sticking to the same brand.
Other than that, humans are selfish creatures, and they'll usually go for the cheaper deal (or whatever they feel gives them the most bang for the buck)
Fanboyism will still be there as the people who buy the more expensive system will try to justify their purchase by bashing the cheaper platform, while those that bought the cheaper platform will try to comfort themselves by arguing that they're happy with what they have.
These kinds of fanboys don't really have any loyalties. They just want to feel like they made the right choice, and usually, these kind fanboys are the loudest as well.
Yes, i have been recruiting in the name of my lord and saviour Ken Kutagari in preparation for the coming war.
"Take a look at hardware failure rates this generation; how many people will be picking the next Xbox knowing what happened to the 360 early on in its life-cycle? As a usual early adopter myself I will be looking for MS to offer an extended warranty from the get-go before I repeat my mistakes."
People bought the PS3 from the get go, yet the early PS2 had DRE...
People bought the PS2 from the get go, yet the early PS1'a had disk drive issues also.
If you're a gamer you will buy the consoles regardless.