Iwata predicted the current state of XBOX and PlayStation…

Video worth watching. Puts a lot of things going on today into context.

TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.



 
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That thumbnail :messenger_tears_of_joy:
fEeFj6o.jpeg
 
I think ps6 and Xbox 2880 will see some drastic differences from what we have this gen. Handhelds, semi-pcs, maybe both.

Either way, its true the constant chase for better visuals ain't holding up anymore.
 
If they can get generative ai coherence to be stable and consistent, then you could conceivably drop the visual quality of all the assets back down to early ps3 era graphics, with a generative ai real-time remastering to yield visual outputs above current gen at wayyyy lower time/resource costs. I could see the tech being there by the time ps6 launches. Same stuff could be used for effectively instantaneous "remakes" of old titles.
 
It was an inevitability, even with Nintendo. If consoles didn't do it, phones would have done it. And if that happened phones would be killing consoles much faster.

I like what he says in theory, but you'd essentially be 'fighting the future' and even Nintendo could only do that for so long. He also was unfortunately unable to see how AI is about to change things for development.

The more I think about what he's saying here, the more it feels like a time capsule quote rather than futuresight.
 
Video worth watching. Puts a lot of things going on today into context.

TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.





So he also predicted it for Nintendo?

Hint: their ceo has said the same thing about their products
 
I'm seeing an avalanche of similar opinions all over social media, and among fellow gamers out there. These traditional consoles are not living up to the hype, and as of yet they are not worth their asking prices. Sure, Sony is doing better than MS, but still having issues with delivering first party games, and convincing half the PS4 owners to upgrade.
 
I wouldn't mind if all games were compatible with the PS5 for next 10 years. Keeping the consumer base healthy is most important. Sony should release a handheld in 2028 that is on par with the PS5 and sell a console version with higher specs for better performance
 
Tbh I would freeze modern graphics where we are to adjust game budget on the next years. Horizon FW, Spiderman 2, Alan Wake 2 have a nice bar of graphics to be standard. We can stay here 10 years.
 
6 years between the last two belda games, 7 years since the last mainline mario and new one nowhere to be seen. Mario Kart? Even more. Smash, etc. They are not looking like an example of high productivity, they just can fill the gaps with cheap trash and inferior ports of 20-30 years old games for full price.
 
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6 years between last two belda games, 7 years since the last mainline mario and new one nowhere to be seen. Mario Kart? Even more. Smash, etc. They are not looking like an example of high productivity, they just can pad space with cheap trash and inferior ports of 20-30 years old games for full price.

They are about to launch new hardware and will actually have a strong launch lineup unlike ps5 and series x
 
Video worth watching. Puts a lot of things going on today into context.

TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.




What he was supposed to say? Nintendo was not chasing power since GameCube.

Let's not pretend Nintendo games are the second coming of Jesus Christ - I played many Nintendo games, they are extremely well done, but c'mon.
 
People say that, but wait, people also complain about FFVII Rebirth not being a technical masterpiece.

There's no way to turn back. Imagine the next Naughty Dog game not showing a technical lead compared with TLOU2, people will just blame the studio. You can't hold the technology.
 
Nintendo said that a lot back in the day. It wasn't just Iwata. I think the first person to really say that was Hiroshi Yamauchi, in late 2003..

But nobody wanted to hear it. True or not.
 
Video worth watching. Puts a lot of things going on today into context.

TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.




That's also the state of current Nintendo.
 
Sure, Sony is doing better than MS, but still having issues with delivering first party games, and convincing half the PS4 owners to upgrade.
I don't think you understand how that works, at all.
They are about to launch new hardware and will actually have a strong launch lineup unlike ps5 and series x
No offense, but we don't really know anything about it. Metroid Prime 4 is like, the only all-but-confirmed game we have.
 
What a bunch of non-sense.

He was talking about the 360 and PS3 but somehow people are applying what he said to the Series X and PS5 cause now it's somewhat true. The fact is Iwata was wrong when it came to the 360 and PS3 and he only said it because he knew Nintendo's "next gen" console was just an overclocked current gen console with a gimmicky controller.
 
TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.

Dude, Nintendo is in the same boat. Zelda Breath of the Wild needed many time to make (6 years) and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom was release 6 years after BOTW (with the same mechanics enhanced and the same world, not from scratch).

Same for Mario.
Odyssey (2017) is the last 3D Mario since Galaxy 2 (2010) when Galaxy 2 was the same mechanics of Galaxy (2007). So the next mario gonna be released on Switch 2 on 2025, almost 8 years after Odyssey.

And Furukuwa said in the last interview. "Game need more time to make (longer) and difficult"... but don't also say "game need more money to make" to not to shock investors.

Mario Kart 8 is a WiiU games.. How to sell Mario Kart 9 with 75% content less than Mario Kart 8? That's the big difficult for Nintendo.

The fall of the WiiU was beneficial for the Switch. But I don't think the Switch gonna be beneficial for the Switch 2. Just look how many people stay on PS4.

Nintendo is in the same shit + now everyone copy the Switch idea (Steam Deck / Asus Rog Ally / MSI / Lenovo).

The big strengh of Nintendo is owned IP and the futur gonna be the battle of IP, not performance or gameplay. (who cares gameplay when people in the world play gatcha shit on smartphone?)
 
Then enlighten us with your vast knowledge, great sage.
What vast knowledge? It's common sense, you really believe that every single PS4 owner should have bought a PS5 in 3 years and 4 months?
It's at the middle of its lifecycle, of course it will just have half of the previous console's userbase.
 
He's right, but I slightly disagree when it came to the 7th gen leap. (this quote is from 2004) as that generation clearly showed some simulation leaps that couldn't be pulled of on a PS2/NGC/OGXBOX.

Think of the physics/ai leap from GTA SA -> GTA IV. The simulation complexity leap in TES: Oblivion from Morrowind. Red Dead Revolver -> Red dead Redemption. Or ending the generation with Far Cry 3, a design structure was established that is STILL to this day being used in multiple games today without much evolution. Next gen gameplay still had meaning in that era.

I agree that after the 7th gen 'next gen gameplay' stagnated a lot and most attention was put on cosmetics mostly. And this generation it's even worse.
 
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This was their excuse for always being a generation or two behind in tech for the last 3 decades, and ultimately they could mostly get away with it because people buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games and maybe gimmicky controls, not hardware power. Conversely, Nintendo insisting on using carts for another generation was the catalyst for PlayStation success.
 
The issue Iwata described is more global. Of course companies targeting the best visuals are impacted as well, but nowadays, even on shit hardware, you are still enduring how development workflows and tools have evolved. An infinite stack of middlewares that make things obtuse and waste your previous hardware resources, especially on weak hardware. Even if you don't seek great visuals, you are still going to waste a precious time trying to accommodate to all this shit, and you won't even feel like you are in total control.

My expectation is that at some point, slightly better hardware will not be able to compensate for all the shit we stack up to make games ("my game is a 2D retro game, so you need to have 10 GB of RAM to run it"). Hopefully at some point we will give up with these "generic engines that need to run on everything" and go back to optimized, purposed built engines for a specific hardware. This will happen when we will realize that we cannot make any progress through brute force in the hardware department, as it will become the only way forward.
 
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Nintendo just released a 30fps/noAA/subNative visual remake of a high res 60fps GameCube game.

At least the Link's Awakening remake looks drastically different to the original/DX versions.

Xbox and to a lesser degree PlayStation's problem is not consistently releasing great, actual-exclusive games.

6 years between the last two belda games, 7 years since the last mainline mario and new one nowhere to be seen. Mario Kart? Even more. Smash, etc. They are not looking like an example of high productivity, they just can pad space with cheap trash and inferior ports of 20-30 years old games for full price.
 
Video worth watching. Puts a lot of things going on today into context.

TLDR: Iwata basically said that XBOX/PlayStation focusing only on chasing power/performance/visuals over time vs gameplay innovation will lead to more complicated development cycles and fewer output of quality experiences for people to enjoy.




I think that's a bit rich considering the turnaround times on Nintendo games too.

I mean Mario Kart 8 was released over 10 years ago!

And don't get me started on Waverace…..
 
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He should have predicted his own business. They were lucky to have the surprise success with Amiibo to save their hide after the spectacular WiiU & 3DS failure.
 
Alan Wake 2 have a nice bar of graphics to be standard. We can stay here 10 years.
Funny because the budget for the game reportedly stands at €70 million, with €50 million in development and an additional €20 million spent on marketing.
This is PS3 era budget, and we know it didn't go into production until early 2019.
This is a standard turnaround with modest budget and results on par if not better then games that cost double and took double to make.
 
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