Yes, this goes way beyond the console war heating up, though if you want my opinion, it's going to be an "I told you so."
Screw it, I'll go there anyway.
Since Blogger.com has been down for a bit and never really reliable when I feel compelled to post, I've missed a few key events going on in the world of gaming that I should've been around to comment about.
The first would be Dissidia's release, and that's a review that can be gulped down pretty quickly, though I imagine fanboys will find it hard to swallow. The system is fundamentally perfect, and when sitting side by side with Soul Calibur IV's idea of a fighting-RPG, we may yet see the convergence of these two styles in instant-classic manner. This game isn't it, however. While I'm led to believe that the givings get better later on (I haven't finished it yet), there's something lacking in the whole mesh of things. It's a terrific fanboy title if you're a fanboy of the poster child of each series, but quite honestly, each installment left me with a fighter I much rather would have taken into a fight. Trouble is that Cloud, Squall, Tidus, Warrior of Light, yata yata are simply evolutions of the same character, and even the completely excellent characters Terra and Cecil were hampered by the fact that they were the lone representative of their games. Call me strange, but I would have been entertained much more by a Red Mage, Sabin, that pirate lady from the fifth game that I never remember, Tifa, Auron, and....well, OK, Squall can stay.
On the whole, Dissidia offers a lot to cover up what winds up being an "alternate between square and circle until it's dead" experience. Inspired, yes. Fun, for the most part. Perfect, hell no. Not a waste of money, though, but if you hate the art-direction Square has taken these days, you will absolutely despise this game.
As for the price drop, Sony may have just saved this gen for themselves. While there are constant rumors suggesting that the next generation of consoles are already out, I can pretty much say that with the way things are going, you will do well to ignore these rumors. The next gen is going to be a revision of the current gen and nothing more, so what Sony does now will remain important for another 5 years.
What Sony has done, as much as we all hate it, is to succeed in flaunting a technelogical behemoth in front of gamers for years now. No, there are no games, but even your Fourth Reich Microsoft neighbor will eventually let it out that he/she would get one if they could afford it without giving up an organ to the black market. Letting the price drop go before fall officially got in gear reeks of desperation, as most companies reserve those rights until it's "business acceptable" during the holiday season.
Yes, this is desperation. Yes, Sony knows it is failing despite having the superior console. Yet, releasing this before the holiday season even gets considered puts them in a seriously good position. Consoles are now flying off the shelves, comparatively, though I would suggest that you ignore the PS3 Slim and get yourself a monolith while you still can. The first gen is infinitely more moddable than the later ones end up being, and Sony has even removed Linux support for the Slim. This means that a large number of people can get the console, simmer on the 2-3 games they already wanted, spread the good word, and reap in the holiday deals. What Sony has to be counting on at this point is for Final Fantasy XIII to be damn good, because without that, this great strategy may go south in a hurry. It's sad, but it's the truth. Sony won't lose the gen, but their odds of "winning" rests solely on the success of the next Final Fantasy. Without it, it is business as usual with steady game sales and nothing special. With it comes a million new PS3 owners in an instant, and the third parties will finally take risks with the new install base.
Ah, such is the bane of ranting. I'm already several paragraphs from the point.
This SLI thing is getting out of hand. SLI seemed like a good idea at first. Take a good video card and pair it up with another to get better results. This is a great idea for enthusiasts, but even better for the average gamer. Buying a card that's adaquate, but not too expensive, for the must-have game of the season happens all the time. A year later, or even a few months down the line, that card might be massively discounted and the gamer can spend fractionally less to keep themselves in the game for the next series of games they may want.
3-way SLI was dumb, but I could see "hot-rodders" doing it. 4-way has gone beyond my common sense boundary. It is time to say that enough is enough. This isn't even viable unless you have way too much money or are supercomputing in some way, and even then, there are more attractive options. Buying 4 GeForce 8800's, even now, could still net you a top of the line card with more features and just as much power. Buying 4 brand new cards gets you...nothing. Unless you're playing games in the future, this isn't even a logical option. What good will 4 cards get you unless you're playing Crysis, a game universally renowned for being the most unpractical game to run in the history of gaming?
If you have a million dollars to flush down the toilet on a whim, this may be the idea for you, but it is literally a flush. There is no reason to have this option. You not only have to buy the motherboard that can run this option, but then you have to get the cards. Most people, even enthusiasts, are still going to need a case big enough to house all of this, not to mention the matching power supply. The plus-side is something I simply cannot see.
While I can appreciate humanity for trying to do something with technology just because it can, this "+1" business is getting a little on the loony side. Video cards may still not be extinct just yet, but they will be soon enough. That is where technology will advance in computing, not this useless compensating.
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