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MCV 11/06/10 41 E3 2010: ANALYSIS
Left to right: Bethesda’s Sarah Seaby, Koch’s Craig McNichol, Namco Bandai’s Olivier Comte, EA Sports’ Peter Moore, Sony’s Andrew House look to the future of gaming
typical sell-by date that has dictated generation shifts in the past. But far from showing unease, many publishers believe the three pillars of Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 are all exactly where they need to be. For the first time, the games industry has a model on its hands that can be sustained to create new long-term possibilities. Spiess adds: “With significant installed user bases, first parties will think twice about before they start all over again. Introducing peripherals that provide new experiences is the smartest solution.”
Developers need to explore how these can be used, to treat them as the next dimension of gaming, just as studios did when we first stepped away from 2D. That shift brought about a whole new way of thinking, as should Natal, Move and the 3DS. It’s a challenge, but one the industry is tackling with gusto. “The focus moves from bigger and better graphical technology to deeply thought out gameplay mechanics,” says Koch’s Craig McNichol. Bethesda’s Sarah Seaby adds: “The market has changed a lot over since this
generation began. We’re still seeing games which blow your mind as to what they’re getting out of the current consoles and developers regularly talk about how much more there is to come. “Couple that with the fact that consumers are beginning to get used to extending their gaming experiences through add-ons – digitally or otherwise – and you see the emergence of a market which doesn’t need a new machine to discover new experiences.” We stand at a crossroads. Ours is an industry of habit, of rolling out similar
games with sharper visuals every five years before a new machine wows consumers with the illusion of new. One path leads along this route: a future that is more uncertain than it once was. Along the other paths, we have motion controllers that can introduce new functionality without changing the fundamental hardware and a new 3D perspective that could revolutionise the way that games are developed. Where each one leads is anyone’s guess. Welcome to E3 2010. The future starts here.
E3 SPECIAL
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