Cool it on the smoothies...

While rocking my codgery self back and forth in my arm chair, I noticed that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all announced their next game systems. Has it been that long already? Am I the only one who thinks the 3 companies should deliver with their current generation first?

Nintendo has been a-maz-ing about releasing updates in their franchise titles - HD Zelda games, an incredible Smash Brothers game, and my favorite Mario Kart by far. The Virtual Console is still going strong and because of that, we get a chance to gobble up the Metroid Prime Trilogy at a reasonable price. I feel like there were about 20 games on the Wii U that I cared about, and that seems really low for console content. To be honest, I think buying 20 games (via Craigslist, Amazon, and trading, of course) for a given game system justifies the cost of it. But, half of these magical titles are simply updates. Nintendo is really good at adding content and using their consoles' latest gimmick in these. For example, Wind Waker uses the Wii U pad screen for inventory and maps so you don't need to pause the game, and Mario Brothers Wii U uses the pad for players to insert helpful blocks, platforms and stun enemies while the other 4 players traverse the levels. These titles are really familiar, but have a fresh spin that only Nintendo can confidently deliver, but boy did I get burned in April. The new Legend of Zelda game is even being pushed back for the next Nintendo system. It feels like the company isn't putting up any resistance in defining the Wii U as a stepping stone, rather than its own distinct product. At least the titles all adequately use the hardware.

Boooooooooo!

XBox One has my favorite piece of technology that's under-utilized: the Kinect. The first half of the Wii's lifespan had pretty bad motion controls until they developed the Motion Plus, which added extra sensors and sensitivity. Kinect on the XBox one is impressive in its motion-sensing, works in low-light, and has great voice recognition. Configuring it to control your TV and sound system makes Amazon Prime Video and Netflix quite amazing. "Xbox Pause," happens to be a favorite. The facial recognition is badass in that you can sit in a decently dark room and it'll log you in, but the most impressive display of this is in the Just Dance games. The game supports up to 6 simultaneous dancers, and even has an achievement for smiling, which certainly puts the Kinect to work. My gripe is that such a small percentage of Xbox titles use the Kinect for more than the voice option, and some games that do have piss-poor implementation.

If I'm gonna rant about the current generation, I gotta shout out to Sony. The Dualshock 4 has abysmal battery life, which is a surprise when it's the 4th generation and have had such great predecessors. One great feature is piping the game's audio through your controllers' headphone ports. However, between this feature, the under-utilized touchpad and motion controls, the battery life is totally compromised. Also, the tops of the analog sticks rub off quite easily. Sony could use a page from Nintendo's book of having more developers make use of the hardware features. Even if it's a cheap gimmick, stick to your guns and legitimize, guys!


Either way, with the new generation having such few original titles and so far from reaching potential, I think Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft ought to cool it on the smoothies and give us more killer titles for existing systems.

Edit: Even if Nintendo is releasing Zelda on both the Wii U and the new system, I will be very unfrugal in getting the techier version and the system with it. Hypocritical? Yes. But it's Zelda, and by getting the console, my friends won't have to spend their money on one! Yeah...*cough*