Are Coloured and Transparent Consoles Dying in the Era of Modern Technological Sophistication?

April 23rd, 2008

multiple coloured playstation 2 consoles

Remember how awesome it was playing Pokemon Red or Blue on your old Transparent GameBoy Pocket? You could see right through the plastic into the guts of the machine. ^_^

It was a few years before the release of Pokemon though that Nintendo first introduced a range of coloured GameBoy Pocket consoles including my aforementioned transparent GameBoy Pocket. Actually I can’t quite remember if the GameBoy Pocket actually launched with the colours or not. In anycase this release was teamed with the equally awesome ‘Stick it in Your Pocket’ ad campaign.transparent gameboy pocket

This was historically a turning point for coloured consoles and was followed on by Nintendo with subsequent GameBoy Color and Nintendo 64 colour variations. Sony later jumped on board too with transparent PSone Memory cards. Since the release of the previous generation machines (Playstation 2, Gamecube and Xbox) it appears as though coloured and transparent consoles have been on a slow decline replaced by the idea of slick, sophisticated pieces of modern technology designed to outshine the DVD player and TV.

Coloured consoles are still around the place though, albeit severally withdrawn for the sake of tech. The three most popular colours of modern day consoles are jet black, pure white and metallic silver. See the problem? These colour variations fall into the 3 primary colours of consumer tech (household phones, kitchen electrical, home entertainment etc). There is as much variation here as there is between Sunbeam kettles. Even though they are pitched as colours, truth be told; they aren’t, they are just different shades of grey.

The portable scene appears to have faired much better with examples like the red and yellow PSPs and pastel coloured DS Lites. With the DS though once again we see a lack of anything truly colourful with the lightly hued pastels, demeans the point really.

Several brave attempts at coloured consoles have appeared in recent years namely they are:

Also in recent years coloured consoles have been released as part of special edition packs designed to suit the pack-in game or have often been limited to a Japanese only release.

So Why No Love for the Coloured Console?

I briefly touched on this before, the main reason for this move comes from a push by console manufacturers in favour of viewing video game consoles as tech devices instead of “toys”. Game consoles have been designed to sit next to the DVD player and TV so hence they should be designed to appear to belong in within that group of devices (again, the 3 primary colours of consumer tech). Since the inclusion of built in DVD players this has become even more apparent.multicoloured nintendo 64 consoles

With the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 offering numerous multimedia facilities, consoles are now in reality swallowing members of the same tech group, or at least attempting to. Sony and Microsoft want their video game console to be the multimedia hub of the household. As the generations have progressed and as this video of technological cannibalism has become has become more and more apparent, consoles are no longer allowed to look like toys.

Portable consoles are exempt from this classification as you ‘Stick them in Your Pocket’ and not underneath the TV. These products are now grouped with mobile phones and PDAs so it is okay for these consoles to change their colour slightly. Even so both the PSP and DS the coloured offerings have been disappointingly limited, the pastel coloured range of DS is as weak as water in my mind. As for the PSP the red and yellow colours are distinct and make for fantastic colours. But I can’t help but feel disappointed when I can reference at least 5 awesome colours which have not seen a western release.

The Future of Colourful Consoles?

I believe that coloured consoles will remain on the path it is currently on, tied to special editions and girly pink variants with the occasional console with a splash of saturation. There is still plenty of opportunity for coloured consoles, the Wii itself disproves the idea that consumers want a multimedia PC in their lounge room. But will that change as more consumers enter our medium?
pink playstation 2
There really are too many variables to toss around in both the video games, multimedia PC and home entertainment industries to accurately make a solid prediction as it would first require a firm idea on the future of home entertainment.

In anycase, colourful consoles are eye catching, unique and attractive, for it’s marketing impact (as well as the nutters like me) there will always be a spot for colourful consoles. I wonder though when will we see another transparent console?

Side Note: Xbox 360 Faceplates/Modded Consoles/Console Skins

As a final thought to ponder, how do you think the above console modification process affect the situation?

BTW we spell color as colour in Australia. Same with favour etc.
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Retro Review - Turok Rage Wars

November 30th, 2007

turok rage wars nintendo 64 review

When a lot of people think about FPS games on the N64 they often draw their minds back to thoughts of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark but during the console’s era the Turok series was also a popular FPS franchise for the system. Following the success of Turok 2 developer Acclaim decided to create a multiplayer based Turok game instead of finishing off the trilogy. This game was Turok Rage Wars.

Summary
turok rage wars nintendo 64 single player
Turok Rage Wars is a bit like Quake 3 compared to the other Quake games; everything here is based solely on the death match formula, you know so because multplayer is the first option on the selection screen. So obviously you’ve got a hoist of multiplayer options. As for the single player, you select a character and follow a map like layout in which you select what levels you wish to play. For the most part this is linear but as you unlock more characters the routes will become more open. You can also play the single player co-operatively with a buddy. As you’d expect (being a Turok game) theres a nice selection of interesting weapons at hand.

Story

I don’t even think that there is a story in this game and if there is then its not really interesting.

Gameplay

Death Match

Turok RW boasts a nice selection of multiplayer match customization which is terrific. Unfortunately its nothing on the scale of Perfect Dark but there is more than enough on offer here to satisy fans of the genre. To give you an idea of the game’s scope, here’s some stats ripped straight from the back of the box:

Acclaim seem to love everything in multiples of 4.

In terms of multiplayer game modes you have Death Match and Team Death Match (called Bloodlust), Capture the Flag and Frag Tag (characters turn into monkeys). So all standard FPS game modes, its unfortunate that Acclaim didn’t introduce any new game modes here. A little bit of innovation here would have gone a long way. Also the level selection is based on the game mode, so if you want to play the Frag Tag game mode you can only play Frag Tag on ‘Frag Tag only’ maps. Much like other FPS games each stage has a special power item which will give you some sort of power for a limited amount of time in Turok RW they call it a Power Core.

Game Speed

Something that I noticed when playing this game with my mates is how slow Turok RW feels compared to Quake or Perfect Dark. This can often make combat feel old and sluggish. Although as you progress in the game you unlock faster characters which does fix this to a degree.

Weapons

What makes Turok RW so interesting is it’s creative assortment of weaponary. You’ve got your standard pistol, shotgun and rifle configuration but theres also some really creative weapons in here. I’m talking a flare gun, boomerang, plasma rifle, freeze gun (which slows down characters speed) but my favourite has to be the inflator. As the name suggest when you hit people with this gun it increases their size. On secondary fire you can charge up a shot and watch them inflate until they explode. Awesome. What Turok 2 fans will notice is that instead of the standard crossbow you have the Tek Bow and your default weapon is now the Warhammer.

turok rage wars nintendo 64 multiplayer

All of the weapons are split into categories, so each player has 2 standard guns(shotguns, pistols, rifles), 2 science based guns (plasma gun etc.) and 1 explosive based gun (rocket launcher etc.). In single player your weapon selection is predetermined depending on the character that you are using. But in multiplayer you select which weapons you want to use per category.

The weapons overall are fairy balanced and its clear that a lot of thought has been put into not only balancing these weapons but also designing them to look and feel right. And it definetly shines through as its the game’s main highlight.

Highlights

As I mentioned before the weapon selection in this game is superb and is definetly the main highlight of the game. The game’s textures also looks much more crisper than other FPS games for the console (even Perfect Dark). Although its not hard to see why as the game arenas are kept in doors and generally feel quite small and cramped. The game can also take advantage of the N64 expansion pack although it isn’t necessary.

I think as a package this is definetly something that multiplayer FPS fans should be happy with. With 4 dedicated players this game is a blast. It capitalizes on the multiplayer strength of the N64 which is definetly a good thing. Its also a lot more stable to play than Perfect Dark as it stays within the limits of the console’s requirements.

turok rage wars multiplayer nintendo 64

If you’ve played a Turok game before then you’ll know that the game is littered with dinosaurs. Because of the nature of this title this isn’t so. Thankfully this has been fixed as you can unlock a raptor. Unlike the other players the raptor is restricted to their claws as their only weapon(also has a powerful swipe for a secondary function). The raptor can move around much faster than all of the enemies. These attributes actually ensure that the raptor doesn’t out balance the character set.

Lowlights

Unfortunately Perfect Dark had to come along and blow this game out of the water. More guns, levels, options, modes, bots. To this day Perfect Dark remains one of the most customizable console FPS games around. Its hard not to recomend Perfect Dark over this.

The main gripe for the multiplayer would have to be the small stages and 4 player restriction. Most of the stages early on in the game are just a giant square room with some stairs and corridors. Later on these go outdoors and contain various gimicks to make them more interesting. But you are still walking through the same not too interesting environments, they lack natural creatures like fish, even plants aren’t included. So it makes the environments feel very hollow and lifeless. The 4 player restrictions apply to bots as well so you can never go beyond a total of 4 players.

The single player can also get a bit tiresome as the majority of levels have the same goal of fragging bots, the tight and enclosed areas don’t really make it any more interestig either. When you are playing one on one it gets a bit frustrating trying to hunt down that one last bot through the maze like environment.

Conclusion

Turok Rage Wars is a great addition to the Turok series, in its glory days on the N64. It also capitalizes on the strength of the system which is good to see. For Turok and FPS fans this comes highly recomended but for everyone else theres Perfect Dark.

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Images that Defined Gaming - Super Mario 64

November 6th, 2007

super mario 64

Images that Defined Gaming is a featured series showcasing the various images that changed the way we thought about gaming, the characters and franchises within it. To view more entries in this series click here.

Theres not much that I can really say about Mario that you don’t already know. Like a lot of gamers I grew up with the plumber, as a child I adored him and as an adult well yeah I still adore him. Now when Mario went 3D this was a big deal and Nintendo went to great lengths to let everyone know that he was back, in 3D and that to play his games you had to have an N64.

The advertising campaign which included TV adverts and ‘Mario’s Million Dollar Mission’ where Mario fans were bought onto a TV set and had to shovel as many piles of coins as they could to get a million dollars. Ah yes, exciting times indeed.

Now one of the key images that I remember from this time was the following one:

super mario 64 world sphere

We see Mario flying with his winged cap, the castle and familiar enemies and environments(now in 3D). Nintendo always did a good job with their promotional work for the Mario series. They always showcase a lot of what is in the game(see SMB3 or SML2). This image shows off a lot of what is in the game(although not a much as some of the SMB3 or SML2 art). All very important parts of the game. But also it leaves enough to the imagination and hints and what might be to come(ie. Theres Boos in the image but no haunted house).

super mario bros artwork

I think that this is the ideal image to express Mario’s transformation into the 3D environment. Its rather ironic how it uses the circle planet, with the upcoming western release of Super Mario Galaxy.

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