Remember the Gamecube, the purple thing everyone referred to as a lunchbox (I had a Zelda Lunchbox when I was little)? See the Gamecube was sort of a hit, and sort of a failure, it really depended on what Nintendo-made game was released that month. When you weren’t playing Zelda or Mario or Metroid you usually weren’t playing your Gamecube. The PS2 during the same period was filled with a wide range of games ranging from triple A to… pretty much utter shit. At least it was unique shit, the Gamecube had a few top tier titles and then ports of other games, and usually not very good games. Yet there was always a reason to power up the slim black system.
Fast forward 8 years into the future and it looks as if the PS3 is taking a page out of the Nintendo book, one or two great franchise games and then crap, not even a lot of crap, a slow trickle with no end in sight. What exclusive triple A titles do we have to look forward to over the next few months on the PS3? A new Ratchet game is guaranteed gold, but Naught Dog’s Uncharted may go the way of Lair. So what the PS3 has this year is one insanely good game from Insomniac, a developer that might as well be first party and a possible hit from Naughty Dog. Everything else seems to be a port from the 360, sometimes long after the 360 release has come out. With the promise of Metal Gear and Final Fantasy we can look forward to returning IP’s, but what about a successful new property?
Gamecube proved you can’t rely on your tested franchises forever and even Wii is falling into the same trap. Will American games have to look towards the 360 for new IP’s? If so, then what about our Japanese brothers? Will they provide the titles the PS3 is in desperate need of? This problem is perhaps a symptom of a bigger issue, but what will the solution be?
