Consoles are the Holy Grail of gamers. The bearer of games, it is the ultimate platform to prove that you too, have several talents — a shooter, master of stealth, person who can climb many buildings, skilled in combat etc. But, it has been awhile since a major console release — the last console war reached its peak in 2013-14 during the great release of the PS4 and Xbox One. We’ve been thirsty for another battle stage.
For Honor
Nintendo’s ‘Switch’ rises up to the challenge, as though saying “are you not entertained?” like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Nintendo is weird. They don’t upgrade their existing consoles — there’s no Wii v2.0. Instead, they come up with newer ways to play. Like the ‘Wii U’, a gamepad controller connectable to the Wii. And like the ‘3DS’, the pocket device projects your Pokemon in 3D at the slide of a switch. ‘Switch’ is a hybrid console. You can take the device and play it on the go by sliding it out of the desktop console, and play on the TV when you are back, right from where you’d paused the game.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Switch releases this March. There are rumours in anticipation of game releases, and my favourite for Switch is that the Japanese ‘Earthbound/Mother3’ game is coming to the console. The most underrated of the old GBA games, it is set in a tiny village in a universe rooted in fantasy, with characters so unique and wonderfully weird that individual dialogues and encounters stick with you forever. Life for the protagonists shifts with the entry of pigmasks that establish commerce and bring in TVs to the village, and the game journey gains
traction thereon.
Mass Effect
Before the dust on Switch settles, Razer is also making considerable progress in the future of PC gaming with its crazy idea of a 17-inch triple-screen gaming laptop, Project Valerie. Currently just a prototype, Valerie doesn’t compromise on weight (5.4 kg) for power and performance, compared to the sleeker laptop variations out there. The announcements from Razer and Switch, and the miracles of VR on display at CES 2017 last week, promises a lot for gamers this year.
Anusha Ganapathi @quaffle_waffle