Next Generation Think Tank

[heavyfeul]

So what is it we expect from the next generation of consoles? With all the much advertised power under the hood of the PS3 and 360 and the new controller for the Wii, I think gamers are expecting quite a bit. So...

What are your expectations for the next generation?

What type of game concepts or designs do you want implemented?

What is your dream game for the next consoles?

 

[HuCast]

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html

thats all

 

[Goofonian]

You know, this is something I haven't really thought all that much about.
When I was younger, new consoles always meant shiny new graphics and that was all I cared about. Now it seems more like all I seem to care about is playing fun games, and buying the consoles that they are on is just a cost of entry. Purchasing a 360 has more to do with a desire to play Gears of war and ghost recon and to play on what is by far the best online multiplayer system available, then it does to do with wanting a machine capable of high def graphics. I'm getting a Wii tomorrow purely for zelda and at this point I have little interest in the PS3.

I think that is the key. I expect each generation to give me at least one or two compelling reasons to go out and buy the new technology, then once that initial purchase has been made I hope and pray that they will follow up with more good games for me to buy and play.
I don't really care if the control scheme changes or if the gameplay mechanics are advanced. If the games are fun then I will continue to play them and continue to spend my cash on them.

 

[Lex Darko]

In addition to what HuCast posted, I want game companies to realize this [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=21338].

And I would like to see one of the new consoles bring back Saturn games oh how I miss NiD.

 

[ReedRichards]

I'm looking for good innovative gameplay. People seem to get caught up in graphical power when a new console cycle starts. But for a new console to succed the games have to provide a new kind of fun as well as be pretty in my opinion. New more powerful technology warrants that you explore more than graphic capabilities. The Wii is the perfect example of this point to me. As far as purchases, I'm not sure whether I am going to buy a Wii or a 360. The PS3 is barely on my radar at this point...especially after seeing the PS3 version of Tony Hawk's Project 8.

 

[Ajar]

More co-op, both online and offline. Special co-op levels, good, entire co-op game, better. Lego Star Wars II, Gears of War, please sir may I have some more?

 

[heavyfeul]

I would like to see a third-person, squad/commander, online multiplayer game using the Unreal Engine 3 that focuses on large scale melee and classed based combat. Something similar to Unreal Tournament, but with only low tech projectiles and in some fantasy universe setting. Something like a mix between Guild Wars and Battlefield 2. I would love to see 52 player online battles with multiple maps and customizable options, where I can play as an elf, dwarf, human, orc, mage, etc. Commander should have control over siege devices and calling in dragon airstrikes, supply drops, falcon recon missions, etc.

The hardware is there and since the analog stick controllers are perfect for fighting games, it seems like a perfect fit.

 

[Goofonian]

More co-op, both online and offline. Special co-op levels, good, entire co-op game, better. Lego Star Wars II, Gears of War, please sir may I have some more?

I think developers are only just coming to realise how much of a selling point a good co-op is. Multiplayer is one thing, but playing through the single player portion of the game with a friend is just awesome.
I'm giving myself less than a week before I cave in and download golden axe on the Wii virtual console so my housemate and myself can play through that co-op.

 

[ReedRichards]

I agree. They are only just beginning to realize how much more fun the main story mode is wih co-op play. It isn't even a new idea, its a good one. It's the best way to play Gears of War. Ahhh, Golden Axe good times.

 

[heavyfeul]

No one plays farcry anymore either, i wished people would come back to farcry on xbox....

That is one thing about online gaming on the Xbox that bothers me. You can have really great game (e.g. Project Snowblind), but there is no online presence. As soon as the next latest and greatest game comes out, people move on. This happens in PC gaming as well, but I can always find a decent game years after release.

 

[David Miscavidge]

I want more games in the vein of deus ex or system shock, i like being able to achieve goals in different ways and to effect the events of a game with my personal choices..

Word, LordCancer.

No one talks about the Deus Ex games anymore. Even the second one was great. They were smart. I think the first time I encountered a game that didn't assume that I was a 13 year old was the first DX. NPCs would come up to you and quote Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard. A screed on Paolo Solieri's concept of the arcology in DX2: Invisible War resulted in me travelling to visit Arcosanti in Arizona and having a blast there. (Bioshock, by the way, will probably kick ass. It seems like what we're looking for.)

As for what I'm looking for in next-gen gaming, it seems I want the opposite of what lots of people here want. I'm not interested in online multiplayer. I don't play with other people. I play games to get away from people and be antisocial.

I'd like to see the new power used to create a higher level of immersive fiction for the single player to get buried alive in. Living, breathing NPCs with believable facial kinesics, more interactivity in environments, deeper visual design, more sandbox options & physics based stuff. Something that'll make me want to get catheterized & IV-fed so I can sit there for weeks. Then I'd like to see it all used as a venue for better storytelling. (Yeah, right.)

I think Oblivion was a little taste of what I'm talking about here, as well as the Half Life 2 games. Don't know what's coming up that'll be deep in this way, maybe that big Sci-fi RPG thing that BioWare is making.

 

[Ajar]

NPCs would come up to you and quote Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard.

That was one of the things I loved about Bungie's Marathon trilogy, too, though I was never able to play through all three.

 

[Ajar]

That would be pretty cool, actually. If you're looking to try them out now, though, you don't need that -- Bungie's opened the source. Check out Aleph One [http://source.bungie.org/]. You can also get high-res texture packs there.

I loved Eternal Darkness, too.

 

[David Miscavidge]

david.

mass effect?

That's it. From what I can tell it might be a kind of 'Oblivion in Space' deal, which is not at all a bad thing.

final fantasy 12 is border line almost too damn kiddy wished the main character would have been basch or the air pirate Balthier the game when told through the eyes of a kid who never matures throughout my 70 hours with it so far gets old fast.

I'll admit, though, that this thing is presently a guilty pleasure of mine. I'll cop to really enjoying FF12. I like Square's big, fruity, campy, fantastical juvenilia. It brings me back to reading Heavy Metal magazine when I was 13. The story in this one is a bit more complex and mature, reminiscent of good fantasy lit like George RR Martin or Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Plus I dig the Gambit thing.

The only real criticism I have of FF12 (and this is kind of on-topic for this thread,) is that it would have been more comfortable as a next-generation game. The aged PS2 platform hobbles it. I'm disoriented by the world being broken up into these little loadable pockets which have little to do with the world map, it makes navigation a headache. I hate the blue dotted line between areas. FF12 has huge, gorgeous exotic environments that were really meant to be seamlessly free-roamed, Oblivion-style.

like you said bioshock should be right up our alley!

Seen the trailer yet? It's cynical, mean, creepy. I love it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsHY0LnbDDw

NPCs would come up to you and quote Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard.

That was one of the things I loved about Bungie's Marathon trilogy, too, though I was never able to play through all three.

Marathon just kicks ass. I go back to these games every couple of years, been playing them on the Mac since they came out. Much as I like Halo, I wish it could more like Marathon in many ways.

Great news that they might be putting it up on Live! (I've always had an unrealistic fantasy that the Marathon games would somehow get ported to the DS. I'd love to play these things in the subway, at the airport.)

Been meaning to try Eternal Darkness, but am presently without a Nintendo home console... I'll get a Wii when the new Metroid comes out.