Poll: Most promising next gen console?

[Shuu]

Aaaaand, the site ate my poll... Fan-fucking-tastic...

Well, it's hard to see any way that Microsoft could pull any bigger of a 180 than they've managed so far, so it's safe to say we now know what our choice are escapids.
So what do you think?

Me:

Wii U - I think Nintendo absolutely has a chance here, to regain the gaming cultural spot light, and leave behind that image of being a kids platform, getting the started toward bigger, better games. Will they though? I have my doubts, but I remain hopeful.
They're in an uncomfortable position, right now, but at least they're not outclassed this time. They still have the weakest console, specs wise, but it's not "outclassed" like the Wii was.
I fully expect developers to forget that the touch screen even exists, probably assigning it functions that can either be ignored, or performed simply with the buttons. I doubt very much Nintendo will be king again, but I think the Wii U will turn out to be profitable for them in the end.

Playstation 4 - Well I reckon they'll "win" the next gen, even if only just. And as Yahtzee said, Microsoft basically did all the work for them. It's in a safe position at the moment. With both consoles as they are now, I expect another close race, but Sony has built up enough good will by virtue of not being Xbone, to see them pull ahead, for all it matters to us (it doesn't).
I also think that 3rd party business will get a lot more important from here on out, and Sony is a lot more open to that than Microsoft, who are known for being very antsy about relinquishing any kind of control over their platform.

Xbox One - Fuck you Microsoft! Now that that's our of the way... Their approach of being the one thing you need in your lounge room isn't a bad way to go about it, but their handling is rather bad. Jim Sterling pointed out that many of the features it's so proud of, are already offered by your smart TV, and without a subscription cost! But then again, a lot of people don't have smart TVs, and a $500 box might be more enticing that a brand now television.
Now that they've backtracked TO THE EXTREEEEEEME, I don't see all this who-har putting much of a dent in their sales int he long run. Their biggest threat right now, is the looming possibility that they'll slowly try to reintroduce all that bullshit at a later date. If they do, people will notice, and they will suffer. If they don't do any of that, I think they'll be fine.

 

[Hero of Lime]

For gamer cred, it will probably be PS4. Sony could still screw up big time if there is another incident as big as the PS Network hacking.

For sales, it could go either way, as bad as it looks for Wii U, there is a chance it could somehow win in sales(don't ask me how, I have no ideas myself), Nintendo needs to make some great decisions soon.

PS4 has a good chance since it's cheaper than the One, and with all the positive press out at the moment, it will probably sell more come launch day than the Xbox One.

However, if Microsoft goes on an intense media blitz, I could see sales of Xbox One being high, considering a small portion of the population knows anything about DRM, backwards compatibility, the used games controversy, etc.

I honestly don't know, we saw many analysts expect the Wii to do poorly for all the same reasons the Wii U is suffering from, yet in terms of sales it won the last gen. Everyone wants Xbox One to be in last place on the count of principle, yet it could still win because it's the next Xbox alone.

 

[Epidemiix]

In the sense of purely gaming, I think that the PS4 would be the strongest. So far, they have seemed to make the "more right" decisions when it comes to making the console for the gaming audience.

I don't think I need to go too far in depth about the problems with the Xbox One. Even with the 180 with the Kinect recently, it still seems to be designed as not a gaming console, but a (to quote their marketing, god help me)"complete all in one home entertainment system". Which makes it seem that gamers are not the target audience, and yadda yadda weak gaming console assumed because of such.

The Wii U would be up there too, but launching earlier then the other two has given it a stigma of having no games. Along with the other problems carried along with the "Wii" title. (motion control "gimmick", no "real" games, etc. etc.)

 

[PFCboom]

Most promising would go to PS4, IMO. It has exclusives up the wazoo, which we all know is one of the biggest deciding factors. IMO, it has the better social networking structure because of its ability to stream and upload gameplay while you play. Let's-Players everywhere rejoiced.

Most potential goes to Wii U. I swear, it only takes a couple killer apps that show off the abilities of the Wii U tablet. Fatal Frame, anyone? Fatal. *&^%ing. Frame.

Underdog goes to Xbox One. Sometime in the next few years, maybe Microsoft will be able to work their "TVTVTVTVTVTV" angle towards families who just want to watch endless (insert completed series here) on a weekend. And hell, I bet a few parents could find a use for the Kinect's abilities for, I don't know, simple exercises or something.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I am a current Xbox 360 & PS3 owner and will be buying multiple PS4's instead of both consoles as I usually do.

PS4 is a gaming device. I already have PC's hooked up to my TV's why would I want another TV device when I have that covered via Direct TV, PC & smart TV? I have a Kinect in a box they can have back already and certainly do not want another one. XB1 is not offering me anything I want. I want a gaming console w/o Kinect with a removable hard drive. They didn't make that, so they can keep it.

So I would have to give it to PS4 hands down as the " most promising console". Besides their game sharing commercials were hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOosVWP--j0

 

[The_Echo]

The PS4 is the most promising. Their exclusive IPs are just plain awesome, and more numerous than Microsoft's (though we've been promised more, something tells me they... won't be too groundbreaking). Also the integration they want with the Vita has a lot of potential.

The Xbone is... well. You know. Let's not open that can of worms.

And what will we see from the WiiU? Another Mario, another Zelda... and Smash (which is going to be on 3DS, soooo). Will we get Metroid? F-Zero? StarFox? Who the fuck knows. Probably not. And the Mario and Zelda we get will be the same fuckin' thing we've been playing the past decade.

I kind of hope Nintendo says goodbye to consoles this generation. Because they really haven't been treating them right for a long time.

 

[sanquin]

Overall the Xbone probably has the better launch title line-up. But that's about all it has over the PS4 atm. The PS4 is cheaper, more powerful, still has pretty good games at launch and more promised to come later, and doesn't have that (to me) useless Kinect thing that's mandatory with every purchase.

So for me the line-up would be like this: PS4 -> Wii U -> XB-One. Wii U coming second because it has great potential. More than the xbone in my opinion. Nintendo just has to be smart and draw that potential out.

 

[jpoon]

PS4 is the most promising console for me. I know for certain that sony has some great exclusives that will come out and of course there's always the multiplats which will most likely turn out great on the PS4. Luckily I will still remain part of the master race (PC) but I will certainly dabble in the console kiddy realm when necessary.

No xbone needed.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

At this point the only location the Xbone has a good chane of beating the PS4 is the US due to the various 'extras avalible.

MS seems to have forgotten that rest of the world isn't like Anerica with everyone owning a set-top box.

If Sony can get enough consoles out, especially to the countries that are not on the 'lucky 13' it could gaij market advantage similar to the 360's last gen.

Nintendo just needs to drop some fucking games already.

 

[TK421]

The most promising is the PS4. If it was up to me, the WiiU would win because Nintendo did the least amount of screwing consumers this time around, but everyone is to busy complementing Sony for not being Microsoft to notice that the PS4 no longer has unpaid online play.

 

[Bellvedere]

At the moment I'm really loving the WiiU. Have been thoroughly enjoying the games I have and I'm incredibly excited about the games coming out. The ability to switch between TV and gamepad is great, and the option of using the pro-controller is a real step forward. I understand why it's not the most popular choice in consoles, but for me it's definitely worth owning.

The Xbone in my opinion has the strongest lineup of launch titles. I also believe that the kinect2 has potential even outside of casual/family games, though the lack of anything interesting announced for it does not bode well. Obviously all the drama and controversy surrounding reveal is going to be influential, though maybe not as significant long term as some people are imagining.

The PS4 is interesting to me mainly because of the possibility of streaming PS3 games. I didn't have a PS3 last gen and the ability to play some of the great looking titles that I missed is quite appealing. Also using it in conjunction with the Vita to resume games on the go sounds massively awesome(though the Vita itself does not). Regardless of all that the fact that they've managed to not provoke outrage yet means that I think that they'll have the better launch.

At this point my preferences in next gen consoles would be WiiU>PS4>XB1. In reality though I think that the PS4 is the most promising being that it's managed to piss of the least amount of people and doesn't have the "no games" or "family games only" stigma.

 

[SeventhSigil]

The WiiU I have little experience with, but I will say that they could still turn things around. The device does have the potential to appeal to younger children, which should be kept in mind are essentially a brand-new and growing market. It's one that is somewhat under catered by the other two companies, and so really, it has the leading advantage in terms of a family friendly device. I won't consider getting one until I see some of it's crowdpleasing titles released and judged, but in the overall market, there is certainly a place for it.

Sony's new console is my current personal choice, And I believe that if they are clever and don't fall into the same pits they dug during the launch of their last console, they have an excellent chance of pulling into the lead. They will be offering a wide and varied range of free to play games, from shooters to at least one MMO, and though it could be argued that these titles are available on PC as well, the same could be said for Titanfall, which seems to be considered one of Microsoft's most promising new IPs.

Now, the Xbox One is currently complicated enough to warrant most of this post. After all their reversals, they are officially on my 'eventually' pile, to be used as an exclusive platform whenever exclusives enticing enough to convince me to make that purchase. But it's success is going to hinge on several expectations that simply don't seem very likely.

When it comes to the idea of becoming the center of the living room, the problem is that Microsoft is essentially seeking to pit itself not just against the gaming companies, but now directly against every other company that provides multimedia entertainment devices. And you can be certain these companies aren't going to take that competition quietly.

For example, there is a device released recently called Chromecast, a Device the size of a USB stick that is designed to plug into your HDTV and power source, tap into Wi-Fi, and turn your television into streaming device all its own, Not only allowing you to access Netflix and such, while using your phone or tablet or computer as remote, but even apparently able to stream the content of your laptop's Chrome browser to the screen. Right now its feature set is relatively limited, intended to expand as other content providers sign up, but it does seem to have some very interesting core ideas. And did I mention it's only $35 with no extra subscription? If technology were drugs, this would probably be crack cocaine. With the Xbox One set to release in a few months, there is still time for other multimedia devices to swoop in and establish dominating foothold in the market, making it far more difficult for Microsoft to make much headway.

The comparison to the success of the Wii doesn't really take into account the fact that the Wii was vastly cheaper, not only compared to current gen consoles at the time, but even now compared to the Xbox One. It simply isn't going to be the same impulse purchase that Nintendo's current generation console was. If the WiiU is failing as a family-friendly device due to lack of content, then Microsoft's console is hardly going to do any better Because just having more content isn't going to mean more family-friendly content for the Xbox One.

While Microsoft will certainly retain a portion of its Xbox 360 Fanbase, in all likelihood the drama of the past few months has lost at least a portion of it. How many specifically, who knows. But added to the number of people leaving due to the drama Are the people who weren't really dedicated to Microsoft in the first place, and just bought the console because it was cheaper, (And are therefore likely to select the cheaper option once more next gen) or are just thinking of jumping the fence to see how the other side lives.

It has been suggested that the drama won't turn away most people because they won't have been paying attention to it. But generally speaking, the level of inattention one would have to pay to not know about these developments, those individuals probably aren't attached enough to gaming to form a preference for any company specifically. If this is the case, they might not even have a particular predilection towards Microsoft's console in the first place, and once again might just go for the cheaper option.

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To summarize, the WiiU Will need to release far more compelling content, but it definitely has market that, if properly catered to, can give it a strong place in the family centered household.

The PS4 Currently has the edge, and they could certainly capitalize on it in the years to come. If they can establish a more dominant foothold in North America and the UK, their usual advantage in other regions could lead to an extremely successful generation for them. But there are no guarantees, and things could still go wrong down the road.

Finally, the Xbox One could still come back from its mistakes, but it has an uphill fight ahead of it. It will likely run into the same problems with securing the multimedia device market as the Windows phone had competing with Android's platform. It will have to work very hard to regain the remaining gamers that it lost recently, assuming such a feat is even possible. Attempting to become a family-friendly console is just going to force it to compete with the cheaper and far more family-friendly WiiU. And if it continues to try focusing its resources upon expanding into multiple markets at once, all it is going to end up doing is further hinder its efforts to expand in any of them.