Poll: So, why ARE you looking forward to the "next generation" of consoles?

[Callate]

I know some people are champing at the bit for Microsoft or Sony's next offering, and some are excited by the possibilities of the Wii-U, a system which is likely not as out-and-out powerful as the upcoming offerings but at least has the advantage of having manifested as a product about which actual information can be gleaned and capabilities reported.

But I'm curious: why ARE you looking forward to the "next gen"- or are you? Does the prospect of putting $500 or more on the counter for the newest and shiniest fill you with excitement? Or something else?

 

[Mikejames]

To be honest, I'm wary of a shift. There are times where it feels like a good amount of the focus for improvement is just in the graphics engine.

Also hate the feeling when backwards compatibility starts to wane.

 

[FalloutJack]

Curiosity. Simple, blatant, curiosity. I like new stuff.

 

[Shadowstar38]

I hate the thought of new consoles being around the corner when games like Dishonored are still coming out this gen.

If I'm paying for a new console, they sure as hell better have loading times and quick saves figured out. I'm not buying it purely for graphics.

But in all honesty, I dont see what innovations a new console can bring to the table that cant be done right now.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

I'm not particularly excited for the next generation of consoles. I am a very poor college student. I don't got teh moneyz for a new console system.

Honestly I've gotten way more into the PC gaming scene because of how long the console generation had been dragging on. I simply don't see any major benefits to purchasing a console rather than a decent PC. ESPECIALLY not after my blind ignorance in paying for Xbox Live Gold for quite a while. That business model is absolutely ridiculous now that I look at it in retrospect, but I was simply an ignorant child back then. At least PS+ offers legitimate bonuses for paying a monthly fee.

Anyways, I wouldn't say that I'm looking forward to the console generation, but I wouldn't say that I'm completely disinterested. I'm decidedly meh about it. If I could afford a new console then I'd look into it.

I'm going to massively disappointed when they announce that the new Sony system won't have backwards compatibility. There are some PS3 games that I really want to play.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Long story short, higher processing power means more complicated rulesets are possible. This means everything from better AI, to better physics, to entirely new genres of gameplay that become possible because we can better simulate complicated systems. Now I'm sure a lot of cynics might say that the power will be exclusively used for graphics, but that's just not the case. I mean, look at the current gen. The jump in processing power from the sixth gen did get used for graphics, I won't deny that, but it also made a lot of other stuff possible. Neither Half Life 2 nor Star Wars: The Force Unleashed would have been possible on sixth gen hardware, in both cases because of the large amount of physics processing that had to be done. And those two are just the tip of the iceberg, a pair of games that were groundbreaking (at the time) in their use of physics engines. There is so much more to a new gen than graphics.

Not that I wouldn't mind better graphics, either; seventh gen graphics are really starting to look long in the tooth.

 

[Tippy]

I have a strong feeling that in this day and age, consoles will be nothing more than proprietary pieces of junk you need to buy in order to play exclusives.

I'd love to see what the next gen of consoles bring can to the table that a ~$550 custom built PC can't (i3 3220 + HD6870).

 

[Joccaren]

Great PC.
No game taxes it except when I do ludicrous things with it. [8,000 soldier or more battles in Total War games, 8 player Full population fleet battles in Sins of a Solar Empire, 16x16 embark breaking into hell in Dwarf Fortress with 400 demons coming after me and over 20,000 random bits of dirt and such lying around my map that I CBF cleaning up to increase FPS. You know, the good stuff].
Need something to tax it, either graphically or in the sheer scale of the game.

 

[Hemlet]

I'm not that excited for the next console generation to be honest. Maybe it's because I had an Xbox, but it just seemed as if there has been less and less variety of genres over the years. I've started to move towards PC gaming because of this actually, since there just seems to be more to choose from overall.

 

[yuval152]

I think I will move to PC gaming when next gen arrives.

 

[distortedreality]

I'm predominantly a PC gamer, so i'm only mildly curious as to what the next gen will be - having said that, I guess one thing I think both Sony and Microsoft need to improve on is the reliability of their consoles. Better components make for more trusting customers.

 

[axlryder]

I didn't enjoy this generations as much as I enjoyed the last one, and I enjoyed the last one about the same or a bit less than the one before it. If that's any indicator, I'm not particularly excited for this new generations. I'm a bit more interested in what the indie scene will have to offer.

 

[MidnightSt]

on the other note, a question that's been bugging me for quite a while: I've got a computer that's not a high-end, BUT it's still about twice as powerful as current gen consoles, and despite that, some current gen ports run really poorly on it, while on xbox (that is objectively at least 50% weaker) they run fluently at 30 or 60 FPS. Why is that?

 

[Griffolion]

Curiosity. Simple, blatant, curiosity. I like new stuff.

Yeah, same.

Also because I want to say from day one, "my PC is still more powerful than this."

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm not looking forward to it. The current generation was already a bloated affair with games constricted by their budgets, and I fear what the next one will bring to the table.

 

[RustlessPotato]

on the other note, a question that's been bugging me for quite a while: I've got a computer that's not a high-end, BUT it's still about twice as powerful as current gen consoles, and despite that, some current gen ports run really poorly on it, while on xbox (that is objectively at least 50% weaker) they run fluently at 30 or 60 FPS. Why is that?

Because the ports are generally not very well made. But, if the developers allow it, the PC community can usually patch things up.

O.T I'm not really excited by the consoles, but I think it is true that games only evolve as fast as the lowest denominator. If the Consoles get more powerful, we might have game with a some great A.I or grand scale games. I mean, look at what they managed to do with Skyrim on the Xbox. Imagine what they'll be able to do on much more powerful hardware ?

But I'm pretty sure I will have switched fully to pc by then.

 

[Jordi]

I'm not really looking forward to it. I love the fact that the current generation is taking so long. I don't play on consoles, but I have a 3 year old laptop that can play Skyrim. I don't think that would have happened if developers had been able to develop for better consoles.

Of course, getting more power can be beneficial. If I had to pick something to be excited about, it'd be better AI, but I'm afraid that's just not going to happen. Sure, there will be small, incremental steps forward, but it just doesn't appear to be a priority for developers.

I want games to be bigger and have better AI. I think the graphics are already good enough. But developers are going to disagree, and put all their effort into making better graphics. Which means that they will be able to make less "world" in the same time.

So yes, there is a potential for improvement, and we always need to keep moving forward. But I'm afraid that developers are going to sacrifice aspects that I think are important for things they find important (graphics).