What will the 8th Generation bring to the table?

[Bento Box]

The eighth generation will bring more-affordable access to the almost-latest graphic and processing hardware, followed by a half-decade or more of stagnation, while moddable computers continue to set new bars -- bars inevitably nearly reached by the 9th generation of consoles, who sadly miss the ship date of the proper latest graphical processors available to PC modders.

It'll look an awful lot like the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh generations.

 

[Martijn Nijkeuter]

Godsdamn it, Nintendo....there is no facepalm big enough. WHY CAN I NOT SIT AND ENJOY MY GAMES?

i really hope Nintendo tries to make the games usable for any of their 3 main controllers. (as they seem to be considering :3)

-The tablet should be nice for the extra screen with better management/overview options and touch screen shenanigans. and with the gyro based motion sensor you should be able to sit down.
-Wiimote and nun-chuck for more focus on motion control and occasionally destroying televisions in hilarious ways.
-Classic controller pro for normal down to business gaming.
-The 3DS as controller sounds a bit impractical to say the least, not to mention pricey.

If they balance the 3 properly it could be very nice, though more challenging for game developers to functions in for all 3.
Sony will prob try to find something to copy again though, i don't really expect them to start a new innovation at all.

 

[Xiroh86]

I really think that the big thing is going to motion control moving closer and closer to the core gaming style. I hate motion control for my core gaming experience, but in terms of some of the smaller casual games it works. But really other than that I can't see any really major difference.

I can tell you what I don't want though:

I do not want the media format to go purely digital. Not only is it to early to really implement it, but its just a bad idea in general. How ever that is not what this thread is for so I'll save my rant.

I do not want to see any of the major three to announce that this is their last console. I think the competition is healthy (other than spawning fanboy/girls, but what can you do?).

I don't want to have to be connected to the internet to play my games (somewhere I heard a rumor about that for the Xbox 720, but I have no idea if its true)

I don't want to have to play nothing but new games. Yes I buy used, so shoot me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh and someone was wondering if anyone else was going jump into the console game, and, if I remember correctly, Apple was talking about taking another shot at a console. No major hopes there thought because from what I hear the PinPin (or whatever it was called) sucked.

 

[Tanis]

Higher video game prices (for no reason)...

A war on the used game market (which kills more than half my library because I'll NEVER pay full price for 'decent to mediocre' games like WarHammer 40k and most 'exclusives')....

Motion control, 3D, and other 'gimmicks'...

Consoles becoming more of a media center, than video game player...

Digital copies of games STILL being the same price as their physical counterparts...

And, of course, Madden/Petz/Dynasty Warrior and the lack of any worthwhile remakes of classic games...

 

[Yopaz]

Higher video game prices (for no reason)...

So the fact that games that take more coding and thus cost more to make is no reason why they have to charge more money? Do you also think there is no reason why half a chicken cost less than a whole chicken?

 

[Tanis]

Higher video game prices (for no reason)...

So the fact that games that take more coding and thus cost more to make is no reason why they have to charge more money? Do you also think there is no reason why half a chicken cost less than a whole chicken?

I'm sure SOME games do.

But, to use your food analogy, why would you pay the same for a hamburger from McDonald's (Madden) as you would a top sirloin (Heavy Rain) or a brisket (Valkyria Chronicles)?

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The same shit we had this generation minus consumer rights.

 

[FallenTraveler]

A tablet
A console using an outdated processor that can't play used games
And whatever Sony decides to bring to the table

Also undoubtedly tons of gimmicky motion control things

this is so depressing. But will be completely and totally true... Oh, and remember that the tablet will be completely obsolete in less than three years.

Man I hope sony can bring something to the table, but unfortunately I'm beginning to doubt them.

Edit: Now that I think about it though, our next real evolution will be the jump to cloud gaming/set-top box gaming. Luckily Sony will be able to produce those easily, as they're already in the market. Or we may make the switch to tablet gaming, where the tablet is both mobile and tv capable.

 

[CarlMin]

By the looks of it, the new generation of consoles will bring little to nothing to the table. What puzzles me is how, for example Xbox players, seems perfectly content knowing that they'll pay for an overpriced box being shipped with an outdated Radeon HD6670 (that would be the Xbox 720).

And yet, console players are still defending their consoles with religion conviction, and just pointing out an obvious difference in performance is often met with hatred. Like literally hatred.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I doubt it will bring anything new. Just nicer graphics. The rest depends on the companies, eg new Elder scrolls with have nicer graphics with a huge world. Next COD game will be a corridor shooter with nicer graphics.I do hope for an open world WW2 game, but i doubt it.

 

[Uriain]

Personally, I am also leaning towards the naysayer camp.

I see games as a whole either staying the same price or going up in price to "justify" the cost of making on a new console. The downside is that the quality isnt going to reflect these increased costs (baring a few high quality titles).

The "war on used games" is going to cripple one of the consoles (I am putting money on xbox) as many people use the used game market as entry into series and cannot always afford to purchase new.

I also see the push of "motion control" becoming a bit more rediculous, but ultimately taking a back seat, as they cannot seem to produce very many games which people actually want to play on the Kinect/move

 

[sooperman]

Personally, I'd just like to see a few more USB ports. The 360 had like 4 or something, but we need more. Get a keyboard and a charge cable in there and you can't get as many players.

They will bring the same thing every new generation has brought: Poorly optimized new graphics, and horrible launch titles.

Gameplay is going to take a backseat again once the new consoles launch while the programmers cream themselves over their new graphics engines.

Console game devs are PC gamers? *rimshot*

But that's usually the gist of new generations. Its always amusing to hear the master race crying over the consoles' inferior grafix holding the industry back. I mean, the US Air Force strung a bunch of PCs together when they wanted an on-the-cheap supercomputer, right?

 

[ZeroMachine]

Dude, we just got the 5th generation, why are you skipping...

... Wait, consoles? Oooh. My bad.

I don't know. Better graphics at first, along with the damaging graphics race renewal, hopefully followed by a golden age of amazing games once everything has fallen into place.

 

[Yopaz]

Higher video game prices (for no reason)...

So the fact that games that take more coding and thus cost more to make is no reason why they have to charge more money? Do you also think there is no reason why half a chicken cost less than a whole chicken?

I'm sure SOME games do.

But, to use your food analogy, why would you pay the same for a hamburger from McDonald's (Madden) as you would a top sirloin (Heavy Rain) or a brisket (Valkyria Chronicles)?

This is a flawed analogy as it costs less and takes less effort for McDonalds to make a hamburger, but making a Madden using improved graphics and physics engines is still expensive though the intellectual work put into it is far less. So there you have it. This is also the reason Wii games are (often) cheaper than PS3 and Xbox games. Since the Wii can't compete with Xbox 360 in graphics and processing power the console simply can't handle the top notch.

I am guessing you don't know very much about programming based on this analogy. Do you want to try again?

 

[RJ 17]

Special technology that allows the console to beam the game directly into your head, turning your eyeballs into the screen and your hands into the controllers. Gameplay so Immersive you forget the reality around you, becoming one with the system as you play Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 4, eventually merging with the console to form a half man, half X-box cyborg! You'll terrorize the world, shooting bright Green X-shaped lasers from the Home Button lodged in your Chest and -

*cough* sorry... I got off topic a little there.

Stole my joke you bastard!

As for my honest opinion. I dunno. I would say actual 3D games for 3D televisions. I've never seen one of these TV's but from everything I've heard about them they're just as big a BS gimmick as the motion controls for games, so it's likely that actual 3D games would just be a big flop of a gimmick as well. Other than just stuffing better hardware into consoles, I really don't see how you can improve upon them from what we've already got (HD graphics, fully scaled 3D worlds to play in, etc).

 

[Something Amyss]

A tablet
A console using an outdated processor that can't play used games
And whatever Sony decides to bring to the table

Also undoubtedly tons of gimmicky motion control things

Don't forget DRM. Lots and lots of DRM.

And probably spyware. I bet they'd love to watch you play.

 

[Something Amyss]

This is a flawed analogy as it costs less and takes less effort for McDonalds to make a hamburger, but making a Madden using improved graphics and physics engines is still expensive though the intellectual work put into it is far less. So there you have it. This is also the reason Wii games are (often) cheaper than PS3 and Xbox games. Since the Wii can't compete with Xbox 360 in graphics and processing power the console simply can't handle the top notch.

I am guessing you don't know very much about programming based on this analogy. Do you want to try again?

So PC games have less effort put into them? Good to know.