New Console Generation Brings Fear

[Harker067]

Honestly I care less about the power of the consoles chips and more about the quality of their games. The one doesn't really lead to the other.

They do, unless you want more buggy games. While from a consumer standpoint you shouldn't care about what its made of as long as its doing its job to satisfaction, but it is easier to design for more open ended tech.

I guess a classic way of showing that you do need a newer generation is how much space the gun takes up in a FPS like Call of Duty. If you notice, its about 20 or 40 percent of the bottom right or left corners of the screen. Their not just doing that because it looks good, their doing it so they don't have to render whats underneath the gun on screen. It also might be the reason the knife is a button, and not a weapon that you can equip. I'd also like to point out that it is locked, on both the PC and Console at thirty frames per second, which is lower then a more acceptable sixty frames per second. I think without this trick it would be hurting to go over ten frames a second.

The Xbox 360 is so old now that it chugs when ever you play anything new on it. Holding back a generation of consoles can hurt the developers programming and making the game more then it will hurt your bottom line.
[/quote]

And you're probably talking to the wrong person entirely or if nothing less at a cross point. I'm actually a big fan of a number of notoriously buggy games (Vampire the masquerade bloodlines for example). The issue with frame rate 60 vs 30 is to me not a big point. To be honest I'm not a graphics junkie I don't care too much about how the game looks.

The increasing expense of making games with more realistic graphics is a bigger worry to me.
My concerns about the next console generation has more to do with the increased cost of making games hampering creativity and leading to a more play it safe market.

 

[Axyun]

I'll wait for the slimmer, quieter and functionaly neutered version of the next-gen consoles before I even bother looking at what's out.

Dreamcast was the last console I bothered buying at/close to release. Got a PS2 after it was dead and bought my first 360 a few months ago. I'll buy a PS3 for Valkyria Chronicles and one or two more titles a few years from now when the console sells for or under $100.

 

[blackrave]

Man, it seems kindergarten allowed access to internet

Sega is better
No, Nintendo is better
No, Sega
No, Nintendo
You smell like poop
[punch]
I'll tell my mom
etc.

C'mon guys (and some girls I presume) are you adults, or what?
Every platform have it's advantages and disadvantages
Consoles have advantage of being simple, you put disc in and play (after some forced updates), while on the downside it gives worse performance
PC have advantage of giving better performance, while being more complex and expensive (at least in the very beginning of console life cycle, now it isn't exactly true)

Keyboard/mouse vs. controller is argument of tastes and preferences
Yes, I myself prefer keyboard/mouse combo for gaming, but controller is better for some games
Just play last level of Psychonauts (Meat Circus) with keyboard and mouse (It was hard)
Later I replayed it with controller and it was almost cakewalk (I disagree with Mrs. Arendt- this level is ok, it simply tests all your skills that you acquired through the game)

As for new console cycle, it's about time
Old hardware of consoles (tiny RAM especially) is the main reason, why cities are enclosed in TES4 and TES5 (and it pisses me off, as I am long time TES fan)
Also, console without bluray reader is total BS (X360 I'm looking at you )

 

[Strazdas]

The indie scene on PC is flourishing, let the consoles burn for all I care. Then all those delicious exclusives can be enjoyed by a greater audience and won't be held back by archaic hardware.

Take consolles out of the equation and a lot of the games you enjoy simply wouldnt get made.

Do you have any evidence to back up your point?

Um, how about the fact that gaming PCs are STILL more expensive than consoles, and people are more willing to buy a dedicated game player than they are a computer. A LOT of people are put off trying to play games with a keyboard, and since any controllers are necessarily third-party, people have to put in twice as much effort to get one that works. It's also easier for developers to build to standardized technical schematics, rather than having to guess what the best average of current computing hardware amongst the masses, which is why MANY console games dont make it onto PC...

To sum up, you're an idiot.

gaming PC with the same processing power than, say, eggsbox, is infact cheaper. what we call "gaming pc" now is much more powerful, therefore it is logical that it is more expensive.
the fact that people want to buy a plug-to-tv console more than a computer is either a lack of knowledge or mental problems.
keyboard and mouse are far superior than any controller ever made. if you plug controller into PC your doing it backwards. infact people plug mouses into PS3s now. Too bad they only work in menus. OFC it is easier for developers to build on a standardized 7 year old system. that means they can just do 1/6th of the job and then claim the console cant run the rest (cough, dust514, cough). The hardware on PC is standartized enough. They seem to have no problem making cheap ports so it cant be that hard.
as for the buyers perspective, local shops always offer ready-to-work computer models that may not be 100% optimal, can be just brought home, plugged in and your ready to go.
to sum it up, well, you read your own.

 

[LGC Pominator]

You know, I don't really want to get into this whole argument, because I think that the thread has become completely derailed, but before I comment about the actual ARTICLE I just want to throw this out there:

I have a lot of fun playing Halo, Fable, Skyrim etc on my XBox 360, I also have fun on Mount and Blade: Warband and Realm of the mad god when I'm on my PC.
I personally prefer playing on my xbox because I have more fun on there playing with my friends, it is a more social experience, a part of gaming that the PC crowd doesn't seem to partake in as much.

If anyone doubts me on whether I am just a sour "console scrub" (as I have been repeatedly called whenever I try to enjoy a game of TF2) just check my profile here, I have my steam and XBL playercards listed, I have spent many hours playing on both platforms, I just have more fun on the Xbox, and there is nothing wrong with that.

On topic.

I don't think we should be really worried about the new generations, quite frankly M$ and Sony have done more than enough this gen to canonise them as good service providers who know what they are doing when they are making hardware, the Xbox live service can only improve, and anything that allows it to do that I will be happy with.

Better graphics are, of course, always a plus, I cannot wait to see what fancy next gen tech looks like, as the opportunity to play Halo 5 with even H'er D's is something that sounds amazing to me.

With regards to the indie marketplace, as some have already pointed out, some games are simply not available on live or the PSN yet, and those that are may not have sold at the rate of AAA titles, but who is really expecting them to? (with the obvious exception of the likes of Virgillio Armarndio)
I am not surprised that the sales on the PC outstrip LIVE/PSN sales, because the crowd of gamers is completely different on consoles to PC, but arty types who own consoles ARE STILL provided for on consoles, it would be far simpler for M$/Sony to have saved development costs on a digital distribution platform for indie games (and not even bother developing their own indie game development software let us not forget!) and instead funneled that money into... I dunno MOAR AAA GAMES.

I think it seems to be all or nothing with both the "All games MUST be art crowd" and the "PC is the ONLY way to play games!" crowd, the fact that a platform is there for younger indie dev's to produce and, in some cases, flourish on the live marketplace is more than enough for me, look at Ska studios, developer of "the dishwasher" and "the dishwasher: vampire smile", two very simple, very FUN games that were one of the early success stories of the Xbox live indie games development platform, that success would not have happened if these programs were not made available and M$ did not go into the effort to pimp it on their platform as much as they did.

Simply put, people should be having fun, if they are not, then they are doing this whole "gaming" thing wrong. That is why Braid didn't sell as well on live as it did to the PC crowd, people who pay for games on live, pay for a fun experience, Braid was not close to that, the sort of people who would pay money for an experience like Braid, who would rather saw off their nether regions and cauterise the wound with an overheated motherboard chip, primarily populate steam, and by extenion the escapist

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

The indie scene on PC is flourishing, let the consoles burn for all I care. Then all those delicious exclusives can be enjoyed by a greater audience and won't be held back by archaic hardware.

Take consolles out of the equation and a lot of the games you enjoy simply wouldnt get made.

Do you have any evidence to back up your point?

Um, how about the fact that gaming PCs are STILL more expensive than consoles, and people are more willing to buy a dedicated game player than they are a computer. A LOT of people are put off trying to play games with a keyboard, and since any controllers are necessarily third-party, people have to put in twice as much effort to get one that works. It's also easier for developers to build to standardized technical schematics, rather than having to guess what the best average of current computing hardware amongst the masses, which is why MANY console games dont make it onto PC...

To sum up, you're an idiot.

gaming PC with the same processing power than, say, eggsbox, is infact cheaper. what we call "gaming pc" now is much more powerful, therefore it is logical that it is more expensive.
the fact that people want to buy a plug-to-tv console more than a computer is either a lack of knowledge or mental problems.
keyboard and mouse are far superior than any controller ever made. if you plug controller into PC your doing it backwards. infact people plug mouses into PS3s now. Too bad they only work in menus. OFC it is easier for developers to build on a standardized 7 year old system. that means they can just do 1/6th of the job and then claim the console cant run the rest (cough, dust514, cough). The hardware on PC is standartized enough. They seem to have no problem making cheap ports so it cant be that hard.
as for the buyers perspective, local shops always offer ready-to-work computer models that may not be 100% optimal, can be just brought home, plugged in and your ready to go.
to sum it up, well, you read your own.

Go away and start a little commune with treblaine. I've just stopped caring

 

[Chemical Alia]

As an artist, I can't wait to start developing for new hardware.

 

[Kroxile]

May the weak perish swiftly.
http://www.dabok.nl/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/wii_1.jpg

Lol, complain all you want, but the Wii won this generation's console war by a long shot.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see just how outdated the new consoles are at release and seeing the next mark at which the industry will be stifled at for the next decade.