Poll: Who really wants a new console?

[ShotgunZombie]

As I read more and more of this thread I've come to realize something. The ones who want a new generation are the PC gamers and the ones who don't are the console gamers. I think that statement speaks for itself. It's rather arrogant to ask for a product that you're not going to spend money on yourself. But perhaps I'm being harsh and over-simplifying things. If I am then I apologize but I personally don't see the need for new consoles. An argument I keep seeing being made over and over again on this thread is that this console generation has passed its prime and is dragging down the technology with it, and perhaps that is true but is that really such a big deal? I mean, big complex games have been made before and personally I don't see the production of these games slowing down at all. After all just look at some of this year's biggest games; Max Payne 3, Bioshock Infinite, Twisted Metal, Mass Effect 3 among others. They all look stunning and if the gameplay videos can be trusted then the gameplay is just as awe inspiring. And do you know what? They are all just fine on this generation. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to impede progress but maybe we should wait for everybody to be on the same page before we plunge into the next generation, eh?

I think your missing the point about exclusives. I made a point to mention Dark souls earlier which you can not get on PC without pirating a copy. Now I really like Dark souls, for me its a really fun game with a really tough but fair difficulty curve that goes back to the old days of gaming where every insect, person, and blade of grass was trying to kill you. However I can not play it on my PC without doing something illegal even though it is easily the superior machine. So I play it on my XBOX, meaning Im still using the XBOX as a product I purchased and does not live up to my personal needs of a gaming machine.

As a consumer I have the right to speak up and say this console isnt meeting my needs anymore because it doesnt have the processing power to run the game at its peak. It gets worse in even more intense games like battlefield 3 where split second decisions and reactions are required but the console limitations impede my experience (and I play Battlefield 3 on XBOX as well because I refuse to install origin on my PC). There are some tricks to increase processing power like narrowing Field of View but for some player (myself included) narrow FoV can lead to physical illness. This is why I cant play MW3 at all, its narrow FoV makes me feel sick after about five minutes

People can feel free to disagree with me but the argument I make is far more complex then "Im a PC gamer". The short of it is, as a consumer who owns these machines I continue to find them lacking for the exclusives that I have bought and want to play.

Well I'm certainly not going to argue that split second decisions can make or break games like Battlefield 3 or MW3 but there is something that bothers me about your response. This is something that has always bugged me about anyone who is a seasoned gamer, they always talk about how tough games used to be and about how much skill was required to beat them which is another thing I'm not going to argue against. However I highly doubt that the games of yore ran at 60 FPS using Direct X 11 or whatever. So what's that compared against Dark Souls or anything from the current console gen? It just confuses me how many gamers condemn the consoles for not being up to par with the horsepower of modern PCs as well as for not being enough like older games that they have far surpassed in terms of technology.

As I read more and more of this thread I've come to realize something. The ones who want a new generation are the PC gamers and the ones who don't are the console gamers. I think that statement speaks for itself. It's rather arrogant to ask for a product that you're not going to spend money on yourself.

Arrogant, maybe. But look at what you just wrote.
You want everyone else, console and PC gamers alike, to play on obsolete hardware or gaming technology just because YOU don't want to upgrade.
I call that Selfish.

Well perhaps my reasons are a tad selfish, I'm not perfect, but at no point did I explicitly state that I wanted everyone to play in the way I dictate like some maniacal overlord. I just simply stated that from my point of view I don't particularly see the need for a new console generation.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

The 360 and PS3 are so far behind technologically that it's holding back advances in development.

Seriously, the 360 GPU is less powerful than what's in a lot of cell phones these days. It's quite pitiful.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

Hey microsoft and sony read my lips "I'm happy" I'm happy with the systems the games. I dont want a new $400 $800 system and even if they did make one, the games launching for it wouldnt a big impact on me

 

[Erttheking]

I would have to see the details of the new system before I could give an answer, but I would have to say that I would more likely than not enjoy it.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I don't really care at this point. As soon as I go away to uni I'm switching to PC rather than consoles, it'll just be more practical. That said, a new console generation would help a lot for bridging the gap between PC and console performance. The new generation may be more motion sensor orientated but that doesn't have to be a bad thing, it would only be bad if they solely relied on it.

Let them do it.

 

[Chainsaws_of_War_2]

As a recently turned PC gamer, a new console would mean ports that would now take advantage of newer hardware. I'm sick of seeing beautiful PC titles and really mediocre console ports...

 

[brainslurper]

Why wouldn't you? As long as they have something to add (better lighting, all surface reflection, non rigid models) then I see no reason NOT to want it.

 

[The_Waspman]

Why wouldn't the xbox support blu-ray? Don't give an answer like "Sony is involved with bluray and they'll say no".

MS most likely will use bluray in their next system.

I wouldn't have given that answer specifically, but if the next gen consoles are going to be a significant step up from current ones then even blurays aren't going to be able to hold enough data.

Then again, we could just screw the fancy graphics and motion capture and go back to games all being FMV *shudders*

 

[Supernova1138]

And no, there's nothing else but graphics which we need from the next gen. What else would be there? Even this gen consoles have too much power for everything except graphics. It's not used anyway (look at the shitty AI in pretty much all games).

The only reason why I'd accept the need for a new console generation is, because this gen is quite broken, especially the low amount of RAM in both systems. But the devs have ways to work around it now, so no problem there.

Let's leave supercomputers to scientists. Games won't be able to use that power unless we invent holodecks first.

The devs work around the RAM restrictions by either restricting the size and complexity of the game world, or restricting the game to a very linear path, closed off path. Games can always use more processing power, especially with the restrictions the current consoles have. The limitations of the current consoles mean that no developer will push their games past what the XBox 360 now. Developing for PC only is seen as unprofitable. An upgrade is really needed, a stagnant game industry hobbled by the limitations of 7 year old hardware is not going to last forever. The fact that every developer has to cut every corner possible and spend huge amounts of time optimizing code just to get a game that can barely maintain 30FPS at sub HD resolutions speaks volumes.

This generation has been the longest since the days of the Atari 2600, and that includes a 2 year gap with no console at all thanks to the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. At this rate the current generation will exceed that length, including that 2 year gap. It really has been long enough, this isn't like Apple rolling out a new iThingy every year, rendering the old one instantly obsolete. That is a true case of crack being cheaper, if you need a decade long gap to be able to afford a new console, gaming may be a little bit outside your budget. There is no rule saying you have to buy the new console when it launches, really by the time the new ones come out and get a decent game library, the XBox 360 will probably be 9 or 10 years old. For a game console that is an excellent run.

 

[The_Waspman]

Blu-ray has plenty of space.

Dual layer ones use 50GB and most games hit 20GB max (Rage), hell LA Noire is 3 discs on Xbox but is 13GB on PC. The PS2 games that "fill up" bluray in have in reality about 9GB of game data and 20-30GB of uncompressed audio and video.

Seeing as you can get bluray discs over 100GB there is no reason to think they won't use it unless they do a Nintendo and go for a proprietary disc.

Ok, I accept your point. The new X-Box at least will need to upgrade at least from DVD size discs. Also, would it be so hard to get rid of the cheap plastic disc tray? The Wii and PS3 both just have disc slots and I'll be honest, I was surprised the 360S didn't have one when it was redisgned.

Getting back on point though, wouldn't you consider development time an issue? That's what concerns me. Unless there is some major overhaul as to how the whole industy works, then 4-5 years for a game is just too long...

 

[KelsieKatt]

Hopefully next gen consoles will actually use 1080p as the mandatory resolution for games. Unlike this generation where 90% of games on 360 and PS3 are only 720p and in the case of Xbox 360 simply upscaled so they can slap a number on a box. And some are even lower resolution.

 

[octafish]

As an exclusively PC player, I would love to see a new console generation. Maybe next gen ports would be less shoddy.

 

[TotalerKrieger]

Like most PC gamers, I hope they release a new console generation as soon as possible. Too many mult-platform games have muddy textures, make no use of DX11, 32-bit OS limitations, etc.

I imagine many devs are currently forced to keep the size of their projects down to a minimum so it can fit on 1-2 DVDs, who knows what design ideas have been cut do to the medium limitations (I suppose they shrug and say "oh well we'll just re-package this as overpriced DLC.")