The next gen is likely gen:monkey's paw

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'm looking forward to the Xbox 720.... So my ported-to-PC games are less cut down

Heheh, that's the same reason I'm looking forward to the new console generation.

But then I remember that the rumours of the next gen's power are not that encouraging.

And that most 'new' AAA titles look pretty but are as substantial as wet paper.

 

[Lunar Templar]

the OP makes me giggle a bit.

I mean he makes a few good points, but claiming Nintendo will fail cause they have the 'weakest machine'? um ... you have heard of the Wii right? That things was kicking all the ass open for kicking, until they decided to stop supporting it with good games (like the ones people had to start a petition/movement to get).

but here are my thoughts on the next gen

Nintendo: Will probably do just fine, no 'break out success' but truck along and and do as they have always done with a few improvements here and there in area's that need it.

Sony: Not sure, they can really go ether way here, equal parts good and bad if you will, though, for me, leaning toward bad, but will need to wait and see really

Microsoft: LOL, they really don't want gamers money anymore do they? Cause they seem rather bound and determined to drive off the people that made them 'a thing' to begin with

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, I'm not buying any of them. And I would recommend that no one else buy them either, at least not Sony or Microsoft's anyway. We've got to stop putting up with this bullshit.

Uh... what bullshit?

The anti-used game measures and other consumer unfriendly practices.

Regarding anti-used game measures, you must really hate all PC multiplayer games that have come out in the last decade or so, what with "one CD key per copy" and all? And pay-to-play MMOs are right out, since the only way to play them is to pay the standard subscription fee, right? Never mind digital copies of games, which don't even give you a physical copy of the game you could trade. How's that Steam boycott coming along?

Would you care to specify some other consumer unfriendly practices that we as consumers are entitled to have subverted for us?

You know what, I'm not going to discuss this with you if you're going to be that way.

Be what way? All I did was demonstrate that anti-used game measures have completely pervaded the video game industry for close to twenty years. This isn't some new evil scheme that EA, Sony, and Activision concocted in a dark room away from prying eyes. We've been OK with it for years, and suddenly we're not OK with it?

No, anti-piracy measures have been prevalent for the past 20 years. The anti-used game thing is a relatively recent phenomenon. CD keys and what not were intended to prevent piracy, not people buying used. Not that they did a good job at preventing either.

 

[pure.Wasted]

No, I'm not buying any of them. And I would recommend that no one else buy them either, at least not Sony or Microsoft's anyway. We've got to stop putting up with this bullshit.

Uh... what bullshit?

The anti-used game measures and other consumer unfriendly practices.

Regarding anti-used game measures, you must really hate all PC multiplayer games that have come out in the last decade or so, what with "one CD key per copy" and all? And pay-to-play MMOs are right out, since the only way to play them is to pay the standard subscription fee, right? Never mind digital copies of games, which don't even give you a physical copy of the game you could trade. How's that Steam boycott coming along?

Would you care to specify some other consumer unfriendly practices that we as consumers are entitled to have subverted for us?

You know what, I'm not going to discuss this with you if you're going to be that way.

Be what way? All I did was demonstrate that anti-used game measures have completely pervaded the video game industry for close to twenty years. This isn't some new evil scheme that EA, Sony, and Activision concocted in a dark room away from prying eyes. We've been OK with it for years, and suddenly we're not OK with it?

No, anti-piracy measures have been prevalent for the past 20 years. The anti-used game thing is a relatively recent phenomenon. CD keys and what not were intended to prevent piracy, not people buying used. Not that they did a good job at preventing either.

What does it matter the intent if the result is the same? I borrow Diablo 2 from a friend, I can't play it online. What's it to me if that's because of anti-piracy or anti-used game? I borrow StarCraft 2 from a friend, I can't play it period. What's it to me why I can't play it? Buying these games "used" for multiplayer purposes isn't an option to begin with. Again, never mind all p2p MMORPGs ever conceived, never mind every single game purchased digitally over Steam (which everyone here raves about).

I'm not against consumer rights by any means. What I'm against is a particular sense of consumer entitlement that's sweeping across the internet. Right now there's a thread on the front page of this forum decrying the existence of downloadable skins for Dead Space 2. Dead Space 2. Not "day 1 DLC of a plot-centric character that was possibly cut from the game itself" ME3, not "buy good gear for PVP with real money" D3 RMAH, which are both actually defensible, freaking DS2. You don't think things are getting a little excessive?

PC games have been going digital for years, but if consoles want to do it, it's "bullshit"? Um, right.

 

[Nazulu]

But I can still appreciate the hypocrisy of the masses raving about Steam sales and then cussing out Activision in the same breath. You can't have it both ways.

I don't know, consoles are quite different. I can't get as solid connection on a console like I do on my computer so I really liked hiring games to see if they were worth it.

Also, consoles are usually set up for a couple of people to play around a TV, and sometimes you need a quick multiplayer game for party's or what ever, and I won't be able to do that any more if I have to pay in full for it all.

And as for Steam, they allow me to download the games on any machine I wish.

Other games have CD keys that stick you to one machine, or just prevent some people who just download it. I never liked it but not all PC games have it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, I'm not buying any of them. And I would recommend that no one else buy them either, at least not Sony or Microsoft's anyway. We've got to stop putting up with this bullshit.

Uh... what bullshit?

The anti-used game measures and other consumer unfriendly practices.

Regarding anti-used game measures, you must really hate all PC multiplayer games that have come out in the last decade or so, what with "one CD key per copy" and all? And pay-to-play MMOs are right out, since the only way to play them is to pay the standard subscription fee, right? Never mind digital copies of games, which don't even give you a physical copy of the game you could trade. How's that Steam boycott coming along?

Would you care to specify some other consumer unfriendly practices that we as consumers are entitled to have subverted for us?

You know what, I'm not going to discuss this with you if you're going to be that way.

Be what way? All I did was demonstrate that anti-used game measures have completely pervaded the video game industry for close to twenty years. This isn't some new evil scheme that EA, Sony, and Activision concocted in a dark room away from prying eyes. We've been OK with it for years, and suddenly we're not OK with it?

No, anti-piracy measures have been prevalent for the past 20 years. The anti-used game thing is a relatively recent phenomenon. CD keys and what not were intended to prevent piracy, not people buying used. Not that they did a good job at preventing either.

What does it matter the intent if the result is the same? I borrow Diablo 2 from a friend, I can't play it online. What's it to me if that's because of anti-piracy or anti-used game? I borrow StarCraft 2 from a friend, I can't play it period. What's it to me why I can't play it? Buying these games "used" for multiplayer purposes isn't an option to begin with. Again, never mind all p2p MMORPGs ever conceived, never mind every single game purchased digitally over Steam (which everyone here raves about).

I'm not against consumer rights by any means. What I'm against is a particular sense of consumer entitlement that's sweeping across the internet. Right now there's a thread on the front page of this forum decrying the existence of downloadable skins for Dead Space 2. Dead Space 2. Not "day 1 DLC of a plot-centric character that was possibly cut from the game itself" ME3, not "buy good gear for PVP with real money" D3 RMAH, which are both actually defensible, freaking DS2. You don't think things are getting a little excessive?

PC games have been going digital for years, but if consoles want to do it, it's "bullshit"? Um, right.

You're right used games haven't exactly been an option for PC games for a good decade now if not longer. And I will agree that consumer entitlement and gamer entitlement in particular is more than a little insane, and truth be told I don't even care about used games I don't even like buying games used anyway. However I am dead set against the overcorporatization of this industry and I'm against companies taking their consumers for granted and treating them like shit. It's the principle of the thing.

 

[PinkiePyro]

sony and microsoft have been jerks recently with the stuff like threating no used games and such

the wiiU is looking pretty good

I actually have one and I have to say its not perfect but the wiiu is pretty cool

serously check out zombiu its pretty awesome shame there are not a lot of good games yet but I would say overall the system has potental

 

[Lilani]

Games look great on it, but we all know they won't look amazing in a year or two. That's the wiiU's failing

So? The games on the Wii weren't graphically impressive the day they came out, but the Wii has still sold more units than the PS3 or the 360, by about 30 million each[footnote]The Wii has sold almost 100 million units, while the PS3 has sold 77 million and the 360 70 million.[/footnote]. Also, the DS and 3DS don't have nearly the graphical capabilities of the PSP or PS Vita and have outsold it by untold margins. Graphical capability is in no way an indicator of a console's success. In fact, going by graphical capabilities alone, this last generation has been unanimously won by the least graphically capable consoles. You could not be more wrong in this statement if you tried.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

The Wii U is a guaranteed buy me for somewhere down the line, I'll probably get it when the 3D mario and Bayonetta 2 are both released. As for the other two I'll have to wait and see what each brings to the table before I make a decision. But I am leaning towards the PS4 at the moment.

 

[William Dickbringer]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

oh get off your high horse people like you is the reason why no one likes pc gamers

and emulators have allowed me to just rip my older PS2/Gamecube games to my hard drive and play them in upscaled 1080p. (it's fucking gorgeous by the way)

you know I have to try some emulating I enjoy previous generations a little more and seeing as majority of games this generation is majority multiplatform not really missing much

 

[tippy2k2]

Better plan.

Step 1: Continue using a PC that is far to superior to any console that will be released in the next 5 years.
Step 2: Take advantage of discounts, indie games that aren't available on consoles, mods, etc.
Step 3: Play online games because PC gamers don't ditch a game after 2 months.
Step 4: Victory conditions met.

Well thank God a PC gamer came along and told me what I should do. I can't wait to start playing God of War, The Last of Us, Killzone, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Halo 4, inFamous, Journey, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid, Persona, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, and Valkyria Chronicles on my brand new gaming PC!

Well, once I figure out how to fix that "This video card does not support this game" when I boot up STALKER even though this video card has worked plenty of times before.

Well...even then I have to figure out why I can't get my 360 controller to connect correctly to the PC. The system is seeing it so I'm not sure what the problem is...

But once I get all those technical issues fixed, I will have loads of fun playing all those games!

Do PC Gamers who waltz into threads about consoles to bash console users not realize what jackasses they sound like? You know how ridiculous it would look if someone made a thread about Batman and I waltzed in to tell them how stupid it is to like Batman and that they should like Superman instead?

 

[Mikejames]

Not saying that no backwards compatibility is good. Before the current generation you could still do that too. And all these gimmicks that they add need to disappear too. The bloated budgets is a problem the companies created themselves since indie devs can make AAA-looking games as well with only 1/10 of the budget.

Yeah.. Maybe some of my problem are stemming more from possible emphasis of unwanted changes and add-ons over some of the features and accessibility I've grown accustomed to. Bit of a downer realizing that the industry's set up in a way that potential for AAA games are really being weighed down as well.

 

[Terramax]

I've still yet to buy a PS3. So if the PS4 is not backwards compatible, I'll be spending my time and money playing catchup with the last generation. I'm more of a retrogamer anyway, so there's not likely to be much any 3 of the consoles will offer me.

 

[Elijin]

Hey, I have an idea!

Why dont we save up all our rampart hate for the practices we're speculating will come about, until we actually know anything about them for certain?

Because so far everything is speculation. I mean hell, at least wait to see if they actually include these features before you hate on Microsoft and Sony.


And in answer to the question:

I have no idea what choice I will make, since the data is all rumour and speculation. My decisions will be made once there is a real product hitting the shelves, that I can make an informed decision on.

 

[Windcaler]

Im primarily a PC gamer and looking back on this console generation and the exclusives Ive bought I can not say I think it was money well spent. That said, I dont think I will be purchasing the next generation unless there are a large variety of games I want to play that only show up on consoles or specific consoles. Like right now the only game for the WiiU which Im remotely interested in is the newest monster hunter one but I can not justify buying a console for one game

The issue is compounded when I hear about anti-consumer practices and the desire to put them in place. Things like always online really dont sit well with me. Even windows 8 has left me somewhat worried for the industry's future. The best way to counter this is IMO to just not buy their products and be clear about that. I have about 3 bookshelves of games from the past 30 years so its not like I have a shortage of games (although I understand others arent in my position).

As far as current consoles and being done with them, yeah Im done with them. Ive bought very few consoles exclusive games and because of that I can not say that the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 were worthy purchases. Especially not when my $1500 PC runs things much better and can make many games richer through mods

For me the biggest problem of this coming generation is going to be the one were having right now. Consoles just need more processing power and because they dont have it to many games that show up on multiple platforms are being downscaled for sake of the consoles and in return were going to continue to get crap ports and broken UI's. I really wish there was a company that made just PC games and really pushed the envelope to show people the potential of gaming when you make things for a state of the art system and not a system thats 7 years old

 

[Treblaine]

Games look great on it, but we all know they won't look amazing in a year or two. That's the wiiU's failing

Well if you're really concerned about processing power, you should buy a PC now and forget about the nextbox/PS4. Neither of those consoles will be better than the PC.

But being serious,

Sorry, but that comes across as if it's a joke or totally non-serious the prospect of considering PC.

Don't you consider how much of a jerk you come across to PC gamer with that? Console gamers are far more sensitive and defensive of such slights.

I think graphical power is becoming less important the more of it we have. A Commodore 64 cannot handle an FPS, not even Doom, so you can clearly see why people might prefer a 486 (which can, at least, run Doom). That 486 cannot handle anything resembling COD, so you can see why people might prefer a PS3/360 which can. But what are future generations going to do that we cannot do already? I can't really think of anything other than various ways to make games prettier.

Graphical fidelity is lower down on the list of importance with PC gaming not because it's trivial but because there are so many more important factors. Like controls, customisation, moddability, framerate, pixel precision, community and

One thing that's clear with graphical technology is we are simultaneously getting diminishing returns in hardware yet finding it harder and harder to leap the uncanny valley. We still have not moved much beyond Half Life 2's facial animation largely due to a lack of interest in that kind of solution.

I can think of a few ways that a controller with a touch screen might improve gameplay. It effectively gives you a lot more buttons than a standard controller, so you could revive the space sim genre, which needs lots of special functions. Inventory systems can be streamlined. Aiming with a motion sensitive controller is nice and precise (the 3DS version of Ocarina of Time lets you do this).

I disagree on the grounds that a button is very VERY different from a touch-screen. A Touchscreen you need to look at to distinguish what part is a separate button. A button has and advantage where you can gently rest a finger on top, finding position and just when you need to, press the button and press it rapidly if needed.

Using a touchscreen as buttons is a TERRIBLE design solution, it's NOT good using parts as buttons.

Touchscreens are worth it when they are used to their unique strengths, such as the ability to detect a finger point or points moved OVER it rather than pressing down on particular points. Gestures on a touchpad would be far more useful. So you don't have to touch a particular part but anywhere on it, drag down for one menu, then left or right for another option. Pinch to zoom, rotate, scroll, and so on.

Ergonomics of human interfaces too often are treated as ancillary and trivial, when really they can make of break a game.

 

[Treblaine]

Well thank God a PC gamer came along and told me what I should do.

Makes a change from the depressingly usual attitude seen on these forums of console gamers constantly acting like console is the only option to consider...

Well, once I figure out how to fix that "This video card does not support this game"

You do realise that's like putting a PS3 game disc in a PS2 and pouting about why it doesn't work? Even though "it worked for my other PS2 games". Double standards... double standards everywhere!

Do PC Gamers who waltz into threads about consoles

No, this is a gaming discussion board.

If you want a dedicated "Console Only Gaming Discussion (no stinking PCs allowed)" forum category, then you can petition the Escapist staff to create such an arbitrary segregated enclave, but till then any gaming discussion is just as valid to include PC gaming.

 

[LordFish]

I'm looking forward to the Xbox 720.... So my ported-to-PC games are less cut down

Heheh, that's the same reason I'm looking forward to the new console generation.

But then I remember that the rumours of the next gen's power are not that encouraging.

And that most 'new' AAA titles look pretty but are as substantial as wet paper.

The likes of Far Cry 3 and Dishonored recently have restored my faith in AAA games - and the PC ports worked well. When I know the price of a PS4 I'm gonna see how kick-ass I could build a gaming rig for that budget. I'd be more than willing to offer PC specing and building tips to the escapist but I suspect very few people would take notice.

Also, I DO have a console, I'll often fire it up if I've borrowed a game from a friend.

 

[UberNoodle]

COnsole gaming lost me years ago. I sold my consoles and almost two thousand dollar investment and built a gaming PC which has lasted very admirably since. I'd had enough of the region locking, language omissions and general unpredictability of console gaming.

I had moved from Australia to Japan and there was nothing in Japan in English (I am talking about Western published titles, and note that EA strip languages out of many of their PC games too). Half the games for import were region or language locked, and the rest which were region free were 25/75 service locked or open.

I couldn't use local point cards and subscriptions because my account was Australian. I wasn't allowed to change my region. Eventually, I found that more and more DLC was being IP or language blocked even for region free or multi-region games.

While PC does suffer from some of these problems, I have not yet had a problem which I couldn't solve with an email. Steam were nice enough to allow me to purchase from the Australian storefront even though I am in Japan where most Japan published PC games are not available on Steam.

So, though I may buy a WiiU in the future for nothing less than Zelda and Metroid, it will probably be the last console I ever own.







And in regard to a post above alluding to PCs always having problems -- I can't say that that has been my experience in PC gaming. I have had some issues, for example Rage and some DRM in connection with Origin was all messed up and needed some commands in DOS. Yet, 90% of the time, games have all run perfectly and as expected. At least with PC, these problems are almost always software or driver derived and can be solved without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[Treblaine]

I can't wait to start playing God of War, The Last of Us, Killzone, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Halo 4, inFamous, Journey, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid, Persona, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, and Valkyria Chronicles on my brand new gaming PC!

Wait, you are comparing PC to no less than TWO DIFFERENT consoles?!?!

So buy and invest in TWO different consoles before considering installing any PC game?!?! Really three consoles considering Uncharted and Resistance series appear on PSV.

Who says the next Metal Gear Solid won't be coming to PC? It doesn't have any exclusive publishing arrangement like there was for MGS4.

What's PC got:
-World Of Tanks (Valkyria Chronicles fans will miss this)
-League of Legends
-Dota 2
-Team Fortress 2
-Hawken
-Planetside 2
-Blacklight Retribution
-0x10c
-Minecraft
-Amnesia series, Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs
-DayZ
-Company of Heroes 2

It's not like this is a one-way-street, that considering PC gaming you only lose Console exclusives and are no better off.

The console exclusives have become fewer and further between in recent years. There were at least 6 major PS3 exclusives in 2011, not as many in 2012 or prospectively for 2013.

I am a PC gamer but I still have a PS3, I keep it for the exclusives and don't see that as any obligation to buy the rest of my games on PS3.