Xbox one in serious trouble!

[The White Hunter]

Gaming itself is going to be fine. Yes, there is a ceiling graphically that we're going to hit to make (while remaining cost effective that is) but I don't think that's going to be a problem. Hell, if anything, that's going to be a great thing since innovation through a slightly shinier engine will no longer cut it.

That said, I think consoles period are in trouble (and before the pitch forks come out, anyone here who has followed me at all (for some reason you strange strange person) that I am 100% console gamer). Sony/Nintendo are a bit less susceptible to what I'm about to say but they are not invincible to it either.

At this point, a console seems to be becoming much more PCified. As in, they are getting a lot of the negatives (like constant patches and updating being needed) with none of the positives (like much cheaper pricing and the ability to use whatever control system you want). Really, exclusives are the only thing keeping consoles off of life support (which is a HUGE positive to don't get me wrong; consoles are not going anywhere this generation at least).

I'm at my own crossroads with it where I want to continue with my console ways but I don't like the Xbox One (no thanks Kinect) and I don't like the PS4 controller. As I stated, I think they're all safe from elimination...this generation. In a decade? The console as we know it may be dead.

Consoles I think are in trouble. Gaming seems to have completely split in half. Those who like the casual scene go to mobile and tablet gaming those who are hardcore go to PC. Where does that leave consoles??

Consoles then are left for more "hardcore" players that simply don't have the means to build and maintain their PC. It's rather easy for some one like me to say well you can build a PC for only a hundred bucks more that will do the same job (it won't but hey), but some people simply don't have the time or income to do that and for them consoles are a great option.

I play on most platforms, including mobile since there are some great time wasting mobile games out there, as well as more complex experiences. PC is my main haunt for cheap games and multiplayer but console exclusives make them worthwhile to me, aswell as still being more living room friendly than my PC (my partner has to use it to and she's not as tech savvy as me so any issues become my problem swiftly).

I love games, and consoles asren't going anywhere, they're good entry machines for most people and The Escapist is far from the best place to see that they are still very popular devices, one must remember this is the birthplace of the PC master race.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

We've hit the graphical ceiling and generally every genre imaginable has been done in some way or another. Bringing something fresh and intersting to the table isn't exactly easy, when there's a good chance it'll blow up in your face.

 

[Evonisia]

The Xbox One is in a better position than the Xbox 360 was at it's time, and the 360 made one hell of a recovery. Also, graphics never really improve all that much at the beginning of a generation.

Compare Dead Rising, an Xbox 360 exclusive released in 2006,

Spoiler

With Resident Evil 4, a Gamecube exclusive eventually ported to the PlayStation 2 released in 2005.

Spoiler

 

[The Lunatic]

Give "Optimisation" keeps coming up.


Enjoy.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

So out for less than 6 months and it get a price drop of £125!! (Xbox one £425 no game then £349.99 plus a £50 game free in April) I'm not a fanboy but how can anyone with a straight face think that the xbone has a long term future.

But its more than that this gen has been without a doubt the most underwhelming of all time. Not one single game has shown a significant leap. And dont get me that crap about 'give this generation time to shine. Snes, Ps1 and PS2 all had early release games that showed that wow factor but not one single game on PS4, Xbox one or even the almighty PC has shown ANYTHING that has caused any jaws to drop.

So where do we go from here, I really don't know where gaming is gonna go do you guys? for the first time in gaming history I honestly believe we have hit the ceiling.

To compare video gaming in it's infancy and the purported "significant leaps" with the more incremental improvements today isn't very fair. Of course the switch from 8 bit to 16 bit to 32 bit to etc.etc.etc. seemed amazing, but just like any other progression technology limits what they are able to do. That doesn't mean however that companies shouldn't continue to step up their hardware and give developers new platforms to work with.

The bigger problem I think with this generation, is that the older generation is still very viable (which is probably because of the incremental nature of improvement over last generation) and supporting two consoles, as well as alluring enthusiasts to make the switch is difficult when the benefits are less obvious.

There will be a breakout again soon, don't worry.

 

[Casual Shinji]

But its more than that this gen has been without a doubt the most underwhelming of all time. Not one single game has shown a significant leap. And dont get me that crap about 'give this generation time to shine. Snes, Ps1 and PS2 all had early release games that showed that wow factor but not one single game on PS4, Xbox one or even the almighty PC has shown ANYTHING that has caused any jaws to drop.

How much more "real" do you expect games to look though?

Games had already reached that point more or less last generation. This gen is all going to be about frame rates, anti-aliasing, compression, lightning etc, because there's simply not much else to improve upon graphically.

The reason jaws aren't dropping, or dropping as much, is because they're already on the floor from last generation.

 

[masticina]

Never judge a console on its launch games.

I remember those lovely games out for the PS3 just at launch. Now look at lets say GTA V. I say GTA because due to its open world design its graphics are more limited then lets say a game with small boxed up areas. And yet look at it. look at GTA V in action compared to THIS: http://kotaku.com/the-ps3-had-12-games-at-launch-heres-what-they-looked-513396910

So never judge a console on its launch. Really the launch games we're allot like 480p games with slightly better lighting effects and shaders.

It can take two years for really big shifts to happen. Now to be fair due to the parts and part of the software of the xbox one being quite equal to a gaming pc system. This is good news for PC gamers. In part same with the PS4. At least the ports ought to be not as bad as some ports are now. I am looking at you GTA IV why do you run like crap on so many systems.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Never judge a console on its launch games.

I remember those lovely games out for the PS3 just at launch. Now look at lets say GTA V. I say GTA because due to its open world design its graphics are more limited then lets say a game with small boxed up areas. And yet look at it. look at GTA V in action compared to THIS: http://kotaku.com/the-ps3-had-12-games-at-launch-heres-what-they-looked-513396910

So never judge a console on its launch. Really the launch games we're allot like 480p games with slightly better lighting effects and shaders.

It can take two years for really big shifts to happen. Now to be fair due to the parts and part of the software of the xbox one being quite equal to a gaming pc system. This is good news for PC gamers. In part same with the PS4. At least the ports ought to be not as bad as some ports are now. I am looking at you GTA IV why do you run like crap on so many systems.

True but the reason that the games looked like that at launch back then is because the PS3 was frigin crazy in it's architecture so it was really odd to code for. It took time for the dev's to learn how to get the most out of the hardware. That's not the case with this gen, they (all then new consoles) are based on a PC architecture which dev's know how to code for. So we wont be seeing the huge leaps graphical fidelity that we got accustomed to last gen.

I'm sure the new consoles will continue to do well but I wouldn't bank on games looking much different from the launch titles for a long time if ever.

 

[masticina]

True but the reason that the games looked like that at launch back then is because the PS3 was frigin crazy in it's architecture so it was really odd to code for. It took time for the dev's to learn how to get the most out of the hardware. That's not the case with this gen, they (all then new consoles) are based on a PC architecture which dev's know how to code for. So we wont be seeing the huge leaps graphical fidelity that we got accustomed to last gen.

I'm sure the new consoles will continue to do well but I wouldn't bank on games looking much different from the launch titles for a long time if ever.

Mmm I do have to agree that yes the jump to at least better graphics already has happened much quicker then with the PS2>PS3 time. And yes that in part due to the PC friendly architecture.
I mean the result of Assasins Creed 4 with the newer hardware is quite much better then you could hope on the last generation. And that is so close to the launch.

Still I think that maybe it is true that we won't see that huge an improvement. BUT there still will be... It might just hit the bulge earlier.

 

[Monsterfurby]

The best time to be a console gamer was the PS1/PS2 / SNES/N64 generation. Not because of hardware or technology, but because the library of each system, i.e. each console AND PC, was unique. Cross-platform was just no thing at that point, and each platform had its unique pros and cons and its unique library. Today, how many system selling exclusives are there left? A dozen per generation? Half a dozen per platform over the entire lifetime? And I'm not just talking about games marketed as system sellers, but simply games that people would buy a certain console for.

Most of the time today I feel it's more of a matter of "well yeah, but I can get that on PC as well, no need to buy a 600$ console for it" or "well yeah, but that game is also going to come out on that other console I already have." There's just only so little variety left.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Graphics dont necesarily mean awesome requirements or even high costs
Here, a low budget PC exclusive from 2008:

Spoiler

That is a game with better AI then pretty much every other game ever made, with a very big world and is open world.

And all this for 3-4 Gb RAM (not 6, CoD Ghosts 2005 ), a low budget and a lot of vodka.
So i expect no less from giant developers with huge budgets.

I love the STALKER series, but those games aren't the best to bring up. For that quality of graphics at that budget, they mucked up a lot of coding. The Xray engine is notoriously buggy.

Shadow of Chernobyl is still very much buggy at it's latest patch. Clear Sky isn't a massive improvement graphically over SoC, just a lot more polished. Still very buggy.

The most polished and least buggiest is Call of Pripyat. But it's mostly the same game (same engine, same mechanics, with new assets and story) that they started way back in the early 2000's.

Pushing out a graphically impressive game DOES come at a cost, even if it isn't a cost on budget.

 

[Aeonknight]

Gaming itself is going to be fine. Yes, there is a ceiling graphically that we're going to hit to make (while remaining cost effective that is) but I don't think that's going to be a problem. Hell, if anything, that's going to be a great thing since innovation through a slightly shinier engine will no longer cut it.

That said, I think consoles period are in trouble (and before the pitch forks come out, anyone here who has followed me at all (for some reason you strange strange person) that I am 100% console gamer). Sony/Nintendo are a bit less susceptible to what I'm about to say but they are not invincible to it either.

At this point, a console seems to be becoming much more PCified. As in, they are getting a lot of the negatives (like constant patches and updating being needed) with none of the positives (like much cheaper pricing and the ability to use whatever control system you want). Really, exclusives are the only thing keeping consoles off of life support (which is a HUGE positive to don't get me wrong; consoles are not going anywhere this generation at least).

I'm at my own crossroads with it where I want to continue with my console ways but I don't like the Xbox One (no thanks Kinect) and I don't like the PS4 controller. As I stated, I think they're all safe from elimination...this generation. In a decade? The console as we know it may be dead.

Consoles I think are in trouble. Gaming seems to have completely split in half. Those who like the casual scene go to mobile and tablet gaming those who are hardcore go to PC. Where does that leave consoles??

The middle ground? There's enough gamers out there that splitting them into only 2 broad categories means nothing. And in the end it boils down to personal taste anyway. Consoles aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Lightknight]

People who compare generations to previous generations should remember those previous generations.

In any transition, most of the games in that earlier generation are going to be very similar to the predecessor for a number of reasons. The main one being that most of these games are just ports from the 7th generation consoles because that's still where the money is. The fact that Infamous Second Son has already sold over a million units with only 6-7 million viable consoles is remarkable.

But I disagree with you that there aren't games with significant leaps. There's just also the fact that the 7th generation has some truly impressive titles like The Last of Us, Uncharted 2-3, and Halo 4. You could argue that there isn't a HUGE difference between the games we've seen and the best games the 7th generation has to offer but overall it is significant. With techniques like bump mapping you can really show definition without actually requiring geometry in development. This all points to the notion that the 7th generation was the first time we really arrived at technology that could breach the uncanny valley and once that's been scaled there's not much more you can do. You can only get so close to "real" before you look real and there's no step beyond that.

The 7th generation also saw the consoles become a lot more like computers even though they were still proprietary enough to requires significant reworking to port. But this enabled companies like Bethesda to work for 5 years on games like Oblivion and still be able to port them over at the end because they were like computers.

I'd say that games like killzone and infamous second son had significant advantages. But because the graphics at the end of the 7th gen were so good we're never going to see HUGE leaps in graphics due to diminishing returns of polishing graphics. What I have seen is more dynamic environments and more asset tracking.

 

[wooty]

The new generation is hardly off the starting line and people are already saying its in trouble. Seriously, I thought this was all sorted out around November. An awful lot of people were saying "They're too expensive right now, I'll wait for a price drop" or "I think I'll wait until theres a few more games out for X system", so theres still plenty of time and interest floating about out there. It's like a league season, theres no clear winner within the first 3 games, only time gives a bigger picture of how things will turn out.

MS is probably only going through this because of the massive blunder that was their whole pre-launch marketing campaign and internet overhype of incidents. PS4 has been selling massively, but even as an owner, the games have been few and far between. Though I know it'll pick up within the next few months.

 

[Something Amyss]

So out for less than 6 months and it get a price drop of £125!! (Xbox one £425 no game then £349.99 plus a £50 game free in April)

Is this confirmed, or still a rumour? Because if we're going off rumours, the entirety of gaming is screwed 100% of the time.

I'm not a fanboy but how can anyone with a straight face think that the xbone has a long term future.

Ifthey make it more reasonably priced and people buy it and then buy games, which is sort of the whole intent, they could very well have a long term future.

Snes, Ps1 and PS2 all had early release games that showed that wow factor[/quote]

Name them and let's do a compare and contrast.

So where do we go from here, I really don't know where gaming is gonna go do you guys? for the first time in gaming history I honestly believe we have hit the ceiling.

And while we're waiting on those games, I'll just mention that people said we hit the ceiling in the last gen, and the one before it....

I had this exact fantasy as a kid. I bet those machines consume a lot of electricity though.

Well, if we're fantasising, we can get Mr. Fusion to run it.

Consoles I think are in trouble. Gaming seems to have completely split in half. Those who like the casual scene go to mobile and tablet gaming those who are hardcore go to PC. Where does that leave consoles??

Selling millions of units despite the Glorius PC Echo Chamber?

If you have ever bought gasoline, you may have noticed that it never goes down in price. No matter what the factor leading

Well, that's not true, but I'd be interested in seeing you try and actually prove it.

Enjoy.

Didn't they put a second processor in the Xbone, somewhat undercutting both the argument and the example of Ryse?

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

If the original Xbox wasn't in serious trouble, the Xbone is definitely not in serious trouble.

Consoles are for those that are either casually hardcore and/or hardcore in the casual department...

I'm a PC Technician and I don't want to waste the time finding fixes for PC games, you always run into some issue that takes you an hour of Googling to find some guy on some forum that found the fix for your issue. I spend more time actually playing games on console; I put the game in and it just works. For example, the first week Splinter Cell Blacklist was released, 90% of posts on the official forum were about the PC version not working whereas I played on PS3 with no issues.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Your title for this thread is extremely misleading, but I love how people think a price drop X number of months after a system's release means the 'system is in trouble.' People complain about expensive price points, but when said price point is reduced by any amount, those same people lose faith in the product. I've never understood it.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So out for less than 6 months and it get a price drop of £125!! (Xbox one £425 no game then £349.99 plus a £50 game free in April) I'm not a fanboy but how can anyone with a straight face think that the xbone has a long term future.

I think long term the Xbone has a better future than anyone is likely to admit to, it's just going to take some serious pain on Microsoft's part to get there.

Way back in 2006-7 the PS3 had a pretty disastrous first year too, between the price, the Mk1 Sixaxis controller and a lot of multi platforms working better on 360 thanks to CELL architecture every press release from Sony had the air of a man staring blankly into space repeating there is nothing wrong over and over. Price cuts and third parties steadily getting a handle on it got it back into shape (and ahead of the 360 on sales now).

This kind of price cut is just what Xbone needs, it has to be cheaper than the PS4 to be competitive. Once it is it has an advantage to Jor Average who buys Fifa and Cod, he only cares that it's cheaper and it works.

What's most important to Microsoft now is to get those boxes into people's living rooms, any damage from price cuts is short term and drives sales of games, which helps much more long term.

Captcha: change yourself, see, even the unfeeling machine agrees.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

For those saying that we've hit some sort of "graphical ceiling"...

Have you even seen a movie these past few years? CGI shows how far graphics can still go, we just need to make tech that can render that stuff in real time. We clearly haven't reached the ceiling, we've barely climbed out of the fucking basement.

This. And people seem to not know that there are huge differences but they are more subtle. We are approaching photo realism so despite there still being big leaps they wont be as noticeable as the 2d to 3d leap and so on not to mention it happens gradually.

 

[Jamash]

For those saying that we've hit some sort of "graphical ceiling"...

Have you even seen a movie these past few years? CGI shows how far graphics can still go, we just need to make tech that can render that stuff in real time. We clearly haven't reached the ceiling, we've barely climbed out of the fucking basement.

This. And people seem to not know that there are huge differences but they are more subtle. We are approaching photo realism so despite there still being big leaps they wont be as noticeable as the 2d to 3d leap and so on not to mention it happens gradually.

I can vouch for this.

I'm extemely impressed in the graphical leap from Forza 4 to Forza 5, but it's quite subtle and something you can't really notice on Youtube videos or in screenshots, but has to be witnessed first hand to really appreciate.

On the surface, the game looks very similar, because Forza 4 was already a great looking game and and Forza 5 continues that quality, but the subtle improvements to graphics which are actually a big leap are present, even if it's not very apparent at first glance.

One example is that now all the cars actually have windscreens, which reflect parts to the dashboard and light artefacts, another subtle change is that now tinted windows actually show the tint from inside the car, which is actually useless as it's distracting and obstructs your peripheral vision, but it's a graphical leap nonetheless.

The subtle graphical leap I've been most impressed with is the range of different textures and finishes you can paint your car in. Forza 4 just had normal gloss paint, gloss metallic paint and gloss two tone, but Forza 5 actually has a whole range of different finishes with their own textures that are rendered very realistically and look very impressive when you apply them to a car, then explore that 3D model with the camera and see all the subtle details in the the textures and see how each material behaves differently under the lights.

There's gloss, semi-gloss, matte paint, two-tone combinations in gloss, semi-gloss and matte, metal flake, polished carbon fiber and matte carbon fiber, polished or matte carbon-kevlar weave, aluminium, steel, brass and copper metal in polished, semi- polished and brushed metal effects, gold and chrome, wood grain and steel diamond plate, different camo patterns in polished and matte effect.

I expect that list of different finishes and textures is completely meaningless to most people and doesn't seem like anything special (and probably wouldn't even seem impressive on a video), but if you've got any idea of what those different materials look and behave like, and if you could see them being rendered photo-realistically in the game in 3D (rather than being flat textures that are 2D facsimiles of that material), then you would see that it is a subtle but progressive leap in the graphical prowess of the console, even if it it's only used for artistic purposes and has minimal impact on gameplay.