The Lure Of The New Console Is Losing Its…Allure

Ben, this is a difficult one. I know how you feel, and I am sure many in this community may feel similarly… what is there to look forward to?

The big question is, do high-definition visuals solely determine whether or not a "next generation" is really that, a true "next generation"?

Why do I say this? I say this because we agree that primarily it is about the games one plays; the deep story driven game play elements that make so many games memorable today, the intense music and atmosphere that this current generation of game developers have brought to life. One can't deny, that the current crop of Sony exclusives have done really well in using the PS3 platform to full use; it is not like we are actually missing anything. One just needs good games to drive the platform and keep it relevant.

So what about the "next generation"? Well if we discount the fact that "next generation" does not necessarily mean a better game, if we agree that next generation means a doubling or tripling of power purely for visual and physic advancements then it does beg the question, that maybe yes, new "generation" of hardware is needed to up the fidelity of video games – it doesn't mean though that better games would follow.

Next generation hardware would allow gamers to experience games in a new and different way with higher visual fidelity – enhance the overall experience. One of the benchmarks that is always mentioned is native 1080p gaming at 60fps; and, more recently, 1080p gaming at 60fps in 3D stereoscopic. I guess we all yearn for that true "HD" experience now, however it does not mean we need new hardware and it does not mean we will get better games.

So i would say, for gamers who want the higher visual fidelity with real-time tessellation, the opportunity to use 3D head mounted head tracking equipment, 1080p visuals for both eyes (3D) and uncompressed HD textured models and environments – a new generation of hardware is most definitely required… and I honestly think Sony will not disappoint in this area!

The question must still be answered though, does new hardware necessarily define the "next generation" in gaming?

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

Last edited by Qubex on 1/12/2012 9:57:35 PM

best article describing my feeling.

"Maybe it's age. Maybe it's a shifting industry. Maybe it's my belief that the PlayStation 3 could last me until 2020 and I'd probably be fine with that….." 1000% agree.

like i also said earlier, until the blu-ray phased out and Ultra HD TV comes into consumer market, I do not see a reason for me to get PS4, because every generation console upgrade, that also means significant media and visual upgrade — ps1, ps2, ps3 = CD to DVD to Blu Ray. so PS4 better get something new or I am not getting it.

Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 1/12/2012 9:54:51 PM

I have to disagree. Once the new consoles are officially flaunted upon the mainstream, people will change their minds. There are a few shortcomings on the PS3 that just boggle my mind. It's mostly graphical (believe it or not) and they play such a small role in my expectations for gaming, but I can be a bit of a tech snob.

Besides, maybe a super console will make S-E consider incorperating legit towns into their RPGs! I kid… I think I saw a town in the XIII-2 demo's gaming previews they incorperated at the end.

Regardless, the PS3 is just the beginning of this generation. FPS began the itch for graphical enhancements, this generation raised the bar in realism and I believe there isn't a single developer capable of utilizing any of this generation's consoles to truly leave us breathless.

Do I believe in any of the above? Meh. Not really. I do believe it IS the trend, but I would much rather have PSone graphics and better RPGs and stories than better graphics.

… And Nintendo is dead in my heart as well. They need to bring back the NES name and create another SNES-type system. I'm not 10 years old and don't care for bobble heads for virtual bowling or whatever. Dud. Dead. Lame. I will always measure up what Nintendo tries to sell me to their glory years and can't help but feel like they're in for one hell of a losing battle.

don't take offence Ben but you are not dreaming high enough man. I don't want to come off as a PC elitist because trust me I am playstation fan pure blood, but i constantly compared ps3 games to my PC games and there is room for improvement. This year Uncharted, infamous and killzone are the games that I think really pushed even further the graphical progress of the ps3 and because of it these games are beautiful but at the same time they are testament to the limitations the machine has. They have increased lighting and polygon count, but man games can go way way further and not necessarily in graphics. AI, true real world physics, huge world maps, and motion sensing are just some of the few things that i can think of right now, but there are tons.

Image a game like skyrim that when you play in first person view you fight like you would in skyrim, but you can also seamlessly zoom out the camera and control your army of 30,000 soldiers. Your army in divided by platoons and directed by your captains who you communicate with voice recognition. all of this with the graphics of Avatar.

Imagine super AR 3d glass that work together with Haptic sensor gloves covered with LEDs. When you use these glasses with your gloves you see a sword, a rifle, or a bow on your own hands. You aim with your virtual weapon that tracks position of the target in real space; hence real world aiming.

all of these requires insane computing power that only machines specially designed to these kinda of things will be able to do.

sorry Ben I wanted to help you dream again man. I am nearing my 30's and I am more excited about gaming now than when I was in my teens because now I really believe that there is nothing that we can't come close to when we combine are imagination and technology. Its cheesy i know but i really believe it. I am a futuristic, even when I have perfection in my hands I can't stop thinking how it can be better, but not because I think is bad.

I appreciate the effort. 🙂

But I'm sorry, I've sort of moved beyond technical refinement and a few extra pixels. All of what you describe does sound wicked cool…but perhaps it's for younger people. I really want advances in story, dialogue, character development, and general immersion. Not so much from a technical standpoint, though.

The future to me is about more than technology. It HAS to be…or I'm gonna be depressed until I die. 😉 Again, though, I appreciate the effort.

Ben,

Processing power will allow better AI, animation, and physics, which are absolutely necessary for greater immersion. Advances like branching story and dialogue paths also require more advanced technology (BD storage space, RAM, etc.). Even better graphics allow for more immersive experiences, since there are fewer reminders that it's a game.

In short, I think there's reason to be excited for the next generation. I know I am.

😀

I can't say I agree. The best way I can explain it is like this. I've had a car for 5 years now and drive said car every day for about 3 hours a day. After five years of use my car is still good but they new cars driving around you look better, perform better, and best of all they aren't five years old. Yes I'm talking about a car but this easily applies to the PS3. I'm anxious to see the next gen, so be it Sony or The Box I'm jumping aboard.

I'm anxious to see what the future if gaming will be. A lot of things have changed in five years, the PS3 may or may not be ready to hand over the reins to a new console, but I think it's time. Given a choice between my five year old PS3, and a brand new PS4…….give me that PS4.

Oh see, the car thing is different. 🙂

since you used cars….. whats a 69 camaro SS to the 2012 camaro SS?

Hum… It's hard to get psyched over something that doesn't exist at this point.

Wait until they actually announce a next gen system, and THEN you'll see the hype growing.

Its because when ps3 was announced you could get next gen graphics, but only with a $2000+ pc. And the jump from ps2 to next gen grphic wise was astronomical. Now if they were to announce ps4 for next year, there wouldnt be much of a difference graphic wise, judging from the latest tech demos. I mean sure graphics can be better but not much, right now the best looking game available is bf3. The difference between pc and ps3 is not to far off, and if the only thing that a new system can promis us is that little bit than they should wait for the next big.leap in tech

Like some others said, wait till Sony announces their next console. People will shed blood while awaiting cold nights outside Wal-Mart while fighting each other who are trying to get in first, just to buy Sonys new machine. Then and ONLY then will you get that unique feeling of yours you get on certain occasions.

There is no doubt in my mind that Sony will not release a new console because they will. I just don't believe that they will release a new on this year or the next, simply because a new handheld of theirs is about to be released to the public. I don't believe Sony willcrelease two new machines in under 2 years. Maybe after the PS Vita has had a healthy life of two years.

It's possible Sony might announce a new console at E3, but is it likely? Their PS Vita will be out 10 months and people think they will announce a new console? It's just not likely. Hearing a new console Sony will release in the near future will re-direct peoples minds in to what they are thinking of purchasing, meaning people will want Sonys new console instead and save money for it.

Only time will tell. I myself am tired of this generation and want a new one soon. I want to be playing a GTA where no matter where I'm in the city, the other side of the city is completely active and alive. Better AI, graphics, etc… Sony is more than capable of achieving such a thing! Im definetely up for the next gen, maybe some people aren't but I am. They can play their last gen consoles, I have no problem but don't ruin it for everyone just because you ain't reazzdy.

Last edited by Killa Tequilla on 1/12/2012 11:18:12 PM

I remember when the small OLED was talked about and (I think 10")they said the price for the was $3000 or something like that. Funny if you play MGS4 and look at the screen for the Mk. II it says OLED on it.

There is an official Sony store in the city where i live and about three years ago I went in to check some TV's because i was in the market for one. There was a 10 or 11 inch OLED surrounded by big LCDs and plasmas, but that OLED shined next to all of those TV's. The pictures and the color is so beautiful that made the other tv's look like wallpaper in comparison. Mind you this about 10 yards away… a 10 inch screen beats the crap out of 40's and 50's inch tv's. The OlED is the prime reason I am getting a vita, so I can watch netflix on the beautiful screen :D.

Yeah I'm not too psyched either, its really just a nuisance that forces me to spend more money. I think it's just that I'm old, I hate birthdays and other milestones too. Hard to get excited but maybe when the graphics are showcased I will be more thrilled.

In the past it was always about "What can Final Fantasy do with THIS generation of consoles?" And that question has quickly become irrelevant.

I don't know how I feel entirely. I do want new technology because I believe firmly that greater technology begets greater experiences. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. While I think there's more the devs can do with the hardware we have now, it's apparant that's it's coming from optimizations and tinkering with game engine improvements over any generational leaps in design due to power on order of 20x, or more. For some time now we've read about how the PS3 has been "maxed," as in initializing all SPU's for tasks, but over the last couple years we've seen optimization of that power is where the rest of it's potential is found. I look at 2011 of gaming, and whether it be multi-plats or exclusives, 360 and PS3 alike have shown great strides in design afluency. Games never looked better than 2011. It's nice. It makes me wonder how many more years can be as significant on the current hardware.

But one thing I don't like, and it's for certain, is all of the rumor crap flying around. Especially the doom and gloom of the consoles, or even traditional handhelds. The notion of Cloud gaming replacing traditional hardware chipset design etc etc. Then there's the whole Apple thing. I like Apple products. I do. But I don't think I want their universe of product offerings colliding with the gamer market. It just doesn't look appealing to me as of yet.
Anyway, I'm sick of the bullcrap and rumors. I want to see the cards laid out on the table. Nintendo has played most of their hand. I like what they're showing more than the standard Wii, but now I want to see MS play their's.

Last edited by Temjin001 on 1/13/2012 12:19:06 AM

I just can t see the next generataion to be much different then what we have now . The only thing i can see can really better is how they implement 3d and motion sensing in games . The trouble with that is that i don t care about neither of those things .

If they can impress me with the AI and character animation then i ll be interested in the next generation .

Something like when you shoot/hit someone he can react in 100 different ways depending on where you hit him ( something that would resemble re4-5 or dead space but with way more possible outcomes ).

Anyway , like gungrave said , the ps3 still got life in it and i m not rdy for the ps4 just yet .

Last edited by berserk on 1/13/2012 5:22:51 AM

It's funny, only just recently have we seen the difference between PC and console games, mostly due to Battlefield 3, but most games look and play the same on both console and PC, just PC being a slightly higher res or slightly faster framerate.

Honestly, I'm happy with my PS3, but I can defintely see some things that both 360 and PS3 could do to make each other better.

First, MS could take a note out of Sony's book and integrate Blu-ray and a bigger and better processor with more SPU's for developers to toy around with. But MS are being stubborn, which I guarentee will eventually be their downfall.

Secondly, Sony could take a note from MS. Party chat and shared CPU and GPU RAM usage. That's really about it. Those are really the only 2 things that the 360 did better than the PS3… wait, triggers, yep…. triggers work better for shooters than the L2 and R2 triggers, but for everything else, PS3 controller rocks.

As for next gen, I'm kind of intrigued and interested in seeing what they show, but I feel like, in terms of graphical presentation, we're about to hit it's peak and I'm not as excited to see the next big leap in graphics.

We've got 1080p HD resolutions, can't really go higher without going bigger, like an $80,000 108" TV with double the res of 1080p (can't be bothered doing the maths now)

Uncharted 3 looks incredible already, and Battlefield 3 still looks great on consoles, even if the PC version looks far far better.

Here's what I want out of the PS4…

– Backwards compatibility with PS3
– 4x or 8x Blu-ray disc reading speed for faster loading times
– quad layered blu-ray discs for 100GB of insane gaming
– 8 core processor with 16 SPU's (although keeping the current 8 SPU's would still be more than enough for next gen while keeping prices down)
– 1 GB of CPU RAM and 1GB of GPU RAM, maybe an extra 512 MB of dedicated system RAM for running multi-tasking actions like party chat, music, video streaming and gaming at the same time.
– Keep the PS3 and Move controllers, but have a new 3D dual-lens camera like Kinect for 3D pictures and video capture, and even Kinect-like motion games. Dance Central and fitness games are far better on Kinect than Move or the Wii-remote.

– Integrate PS Vita and SOny tablet touch screen capabilities to mimic the Wii U controller or another PS3 controller for gaming. The hardware is there, I just hope Sony can find a way to use it in unique and stunning ways.

The PS3 was so far ahead of its time, it really only needs a few minor upgrades, and VOILA!!! PS4!!!

Seems like everyone is a journalist here!

The installs are to speed up load times and assist other aspects, like streaming, not storage constraints. Blu-Ray, even single layer discs, aren't even being fully used for the vast majority of games and most games that use two layers and a lot of space are doing so because of per-rendered cut scenes and multiple audio options.

50GB would be waaaay more than enough space next generation too.

My thoughts exactly Pontiac!

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

I'm still getting the "wow" factor from a lot of the games I'm buying for PS3. I don't believe it's anywhere near its peak yet, so there really isn't any need to push on to another piece of $400 hardware for my living room.

Graphics have always been the driving force in the past. You'd say things like "how cool would it be to be able to see their eyes move?" or "wouldn't it be awesome if games looked just like a movie?". Games are getting so close to photorealism now that I think we're all pretty satisfied. As processing power grows and we can do more within the game's engine a new console will come along to do innovative things for us. As for now, I'm pretty damned happy with the PS3.

Sidenote: The 360 has peaked. M$ will make something new soon, but Sony won't need to push hardware to keep up.

To echo MaxPontiac, as long as the current PS3 does everything I need, I have no reason beyond technical curiosity to look for a new system. PS3 is already HD, BluRay, online, streams, downloads, does 3D and motion sensing, voice control, etc.

Unless someone can correct me, there are no upcoming shifts in living room technology that will take the market beyond 1080p (especially as broadcasters are only now reaching that standard). So we're looking at a device that will do everything the PS3 does, but in 1080p60. Sounds like evolution, not revolution.

But, as jaded as we have all become it's difficult to get as excited over an evolutionary upgrade as we would over a revolutionary one. PS3 brought online gaming as standard, HD visuals, BluRay, PSN, Home and all the online services we have now. PS3 compared to PS2 is a massive upgrade in every way. You really can't say that about what a PS4 would be.

1080 resolution progressive scan at 60 full frames a second. It's beautiful to look at and silky smooth.

i know where you coming from ben. we seen great releases this gen & with the ps3 its still some room for more masterpieces. we can see with PS3 X360 & WII & also PS2 these are the introduction of being immersed in a virtual world.

when i picked up on gaming i loved the fact the object in my hand allowed interaction. now its a gradual shift we going from controlling to being the controller & i dont want that at all.

i upgraded my PS3, put the YLOD 60g out & bought a 320g slim in that came with move & sports champion. i used the move several times & enjoyed but it dont make me say this is amazing. i watched kinect in person & i said to myself naw…. im kool, did this already on eyetoe. maybe im not seeing games yet that utilize these devices strongly & i feel like if im doing all this moving just go outside.