Ben-DutkaThroughout this generation, you hear the constant complaints: "I haven't seen anything yet that looks 'next-gen' to me."
Obviously, the definition of "next-gen" changes drastically from one person to the next. Some say it has more to do with gameplay innovations than graphical upgrades, while others say they'll simply "know it when they see it." I guess I fall into the latter category; I think I'll know the next step in this industry when I see it. Honestly, I'm not sure I've seen it in the PlayStation 4/Xbox One era yet.
But for almost a year now, I've been looking at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with the belief that CD Projekt Red will produce the first true "next-gen" adventure. As we draw closer to the launch – May 19, if you've been living under a rock on Mars – RPG lovers everywhere are starting to salivate. However, I think that this game, even if it doesn't appeal to you, will be an indication of the future. Based on everything we're seeing and hearing, it seems like the developers have simply achieved on a higher plane. The size and scope of the game is only part of it; it's also the meticulous attention to detail that will make this a very special experience.
My only problem with it is that it might be too big…too overwhelming and too intimidating to those of us who have limited spare time. It would really suck to finally see the first title you'd officially call "next-gen" and just not have the time for it. But at least it proves that hardcore gaming is still a big deal in an increasingly mobile-dominated industry. 😉
No, this is current gen. The Witcher 3 will be the same as it will be on PC, which of course has no generation boundaries.
Pretty insulting for everything that's released so far.You also said the same thing for a couple of earlier games like Infamous,unity,gta5,inquisition and will be saying the same thing for the rest of the year.
Yeah, don't tell me what I did and didn't say. I never did anything of the kind.
Actually Ben, I do believe you did say something about Unity being next-gen, with all the pedestrians and stuff that could not be done on the PS3.
I'm really not worried about the fabled Next Gen experience that some gamers fantasize about. It'll will come in due time, as for now Bloodborne will do just fine. I don't need the Witcher to define this generation I simply want it to be a great game and experience.
I'm putting 50 bucks on there being people saying they still haven't seen anything that feels like "next gen" until the next gen. At which point they'll just repeat the process until we're able to hook up matrix/sao style (and some will probably keep saying it even then).
I thought inFAMOUS was already "Next-Gen".
Not to me it wasn't.
Next gen begin when gta 6 come out…
I'd say The Order was next gen graphically, it's just that the overall game wasn't a AAA title.
I think this next gen topic is kind of non-sense. The fact that most big budget games are bigger, more robust, more refined and all together better looking proves that we've crossed that bridge already. It may not be the leap everyone wanted or thought we would get but I'll be the first to say I'll never go back to my PS3 again.
I put in Borderlands 2 to cross save my stuff to the handsome collection and it is so clunky compared to the PS4 version. The new consoles are just better and the games are proof of that even if some are just remasters. The experience is far more enjoyable. That's next gen enough for this guy.
The next-gen began for me, and I'm sure for many others a while ago.
Games like Infamous SS, AC Unity, Drive Club, Order 1886, and Bloodborne come to mind.
All next-gen and all impossible on the last gen.
Games like the new Mortal Kombat, Batman and MGSV will just drive that point home even further.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 4/4/2015 11:54:19 AM
Yep for me also,next gen are games not possible on the old gen.
And you mentioned MGSV,but isn't that game a cross gen game?
Yea MGS5 is cross gen. Arkham Knight is real next gen.
MGSV will feel plenty next-gen to me even if it's by virtue of it's graphics and sound and smoothness qualities. This is the thing. Not every genre needs to be re-invented for the sake of finding a way to put 5-10x more hardware to use.
No, I think by and large we're well past the days where creative vision is suppressed by significant technical limitations. The PS3 and 360 made a ton possible for devs, where ambition and the desire to do something extraordinary became the biggest obstacle as we progressed through the gen.
Right now we have hardware that can make visuals and audio feel so rich that the immersion factor has never been greater. I can play Drive Club knowing that I'm still racing an arcade racer that could likely have been made for PSX or PS2. Yet it's the visuals and sound and refinements to physics processing that sets it miles apart. It doesn't need to be open world. It doesn't need to be all these different things for the sake of lots of processing.
This idea that graphics and sound can't be thought of as something significant enough for 'next-gen' praise to me is pretty much exactly why Order 1886 got nailed so hard.
Here we have an experience that simply could not have felt as rich and theatrical had it been constrained to older hardware, even though the 'gameplay was just last-gen rubbish'
I honestly believe we're so far advanced in processing that limitations now have more to do with our interface and mode of communication between the game world and ours.
Devs have all they need to make heavy, long lasting experiences with the hardware they have. It wouldn't have mattered if TLoU was made exactly as it was on PS4 had it never released on PS3, sporting the usual graphical upgrades, and it would've been praised as some sort of 'next-gen' marvel.
Yet here we had this game that came very late in the PS3's life cycle on well tapped hardware and it turned the game world upside down for a small amount of time.
This is all the evidence I need to know that the proof of the concept and it's implementation is king and no longer the hardware.
Sure, lots of memory and processing makes the devs life easier for production but for us gamers they still have to make the experiences worth playing.
Is Infamous Second Son really worth a play through? I tried the First Light DLC but found it incredibly boring and littered with tedious fetch quests (no
pun intended).
Last edited by Squirreleatsman on 4/4/2015 2:53:28 PM
AC Unity felt like a next gen game for me despite of its bugs and glitches. I think the difference between last gen consoles and this gen is not that big, so most probably the quality of the games that we are getting now are still the ones that we will be getting for the rest of this gen, or probably slightly better.
Real next gen lands May 29th.
=P
I think that the first game that will literally blow us away this gen will be the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight followed by MGSV. ^_^
Bloodborne is about as next gen as I expect from a game. It's next gen to me if I'm persuaded to buy the new console for a game. The ps4 was unique in this case since I bought it knowing that I wouldn't get the best games right off the bat. However, I'd I didn't own it yet, Bloodborne would've been the reason I'd cave in and get it.
Maybe I'll buy another ps4 just to prove I'm not kidding. Aahahaha, I kid (about that).
maybe but thats a seriously good question ben to ask and maybe it will really start with the witcher 3 maybe it will
happy gaming