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Will There Be A Lot Of Day-One Adopters Next Generation?

Ben-Dutka 42 Comments

When I was a kid, I knew a lot of people who wanted to be day-one adopters whenever a new video game system came out. Parents kinda had the final say, of course.

Those same people did become day-one adopters when they got old enough to have a little spending money. They would buy any new game console that was made, without asking any questions. Price, games, controller, power (pretty much the only considerations in those days); none of that really mattered. If it was a new system, they wanted it and they were going to buy it.

I don't know about you, but it seems that philosophy is tough to find these days. And you can't argue cost because that's crap; consoles like the Atari Jaguar and Panasonic 3DO were insanely expensive back in the day, as were the games that went with them. Super Nintendo cartridges would often cost more than games cost now (which is why I don't want to hear any bitching and whining about the price today). And yet, those die-hard individuals would find a way to own the latest and greatest. Okay, if not the "greatest," at least the latest.

I'm just not sure there are that many gamers left who still embrace this admittedly blind philosophy. As in, "I'm buying it because it plays games and that's that." Maybe it's just because the consoles are so much more complex now; they're basically computers, and as a result, there's just a lot more to consider. There's also the rising average age of a gamer; when you're in your teens and 20s, you tend to spend your money like an idiot. I know people my age who would cringe if they were reminded of just how much they threw at their favorite hobby 10-15 years ago. So with fresh responsibilities and less time comes the inability and disinclination to pick up any new game system on day one.

I'm just wondering how many day-one adopters of next-gen hardware there will be…the way I'm picturing things right now, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony and Microsoft didn't even come close to hitting their projected initial sales numbers. Oh, and lastly, the other reason is that it seems that the gaming community has become awfully cheap over the past generation. Cheap and entitled and occasionally embarrassing. And that usually doesn't translate to increased big-ticket item sales.

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Will Next-Gen Hardware Be About More Than Better Graphics?

Ben-Dutka 64 Comments

With each successive generation down through gaming history, fans waited with bated breath to see one thing above all else: the fancy new graphics.

Sure, better hardware also meant we could take strides in other elements of video games as well but let's face it, the next stage of graphical realism was always expected. Nintendo bucked the trend during this generation by releasing a console that wasn't designed to wow people with shiny visuals, and it worked beautifully. Well, it worked until the lack of software and the wearing off the motion-sensing fad led to where it is now; i.e., on the downward slope.

The question is, will the next machines from Sony and Microsoft be about more than just another graphical leap? And I'm not talking about motion sensing or 3D or anything like that; I'm talking about hardware that is built to enhance both immersion and artistic expression. If games are going to become more like movies, we need the proper vehicle; we need to give developers the option to open up the imagination vault. We need to give them as few limitations as possible. We need to give them the opportunity to create a mind-blowing blend of Red Dead Redemption and Heavy Rain . Remember when I wrote about that ?

I really don't see the need to enhance the sharpness and clarity here and there, and make everything just a bit more impressive from a visual standpoint. I mean, I'm sure it's going to happen and we'll all appreciate it, but as gaming becomes more diverse and variously engaging in a multitude of ways, we need to embrace the entire concept of interactive entertainment, and this will require more than just pretty pictures.

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