Microsoft and Sony are a little over a month away from releasing their next generation consoles. For Microsoft, it’s been eight years since the Xbox 360 was released. For Sony, it’s been seven years since the PlayStation 3 was released. Both consoles are a bit past the usual time frame between console releases. Typically, there’s five to six years between generations. Since that’s the case, and we’re past the traditional transition window, why does it feel like we really don’t need the next generation just yet?
Games like the universally acclaimed The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5 show us that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are still graphical powerhouses. Both games have churned out graphics that are the best we’ve ever seen on a console. And while there is some limits on the Xbox 360 because it uses DVD, when you get a game looking like Grand Theft Auto 5 does, the Xbox 360 loading textures is a minor inconvenience. Granted, games at the end of a console’s life are always like night and day graphics wise when compared to launch games. At the same time, when the next generation is on the horizon, the launch games at the beginning of the ‘next’ generation are superior, graphically, to the games at the end of the current generation. I’m not really seeing that this time around.
Don’t get me wrong, games on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 do look better than the games on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but they’re not leaps and bounds like they have been in the past. Let’s take a look at Call of Duty: Ghosts: the game looks decent on the current generation consoles; the footage we’ve seen for the next-gen consoles is a bit underwhelming when looking for that graphical jump. What is the reason? Is it because of the hardware? Is it because the game is basically a port? It’s not only with Ghosts, either. This seems to be an across the board occurrence for most titles.
Games like Ryse and Infamous: Second Son definitely shine, and I would say Killer Instinct has graphical qualities that are not possible on current generation systems. The rest, not so much. Sure, the rest of the next gen titles look good, but are you telling me the graphics in Dead Rising 3 are truly next gen graphics? I don’t meant to single out Dead Rising 3 and Capcom’s accomplishments with the game. The features of Dead Rising 3 are truly next-gen; the scope of the game, seemingly never-ending world, uncountable zombies and the online implementation are what I would consider only possible on next-gen consoles.
I know, I know, it’s not all about the graphics. Is it about media options? I mean, what can’t the current consoles do that the next generation consoles can? I guess the multi-tasking features is one. What else? Uploading game clips to the web? That’s definitely something I’ll be using. Kinect has some cool new features that I will be using, such as the RF array and “always on” voice to control my living room. The PlayStation 4’s media features are pretty much on par with current gen. I’m still not seeing why we really need next-gen consoles right now.
Has this been a next-generation rat race of sorts? Did Sony and Microsoft both know they were gearing up for a new system launches, and now it is a matter of trying to beat each other out of the gate? To me, it seems that’s the case, at least partly. Both machines are great. Both machines are advancements from their current machines. We know it ultimately is a business decision that both next-gen consoles are launching this November. Sales are obviously slowing and the bottom line is what’s most important. I’m ok with the new machines and I’ll be picking up at least one of them. But there’s something about them that doesn’t have me as excited as I was when the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were nearing launch. I can’t put my finger on it. I just don’t know why I’m not as excited for this ‘next’ generation as I was for the last ‘next’ generation.
Shouldn’t I be more excited for the next-gen to start?
Games like the universally acclaimed The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5 show us that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are still graphical powerhouses. Both games have churned out graphics that are the best we’ve ever seen on a console. And while there is some limits on the Xbox 360 because it uses DVD, when you get a game looking like Grand Theft Auto 5 does, the Xbox 360 loading textures is a minor inconvenience. Granted, games at the end of a console’s life are always like night and day graphics wise when compared to launch games. At the same time, when the next generation is on the horizon, the launch games at the beginning of the ‘next’ generation are superior, graphically, to the games at the end of the current generation. I’m not really seeing that this time around.
Don’t get me wrong, games on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 do look better than the games on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but they’re not leaps and bounds like they have been in the past. Let’s take a look at Call of Duty: Ghosts: the game looks decent on the current generation consoles; the footage we’ve seen for the next-gen consoles is a bit underwhelming when looking for that graphical jump. What is the reason? Is it because of the hardware? Is it because the game is basically a port? It’s not only with Ghosts, either. This seems to be an across the board occurrence for most titles.
Games like Ryse and Infamous: Second Son definitely shine, and I would say Killer Instinct has graphical qualities that are not possible on current generation systems. The rest, not so much. Sure, the rest of the next gen titles look good, but are you telling me the graphics in Dead Rising 3 are truly next gen graphics? I don’t meant to single out Dead Rising 3 and Capcom’s accomplishments with the game. The features of Dead Rising 3 are truly next-gen; the scope of the game, seemingly never-ending world, uncountable zombies and the online implementation are what I would consider only possible on next-gen consoles.
I know, I know, it’s not all about the graphics. Is it about media options? I mean, what can’t the current consoles do that the next generation consoles can? I guess the multi-tasking features is one. What else? Uploading game clips to the web? That’s definitely something I’ll be using. Kinect has some cool new features that I will be using, such as the RF array and “always on” voice to control my living room. The PlayStation 4’s media features are pretty much on par with current gen. I’m still not seeing why we really need next-gen consoles right now.
Has this been a next-generation rat race of sorts? Did Sony and Microsoft both know they were gearing up for a new system launches, and now it is a matter of trying to beat each other out of the gate? To me, it seems that’s the case, at least partly. Both machines are great. Both machines are advancements from their current machines. We know it ultimately is a business decision that both next-gen consoles are launching this November. Sales are obviously slowing and the bottom line is what’s most important. I’m ok with the new machines and I’ll be picking up at least one of them. But there’s something about them that doesn’t have me as excited as I was when the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were nearing launch. I can’t put my finger on it. I just don’t know why I’m not as excited for this ‘next’ generation as I was for the last ‘next’ generation.
Shouldn’t I be more excited for the next-gen to start?
