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What game consoles are next?

854 views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  drakonolus 
#1 ·
What game consoles do you think will come to be well after this console generation? (currently XBox One, PS4, S7800b etc.)
 
#3 ·
I think Nintendo will keep being Nintendo, their online service might finally come full circle and they'll get on board with systems that work well. They might always be a step behind technically in the power department, but when they make the right moves to make games like Bayonetta 2 happen, Nintendo will continue to chug along alright.

For Sony and Microsoft it's probably going to be more of the same. Closer adaptation of a pc like system, lower power draw and if they've done their architecture right, backwards compatibility. The biggest flaw that came from the PS3 is that they weren't able to add backwards compatibility across all their consoles. We've seen with Steam/GoG/GreenManGaming (and others) that older titles have an opportunity to sell well if that content is available. Since the lack of backwards compatibility leaves a big hole in your consoles library, its easy to go a year or two where gamers are clamoring for software, but don't have enough to buy.

By making that system where older titles can be bought and used easily without having to re-do the game from scratch, they'll strengthen their platform and brand drastically. Of course, that's easy to say. I'm not a software engineer and not a CEO. Just a jackass with a keyboard.

One thing they are going to have to take care with is storage. So far one of the biggest cock ups of this generation has been massive sizes in game files, in some cases them not being necessary. There's word that with the new AssCreed Unity, that half of the games size is a result of the lighting models being baked into the game.

That's a f*****g lot of lighting.

Ideally they'll work on getting their game sizes back down to something more sensible. Reduce the horrendous pre-rendered cutscenes that look like hot garbage and leave less of an impact on peoples download quota each month.
 
#4 ·
I think the focus will be on various gaming services that might or might not be available on multiple platforms. Perhaps there will be streaming of games, but I also think there will still be powerful hardware, and don't count out physical media just yet.

Nintendo and Apple (Gamecenter) will probably keep everything locked in with their own hardware. Furthermore, gaming never seems to be Apple's primary focus. Nintendo might switch their focus entirely to portables, or perhaps their next big hardware reveal will be a device for use both on the go and on a big screen.

Microsoft is already looking into making the XBox brand/service available across multiple devices.

Sony is a questionmark. Occasionally they partner with others but I could imagine that PlayStation as a service remains exclusive to Sony hardware. Possibly there will be multiple "PlayStation enabled" devices in the future. Their efforts to do that so far have been lackluster, though.

Google Play (games) might go multi-platform like XBox. However, Google, like Apple, does not have it as a primary focus, unlike MS' Xbox brand.

Valve's Steam and EA's Origin are already moving beyond just Windows.

Quite possibly some of them (or the services) might not survive, or become insignificant. Some of them will be available on multiple platforms, and some platforms will host multiple services.
 
#5 ·
@snickothemule but do we want game sizes down, or storage space up?

My serious opinion, is that Microsoft and Sony will continue their pissing match in the forefront for money and power and performance , while Nintendo will be in the background concentrating more on what I consider as fun. Those Nintendo IPs can get me to buy any Nintendo console. Any. To me, Pikmin > Call of Duty
 
#6 ·
I'd say game sizes down, primarily as a result of the world's overall internet structure. There are places that have the infrastructure to facilitate high bandwith and download quota, but there is a percentage of potential buyers that don't have access to those facilities. For them, a 30+gb download is going to impact on weather or not they feasibly get the game.

Higher storage capacity is always great, but getting the content delivered I believe to be more important.
 
#7 ·
Smaller game size reduces the cost of delivering digital games and increases the amount of games you can store on your console.
If games take 50gb of space on your HDD, and your console only has 400gb of free space once you take into account all the default apps installed on it + OS... It doesn't give you much space left to buy new digital games.
I'm not buying any digital game on the Wii U because of the 32gb drive. I'll be using it for demos. Maybe one or two indie games if they strike my fancy.

Of course, you can replace your drive. It's always a possibility. But it's an additional cost added on top of the purchase of the console.
Ain't the most fun thing in the world to spend 300-500 bucks on a console and then have to buy a new drive so you can then spend more money buying digital games.

Probably the easiest way to reduce game size: developers need to fuck right off with the 30 videos. Not only because it takes a shitload of space, but also because I'm incredibly tired of my game being interrupted by cinematics. I just want to play the game, get your movie out of it. "Wow, I wonder what's on the other side of that door! Aaaannnndd it's a cinematic."
The second way is to give us the option to choose which language we wants to download instead of automatically giving us 12 of them.

Smaller download, less space on the HDD, less time spent waiting for the game to DL/Install. Win-win.
 
#10 ·
I doubt this gen is going to last as long as the last one. The technical specs are underwhelming and many games barely manage to run at 900/30fps.
Ofc graphics aren't everything and Nintendo is always there to remind of us of that. But PC has already 4K res monitors and the gap is widening.

Games are getting ridicoulsly huge as well like mentionned already but the good part about it, is that they won't be able to ditch physical drives and force overpriced digital games on us (yet). At least I'm not willing to go for a full digital release console anywhere in the next 10+ years.

I don't really know either what else they can come up with though except enhanced resolutions. Motion controllers, 3D, all these things have pretty much died out on their own. I guess, I just want Nintendo to release a "Gamecube 2" with good old regular Gamecube pads =__=
 
#11 ·
To me at my humble opinion, it will be the time for PC, and for the worst; the mobiles and tablets kind of gaming stuff.
Now the people of today wants freedom on what to play, and to do everything without restrictions of any kind, and cheaper at the costs from everything.
 
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