Maybe I’m just too old, but for me the next generation of consoles will be the worst one yet. I don’t want it – and in the next 1200 words or so, I’ll tell you why.
This year’s E3 showed an industry on the brink; teetering delicately on an edge crafted by its own circular self-destruction, poised and seemingly desperate for new hardware. It was there of course, both in the shape of top-of-the-range PCs (see: Watch Dogs’ much-celebrated showcase) and almost certainly behind locked doors upstairs, out of the public’s (and the media’s) longing eyes.
Investors will have wanted to see what Sony and Microsoft were coming up with, and we know for a fact that the likes of Epic and Crytek have seen (and returned) spec sheets to the platform holders with a big red stamp across them that said ‘failed’ because – well, they’ve largely said so themselves. And developers? They’ll certainly know what they’re aiming at. Next-gen might not be in a piano-black box yet, but on paper and where it counts, it’s very much real.
Heck, even SCEA are happy to confirm that there’s another console around the corner.
But the public at large? Still no idea, and no amount of trivial ‘leaks‘ will make the slightest iota of difference because the PS4 and the successor to the Xbox 360 aren’t meant to be seen yet. Sony and Microsoft believe there’s life in the current dogs yet, and to them at least there was no real reason to showcase new hardware.
[drop2]And me, personally? I’m more than grateful. I don’t want new hardware, not yet, and probably not for some time to come. It’s not that I fear change, or have concerns about the cost of the machines – I don’t, but I do feel that the industry is rapidly going in a direction that I simply don’t feel comfortable with.The consoles themselves aren’t going to cost upwards of £400 again. That was a ridiculous move by Sony that only just managed to scrape past being a complete and utter disaster. The economy’s nothing like that now, and nobody’s got that kind of money to throw down on silicon.
My last big expenditure on gaming hardware was the Vita (which ended up costing me about £600 all in after a horrible importing experience) and I won’t be doing anything like that ever again.
But they aren’t likely to be a budget-friendly £250 either.
No, I think Microsoft’s $99 experiment with the subsidised, subscriber model will be the only way to buy. I think gamers will pick up a PS4 or Xbox 720 (for want of a better term) for around that same kind of level, but be forced into a two or three year payment plan that’ll nicely offset the initial cost but – ultimately – end up being a lot more once the deal is done.
Sony would be mad to skip the concept, even if the thought of being tied into a console doesn’t appeal to me one bit. They might not be charging for PSN now but it’s not hard to imagine that the currently evergreen PlayStation Plus won’t be central next gen – and that includes online play – and it’s not a particularly large stretch to see them shoehorning that into a long term monthly subscription that also sees the price of the hardware bundled in.
And as the price of games moves steadily upwards, normally bolstered by the annual Call of Duty look at me spectacular, so too does the apparently necessary evil of DLC and online passes. EA’s “project $10” worked so well that almost every publisher (including Sony) have jumped on board, and it’s now a struggle to buy a top tier game that doesn’t have a code in the box to activate some of its key features. And we all know what happens when the codes expire.
Next generation, this’ll start to include more and more single player aspects – of that I’m fairly sure – meaning that a good chunk of the second hand market will be affected. If you buy a game pre-owned be prepared to fork out more cash online to get the game up and running – we’ve seen this already with the likes of Codemasters, who bundle away better cars (and not just multiplayer) behind the now trendy pass system.
[drop]But it’s not just the online passes and now seemingly mandatory day-one DLC, the latter of which makes me feel more and more uncomfortable every time it appears as publishers decide to throw in more and more perks, bonuses and extras alongside the game that we’ve already spent £50 on.No, it’s the games themselves. This generation has seen pretty much every single first person shooter gloop together into one unrecognisable lump, each one practically indistinguishable from the other. I’m bored of chasing down the same corridors set in different countries fighting identical enemies that act like little more than cannon fodder.
It’s always the same, they’re always the same. And they’ll be the same next gen too.
I long for a return to more open shooters, but we’ll rarely see a game like Doom again and even when we get somewhere near, like the lovely BioShock, they’re few and far between. Publishers, and by extension the developers that are so closely tied, don’t want the risk of something bombing at retail just because it’s different. Next generation will bring CPUs capable of advanced physics and wonderful AI, but we’ll still be firing AK47s at dumb, spawning identikit enemies.
And I know – there’s online play, but that’s becoming more and more tied into subscription based deals to get the most out of the games. Call of Duty Elite’s the first, but others will follow, and before long (and almost certainly this next gen) the price you pay for a game will end up being about 50% of what you’ll pay in total.
And we’re all doing it now: Elite’s hugely popular, so we’ve only got ourselves to blame as the publishers continue down this route.
And then there’s the requirements for single player games to have a need to be signed in to some publisher’s arbitrary online portal that can’t cope with the initial demand and is subject to hacking attempts – both of which push the solitary player into nothing but error messages – Diablo III’s an obvious example, but it’s not alone.
Next-gen spec sheets will be nothing but resolutions and clock speeds.
They’re largely irrelevant to me – I don’t really care how many channels of sound I get beyond six, or how many pixels the system can offer when most publishers won’t get anywhere near because it’s more cost effective to re-use half a decade old engines and just repackage the visuals to suit whatever global crisis is currently unfolding.
Basically, we’re locked into another generation of the same old games packaged in ever more increasingly expensive boxes with ever more ways to make us spend money on stuff that should really be in the game. It didn’t used to be like this – £5 would buy you the full game back when I when I was a kid and – later – £30 would buy you a complete N64 or Dreamcast game.
But those days are over, as, it seems, is true risk taking from the publishers as game development gets perpetually more expensive. Watch Dogs might be a new IP but it’s one that’s in a familar genre and even so hardly represents the norm, which is now annual rehashes, reskins and remixes.
The number of games I’ve been truly excited for over the last few years is in single figures, and unless next gen really offers new ways to play (rather than new ways to pay) I’m not looking forward to this at all. But maybe I’m just too old.
Tanster
Thanks Roy. I felt compelled to post on this topic as its something I feel passionate about.
Maybe going forward I will get a bit more involved in this site as I’ve been reading and following for a few years and feel the majority of members are mature intelligent people who do not drag comments down to childish flame wars or fanboy narrow minded views.
Sitorimon
I agree in the most part with all that is said. This gen has really drained me out. FPS’s have never been my cup of tea and the fact that now its either that, the token sports updates yearly and a few games of other genres popping up its really seen some narrowing of the market. It’s seen me change the way I buy my games too. I’d say I’ve bought more off the PSN store than I have from shops lately and that’s because those games are the types of games I prefer. The fact that these now seem to only be able to come out online and not be available to everyone else casually is a real shame. There’s only so much big budget FPSing or hack n slashing or fifa’ing before the general market goes … hang on? I’ve had this already. Indeed with the amount of big budget failures, I think the bubbles burst. The gaming industry needs to tone it down. Slash the budgets down, get some creative ideas flowing again – bring the emphasis away from mindless multiplayer lobbies full of hating 6 years whom buy or get bought their 5 games a year and remember that actually the demographic for the gaming market has shifted into several fragments. It does feeling increasingly like the older crew whom have supported the industry long enough are getting tired of being fed the same old pile of plop. Steam. Look how that supports the indie, more obscure titles. That really gets it right for me. Big stuff and the little stuff too. Regardless of what you think of having to install things etc, it still promotes and makes a fuss of everyone and everything. I’m a massive gamer. The vast majority of the free money I have after all the rent and bills are paid goes to my gaming hobbies. I have no interest whatsoever for a new console. This gen’s still got an absolute ton of life left in it and I’m enjoying the fact that several years into the life cycle of my PS3, sometimes something pops up that makes me go “Now that’s why I am a gamer”. Journey. El Shaddai. PixelJunk 4AM. Tornado Outbreak. Awesomenauts. Tumble. Split/Second. Shatter. It can be done. It should be advocated to be continued to be done. Otherwise when I look at the next gen and I have to sit through yet another slow mo trailer of a renegade soldier showing off the fact that we can now read each individual bullets serial number as it bounces through a puddle of “real time physics” effected blood droplets – I’ll not be joining the war.
Sitorimon
Oooh. Ranty!
Alex C
I agree that indie games are where the innovation is, but don’t see how next-gen will change any of the way the smaller (but arguably better) games are still marginalised, especially on 360 where they’re almost hidden away as if MS are embarrassed.
Sony do this better, but the lack of promotion for all but the biggest games and the way games are just shoved onto the Store with no ceremony is ridiculous.
freezebug2
I think that there’s a lot of apathy regarding the release of next gen consoles, for the near future anyway. There won’t ever be the scale of anticipation that has been enjoyed by the last gen console releases. The leap in spec and tech from PS1 to PS2 was pretty big, and then from PS2 to PS3 huge and nearing the apex, so I just can’t see which direction they could go now for major advancement of the kind that screams NEXT GEN, come and get me!
I’m not fussed to be honest, and the current model will suit me fine for a few years yet!
Nate
I don’t agree with writing off this gen as generic mass produced crap. While there are a lot of identikit FPS around, there have been a lot of amazing and unique games this gen. There are the obvious ones like LBP, Heavy Rain and Arkham Asylum/City, but even games like Uncharted have done a lot for the sometimes tiresome action genre. For games like COD and Battlefield, you still have FPS like Bioshock, Singularity and Deus Ex that manage to stand out as original. Not to mention an increase in the availability of unique downloadable titles such as Limbo, Journey and everything made by the legendary Double Fine.
There are a lot of politics surrounding gaming nowadays, and a lot of money made in the endless sequels and “global conflict” FPS, but there are still plenty of unique and entertaining games to be found. If anything there is too much around now, so you don’t ever have the time to devote yourself to a single game anymore.
wanprime
Great article, completely agree.
Past the odd beauty like Bioshock/Mass Effect/GT, my friends and I spend most of our time playing SF4:AE. We have recently had this discussion and all feel that there is no need to push for the next generation of consoles. I like what i have :)
koopayoshi
this guy is perfectly correct and i am feeling the same dam way. im 39 and have played games for 30 years since the zx81 and i am so sick of the garbage that they churn out nowadays. they have managed to destroy every dam original game that was ever made. resident evil 6 was terrible,hitman absolution was terrible,ridge racer unbounded was terrible,tomb raider 2013 was terrible. just what do these idiots think they are doing? mass market produced games that bear no resemblance to the ps2 and ps1 originals at all. my 360 now gathers dust as i refuse to pay for any more mass market games they produce.its all for little kiddies and now most games revolve around cod. even tomb raider has been turned into cod meets gow. i now happily play on my ps2 and ps1 and wii, i play tomb raider 1,2,3,4 and angel of darkness. i play resident evil 2 and 3. because when you look back at it,gaming died in 2006 when the 360 came out. the ps2 was and is the best console ever made.it had originality and charm,much like the snes and nes which i still love.games used to be about fun and the developers made them original.now its all about money and im done. they wont get a penny more from me. more and more gamers have gone back to retro gaming,looking at these next gen pcs in a black box,you can see why cant you. they now tell us what we do with our own consoles,they tell us we have to buy add ons,they tell us we need codes to play second hand ones. as i said im done now with these money grabbing morons.