What do you expect from the NEXT generation?

[Montaver]

Yeh but just think how amazing the PS4 will be..

[Ady]

Just thought I'd bumbp this, what with recent talk of the (allegedly) nascent NextGen.

Personally, I still stand by my apparently negative comments on the first page. It also concerns me that (as pointed out elsewhere by another poster), the technology is increasing with speed, but there aren't any ideas to truly accomodate it (a bit like moving from a bedsit to a flat to a house to a mansion, but having the same amount of stuff you had from the bedsit, if you get me). As such, increased tech is just a cynical and decadent way for hardware manufacturers to make new money for old rope.

Back in the day (TM), you could see the impact new technology had on the games that came with it, but that doesn't seem to be the case now. It could be argued that the current batch of consoles could realistically last until late 2005.

Any other thoughts on this?

[Concept]

I'm pretty much with you on this one. I don't see the need yet to jump so quickly to a new generation of hardware. I still think there could be another good three to four years left to be exploited out of the current hardware. On a practical level, I'm a little tired of shelling out for new console hardware in such a short time frame. Also, I don't think enough time is being given to properly use what the current technology can do for gaming to its best advantage.

Games currently look amazing and whatever evolutions occur now, it won't be on the scale of jumping from 16bit to 32/64 bit hardware. I just think the way Microsoft and Sony are hyping up the next race is a little short-sighted. The technology hasn't been used to its full potential in this generation because too many people are looking forward to the next best thing.

I really do think this generation could last for up to 8-10 years, and I think at some point there's going to have to come a time when this is the case.

[Baroque]

Format owners are starting to price software developers out of the market. Which isn't in their best interests. What also isn't in their best interests is how much it's costing them to develop and manufacture higher performing machines.

You really can have infinite levels of performance, it can be done, but only if you're willing to spend infinite amounts of money. the silicon business is one where you can see the value of an extra dollar. It might be in transistors, or in pins or in the bus or whatever, but who the hell really has money on that scale to serve a market worth just north of $20B in total anyway?

I think what we'll start seeing in the next generation is interesting things happening everywhere in gaming apart from on consoles. It'll be in handheld and in devices which won't bankrupt a company if the game only sells 150K units.

As for the PC gaming industry, I don't think it has the economies of scale to sustain the cost of it's development push. Look at ATi, their console contracts are being used to bankroll development of technologies which will make it into future generations of GPU. It was that way with Cube's Flipper and it'll be that way for their work with Ninty & Microsoft. Lets face it there are only a couple of million hardcore PC gamers, and while they are vocal they are still a niche market. Niche isn't bad, unless it comes to funding massively expensive development where upon it's a killer.

These days any PC game which costs a wedge of cash usually has a console version riding on it's tail because that's where the larger market is. I wouldn't be shocked if soon enough we see traditional PC development houses try to make the jump to console only development. Some will succeed, but most of them will fail and it'll kill them.

I can honestly say that I don't have any clue where we'll be in the next five years. As it is the market has started shifting significantly, but the direction in which it's shifting isn't something we've seen before.

Here's what I will bet on, a couple of things are going to happen which will seriously redraw the industry map in ways which we don't expect. Lets face it the games industry isn't a young industry anymore, we're starting to see some very middle aged consolidation go on, and that's either a pointer to an industry about to lock in and become very boring, or one that's on it's way to declining.

Interesting times.

[nips]

Following on from Alf-Life's thread:

I'm quite excited by the idea of a new generation, but for the wrong reasons. By separating the home console market into two i.e. New Consoles and Old Consoles we could see some interesting new developments.

Now, the PS3 should it be backwards compatible may effect this, but assuming that the N5 and XBN(ext) isn't backwards compatible then we'll have a new market that we didn't really have before.

While the PS2 backwards compatibility may have kept the PS1 market open a little longer, without fully exploiting this current console generation, and the absolutely huge amount of consoles in homes means that we may get a different type of game made.

I'm assuming that the next generation of games consoles will be much like the current one with more all-or-nothing big money titles and large losses and large profits. I expect more sequels and continuing conservatism in the publishing and developing sector because of this. But perhaps, because of the huge penetration of the PS2 into homes, and the possibility of the GC and XB at a greatly reduced price to directly compete for attention with the XB2 and GC2 may allow developers to turn their eyes away from big money titles on the newest generation and focus on releasing lower cost and more interesting and innovative titles.

So, if you have sequels and all-or-nothing titles, (much like now) on PS3, XBN and N5, and then innovative, imaginative, new, cheap and interesting titles on the GC, PS2 and XB being sold at a greatly reduced price (say ?50 console and games ?15-?20 each) this could lead to realisation that this older market may be profitable by developers and publishers and a turn-around product produced. This means that the gaming market will progress, move on and squeeze all it can out of every generation and maybe the generation after PS3 'n' all will be quite a few years later than you may expect.

Maybe there'll be a complete re-vitalisation in the games industry with only the conservative developers who refused to offer new ideas and possibly forced a new generation now earlier than expected losing out, and maybe even a whole new group of new and interesting developers and daring publishers emerging...

...but I'm an optimist!

[Ish]

Ady - I 100% concur.

And I don't really buy the publishers anymore - who often are scapegoated for being risk adverse and stifling new ideas for fear they don't sell.

Don't get me wrong - I think thats a factor. But there is another big factor at play too:

For the most part developers seem to be out of genuinely new ideas. I'd loved to be proven wrong (really, I would!) but I can't remember the last time I even read about something truly revolutionary. Making small games isn't that hard: if one man could do it in assembler on a Spectrum 20 years ago using tape drives and dodgy ram packs I'm sure (in fact I know.. I'm a dev myself) it can still be done today. And there are plenty of people interested in developing games.

In some ways I suppose its not that surprising: when you look at the number of books, films and CDs that are written every year and count how many genuinely new things you see there its somewhat similar: not very many new things.

[Tokyo Trash Baby]

Graphicaly I find it hard to imagine next-gen graphics I can only imagine it would look like a slick FMV.

A move towards that "BLUE RAY" dvd technology

Either make region free consoles or make them so hard to crack it would take years. If you want to play imports just buy the console!

Built in Eyetoy, This may be a reality.

60Hz option on every PAL game

Simultainous release dates around the world for big titles

Sony to release a new controller


Australia to become the gaming mecca of the world It might happen!

[Sketcz]

What do I want to see? Well can you guess, only things that are unlikely to happen and many would deem crazy:

* removal or region lockout

* universal release dates for all games

* games that cost ?15 a piece new

* the re-instating of 2D games, gameplay and sprites.

* People giving up this obsession with games maturing, evolving or making statements about society.

* A universal single format console that all companies create software for

* A universal single unified control pad. (not counting unique add ons like Tekki's controller)

* a generation that last at least a decade before it ends.

* more originality, homebrew coders to be given a chance, unique games to come back to the fore, with wierd crazy ideas, and never tried before genres.

* games consoles that come with 2 pads, built in memory ala the Sega CD, have turbo buttons on the pads ala the PCE and actually have a lithium battery for the clock unlike the xbox.

* Updated release of "Tramampoling Gunmen" on a console.

* 4 control ports to be the standard

* people to give up on this pointless obsession with online gaming. its pants people, it always will be, and broadband is not a universal thing. I dont have it for a start.

* Japan to return to the forefront of gaming again, where the world will dance to its tune.

* All of our favourite dead companies to return from the grave, including Sega who appears to be half way there.

* People to give up on this mindless convergence nonsense. If I wanted my games console to make toast, Id weld a bloody toaster to my xbox! Please, for the love of god, just stop it. I just want to play games, nothing else, just the games people, spend the money on giving me 2 control pads and a built in memory card, not adding a DVD/MP3/Martian-distress-beacon/toaster/underwear-dryer to the system.

* Emulation and roms for all systems over 10 years old to become 100% fully legal and sanctioned.

* Homebrew apps to be encouraged by the big companies.

* decent cover art

* Better translations and localisations.

* erm, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the above should keep people busy for the time being.

--------------


Hehehehe! Told you some of them were unlikely.