Next-Gen Consoles/Games

[Master]

Meh, seeing as I've never really been spoiled with high tech high-res monitors, as long as I can play the game optimally, I'm good.

[MrBadGuy]

A 1080p TV is hardly "high tech", it's been the standard for many years now. It's reasonable to expect that 8 years after the 360 came out, it's successor would display all games at 1080p.

[Snagglebee]

8K is high tech in these times but hopefully not anymore

(oh shit, that means lower resolutions will look even worse)

[Dark Lum Lord]

Honestly, I'd like to see more games along the lines of fourth to sixth generation games. The seventh generation was honestly pretty disappointing for me, mind you it did have some classics of its own but it just didn't cut it for me. I'll go ahead and do the cliche action - blame it on the saturation of the mainstream video game market with a couple of new sub-par first person shooters always being released around the corner.

[sonicbrawler182]

Meh, I enjoyed the seventh generation just fine...it felt a little less magical, for the most part, though that's more because I've aged, and nothing really to do with the quality/artistic appeal of games to me.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Eh, one problem I had with the seventh generation was that there seemed to be a lack of creativity. They went for realistic artstyles with most games, having realistic human characters and such which really turned me off. Video games are a form of entertainment I use to escape reality and go into a whole other realm, but with realistic visuals it ruins the whole process and causes me to steer clear of a game that could otherwise be great. Most games now lack the charm of previous ones.

Other than those problems, there have been some goodies but I imagine of what could have been if they focused more on the games instead of all the extra crap that the consoles could do and raking in quick cash, and such.

[Master]

Hm, the PS3/360/Wii generation was pretty much my coming of age generation, it started when I was entering teenagehood and ends now, when I'm on the brink of moving into adulthood.

As such, I've played games I've never held interest before, dabbled in some genres. Some of my childhood tastes have stuck, I've followed many platforming games, old and new, Ratchet and Clank, Mario, LittleBigPlanet and the like. I also maintained my liking for the NFS series, though it's changed much from what I got into, the two most recent titles that felt like the ones I played as a kid were Most Wanted 2 and Undercover.

But newer games have entered the fray, I got into the Portal series, started developing an appreciation for good FPSes, tried out a few RPGs such as the Mario and Luigi series, started playing sandboxes such as Infamous and even dabbled in GTA proper. I tried out the likes of Skyrim, and it's certainly given me a drive to explore the Elder Scrolls series now. All in all, I think this gen provided some interesting games, and I hope that this new gen keeps hold of these interesting ideas, but also continue forward with exciting ideas, concepts and experiences.

[OCG]

Oh well, I rearranged my consoles in my room to make space for Wii U and PS4 in case I get them (which will most likely happen). Sorry Xbox One, no space for you

[sonicbrawler182]

Eh, one problem I had with the seventh generation was that there seemed to be a lack of creativity. They went for realistic artstyles with most games, having realistic human characters and such which really turned me off.

Very true, but understandable as to why it happened - the seventh generation of consoles was pretty much the first that could do realistic art styles to a truly satisfying degree (the sixth generation had the odd game, but overall, not much). Developers kind of went crazy for realism, as a result.

That being said, the seventh generation also paved the way for a lot of unique art styles that wouldn't be possible beforehand. Journey is a perfect example of a game that could not of worked as beautifully as it did on previous generations.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Hm, the PS3/360/Wii generation was pretty much my coming of age generation, it started when I was entering teenagehood and ends now, when I'm on the brink of moving into adulthood.

As such, I've played games I've never held interest before, dabbled in some genres. Some of my childhood tastes have stuck, I've followed many platforming games, old and new, Ratchet and Clank, Mario, LittleBigPlanet and the like. I also maintained my liking for the NFS series, though it's changed much from what I got into, the two most recent titles that felt like the ones I played as a kid were Most Wanted 2 and Undercover.

But newer games have entered the fray, I got into the Portal series, started developing an appreciation for good FPSes, tried out a few RPGs such as the Mario and Luigi series, started playing sandboxes such as Infamous and even dabbled in GTA proper. I tried out the likes of Skyrim, and it's certainly given me a drive to explore the Elder Scrolls series now. All in all, I think this gen provided some interesting games, and I hope that this new gen keeps hold of these interesting ideas, but also continue forward with exciting ideas, concepts and experiences.

By the time I got my first console the seventh generation had almost just begun, and although I grew up during that era it was the fifth and sixth generations that I myself actually grew up with and continue to play. I had gotten the PS2 first and it's the one I had the longest - almost eight years now. I've had an interest in platformers since day one of my gaming days and have stuck to that genre to this day and eventually I dabbled into the action-adventure genre, which makes sense since they're both related and similar, some games even being a cross between two (ex. 2D platformer/action-adventure games are, generally speaking, under the Metroidvania term, and then there are also some 3D examples like Banjo-Kazooie. The 3D counterparts are, for the most part, mostly platformers with a number of action-adventure elements and more exploration). RPGs are another genre I had dabbled early on, with one of the games I've had the longest being an RPG, but ultimitely I never cared too much for them mostly because of the turn-based combat that many of them had and to this day I don't care too much about them.

I always heavily preferred the RPG's relatives, Action-RPGs and action-adventure games. Eventually, I got into other games, namely FPS games and sidescrollers. And the console I experienced after the PS2 was the PS1, but I never got the console since you can play PS1 games on PS2s and 3s. After that it was N64, then I finally moved onto PS3 as well as SNES, and to this day I play all of those consoles and I've still sticked to previously mentioned genres.

Admittedly, I haven't given new games enough attention yet, but I've still tried out some things. I've yet to try out Portal which I'm willing to thanks to how praised it is, as well as some other games. Also looked into the Indie market and I still have plenty of that to experiment with.

Edit: Fuck, did I really say that I grew up with sixth and seventh, I meant fifth and sixth.

[Keane]

I'm interested to see where this generation of gaming takes things. I imagine that eventually shooters will die a bit (Not that I'm against shooters, but I'm tired of current concepts. How many shooters are there about war or "A guy gets stuck in a scary place with lots of scary enemies"?) but I don't think the "indie" type games going to replace it. Currently 90% of all the indie or experimental games out there are really just meh games trying to be unique trough their "wacky art style" or "Loyalty to platformers" but to me a lot of it looks very gimmicky and I can't believe that people actually got all hyped over something like Shovel Knight. Sure, it looks like a fun game, but is it really much more then just the 500th indie 8-Bit platformer?

I'm starting to grow out of buying games that I only buy purely because they are part of a franchise that I like. I still consider myself a Nintendo fan and Mario fan, but if they start to milk the 3D games like the New games then I'm not buying them anymore. Maybe this sounds strange but over the past (two?) year(s?) my interest in gaming seems to either range from a game being mindless fun or something that truly sucks me. But nothing in between. The PS4 currently doesn't interest me nor does the XBox One. The Wii U's got some alright titles but I'm still waiting before I decide to buy anything. I haven't played all that much in general lately now that I think about it.

[Master]

I didn't actually get my PS3 until I was 14, though I had also owned a Wii prior.

Platformers are what got me into gaming, I hold such a deep passion for the Rayman series for instance because it was the first true game series I got in, it wasn't a tie-in or held origins in other mediums, it was a video game series first. My experiences with platformers was narrowed to the Playstation line ups initially, because I grew up on the PS1 and PS2, so I've played and loved the likes of Crash, Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank for instance. However, this all changed when I got a Wii, with Mario Galaxy, and I think that marked the point where I began to expand beyond the scope of Playstation exclusive platforming titles, I've ended up loving Kirby and Metroid now as a result, so I'm glad that happened.

RPGs aren't my favourite genre I admit, most of my RPGing is on handhelds, and usually spin-offs to other series as opposed to having roots in the genre, however, like I said earlier, I did try out Skyrim, and it has opened my eyes into a new realm of gaming, that I would love to go down sometime.

The indie market is something which I look toward with a little scepticism, it can come up with some spectacular and polarising ideas, but they can easily just be rip-offs, cash-ins or just generally bad, so I tend to be more cautious in my approach to them.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Would personally like to see a return in 3D platformers now that the Indie sector has well enough saturated sidescrollers. A return of true action-adventure games would be nice since most action-adventure games now aren't true action-adventure games since they're mixed with just about every other genre there is - not that it's a bad thing, but more Shadow of the Colossus and Ocarina of Time-esque games, please. Specifically, I'd also like to see some more Metroidvania and cinematic platformers since we've seen little of both and I'd be nice to see both evolve.

Would like more open-world, exploration heavy action-adventure/platformer games like the ones on N64 as well, with or without a collect-a-thon included. Onto collect-a-thons, I personally like collect-a-thon games but when they get to Donkey Kong 64 level it's a bit ridiculous and I could never get into that game.

[Master]

Hm, Ratchet and Clank did experiment a little this generation, but for the most part it has delivered consistent action platforming, and I hope it continues to do so, A Crack in Time was possibly the finest 3D platformer I played on the PS3, it had cinematic moments but still delivered in gameplay and looked absolutely stunning for its time.

Metroidvania, ah, I'd love to see that have some resurgence, the Prime Trilogy, however, I do consider Metroidvanias, just in the first person perspective, I'd love for its formula at the very least to be given a shot again, it has so much potential still even with the brilliant Prime series, which definitely blew quite a few minds over and over.

As for collect-a-thons, that's the type of platformer I've probably had the least experience with, but I know how fun they can be, and how they could do with a bit of a jolt also.

[Adsolution]

Kinect is something to criticise because forcing it to be packed with the console is the only thing making the Xbox One more expensive than the PS4 (PS4 would likely be a little more expensive than the Xbox One if they didn't force Kinect on the Xbox One). It's a terrible business decision.

The console you choose to buy will probably be used by you every single day of your life for the next five or six years, so don't worry about that small difference, because whatever you pick, it will be more than worth it.

It certainly is not a terrible business decision, because of the reason I explained in the post you literally just responded to:

If it were an optional peripheral, the technology would likely improve at 1/10th the rate it would as opposed to it being integrated.

They want to promote innovative control. Sure, it may be a bit stubby on the 360, but Kinect 2.0 is already supposed to be much, much more precise and responsive, and then only imagine how the technology can improve from there through feedback and revision.

I just think it's a pointless device, and it's impossible to make truly fleshed out experiences with it.

Why? That is literally one of the most baseless statements I've ever heard regarding Kinect.

To me, it seems like your main point is that you just don't like the idea of moving past a controller for whatever purpose the tool may serve. Kinect is part of your controller (metaphorically). You don't have to use all the buttons (metaphorically), but they exist as a means of expanding interactivity and doing things that you cannot do with button-based controller, or doing many things better than you would be able to with a controller.

I really can't comprehend why people are against this integration, it's fucking fullbody motion control, every kid who grew up in the 70s, 80s and 90s dreamed of this sort of thing (Back to the Future, anyone?), and now that it's for the very first time being seriously, functionally and successfully integrated into a console (or amything for that matter), you're passing it off as a gimmick that should remain as an ignorable external peripheral? Yeah, fuck technological advancement, right?

You depress me.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Eh, one problem I had with the seventh generation was that there seemed to be a lack of creativity. They went for realistic artstyles with most games, having realistic human characters and such which really turned me off.

Very true, but understandable as to why it happened - the seventh generation of consoles was pretty much the first that could do realistic art styles to a truly satisfying degree (the sixth generation had the odd game, but overall, not much). Developers kind of went crazy for realism, as a result.

That being said, the seventh generation also paved the way for a lot of unique art styles that wouldn't be possible beforehand. Journey is a perfect example of a game that could not of worked as beautifully as it did on previous generations.

Granted, you make a point, some very beautiful games had been made. Overall though, the realism paralleled how most of the games in general of the generation were, in my opinion. Dull, boring, and copied often. However, that being said, the same could be said for previous generations. For example, it's no different than claiming that the fifth generation was nothing more than platformers with cutesy artstyles, and while those games are the most remembered that's not true whatosever since the fifth generation was a mixed bag of great games. For example, the N64 had a good amount of two generally opposite games - platformers and first person shooters. And the PS1 had loads more variety itself.

Hm, Ratchet and Clank did experiment a little this generation, but for the most part it has delivered consistent action platforming, and I hope it continues to do so, A Crack in Time was possibly the finest 3D platformer I played on the PS3, it had cinematic moments but still delivered in gameplay and looked absolutely stunning for its time.

Metroidvania, ah, I'd love to see that have some resurgence, the Prime Trilogy, however, I do consider Metroidvanias, just in the first person perspective, I'd love for its formula at the very least to be given a shot again, it has so much potential still even with the brilliant Prime series, which definitely blew quite a few minds over and over.

As for collect-a-thons, that's the type of platformer I've probably had the least experience with, but I know how fun they can be, and how they could do with a bit of a jolt also.

Agreed, A Crack in Time is the classical music of this generation when it comes to the platforming area. And instant classic that will be looked at fondly years from now like the platformers of the days of yore. As for Mteroidvanias, I've never played Metroid Prime, but a return of Metroid in general would be nice. I'd also love to see another Symphony of the Night quality Castlevania game, but perhaps with some more variety since the only real flaw I see in Symphony of the Night besides the voice acting is the fact that it all takes place in the castle. Really put an emphasis on Castlevania, heh.

Collect-a-thons, now those I've also played the least when it comes to the platformer department, but technically nearly all platformers are collect-a-thons to a degree, just some more than others. After all, collecting shit is one trademark of the platformer genre. It's just that games under the collect-a-thon label tend to have a much higher level of collection and exploration, which, with some other elements, causes many if not all of them to actually be action-adventure/platformer hybrids. Now, technically that means that most collect-a-thons could fit under the Metroidvania genre as well since Metroidvanias are action-adventure/platformer hybrids, but most think of extremely non-linear 2D games when they hear that word even though the genre isn't limited to 2D since many 3D games fit the requirements as well. It's just that two-dimensional and three-dimensional Metroidvanias seem so different due to how they're set up.

2D ones are obviously side-scrolling and tend to put more of an emphasis on "Metroidvania", that and they tend to be darker or more serious than your average platformer to the point that you sometimes forget that it is a platformer esepcially if you compare them to linear, cutsey mascot platformers. 3D ones, on the other hand, are generally just your average platformer with action-adventure twists, like Banjo-Kazooie, for example, is the result of mixing a standard platformer with much more open worlds full of exploration and shit collecting along with enemey defeating, not much different from 2D ones minus the collecting component which tends to be a major area in 3D counterparts.

Onto another thing, 3D Metroidvanias and collect-a-thons can be considered synonymous thanks to games like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64 since both follow the same formula. And then there are the ones that don't slap in excessive collectiong, now this would apply to games like Conker's Bad Fur Day. Generally speaking, these games would be like Conker's Bad Fur Day. Usually a lot of exploring but less than their collect-a-thon counterparts, very little if any collecting - not counting the collection of health - and other such things. Now, Conker's Bad Fur Day for example, sticks closer to cutscenes, dialogue, action, adventure, puzzles and such in order to make up for the lack of collecting and lengthen the game. Now, the puzzles in the game are defintiely much more subtle and it's mostly if not entirely just figuring out what to do, but that counts for me, whereas in a game like Banjo-Kazooie they put a heavier emphasis on puzzles by having literal puzzle screens, figuring out what to do, and such.

Wait, what am I talking about anymore, I'm lost. This is why I should never have a keyboard and Internet connection, it's just wall after wall.

[Rayfist]

Everything Wii U is delivering looks for more next gen than Xbox One and PS4, then again, a launch is a launch, so we'll see.

[MrBadGuy]

7th generation has been my favourite so far.
The thing I look for most in a game these days is an engaging narrative, something which I think spills over from my love for film, and the 7th generation was the first to even come close to film quality with titles such as The Last of Us and the Mass Effect trilogy. Of course having an amazing story doesn't mean much if the gameplay isn't there as well, but I wouldn't want to play The Last of Us if the characters were played by the cast of Jersey Shore.

That being said I still have time for the occasional Mario, Trials Evolution or Minecraft type game which has little-to-no story whatsoever.

[Ray502]

Everything Wii U is delivering looks for more next gen than Xbox One and PS4, then again, a launch is a launch, so we'll see.

There is no way that game got off the charts grades. If it is, then that has GOTTA be a good game.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Super Mario 3D World, looks like yet another open-ended Mario game, like Super Mario 64. Honestly, Mario is just the same thing every year, it's getting old. I'd like to see a return of other Nintedo games and some new ones as well. That, and if Rare were to come back to Nintendo and make great games again that alone would guarantee a pick up of the Wii U as soon as possible. Honeslty, Nintedo died in my eyes when Rare left because Rare is what kept the Nintendo 64 from being a complete failure, along with a smaller chain of non-Rare games, which is probably why I never got into the GameCube. Other than ports, the GamceCube didn't really have anything at all that interested me besides Wind Waker, yes it did have third party support that was a tad stronger than N64 but they're all games I'd get on PS2 instead since the sixth generation consoles shared nearly all the same third party games.

Luckily, Nintendo got an ass load of support back with the Wii, but the downside is that the Wii was outright marketing casual gamers which obviously resulted in a lot of shitty casual games on it which made me steer clear of the console all together, but it still had its own gems and I'd definitely get a Wii over a GameCube since it's backwards compatible with GC, has the Virtual Console, and its own gems, like I said.

And the Wii U is yet another disappointment for me but I can't hoenstly say much this early. I'm honestly doubting we'll get another library on par with the one SNES had, sadly.

Moving on, the seventh generation defintiely has some very in depth plots, but the gameplay and artstyles can't save them for me and even if they do only barely. Keep in mind, they're called video games for a reason - gameplay is the most important aspect. But, after that, it's story, then artstyle, then voice acting, and way in the back it's graphics. I honestly don't understand the whole fuss people make over graphics. As long as it doesn't look like that SNES Starfox game, it honestly does not bother me one fucking bit - pun?