New Console Generation

[Funkencool]

So I'm guessing many gamers here are of the PC type and not console. Still I'm interested in any thoughts on the new console generation.

Personally I'm rooting for the PS4. Wii U is Wii U and nintendo seems to know how to make some damn fine casual games, so I'm sure it'll do just fine in the long run. Xbox one.. well, I would just love to see that crash, burn, and die so that I can spit on its grave

Microsoft is heading down a terribly anti-consumer path, and Sony seems to get the hint of what passionate(informed) consumers want, or more specifically DON'T want.

Plus PS4 is $100 cheaper at $300

[klapmongool]

I don't like consoles at all, for a myriad of reasons. But I hope both MS and Sony will release the specs soon so I know what gfx card I need to buy to be able to play all games for the next 10 years.

[SinbadEV]

If I had to get one, I think it would be a WiiU... if I had to get two... I would look into a PS4, Sony has been pissing me off significantly less lately (though they did manage their blunders poorly)... I don't mind that the XBOne costs $100 more because it comes with more (the Kinect and CableTV management stuff in particular comes to mind)... I have just never felt like I was the target demographic for XBOX (I don't like FPS or Sports Games).

That said... my next tech purchase will likely be an Android phone or tablet computer or maybe a chromebook... any console purchases are far off in the future... there are dozens of PS3 games I haven't gotten around to buying, I don't need a new box sitting there making them obsolete.

[Anarchid]

I heard that new Kinect will be able to read your pulse, perspiration, and pupil dilation data so that next Aliens game will be able to learn about what scares you most and spam those things until you need to hire a shrink, or use Microsoft Shrink which will use that same data.

[smoth]

They are both crappy. Sony is play the we know what gamers want by saying we didn't do what they did... ps4 has stupid bullshit coming with it also. I don't care about console wars I own all the last gen systems. Odds are I will get a ps4 if a good gundam game comes out for it. Gundam games are always japanese console exclusive outside of dw:gundam. Wiu is not what I wanted (a wi witb higher power so I can play wii games in hd). It is some c onsole with mini consoles as a controler.

The only good thing I can say is that hardware goes up and this consolification will not hurt graphics of pc titles as much.

Tgis generation of consoles sucks

[SinbadEV]

I heard that new Kinect will be able to read your pulse, perspiration, and pupil dilation data so that next Aliens game will be able to learn about what scares you most[...]

See... that's the kind of stuff that is impressive and worth the extra $100... just not MY extra $100 bucks.

I mean... they could conceivably correctly advise me what TV shows I should be watching based on analysing my viewing behavior from the shows I watch down to my pulse and body tension etc... I don't want that but it's totally worth a few extra bucks to the people who might.

You know who should REALLY be buying XBOnes? Cable companies... they should be bundling those things with every 3 year CableTV and Internet contract.

[SinbadEV]

But Smoth:

[rattle]

I don't like consoles at all, for a myriad of reasons. But I hope both MS and Sony will release the specs soon so I know what gfx card I need to buy to be able to play all games for the next 10 years.

in before a multitude of console ports

[SinbadEV]

If the media "buzz" is to be believed this cycle is going to introduce things like Big Screen Steam and Android providing semi-open semi-platform-agnostic deployment options that should provide a unified Console/Tablet/PC experience. Clearly this is going to result, for the most part, in every game on every platform being dumbed down but... those companies in the business of making "real" games will now be able to bleed their offerings into other spaces (no reason you can't hook a wireless USB keyboard and mouse to your TV box)

[Neddie]

I really like the WiiU, or at least the potential thereof for asymmetric play, particularly in party games, which are the primary reason I would have a console. However, I was and am disappointed by the specs and the lack of third party support. As a friend and I say, it looks like if we want a good FPS/RTS, FPS v RTS, TRPG, etcetera... we may have to break out Unity and make it ourselves.

Neither the PS4 nor the Xbox One appeal to me.

The Vita is yet another Sony Handheld, and the 3DS makes me ill. If they scaled the screens a bit differently and it came with two sticks by default, I would already own one.

[Funkencool]

If the media "buzz" is to be believed this cycle is going to introduce things like Big Screen Steam

I actually use steam big picture quite a lot when gaming. I just fire up my (wireless)controller, click a button, and big picture mode opens. No need for intervention from the mouse; which is not always convenient when I feel like sitting in a game chair with nothing to set my mouse/keyboard on.

Once I got used to controllers, sometimes it just seemed awkard to game with a mouse and keyboard. Basically Steam Big Picture has quenched my need for consoles (except lack of certain IPs). It also helps that my main PC is also my home theater, therefor output to my big sreen.

[SinbadEV]

I really like the WiiU, or at least the potential thereof for asymmetric play, particularly in party games, which are the primary reason I would have a console. However, I was and am disappointed by the specs and the lack of third party support. As a friend and I say, it looks like if we want a good FPS/RTS, FPS v RTS, TRPG, etcetera... we may have to break out Unity and make it ourselves.

Neither the PS4 nor the Xbox One appeal to me.

The Vita is yet another Sony Handheld, and the 3DS makes me ill. If they scaled the screens a bit differently and it came with two sticks by default, I would already own one.

Note that the PS Vita and PS4 combined have all the potential of the WiiU along with the specs and third party support... but then your "console" comes in at $550... and devs won't be able to rely on it being there like the WiiU command screen.

[smoth]

Sinbad
No

[hoijui]

I heard that new Kinect will be able to read your pulse, perspiration, and pupil dilation data so that next Aliens game will be able to learn about what scares you most and spam those things until you need to hire a shrink, or use Microsoft Shrink which will use that same data.

as soon as they will be bale to make such a device, cheaply enough, and comfortably enough so people would also use it (like.. without having to put a needle into your bloodstream), we have reached the end of humanity.
google will create a GConsole, which will be at same price like other consoles, but be better in every regard. you will be bale to do everything with it, that you can do on a TV screen, and it integrates perfectly with gmail, the google facebook thing and android.
your very emotion and though at every moment will be known and controlled by google. and you will be even more convinced then now, that MS is the real evil.
they can contol everyone! if you don't use it, fuck you! google makes all the neighbourhood kids play GTA 69, and let their service fail at prime time in your area, and they'll go crazy, outside, and ride on in your garden! or they attack you through your kids directly, or they let your wifes best friend watch shows that suggest guys in your profession make shittons of money and screw their secretaries and so on. they tell your kids, that you want to take their GConsole from them.
or they just be nice, like they always have been, and do not abuse their power (unmatched to anyone elses power in history until that day, it would be). i mean.. why would they? it is Google... just look at the friendly font and nice colors.. it is nearly like the peace flag!
why would they.. they all smart and tech guys, that think more like the best people in our spring community then the general public.. they are very sane! and it is these people that decide, and no-one else could even change that. and nobody would want that.. i mean... why would anybody want to take over the biggest pile of power that ever existed?
but wait, bitcoin will save us!
"... please!!!"

[Anarchid]

as soon as they will be bale to make such a device

gg wp kekeke

[Pxtl]

Honestly, I think they all have stuff going for them. MS will have a lacklustre launch, but when people start playing with the TV features it'll be the must-have device for non-gamers, and if MS starts going hardcore on Steam-style sales of obscenely-low prices (which is something you can't do with a secondary market or the games get resold) then MS could recoup that initial failure.

The Wii-U has the old nintendo standby's - the next super smash looks incredible, and the new even-larger-line of Mario games look like some epic party-gaming (Super Luigi, Mario Land Wii U) and so on.

PS4 basically is coming in as the most powerful "true" next-gen device while sticking to safe bets everywhere. The rejection of Microsoft's gimmicky future has had Sony suddenly stop talking about anything but core gamer stuff... the camera on top of the thing has been all but forgotten, for example.

Either way, though, now that we're seeing new open-platforms appearing on the fringes (Valve and Ouya) I don't think I'll be picking up one of the big guys... the ideology of a console that *isn't* locked down and controlled by the vendor appeals to me too much.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

What?
I need to care about the artificially created console market?
Make a special computer and make sure you got games that work only on this type of computer and make players who want to play these games buy your crap.
Hmm...
Who should I root for...The Japanese variant or the USA variant...
Hmm Fucking none.
Consoles and the console market is horseshit.

[Neddie]

If your objection is to the artificiality of the market, why participate in any market?

[Rumpelstiltskin]

You are over thinking the meaning of my statment.
It is artificial in the sense that there is no real demand for a special console....Take a regular computer, stick it into a TV get a controller and play.
They make special computers and make special games that only run on them so people are forced to buy their consoles.

[PicassoCT]

people buy those because near zero bugs- near zero installation stuff.
not everyone on the planet is a linux power user. Some of them even find windows hard to use.
the right to play games on a pc has to be earned by hardwork on the config files and setup.

Which is wrong.