Next Gen - The Verdict

[Darkflame]

Ones italic, the others not. Its just like when they changed the BBC logo.

[fog]

The PS4 is a homage to the classic two offset tiers design of the PS2 and the later editions two surface finishes.

[Muttley]

Just cancelled my PS4 pre-order.

I realised that I have so many PC games on the horizon I really want to play I'd have no time to dedicate to the PS4. Combine that with the fact it looks like PS4/XBone games are going to be about 60% more expensive than the PC versions and I'm out.

I shall put that money towards a shit-hot new GFX card next year I think.

[MattyP]

Just cancelled my PS4 pre-order.

I realised that I have so many PC games on the horizon I really want to play I'd have no time to dedicate to the PS4. Combine that with the fact it looks like PS4/XBone games are going to be about 60% more expensive than the PC versions and I'm out.

I shall put that money towards a shit-hot new GFX card next year I think.

Yeah pretty much they way I'm going to be honest. Steam is becoming my gaming future. Still keep my current consoles though but just cannot find a compelling enough reason to get the new gaming tech. It's mainly the fact I cannot carry my current gaming collection over to the new consoles so really have no reason to choose either of them - whereas with Steam the games just work and so do the old ones so not so much an issue.

Just annoys that I can no longer play my current collection on a new console without having the old box around. It's a tired model and my expectations are different these days and I will no longer put up with incompatible new boxes anymore....

Not saying I will *never* get one of the consoles just not in a rush at all.....

[venusian]

Been there, done that, for pretty much the same reasons.

I have got a WiiU on the shelf though which gets just as much use as the PC for games.

[dom]

Just bought myself a PS3 (the GTA V bundle), so it should hopefully last well into the next generation. I have plenty of PS3 games, so there's simply no reason for me to get a PS4 for a very long time, maybe I'll wait until the PS5.

[The ghost of raids past]

Just cancelled my preorder for the X box one. There is just so much more to play on the PC and its signifcantly cheaper to buy the games.

[MattyP]

Just cancelled my preorder for the X box one. There is just so much more to play on the PC and its signifcantly cheaper to buy the games.

The whole Next Gen of consoles feels very uninspired TBH. Would have got a XBox One for Forza alone once over but really apart form shinier visuals what does 5 do over 4? More looking forward to Project Cars - not only that my current wheel will work on the PC too. NG consoles just seem far to expensive in terms of investment this time - I have a lot of money invested in the 360 and it's collection of games both on disk and on live via arcade and other DLC that I really don't want to let go of and (probably) have to re-buy again at some point in the future as XBone "shinier" editions of the same games get re-released *again*.

My current modern PC still plays Half Life 2 I bought on Steam in 2004. That is how it should be.

[Molloy]

The idea of buying a punchy gaming desktop and streaming to my TV in the living room via Steam is sounding very appealing right now, particularly as I need a PC for work anyway. I'm hoping that more of the interesting Japanese stuff get PC ports this time around.

[axel000]

Conversely I'm keeping my PS4 preorder and looking forward to using it as a more casual gaming device than my PC. I tend to go for deeper games on the PC and play them longer; the PS4 will be good for some split screen action / fighter games to play with my kids.

I agree though, they both aimed too low technologically. I blame it on the economy, they didn't want to lose margin on the units this time around. Probably a little short sighted.

[Darkflame]

I agree though, they both aimed too low technologically. I blame it on the economy, they didn't want to lose margin on the units this time around.

And the graphical returns wont look that noticeable in screen-shots anyway - which is all that seems to mater to publishers.

[pogo]

Conversely I'm keeping my PS4 preorder and looking forward to using it as a more casual gaming device than my PC. I tend to go for deeper games on the PC and play them longer; the PS4 will be good for some split screen action / fighter games to play with my kids.

I agree though, they both aimed too low technologically. I blame it on the economy, they didn't want to lose margin on the units this time around. Probably a little short sighted.

I disagree. First looking at the specs is often misleading. Developers are able to get more out of consoles. They are single targets, with precisely known specs. It's much easier to maximise performance on them than on a PC where you have to allow for a wide variety of specs, upgrades, models, OS versions, etc.. And they are stable targets, have been (in the case of the PS3/360) for best part of a decade. This gives developers time to fully understand and so exploit the platforms, so every year games get technically better, while PC developers spend their time instead getting to know every new GPU, CPU and Windows/Direct3D version.

But even more importantly I think the arms race of ever more technically impressive games is coming to an end. This started on the current generation with XBLA/PSN games – no longer were gamers only interested in games that squeezed the most out of the platform – as well as with the Wii being the run-away winner of the generation. It continued with smartphones which have exploded as gaming platforms despite being relatively underpowered. Expect to see even more of it on the upcoming generation.

The technical improvements in the consoles are in some ways quite limited. They both have Blu-Ray and hard drives, though the PS3 had both already. The CPUs aren't significantly faster. They have more cores but developers found it hard to effectively use all of the cores or units in the 360 and PS3. The most significant improvements are to the GPU and RAM. The improvements are focussed on the main bottlenecks of the previous generation, not on being better than current and future PCs.

[Molloy]

I'd expect a decent jump in performance. This console generation has been so long. Plus while it was touted as HD most of the stuff wasn't even running at 720p. At least now you'll have HD and a good framerate not either or.

I'm more positive about this gen than the last one I'm just cheap so I'm finding ways to talk myself out of it.

[defsdoor]

Amazon are doing the ps4 bundle upgrades now. Got my email tonight.

[fog]

Amazon are doing the ps4 bundle upgrades now. Got my email tonight.

Yeah I just got my email today although the upgrade page has been live for a while so I chose mine a few days ago.

I'd expect a decent jump in performance. This console generation has been so long. Plus while it was touted as HD most of the stuff wasn't even running at 720p. At least now you'll have HD and a good framerate not either or.

Good luck with that, especially at launch.