Is anyone here planning on getting the PS4 or Xbox One?

[Everlong]

^^At least for the Xbox 360, the old hardware is ridiculously outdated. It's definitely time for a new Xbox system.

[SortaCreative]

3. It feels like it's too soon for the next gen. Like there was an obvious difference between ps1 and ps2, and an even bigger difference between ps2 and ps3, but I haven't seen anything yet to convince me that there will be such a leap from ps3 to ps4.

This gen is almost 8 years old

I'll prolly get PS4 next year once a few more games I want to play are out.

There should be no obligation to bring out a new generation just because a certain amount of time has past though. I find that reasoning is completely mental. You bring out a new generation when you can no longer make improvements on the old one, when the market is crying out for new systems and when you have something new to give to people that they really want.

It feels like this generation is hitting almost none of those criteria. And with the world economy in the crapper and people being a lot more mindful of their cash, a selfish part of me is kind of hoping this move bites the gaming companies in the ass. It would be great if the gaming audience was to send them a clear message that "No, we won't just eat up anything you feed us."

I completely disagree. I couldn't disagree more.

The reason 8 years is significant is that the games industry has stagnated due to the outdated hardware. Not only are the games on 360 having to be held back but the practice of co-development for other platforms also suffer. A PC gamer, who's hardware is 6-7 or even 8 times the hardware of a 360 is held back because of the outdated hardware. In terms of PS3 it's time to put away the Cell processor and move to a most cost efficient and developer friendly console architecture like the PS4. The PS3's development is expensive as all hell and moving to a cheaper system allow for cheaper budgets and allows for games to be offered at a discounted price. We're already seeing the traditional 40 pound price point being diluted as more and more titles end up on PSN and XBLA. It's an important time to shift to a smarter machine to develop for as in the last few years so many companies have already been closed or gone out of business.

To me 350 pounds is a decent price considering the economy with many people just waiting for a larger library before making the jump (smart consumerism). I guess that's subjective though. But regardless, preorders for the PS4 at least have been at a record high with over a million already preordered. Are they not a market crying out for a new console?

[Hanley!]

The growth of the games industry may have slowed down due to the outdated hardware, but developers are still finding ways to create larger, more detailed games. And as we've seen this year, gamers are certainly still willing to pay for these large titles. If the current system is still providing entertainment and trying to better itself, that tells me it hasn't become obsolete as yet.

And yeah, those preorder numbers are high. No arguments there, although those numbers will be largely made up of the most hardcore gamers and those who are particular about not getting left behind in terms of technology. They don't necessarily give a proper representation of the market as a whole. I can only go by what I've seen, but before the next gen was announced while some were impatiently waiting for a next gen to pop up, most were happy to keep going with what they had.

And now that it is right around the corner, the buzz surrounding it is pretty underwhelming. And for every person who's definitely buying a new console when it comes out, there's another who wants nothing got to do with it and 5 more who are saying "Eh, I guess I might get one in a year or two". Now maybe the sales will turn out to be astronomical and prove that the market is crying out for a new console. But the excitement behind the release of the new consoles definitely seems subdued, so for now I'm not convinced.

I'd probably have a different opinion on things if either of the companies had done a good job on selling the public on what they'd be getting out of these new consoles. On what new experiences will now be possible for them as gamers due to the advanced technology. How their $400 or $500 would give them something awesome that they totally want that is not possible on their current consoles. Or how the change will benefit them in basically any way. But that's barely been a part of the conversation.

Microsoft told us that if we bought their console they'd make extra sure it was as fucking annoying as possible. Sony told us that they would not do this and everyone cheered. Microsoft then changed their minds and said they wouldn't do it either and everyone grunted somewhat enthusiastically. And that was basically that. It became a war over who was fucking us least, rather than who would be giving us the most.

The Kinect is a good example of what I'm talking about - Microsoft have been pushing this thing like mad but have yet to show any interesting or enjoyable ways of using it. So it's an impressive, expensive piece of technology that most gamers don't seem to want, because they've done little to show people why they should want it.

[SortaCreative]

I'm going to find it hard to defend Microsoft. I disagreed with everything they did and are doing with the Kinect.

In terms of the current crop of games, there's been developers out there that have said that this is about as good as it's getting in terms of the big blockbuster releases and how good they look/how well they play. With regards to that, even games going as far back as Assassins Creed 3 had trouble running at an optimal frame rate. The Last of Us struggled at times and the developers went on record saying they were working with KB's at the end. It was that close, they pushed the machine to the max. Ubisoft's CEO went on record begging the console manufacturers to release new hardware.

The fact that there's people waiting to buy it doesn't really mean anything. Sales continue throughout the consoles life time and often spike upwards after the first year. Again, I don't think "most" were happy with the current generation. I, personally, wasn't. After buying Xcom on my Playstation 3 and seeing how it ran I decided to build myself a PC and stopped playing in my Playstation as a primary gaming platform.

I agree with the marketing. It was an easy move for Sony to capitalise on all the bad press Microsoft was getting. I think they should have done it but it's overshadowed all the nice features that come along with the Playstation 3. Some of which are just not possible on current generation hardware. Take streaming games for example, it is just not possible to play a game as you're downloading it on the 360 or PS3. And as I said before the system architecture does a lot for developers, making games easier and cheaper to make. Sony have put a huge emphasis on "indie" games and are doing what they can to help showcase smaller developers who don't make the Call of Duties or Assassins Creeds.

There's good features out there but they're just not as immediate as previous jumps were. Which is another big point I hear a lot of people say. The jump in previous generations was immediate and the problem with that is those jumps were facilitated by technological advancements. The technology used in the Playstation and the Playstation 2/Xbox were around years before those systems came out. What is important is that those systems came out when that large jump in technology became affordable.

Technology just isn't jumping like that anymore. We're seeing a more iterative business model from almost everyone, in every sector (Apple, Samsung, LG, Candy, Bosh, you name it). Because it's safer and cheaper to take small jumps with products that are otherwise proven to work. By comparison these next generations are a significantly larger leap.