Underwhelemd by the 'next' generation of consoles and games?

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 19:50

So soon the PS4 / Xbone and Wii U will be the current cream of the crop hardware, from the top console companys. When you see that the Xbone can only output 720P on some games, Wii U is getting substandard ports as it just isn't worth developers time as it's sold so little, and the PS4 although more powerful than the Xbone only offers what an older low/mid range GPU can achieve. I can't help feel a little underwhelmed by this 'next' generation.

Previous console launches have always pushed the boundaries of what was possible, being more powerful at launch than PC's and games that would stun.

This generation their is nothing that truly screams next gen to me. Yes Killzone looks nice, Mario World looks awesome, but none have that next gen feeling or polish.. Not in graphics or features, upcoming games are rehashes of existing formulas, there is nothing really new from anyone..

Maybe this is the time for the PC to shine? Maybe consoles can't compete in performance anymore, and developers can't risk something different in games, are the days of consoles outshining PC's at launch time behind us?

I still think the PS4 offers a lot of bang for buck for it's price, I am very underwhelmed by the Xbone, Wii U was more of the same from Nintendo, cheap hardware with a focus on games, trouble is this time they gave the cheap hardware and forgot the games as well.. Overall nothing has stood out from what we already have on PS3 / X360 and Wii..

What do you guys think?

MrMarvelous · 4 Nov 2013 at 19:57

I'm honestly not at all impressed. What a crappy way to start a 'next generation' on Microsoft's behalf when the XBone can't even do 1080p on Call of Duty. It's like a 13 year old game and they can't even get in running at 1920 x 1080, what an utter embarrassment. I might look into getting a PS4 in the future but if games sell well on these new console then I think they'll get ported to the PC.

craptakular · 4 Nov 2013 at 19:59

The Pc has always been at the forefront of innovation. Its just that the kids cannot afford a PC.

PC gaming rules supreme, it has no rival, it is unequalled.

That being said, I own all the consoles but rarely play them aside from the Uncharted series, TLOU and some Wii U games like Mario, and zelda, which I cannot get on PC.

The PC has everything, pad, K&M, pedals, joystick and flight pedals, trackpad, just pick your weapon of choice.

All genres of games are on PC and in high fidelity.

eyetrip · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:02

They are a bit disappointing. Especially the xbox.

But not too worried. The ps4 will be great for multiplayer, and it's likely most single player games on xbox will come to pc.

antijoke · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:03

Colour me surprised consoles aren't as powerful as a top end PC.

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:08

MrMarvelous said:
I'm honestly not at all impressed. What a crappy way to start a 'next generation' on Microsoft's behalf when the XBone can't even do 1080p on Call of Duty. It's like a 13 year old game and they can't even get in running at 1920 x 1080, what an utter embarrassment. I might look into getting a PS4 in the future but if games sell well on these new console then I think they'll get ported to the PC.

Yeah totally agree, like I said, I still think the PS4 will eventually get some exclusive content that will be worth getting, because it can still deliver great experiences, but at launch their is nothing that looks new or next gen, just rehases, in the case of the Xbone rehashes not even at 1080P, this is very poor for launch imho.

craptakular said:
The Pc has always been at the forefront of innovation. Its just that the kids cannot afford a PC.

PC gaming rules supreme, it has no rival, it is unequalled.

That being said, I own all the consoles but rarely play them aside from the Uncharted series, TLOU and some Wii U games like Mario, and zelda, which I cannot get on PC.

The PC has everything, pad, K&M, pedals, joystick and flight pedals, trackpad, just pick your weapon of choice.

All genres of games are on PC and in high fidelity.

Although the PC eventually surpasses consoles, at launch consoles are usually ahead of the PC. This is the first generation that at launch the consoles are already inferior in performance. It's very lackluster..

anticonscience said:
Colour me surprised consoles aren't as powerful as a top end PC.

No contribution to thread whatsoever, the whole point is consoles at launch usually are ahead of the PC, the PC then plays catchup and eventually surpasses the consoles, this time is very very different. The 'next gen' consoles are out dated in terms of performance before they have even launched.. Maybe your just not old enough to remember previous console launches..

Tee Hee Johnson · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:09

I think games honestly look good enough as is, even a 'big' jump wouldn't be that much of a visible difference to most people I would think.

neoglow · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:10

I only use consoles for the exclusives.

Of the launch titles on both the XB1 and PS4 Im only getting Forza 5, Dead Rising 3 and Killzone Shadow Fall.

Everything else Im getting on PC. For as long as they make multi plat games that includes the PC, then I always buy for PC.

Hell, I still buy PS1, PS2 and Gamecube games to play. But I dont own a PS1, PS2 or a Gamecube!

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:11

When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched, they were quite ahead of the PC hardware, that was the standard at that time.

http://gearnuke.com/a-look-pc-specifications-xbox-ps3-launch-year/

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:14

craig_kennedy83 said:
I think games honestly look good enough as is, even a 'big' jump wouldn't be that much of a visible difference to most people I would think.

Yeah I agree to some extent that games already look good enough, I just think that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft should have offered something better than just slightly better visuals and rehashes of already getting old franchises..

Like, show me a reason to spend £350 / £420 on a new console...

baldmonk · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:17

anticonscience said:
Colour me surprised consoles aren't as powerful as a top end PC.

ive never understood it when people compare a gaming pc to a console and expect it to be better or equal :confused:

the whole point of consoles are ease of use,price,have every player is on a level playing field with the same graphics settings and same controller.i had a gaming pc which i sold last year

they get outdated very quick and are very expensive for a top spec machine.i laugh when i hear pc gamers mock console players on games like battlefield saying things like it looks way better look at my resolution look at the tiny little details blah blah then go online and play on low settings so they can get an advantage and spot players easier without all the effects getting in the way:roll eyes: every platform has its plus points but for value and ease of use and exclusives and huge player base consoles are the winner imo

antijoke · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:19

Boomstick777 said:
Yeah totally agree, like I said, I still think the PS4 will eventually get some exclusive content that will be worth getting, because it can still deliver great experiences, but at launch their is nothing that looks new or next gen, just rehases, in the case of the Xbone rehashes not even at 1080P, this is very poor for launch imho.

Although the PC eventually surpasses consoles, at launch consoles are usually ahead of the PC. This is the first generation that at launch the consoles are already inferior in performance. It's very lackluster..

No contribution to thread whatsoever, the whole point is consoles at launch usually are ahead of the PC, the PC then plays catchup and eventually surpasses the consoles, this time is very very different. The 'next gen' consoles are out dated in terms of performance before they have even launched.. Maybe your just not old enough to remember previous console launches..

Lol, I'm 32, I remember them just fine thanks.

However technology advanced so quick and the generation lasted so long the next gen consoles stood no chance. Anything they could have done to out do PC's would have negated the need for a console (price wise).

Very few people would spend £600+ on a console to give PC's a run for their money like previous ggenerations.

Anyway I feel that short of photo realistic games, games generally look as good as they can do.

|cJ| · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:22

PS4 seems OK but xbox one is a real disappointment for me, kinect - high price - 720p - I'm not a fan of jack of all trades master of none design which the xbox one personifies..

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:27

baldmonk said:
ive never understood it when people compare a gaming pc to a console and expect it to be better or equal the whole point of consoles are ease of use,price,have every player is on a level playing field with the same graphics settings and same controller.i had a gaming pc which i sold last year they get outdated very quick and are very expensive for a top spec machine.i laugh when i hear pc gamers mock console players on games like battlefield saying things like it looks way better look at my resolution look at the tiny little details blah blah then go online and play on low settings so they can get an advantage and spot players easier without all the effects getting in the way:roll eyes: every platform has its plus points but for value and ease of use and exclusives and huge player base consoles are the winner imo

anticonscience said:
Lol, I'm 32, I remember them just fine thanks.

However technology advanced so quick and the generation lasted so long the next gen consoles stood no chance. Anything they could have done to out do PC's would have negated the need for a console (price wise).

Very few people would spend £600+ on a console to give PC's a run for their money like previous ggenerations.

Anyway I feel that short of photo realistic games, games generally look as good as they can do.

The Xbox 360 was ahead of PC at the time and didn't cost £600+.

Read this guys

When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched, they were quite ahead of the PC hardware, that was the standard at that time.

http://gearnuke.com/a-look-pc-specifications-xbox-ps3-launch-year/

Every previous console launch, consoles out spec the then current PC. This gen is an anomaly in that it's already outdated...

I almost feel like Sony / Microsoft should be working harder for people's money, just rehashes and low hardware spec doesn't feel next gen..

antijoke · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:29

That's because PCs were very different in 2004/2005.

As I said things are very different now to back then. You could argue the architecture of next gen consoles is more advanced than PC's.

james.miller · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:37

the x1900 was around at the time of the 360 launch, give or take a few months. By the numbers the x1900 was a fair bit quicker in some areas. Xenos was an advanced GPU though - ATi's (the? sketchy memory

) first unified shader GPU, whereas the x1900 obviously was not.

It's not all that different this time around. Fair enough, the performance gap is a LOT bigger this time, but in some ways the ONE and ps4 ARE more advanced than current pc hardware.

http://gearnuke.com/a-look-pc-specif...3-launch-year/

Every previous console launch, consoles out spec the then current PC. This gen is an anomaly in that it's already outdated...

You've posted that twice already but it doesnt really say anything?

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:37

anticonscience said:
That's because PCs were very different in 2004/2005.

As I said things are very different now to back then. You could argue the architecture of next gen consoles is more advanced than PC's.

So your saying that you agree then, that every previous console launch was better than the 'at the time' current PC's.

This generation is a weird one, you saying earlier sarcastically that your not surprised consoles aren't as powerful as PC's doesn't work, because it really is a surprise, this is the first time it's been like this, the upcoming consoles are more of a 'refresh' than a 'next gen'. Considering the PS3 / Xbox 360 are 8 years old, it isn't particularity impressive, 720p on the Xbone, yeah really disappointing.

A lot of PC gamers felt held back from about 2008 - 2010 by consoles, well this time we're going to be held back from the start. The lowest quality bar has been raised by the new consoles, but it hasn't been raised very far at all..

Hopefully some PC developers will still be able to take a risk and develop a truly next gen IP for PC. Otherwise we're facing years of rehases / very little graphics improvement, expect higher resolution.. Will developers even have the money to take a risk on a new IP?

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:40

james.miller said:
the x1900 was around at the time of the 360 launch, give or take a few months. By the numbers the x1900 was a fair bit quicker in some areas. Xenos was advanced though - ATi's (the? sketchy memory ) first unified shader GPU.

It's not all that different this time around. Fiar enough, the performance gap is a LOT bigger this time, but in some ways the ONE and ps4 ARE more advanced than current pc hardware.

You've posted that twice already but it doesnt give any specifics?

Just google the PS3 / Xbox 360 launch VS PC, they were miles ahead, triple core CPU's when most PC's users were on single cores, high end GPU's. Blu Ray in the PS3, they were massively improved over PC, and much much cheaper. Especially the Xbox 360.

james.miller said:
in some ways the ONE and ps4 ARE more advanced than current pc hardware.

Just no, in no ways are the new consoles more advanced, they are literally budget PC's. Any Intel CPU, will smoke the AMD console CPU, you can go and buy a HD 7850 2GB for not much more than £100 and have way more graphics horsepower than the Xbone. That 'super charged PC architecture' is just marketing talk.

Anyway it's not all doom and gloom, their will still be some good games, but nothing that will be revolutionary. Hopefully this gen won't drag on like the PS3 / X360 have. 8 years at this spec would be lame..

james.miller · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:45

Boomstick777 said:
Just google the PS3 / Xbox 360 launch VS PC, they were miles ahead, triple core CPU's when most PC's users were on single cores, high end GPU's. Blu Ray in the PS3, they were massively improved over PC, and much much cheaper. Especially the Xbox 360.

Tripple core power PC cpus.....Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel for a reason. I dont need to google anything, i've already explained the x1900 was faster. I dont think 'what most pc users were on' is a valid discussion. Look at the steam hardware survey right now. According to that, more people are using dual core / intel hd4000 combinations than any other combination of hardware. Not a useful metric. If you are going to compare the hardware, then compare it to whatever was the best at the time.

Just no, in no ways are the new consoles more advanced, they are literally budget PC's. Any Intel CPU, will smoke the AMD console CPU, you can go and buy a HD 7850 2GB for not much more than £100 and have way more graphics horsepower than the Xbone.

Of course they are. Unified memory? the bandwidth available to the CPU? The lack of constraints that direct X puts on pc hardware (which granted Ati are now working to resolve)

what do you think more advanced actually means?

And bluray has nothing to do with hardware power.
/ps3 launch owner.

Boomstick777 · 4 Nov 2013 at 20:52

james.miller said:
I dont need to, i've already explained the x1900 was faster. I dont think 'what most pc users were on' is a valid discussion. Look at the steam hardware survey right now. According to that, more people are using dual core / intel hd4000 combinations than any other combination of hardware. Not a useful metric. If you are going to compare the hardware, then compare it to whatever was the best at the time.

Of course they are. Unified memory? the bandwidth available to the gpu? The lack of constraints that direct X puts on pc hardware (which granted Ati are now working to resolve)

what do you think more advanced actually means?

The current PC's weren't faster, it's just a fact. You can't just say what you think and it be true. Use Google the facts are their lol.

The Xbox 360 was not only faster with better CPU / GPU than what the PC had at the time, but it was also way more affordable.

Now you're talking about PC architecture as if some an Xbone with an AMD budget CPU, DDR3 and a low end GPU is somehow more advanced than a current PC. Bit of a joke tbh mate, current stuff i.e Haswell is way more advanced. The current PC's are far ahead of the Xbone.. If it was more advanced than PC, do you not think it could run COD higher than 720P

come on now...