Comments on: Why Haven’t We Moved On?

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 03:02:01 +0000

I plan on getting the Wii U soon-ish, but more because I have to if I want the new games I hope will come out someday, not so much because I want a Wii U. Because I don’t. I’m just waiting for those games. If they ever do arrive….

I still don’t have a Blu-Ray player. In fact, I still have a good collection of VHS tapes and a working VCR. Some of my best movies are VHS, and it’s a waste to buy them over again on a disc when they work fine as they are. Like how some of my best games are cartridges….

By: cary

cary — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:35:22 +0000

This is kind of like when Blu-Rays (and HD DVDs) first came out. I don’t know about you, but no one I knew was in any hurry to ditch their DVD players in favor of an getting an expensive machine, proprietary discs, and promises of *slightly* better visuals. (Sound familiar?) Here we are, some six, seven years later — DVDs are still selling (albeit, poorly in comparison), and Blu-Rays are finally the “it” technology.

The point’s already been made in other comments, but right now, the Xbox One, PS4, and the Wii U just aren’t “it” enough. Despite the hype, they all really just side-stepped the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii technology-wise rather than grandiosely surpassed them. My guess is that it’ll still be a few years before the new consoles become “it.”

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 18:14:25 +0000

Yeah, that’s really the issue isn’t it? Like veryverygaming said, that “night-and-day” difference just isn’t there. New hardware just can’t get by on improved visuals anymore.

By: mherrera697

mherrera697 — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 08:59:41 +0000

This is one of the first generation of consoles that I haven’t been excited about, the new consoles just feel like the old ones just a shiny new body, its also due to the fact that I really haven’t seen a game that truly shows of the need for a next-gen console.

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:54:39 +0000

I think Destiny could have been the game to make the case for the Xbox One and the PS4, but in order to do that it would have needed to run at 60fps instead of 30. It’s going to be a great game, but it’s nowhere near the night & day difference you mentioned. A better frame rate would have helped there.

I wonder if it’s even possible to get that kind of visual difference anymore without making the console prohibitively expensive, not to mention the incredible cost of producing such visuals.

You’re right…Nintendo is seeing the situation for what it is and bringing the games rather than relying on visuals.

By: veryverygaming

veryverygaming — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 22:16:06 +0000

There are multiple factors that create this impression, which is undoubtedly there. Part of it I think has to do with large numbers of consumers being reluctant to move to a new hardware generation. There’s also the diminishing returns of new hardware. Metroid Prime came out one year after the Gamecube’s release, and compare it with even a late N64 game and it’s like night and day. And I’m not just talking about the graphics department alone. It’s been almost one year since the PS4’s launch, but I wonder if there is any game on the system that pulls as big a punch as Metroid Prime (compared to the previous generation). Increasingly, as Nintendo’s strategy these past two generations shows, new consoles have to find ways to innovate in areas like controls and interface, because increasing horsepower won’t cut it alone. Something else has to create those leaps, otherwise console makers will find it tougher and tougher to persuade anyone to splash out on expensive hardware.