How's your next gen Gaming Soul?

Just curious how folks are doing leading into a new generation... Theres no right or wrong answer, Im just curious about you momentum...

Does gaming still surprise you, uplift you? Are you still heavily invested, peeling off, finding other hobbies more rewarding?

Are you excited for next gen? Too soon? Indifferent?

Do you like gaming as much as you did at the beginning of this generation?

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I think for me Im less excited about gaming. I still enjoy it during down times, but my other hobbies, like playing in a band, hiking, raising kids, coaching etc have diminished my desire to be invested. I no longer want every console, I want one that plays the games I like. I skip cut scenes alot too now. I don't believe gaming storytelling has evolved in any meaningful way and so I often perceive cutscenes as a waste of time. Occasionally I'll be riveted, but not often at all.

I also don't look ahead at new releases much anymore. I kinda just let it all happen and play games that catch my eyes. Lastly, there was a greater sense of diminishing returns this gen... Open world games feel even more open, bloated and les interesting... Rpgs aren't hiding anything new and even my beloved 2d sidescrollers have to get creative to peak my interest.... Games like Celeste, Dead Cells and the Messenger are offset by games like owlboy Axiom Verge and even Hollow Knight were more, just familiar if uninspiring

So I'm curious, after a generation of open world games, rpgs, FPS, action, adventure, platformer etc... Are you full head of steam into next gen, or are you more kinda meh.....?

I game far less than I used to, but I still enjoy playing games, especially on my days off. As for next-gen, i'm middling excited. I don't need the Xbox, so i'm more interested in how the PS5 does... Plus Ninty, eventually.

Meh. It will probably be filled with same old half-arsed follow-the-leader copycats, "ooh shiny" glorified tech demos, and deliberately grindy loot box and microtransactions-laden money grubbing "live service" trash.

I'll take the few gems here and there that manage to slip through the Great Mediocritiser Filter, but I've long been done expecting anything exceptional from the modern gaming industry.

I still love gaming but I only get excited when I have the brand new AAA game in the console and start playing it for the first time.

I don’t feel the hype for TLOU2, FF7 and CyberPunk2007, but I know as soon as I start playing them, I will turn into a kid again and just have the best time of my life. Smiling from ear to ear and screaming “holy ish” at all the crazy moments in those games.

Death Stranding and Days Gone were the games last year that gave me that feeling. Excellent games. So much fun!

Indifferent.

Haven't been gaming much at all these past couple of years. Just now dipping toes back in, but not too invested.

Aside from that, new gens just get less and less exciting due to diminishing returns. And being mostly a PC guy, it's like "oh yay, here's a new piece of locked up hardware that doesn't even compete with what I've had for a while". Of course it's all about the games (exclusives) with these consoles, though the good/great ones don't usually start to land until a year or two in.

But yeah man, this is definitely the least interested I've been in a new console gen. Aside from seeing a few weirdos getting boners over SSDs or some shit, haven't kept up with any of it.

All I see coming is higher prices and shitty business practices they are dying to fart out.

I'm more excited for VR, it was really games like Pavlov, Superhot VR and Onward that sold me on it, not Alyx.

It's something new and fresh in an endless sea of same-old same-old.

Better balanced hardware without a shit CPU bottle-necking and limiting games will lead to more possibilities for developers and better games.

I game a lot less. Mostly because of how busy I've been with my kids and changing jobs this year. But I still find some time to play a few games here and there. I'm curious how next gen will turn out. But the games really need to be fresh and exciting.

I still get hyped for the franchises I like and games Im looking forward to. I see myself getting really hyped near the launch of Doom and Cyberpunk, and near e3 if Bethesda blows the lid off of Starfield I will be pumped as well.

I dont think as many games capture me as they used to. But when I get near games Im looking out for, I like knowing that I can still get up for my favorite hobby.

I'm totally indifferent.

I will watch to see what comes next, but right now it's really hard for me to care about this industry which seems to be in a state of flux. E3 is pretty much dead with Ninty and Sony bowing out and all of the loot box nonsense and other greedy shit has just soured me. I still love gaming but I'm not really excited about it.

Or, I'm just old.

@heretrix: hey man! Been a long time! Hope you are well.

I ask myself if I'm "just old" so often....

'sup man. Glad you are still around. I'm great, I hope you and your fam are doing well also. I'm trying to get back into this whole "System Wars" thing again, let's see if it holds.

@heretrix: it's a different place than the old days, but conversation about gaming always brings out colorful forum moments... Glad you're back around.

@TheEroica: Cutscenes are definitely a waste of time. Death Stranding has over 7 hours of cutscenes and the rest of the game is walking and navigating menus. I had to put the latest Tomb Raider down because I felt like I was watching more than playing. The same with God of War. Who the hell wants to do this with their free time?

Im not very excited about next gen outside of there being new tech to buy. Games this gen were pretty lame. Thank goodness for Nintendo

PS- I started getting my OlliOlli chops back. Look out

I like cut-scenes as long as they are well done and respect the player's time. They can add a lot to making a player feel invested in characters and the game world. There should always be an option to skip them though.

I am excited about "next gen" more like upgraded consoles more than anything. Nothing has changed much with regards to my overall view on games. Cutscenes are too frequent, unskippable ones are unacceptable, open world games are big almost out of spite and too much DLC. The good news is that there is less exclusives than ever before which is great. Time to reduce the number of redundancy under gamers TV sets. :)

Same here I been gaming since the 80's and I feel like I've seen pretty much everything I'm sure next gen games are going to look alot better with ray tracing ect.... But VR has so much more room to grow from not only graphics but controls like Haptic feedback. It's amazing how far VR has come from since 2016 now we have wireless headsets with inside out tracking and hand tracking and it's only been 4 years. VR tech is advancing fast and it's nice that nobody is holding it back like the way the gaming industry holds back PC gaming in favor for consoles it's going to be interesting to see what next gen VR brings to the table.

It took me about 9 months to finish Tomb raider for the exact reason. I was so annoyed by the amount of cutscenes that I didn't really care about causing me to stop playing.

I'm a Heathen. I have no soul.

I'm at an age where I really don't get excited about anything anymore. Games come and go. Some are good, some suck. Life goes on.

You said theres "no right or wrong answer" but you posted all that wrongness LOL

What? But metacritic says..... :P

I'm somewhere between 'Indifferent' and 'Don't Care'. I think it stems from less time gaming and/or less time to game, having a considerable backlog as it is, and my expectation that all the monetization garbage will continue to get worse.
Will I keep gaming on what I have? Sure. But my desire to buy more consoles is at an all time low. I'd rather upgrade my gaming PC first.

I'll be buying a PS5 at launch more than likely. I'm already saving up as I skipped the Pro. I would be far more hesitant if Sony hadn't already confirmed both PS4 and PSVR backwards compatibility.

It's hard to really care when you don't like most of the 3rd party AAA publishers. It will take more than a couple of years for the Xbox SeX or the PS5 to to put together compelling libraries when they mostly rely on garbage games from EA, Ubisoft, and Activision China. I'll probably just pick up the slim model of whatever looks best in a few years.

I'm still interested in gaming but nowhere near the level of interest I had in the past. I think the reason lies in exterior factors that have nothing to do with the gaming industry. Still like to keep up with things and play a select few games though.

I game more than I ever did in the past. Loving this gen. I'll get another two or so years out of this gen before I jump in to the next one.

Not really excited about what’s coming like I used to. I’ll still keep gaming but I would like to be surprised again.

I’m still enjoying gaming as much as I ever have and am very hyped for the next generation of consoles.

Gaming stands alongside every other medium equally. Whatever I say about gaming, movies, music, art.....there’s no difference. I’ll always treasure games just as I will everything else.

Yes there’s bad times and good times, but that’s applicable to everything. I’ll never stop embracing gaming, just like I won’t movies, etc.

I'm enjoying gaming more than ever these days. I game on just about every platform and find the hobby to be rewarding.

I'm always pretty excited about a new gen. Hopefully its a good one.

I'm in a good place. I have been blown away by the way Indies have risen to the occasion to offer really rewarding gaming experiences, and I think AAA quality has rallied a good deal too. Excited to see what comes next

I rarely game anymore, never really get hyped anymore, I also skip the cutscenes while playing a game.

Honestly, my daughter and other hobbies have pretty much killed my gaming spirit. I'd rather play with her, work on my model train layout, read a good book, or play one of my miniature war games like age of sigmar or walking dead all out war.

To me gaming feels the same as last gen which isn't necessary a bad thing, it's just grown stale to me personally.

I still enjoy gaming as much as I ever have, but the types of games I enjoy playing nowadays has changed from even a couple years ago. For example, I used to love long cinematic SP games, but have sort of gone off them now. Also I'm turned off by big open-world games too now (I'll maybe play 1 a year nowadays).

Generally, the games I enjoy most now are gameplay driven experiences that are more focused and don't waste your time with boring filler and repetitive sh*t... which unfortunately rules out a lot of games for me.

So my point is, I'm finding it harder to get excited about new games nowadays and games I would normally have liked in the past (ie. Cyberpunk 2077 would've been my dream game), don't excite me anymore. So I'm definitely less excited about the new consoles compared to past gens, because I'm assuming we'll get more of the same games (if not bigger, which would be a nightmare for me!).

So I'm more excited about the future of Switch to be honest, especially because generally Nintendo focuses on gameplay over cutscenes. And I also expect going forward, that Indies will continue to make up the majority of the games I'll get excited for in future years.

My gaming habits are mostly the same as far as genre goes. I spend much less time on rpgs though, and more on competitive titles like fighting games, fps and other titles. I have had much less time to game though.

Most of all, I'm so glad I invested in a proper gaming PC this gen. Before I was using whatever computer I had, which at the beginning of the gen was my brother's gaming laptop he got for college.

Now I'm enjoying all the benefits of PC gaming going into next gen, in quite possibly what is the best time to game on PC. Anyone doubting should make the switch (heh) and try it. Even an entry-level PC can change your perspective forever.

The game parts suck too. Which irritates me to no end, because I believe a proper Tomb Raider with all the advancements of the last twenty years could be an escapist wet dream.

Oh, forgot to answer the question. Not excited at all. I spend way more time watching movies these days than playing games.

Less and less. The industry kinda sucks and it isn't getting any better. Not the worst. I'll see what next gen brings. Otherwise it's more playing of old games.

My hype is at an all time low. But I know what Sony can do to hype me up, announce goddamn Bloodborne 2 Knack 3.

I hope for the best but expect the worst. This gen has basically killed my interest in gaming, and if the current trends continue, it might be the final nail in the coffin.

I am still very much so engaged with gaming, but it always seems like the games I'm looking for are just never there. I'm always hoping that the games I am waiting for are right around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed many games over the past few years, but nothing has scratched that ultimate itch of missing SOCOM.

I am so ready for the rumors to be true about a new SOCOM game, and I'm still waiting for H-Hour, Task Force, and Insurgency Sandstorm, but I am also pretty hyped up for the game releasing soon called Rogue Company which I have been trying to get in the closed alpha for some time now... lol.

Overall I have enjoyed some games, but I'm really hoping for the middle man to come back stronger than ever. It never seems like the blockbuster AAA games entice me all that much (yes I buy a lot of them, but rarely ever do I consider the games to be my favorite games). The two games I am waiting for the most are Rogue Company and that Roller Derby game that's kind of like Rocket League in a sense...

I mean there ARE some big games on the horizon I am looking forward to... Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, any unannounced MMO's, the shooting games I mentioned, Dungeon Defenders Awakening (which releases next month), Orcs Must Die 3, Baldurs Gate 3, and quite a few others... but nothing right this second really has me hooked. I am on again off again with Atlas, and a few sports games right now.

I'm really hoping that the 3rd person, one life, objective based, round based, takes off and becomes as popular next gen as battle royales were this gen. That would be the ultimate for me. With all the games coming out like that in the next year or so there is a good chance I might get my wish, and a high probability that even if the SOCOM rumors are all a bunch of bullshit that SONY will start development on a new one if that genre proves highly profitable with some of the other games I mentioned.

So, to sum things up.. I feel like I'm kind of in gaming limbo right now, but I think that happens at the end of every gen. I don't really care about any of the big games to close the gen. I'm just ready to move on to the next gen and for the 3rd person tactical shooters (one life, no sticky cover, no health regen), MMO's, survival games (including tower defense games where you control your character aka dungeon defenders and orcs must die), RPG's, and Sports titles whether campy like Rocket League and that Roller Derby game or more serious like professional sports or the comeback of NCAA to absolutely dominate next gen and flow freely.

There is no "excited for next gen" for me anymore. I'm excited for new games, sure. But I really don't give any sort of shit about Microsoft's or Sony's next consoles. When Nintendo makes one, I'll be there. My PC is for all other games.

Being excited for next gen was fun when all three battled eachother and released their consoles close to eachother. Now that both Sony's and Microsoft's consoles suck balls and Nintendo is doing their own thing, I simply don't care anymore.

I don't really have much excitement for the games themselves as I used to. Like you said most of them follow certain templates even indies are like that these days. I think the problem is I consumed things all over the place. I can no longer be like I'm on my nintendo discovery or indies. I have already went through those fazes. Quite frankly I think even nintendo are just overrated especially in these forums. You all like Luigi's Mansion I'm like wtf is this. Super Mario used to be better. A couple of third party devs have entertained me more. That is how far off I have become. I would say the most recent kick i got is playing sim racing games. Going back replaying stupid rpg games with interesting battle systems. Games that have been seeing new life on steam like some of the Tri Ace shit (not Star Ocean) That and the stuff from falcom.

I like combat and more interested in mechanics. I mean even the cinematics games I'm looking at the mechanics particular games that have combat. I don't care put you movies in there but if there is an effort to do things with combat other then cool animation then there is some interest.

For next gen I'm just interest in technology shift. Maybe those open world games will be filled with stuff now who knows. I know pc is always there but it feels like we wait for consoles to arrive at a standard first. Yes I know technology is not needed but there games that will benefit from console standard upgrade.

Wow. Someone else who didn't like GoW. I almost started thinking that I'm the weird one for not enjoying watching a movie when I should be playing a game. I played the game for 4 hours. 10 minutes of the first 2 hours was gameplay. What the actual ****. Almost got angry at my friend for talking me into trying it.

Yes, many games this gen were lame. And yes, thank god for Nintendo for making actual games instead of half movies. I'll never understand the appeal of Sony's crap.

I will let you know at the end of the year when next gen rolls around.

Haven't given a shit about the vast majority of AAA games for awhile now, but there is some other stuff I look forward to like Realms Beyond, Colony Ship and Knights of the Chalice 2.

If I get anything from this thread it's "I'm older now and have other responsibilities, so gaming takes a back seat." Which being on a forum, basically antiquated internet social media, this makes sense haha.

As for next gen, I'm gonna wait a couple of years before purchasing a PS5. For me it needs to be in the $299 range for me to buy in.

My wife and I are trying to save up for a house, so I'm more cost conscious. Dropping $500 on a console and $60 on a few games is a lot of money right now, so I'd rather wait for games to go on sale and keep the consoles I have. There's so many games on PS4 I haven't played yet, and once PS5 drops a lot of those games should get pretty cheap.

And I've developed other hobbies too, I like to garden in the Spring and Summer, I've picked up doing Yoga and hiking and other exercises. And you know taking the wife out and spending time with her.

always interested to see whats coming. also have some concerns (mainly the sheer cost of production of modern AAA games).

i hope next gen is not the same as this gen but with shinier graphics only (especially in the AAA sector).

I was a bit disappointed with that this gen to be honest. sure the devs can blame the CPU but at the same time many of the most interesting games, mechanically, were running on some very very weak CPUs.

by the sounds of things both the XsX and PS5 looks to be very well rounded tech wise. strong CPU. solid GPU, enough Ram, storage that can keep the rest of the system fed with data fast enough.

VR is a very interesting way to play games and i hope to see that explored more next gen too.

at the moment i am on a bit of a self imposed game buying ban. i think i need to spend more time actually appreciating the games i have. But boy oh boy are there games out there i want to get so at some point and i dont see that changing come next gen.

@Star67: I don't disagree.... Getting older is an aspect of all hobbies. We simply don't owe gaming anything. Slipping away from it is natural. The difference for me heading into next gen is that games are no longer must buy. There is no game I've played, with maybe the exception of dark souls, breath of the wild, and a few indies that offered an experience that fulfilled my gaming soul this generation. I feel the diminishing returns on most/every game and its definitely an age thing.... And an industry thing.