Speculation: Next-Gen to be the worst?

Read below..

Next-gen is going to suck ***. I'll probably have to get a PC just so I can stay sane.

I am basing the whole thread on some current events, along with some speculative educational guesses. You decide how paranoid this is. Last gen, Xbox introduced Live, Halo 2 introduced big map packs, that were free after time. Oblivion this gen gave us the overpriced Horse Armor. Games have also jumped $10 in price with $15 for meager 4 mp maps being common, and bought by basically everyone. Now 3DS is doing away with one save slots, Online passes you have to buy to play used games, and not to mention DLC that was on disc when you paid for the game. Xbox Live went up in price, COD will charge for optional online features, and Nintendo is getting away with half-a$$ed systems that lag a Generation behind. I can't wait until PS4, and Xbox 3 come out. It's gonna be rape-galore my friends...DevilMightCry

How is a single thing you posted a bad thing?

Xbox introduced live the most advanced online service on consoles far surpassing what the ps2 offered and still far surpasses what the Wii and ps3 offer, halo introduced big map packs...how is that bad? oblivion gave us DLC you didn't have to buy, games jumped 10 dollars so the industry could survive, 15 dollar map packs and people found them to be quality so purchase them, capcom did one save and likely wont do it again, dlc that was on disc is the minority, live went up in price after 8 years at 50 dollars...

I think it will be better with xbox divison finally diying.... well its what I'm expecting anyways :P

I'm convinced that half the people on this board are masochistic, because the consumer has been getting SCREWED and so many posters seem to be perfectly ok with it.

I have a solution: Don't buy DLC.

I have a solution: Don't buy DLC.

UnrealLegend

I'm convinced that half the people on this board are masochistic, because the consumer has been getting SCREWED and so many posters seem to be perfectly ok with it.defii9

pessimism is not a good thing, TC

Sony should make a yearly subscription based service where you pay $40 a year and you get all 1st party DLC for free, and discounts on 3rd party DLC. Or something like that. DLC and online transactions are going to stop any time soon, or ever. Not when companies see consumers willingly pay $60 for pretty much nothing, and pay $15 for a few extra maps.

who remembers the good old days when all games were free and had unlimited content. ahh great days

who remembers the good old days when all games were free and had unlimited content. ahh great days

Vinegar_Strokes

It's all in line with a market that is hammered with too high costs. Perpetually accelerating costs cannot be maintained along side a slowly growing audience, so they have to make the difference back using a variety of profit generating measures; and more restrictive anti piracy protection.

If next gen goes off as usual, expect it only to get much worse, as they have to deal with double the development costs we have now. If they pull a Wii next gen, they will only be delaying the inevitable.

The games industry has always relied on advancing technology to sell the latest games, with the occasional innovation. Now that those costs are becoming unsustainable, they don't know where to go from here. Hence the motion control, stereoscopic 3D and variety of other gimmicks they throw in; in an effort to diversify their line-up. But make no mistake, we are in unknown territory.

Im liking this gen more than last one so, to me, it´s not that predictable.

Xbox is going nowhere next gen. I love my xbox but xbox will probably be behind Sony sales ONLY because of Japan. Xbox owns NA

xbox sold 32 mill in USA and Ps3 sold 20 mill in USA. ps3 only has 4 million more in Europe then xbox and Japan has 5.25 mill more then xbox(xbox only sold 1.5 mill in Japan)

So if Xbox can keep its NA base strong it will do just fine next generation. If Europe still; supports XBox decently it will be fine(20 mill in europe)

who remembers the good old days when all games were free and had unlimited content. ahh great days

Vinegar_Strokes

Hm...im 31 and dont remember those days! Wait. you are being sarcastic, right? :P

I am basing the whole thread on some current events, along with some speculative educational guesses. You decide how paranoid this is. Last gen, Xbox introduced Live, Halo 2 introduced big map packs, that were free after time. Oblivion this gen gave us the overpriced Horse Armor. Games have also jumped $10 in price with $15 for meager 4 mp maps being common, and bought by basically everyone. Now 3DS is doing away with one save slots, Online passes you have to buy to play used games, and not to mention DLC that was on disc when you paid for the game. Xbox Live went up in price, COD will charge for optional online features, and Nintendo is getting away with half-a$$ed systems that lag a Generation behind. I can't wait until PS4, and Xbox 3 come out. It's gonna be rape-galore my friends...DevilMightCry

I agree that the idea ofpaying for online service and DLC disgust me.

The 3DS isn't doing a one-save system, that was just Resident Evil 3D: Mercenaries.

I may not buy the PS4 if they do PSN pass for that system.

The Wii isn't a half-assed system just because it's not a graphical powerhouse.

I'm convinced that half the people on this board are masochistic, because the consumer has been getting SCREWED and so many posters seem to be perfectly ok with it.

defii9

Pretty much this. Gamers oughta come together against what companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Activision are doing.

[QUOTE="DevilMightCry"]I am basing the whole thread on some current events, along with some speculative educational guesses. You decide how paranoid this is. Last gen, Xbox introduced Live, Halo 2 introduced big map packs, that were free after time. Oblivion this gen gave us the overpriced Horse Armor. Games have also jumped $10 in price with $15 for meager 4 mp maps being common, and bought by basically everyone. Now 3DS is doing away with one save slots, Online passes you have to buy to play used games, and not to mention DLC that was on disc when you paid for the game. Xbox Live went up in price, COD will charge for optional online features, and Nintendo is getting away with half-a$$ed systems that lag a Generation behind. I can't wait until PS4, and Xbox 3 come out. It's gonna be rape-galore my friends...WilliamRLBaker

How is a single thing you posted a bad thing?

Xbox introduced live the most advanced online service on consoles far surpassing what the ps2 offered and still far surpasses what the Wii and ps3 offer, halo introduced big map packs...how is that bad? oblivion gave us DLC you didn't have to buy, games jumped 10 dollars so the industry could survive, 15 dollar map packs and people found them to be quality so purchase them, capcom did one save and likely wont do it again, dlc that was on disc is the minority, live went up in price after 8 years at 50 dollars...

"Far supasses" Actually no, other than cross game chat, there is nothing that live can do from a standpoint of content that the PS3 cant do.

It's all in line with a market that is hammered with too high costs. Perpetually accelerating costs cannot be maintained along side a slowly growing audience, so they have to make the difference back using a variety of profit generating measures; and more restrictive anti piracy protection.

If next gen goes off as usual, expect it only to get much worse, as they have to deal with double the development costs we have now. If they pull a Wii next gen, they will only be delaying the inevitable.

The games industry has always relied on advancing technology to sell the latest games, with the occasional innovation. Now that those costs are becoming unsustainable, they don't know where to go from here. Hence the motion control, stereoscopic 3D and variety of other gimmicks they throw in; in an effort to diversify their line-up. But make no mistake, we are in unknown territory.

AnnoyedDragon

So you are blaming the dev for trying to make more money to offset the massive development and advertising costs? You also have to understand that the average consumer doesnt spend much time in front of the TV anymore so traditional TV ads arent as effective. At least they are providing ways of expanding the game rather than just raising prices on games. This is the gen that devs and publishers get a feel for the market, learn what DLC is good or bad. The beginning we had horse armor and toward the end we have GTA DLC, expansions, new levels, etc. They are learning. Map packs will always be around as long as the market loves FPSs..navyguy21

It's all in line with a market that is hammered with too high costs. Perpetually accelerating costs cannot be maintained along side a slowly growing audience, so they have to make the difference back using a variety of profit generating measures; and more restrictive anti piracy protection.

If next gen goes off as usual, expect it only to get much worse, as they have to deal with double the development costs we have now. If they pull a Wii next gen, they will only be delaying the inevitable.

The games industry has always relied on advancing technology to sell the latest games, with the occasional innovation. Now that those costs are becoming unsustainable, they don't know where to go from here. Hence the motion control, stereoscopic 3D and variety of other gimmicks they throw in; in an effort to diversify their line-up. But make no mistake, we are in unknown territory.

the crash of 83 will rise once more

I thought PCs had this problem too? Most of the successful developers on PC only do low-end to mid-range graphics. Also I usually get the impression that most of the budget for console games goes into marketing because most of the console crowd will not know a game exists if it wasn't shown on TV...Nerkcon

i agree map packs are overpriced. Nothing should be more then 10$ unless its an expansion type DLC that is more then 5 hours of gameLanceSSJ

[QUOTE="Nerkcon"] I thought PCs had this problem too? Most of the successful developers on PC only do low-end to mid-range graphics. Also I usually get the impression that most of the budget for console games goes into marketing because most of the console crowd will not know a game exists if it wasn't shown on TV...gaming25

Gaming isn't getting bad, it's just getting more expensive.

DLC's force you to pay extra for the full experience, but the experience isn't bad by any means.

Look you can't expect games to stay at $60 for the rest of eternity.

Bread costs more, meat costs more, milk costs more, gas costs more.

Everything costs more over time.

I've noticed some good trends in gaming too.

Like how price drops happen almost right away, and there's been a couple of 2-3 year old games that actually got patched.

Developers are doing a better job.

We have Gamefly now so we don't have to waste money (and space) on bad games.

Ok so there's Xbox Live and Sony Pass.

They are garbage.

But if you take money out of the equation the gaming experiences are only becoming better and more varied.

But if you take money out of the equation the gaming experiences are only becoming better and more varied.

ZombieKiller7

I don't think I can agree with that.

Costs have pushed game developers, particularly under publisher pressure, to seek out larger and broader audiences. Hoping to increase sales in order to compensate for rising development expense's. But this has led to streamlining, accessibility and simplification. In an effort to make the game accessible to a larger audience, they irritate their existing fanbase by dumbing down their favourite titles.

It's so common today that most probably don't even notice it, but there was a lot of rage earlier this generation; when the differences were more obvious.

So I do belive that cost driven development is not making games better, and is in fact making them less varied; as most run to FPS and other proven to sell genres.

[QUOTE="ZombieKiller7"]

But if you take money out of the equation the gaming experiences are only becoming better and more varied.

AnnoyedDragon

I don't think I can agree with that.

Costs have pushed game developers, particularly under publisher pressure, to seek out larger and broader audiences. Hoping to increase sales in order to compensate for rising development expense's. But this has led to streamlining, accessibility and simplification. In an effort to make the game accessible to a larger audience, they irritate their existing fanbase by dumbing down their favourite titles.

It's so common today that most probably don't even notice it, but there was a lot of rage earlier this generation; when the differences were more obvious.

So I do belive that cost driven development is not making games better, and is in fact making them less varied; as most run to FPS and other proven to sell genres.

Has nothing to do with cost, has to do with changing demographic and changing culture.

Old books and old movies vs today's books and today's movies

Dr Zhivago vs Battle LA

Mark Twain vs Tom Clancy

Deus Ex vs Bioshock

Both good in different ways, but the general population is definitely getting dumber, and need more simple games to entertain them.

I like both the old and the new.

I liked old games, and I like the new ones too. What I'm saying is basically, I'm still having fun.

There's lots of "old school" games that are still pretty hardcore.

They just added Mario and Kinectimals for the casuals.

Gaming is still fun for me, more fun than it was back in Atari 2600 days I think.

i expect next gen to be a constant pay to play model. looks like i'll be breaking out the snes.

I have enjoyed as many games this gen as I have enjoyed previous gen.

I'm not worried.

i expect next gen to be a constant pay to play model. looks like i'll be breaking out the snes.

z4twenny

No. Simply put, there is little implication as to how next-gen will fare because it's dependant on so many factors. Some might think this gen sucks, others love it. I don't think this gen is the best, but it's not the worst, and on it goes for everyone. You can zero in on exclusive factors (for instance, some people love CoD and would say that this gen rocks), others might prefer simplicity and accessability etc. The same goes for any generation past and future.

Yes, I believe our publishers are doing their very best to bleeds us of as much money as possible.

Wouldn't surprise me, this gen has been absolutely horrifying. So bad that I'm determined to make it my last. I refuse to even give the next gen a chance after this abomination of a console generation, and what little we do know of the next gen is doing absolutely nothing to sway my opinion.

[QUOTE="AnnoyedDragon"]

It's all in line with a market that is hammered with too high costs. Perpetually accelerating costs cannot be maintained along side a slowly growing audience, so they have to make the difference back using a variety of profit generating measures; and more restrictive anti piracy protection.

If next gen goes off as usual, expect it only to get much worse, as they have to deal with double the development costs we have now. If they pull a Wii next gen, they will only be delaying the inevitable.

The games industry has always relied on advancing technology to sell the latest games, with the occasional innovation. Now that those costs are becoming unsustainable, they don't know where to go from here. Hence the motion control, stereoscopic 3D and variety of other gimmicks they throw in; in an effort to diversify their line-up. But make no mistake, we are in unknown territory.

Nerkcon

The thing with this generation is that many developers needed bigger teams than they ever did creating content for games and new game engines. that's why you see many games made on the Unreal 3 engine, because its one of the cheapest to get a license for.

The price on making a game has gone down now from when this gen started, because the core game engine is there for most developers, so they only need to tweak it so the code runs better and make new assets for the games they are making.

I think in the future You will see many developers buy licenses for premade engines, even more than this gen (like they have done with physics engines like havoc and video codex), and only worry about the extra coding that has to go into there specific game.

I also think that the next generation wont need much bigger teams than now to produce content and assets as they don't need to create more assets just assets with higher poly count and higher resolution textures.

you see the difference from this gen and last gen is the amount of objects in a scene and animation, and there is really no need to put more object in now.

I'm not saying that the teams wont get larger next gen, but it wont be like what we have seen from last gen to this gen :)

[QUOTE="Nerkcon"][QUOTE="AnnoyedDragon"]

It's all in line with a market that is hammered with too high costs. Perpetually accelerating costs cannot be maintained along side a slowly growing audience, so they have to make the difference back using a variety of profit generating measures; and more restrictive anti piracy protection.

If next gen goes off as usual, expect it only to get much worse, as they have to deal with double the development costs we have now. If they pull a Wii next gen, they will only be delaying the inevitable.

The games industry has always relied on advancing technology to sell the latest games, with the occasional innovation. Now that those costs are becoming unsustainable, they don't know where to go from here. Hence the motion control, stereoscopic 3D and variety of other gimmicks they throw in; in an effort to diversify their line-up. But make no mistake, we are in unknown territory.

tumle

The thing with this generation is that many developers needed bigger teams than they ever did creating content for games and new game engines. that's why you see many games made on the Unreal 3 engine, because its one of the cheapest to get a license for.

The price on making a game has gone down now from when this gen started, because the core game engine is there for most developers, so they only need to tweak it so the code runs better and make new assets for the games they are making.

I think in the future You will see many developers buy licenses for premade engines, even more than this gen (like they have done with physics engines like havoc and video codex), and only worry about the extra coding that has to go into there specific game.

I also think that the next generation wont need much bigger teams than now to produce content and assets as they don't need to create more assets just assets with higher poly count and higher resolution textures.

you see the difference from this gen and last gen is the amount of objects in a scene and animation, and there is really no need to put more object in now.

I'm not saying that the teams wont get larger next gen, but it wont be like what we have seen from last gen to this gen :)

[QUOTE="defii9"]

I'm convinced that half the people on this board are masochistic, because the consumer has been getting SCREWED and so many posters seem to be perfectly ok with it.

Demonjoe93

Pretty much this. Gamers oughta come together against what companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Activision are doing.

Sony's gonna save us. They're the new Nintendo.