Future Gen Consoles

[AgnesIO]

Was having a little think, and started wondering..

Have consoles (as we know them) reached their peaks? I mean, what could you really add to our current 'next-gen' consoles? I will base this on the PlayStation 3 as I know more about it than the xBox.

The PS3 supports 3D gaming, has a blu ray player, has USB ports, has a good online mode, has a 'motion controlled' 'add on' (the PlayStation Move) and on board storage (where you can currently get up to 320gb of HDD storage out of the box). So this leaves the question; are there any more realistic upgrades that can be made to the modern console?

When you look at the PS2, there were obvious upgrades that could be made. These included having 1080p games - after all HD was not exactly 'futuristic' when the PS3 was released. Then you could look at onboard storage. Another extremely viable option, which Sony and Microsoft both used. Next you could look at the drive used in the PS2 - nothing special. And again, when creating the PS3 blu-ray - although seriously expensive - was around. But if we now look at what is already around for the PS4 to use. What is there? No better image quality than before hand, no better drive that could be used, I guess you could put in an SSD - but, really?

Are the future of consoles all cloud based - a similar concept to onLive? But is the world ready for a seriously good cloud based console? Huge areas of the world are not ready for completely online based gaming - the internet connections that are available for people are, at present, not good enough.

So, what do you expect to see in future consoles?

[Stephen!]

Better hardware. The PC equivalent of the PS3 graphics card is the 7800GTX, which is worth around £25 today.

[matt$]

Hardware updates like stephen said, a new look to the console and wala people will go out and buy it :) they don't need to add major updates to it because its a 'next gen' console so people will go buy it anyway.

[dbgtz]

Just hardware, higher res supportable and 3d not being sub-hd. Next gen will be quite a simple upgrade in my opinion with it literally just being like it is now but a little more powerful.

[peteyt]

Who knows really. I bet when the PS1 came out we thought how can this get better.

But I think the next PlayStation will have better hardware, better graphics etc.

[GommeInc]

These suggestions of "better hardware and graphics" aren't going to make a console enter the future of gaming. If they were to enter a new era of gaming, they will need new hardware and new gameplay (graphics, sound etc.) A new Playstation e.g. the Playstation 4 will just be the PS2 for the PS1, both basically in the same generation of gaming, just one is better than the other but no major improvement, like the GameCube and the Nintendo 64. A new generation will literally have to change the way we think about gaming, and all three of the current gen consoles; the Wii, PS3 and 360 have all changed the way we play games. Fitting the consoles with better hardware won't push them into the next generation, it will just make them slightly better than their previous models. It won't bring anything "new".

People are forgetting what "generations" of gaming are. Generations aren't minor updates like hardware with bigger HDD space and improved graphics, they need to be a step above that with new features and functionality, and HD was a HUGE improvement on graphics. Internal storage for the PS3 and 360 was another key game changer for both the PS3 and 360. The Wii was next gen because of the WiiMote and online play (as with the PS3 and 360 respectively).

[Stephen!]

HD was a HUGE improvement on graphics. Internal storage for the PS3 and 360 was another key game changer for both the PS3 and 360. The Wii was next gen because of the WiiMote and online play (as with the PS3 and 360 respectively).

Which were all made possible from better hardware.

Hardware is the core. Hardware runs the software that you use.

[dbgtz]

These suggestions of "better hardware and graphics" aren't going to make a console enter the future of gaming. If they were to enter a new era of gaming, they will need new hardware and new gameplay (graphics, sound etc.) A new Playstation e.g. the Playstation 4 will just be the PS2 for the PS1, both basically in the same generation of gaming, just one is better than the other but no major improvement, like the GameCube and the Nintendo 64. A new generation will literally have to change the way we think about gaming, and all three of the current gen consoles; the Wii, PS3 and 360 have all changed the way we play games. Fitting the consoles with better hardware won't push them into the next generation, it will just make them slightly better than their previous models. It won't bring anything "new".

People are forgetting what "generations" of gaming are. Generations aren't minor updates like hardware with bigger HDD space and improved graphics, they need to be a step above that with new features and functionality, and HD was a HUGE improvement on graphics. Internal storage for the PS3 and 360 was another key game changer for both the PS3 and 360. The Wii was next gen because of the WiiMote and online play (as with the PS3 and 360 respectively).

Well the big push, for sony at least, will be better quality 3D. I'm guessing they will use the cell still because they bought the factory from toshiba or something and I think there is a cell with double the SPUs(?). Probably will use a better graphics card. I imagine microsoft, assuming they go for the hardcore market, will try to push 3D too because if their main competitor (at this current time) is doing it, then they will do it. So in the end they literally just need what they have now but more powerful hardware. I would like it so that, people such as EA, would make the online modes more similar as the PC BF3 is 64 players whereas console is 24 per game. I would still rather play with friends though. I'd also like to see higher res textures, mostly for FPS games, where it doesn't blur when you're right next to it. I only experienced this on a basic texture in killzone 3.

[Firehorse]

Well take a look at what has happened in the past. With each new console release they've gotten closer to being PCs. First the psone, did gaming and had a CD player, was a little behind what PC graphics could achieve.
ps2 - did gaming, dvd player, online gaming started appearing, graphics stepped towards what PC's could handle at the time.
ps3/xbox 360 - online gaming big part, graphics stepped up to match that of a PC from their release years, multimedia, internet browsing, video streaming, social interactions online.

So my predictions for the next generation of consoles will be a step to catch up with PC graphics, improve the social interactions, massive hard drives are now cheaper and cheaper so I wouldn't be surprised if in the future you'll be able to download a 30gb game from a digital store. I really wouldn't be surprised if MMOs started appearing for consoles. The next bit is obviously down to the game developers to make use of the higher specifications and show what the next generation consoles will be capable of. (I doubt they'll manage more than a high end PC can today).

[GommeInc]

Which were all made possible from better hardware.

Hardware is the core. Hardware runs the software that you use.
Better hardware? So The 320GB PS3 is the "next gen" PS3 because it's got a "better HDD" than the 64GB? What made the PS2 and PS3 different from each other was internal storage and the removal of memory cards. It's not better hardware, it's new hardware. The PS4 would need more than "better 3D" to make it next gen. It already has it for a start. Next gen needs to be "the next big thing" - something new, not something improved or "made better".

I think that makes sense at least :P The PS4 would only be a real next gen console if it actually has amazing improvements or anything new that makes it stand out from the PS3.


So my predictions for the next generation of consoles will be a step to catch up with PC graphics, improve the social interactions, massive hard drives are now cheaper and cheaper so I wouldn't be surprised if in the future you'll be able to download a 30gb game from a digital store.
I would love it if we see a PSPC or a Xbox P60 come out, to mimic the PC market :P

[Stephen!]

I'm not talking about hard drives. Mainly disc drives and graphics capability. Everyone would be pretty disappointed if the PS4's graphics were barley better than the previous generation. You can say all you want about new control types and what not, but the console with the best graphics will always win out in the end. Take the Wii for example, great launch, great first year, but then people actually saw what hardware they were paying for and thought, "actually, this is kinda crap". If you're somebody who goes for gameplay over graphics, that's great because I partially agree with that, however there will always be many more people who would take graphics over gameplay any day of the week.

[GommeInc]

I'm not talking about hard drives. Mainly disc drives and graphics capability. Everyone would be pretty disappointed if the PS4's graphics were barley better than the previous generation. You can say all you want about new control types and what not, but the console with the best graphics will always win out in the end. Take the Wii for example, great launch, great first year, but then people actually saw what hardware they were paying for and thought, "actually, this is kinda crap". If you're somebody who goes for gameplay over graphics, that's great because I partially agree with that, however there will always be many more people who would take graphics over gameplay any day of the week.
Ah so we are discussing graphics? :P I'm not really sure what to think, obviously loads of people prefer graphics when it comes to consoles, while some prefer the story of the game or gameplay. I'm half and half, gameplay/story makes for half the experience, and graphics, sound and music make up the rest. I think the Wii is an interesting subject as it does appear to of introduced the way in which we interact with games, something only touched upon with guns you point at the TV like with the PS1 or PS2. The with the Wii Mote made this reborn, and the PS3 Move and Kinect coming years after in an attempt to go for this market the Wii reintroduced. The only thing I can think of that the Wii has lacked is graphics as you have mentioned, the games are decent but have room for improvement.

Do you believe that Next Gen now means graphics/gameplay improvements? Becuase I could believe that, with new technology slowly coming to a halt there cannot be any major improvements like we saw between all the PS console, Nintendo and 360 consoles.

[Stephen!]

I honestly think the next "next gen" big thing is going to be a more enhanced 3D experience. At the moment, current console hardware cannot power it. For a true 3D effect, the console has to render the same frame twice, which is impossible. Even the top high end PC GPU's struggle with this at 1080p. That's why I believe they won't bring out the next Playstation or the next Xbox out until 3D TV's are cheaper, and the hardware is available for a cheap price to power it.

As far as different control styles are concerned, I don't think there is much more that we can do apart from mind control. We've had kinetic energy inputs with the standard controllers, Wiimotes, PlayStation Move and the Kinetic. Can you think of another way a human body can input controls into a system that hasn't already been thought of? The only thing left to implement is as I said before, mind control using brainwaves which already becoming a reality.

[GommeInc]

I honestly think the next "next gen" big thing is going to be a more enhanced 3D experience. At the moment, current console hardware cannot power it. For a true 3D effect, the console has to render the same frame twice, which is impossible. Even the top high end PC GPU's struggle with this at 1080p. That's why I believe they won't bring out the next Playstation or the next Xbox out until 3D TV's are cheaper, and the hardware is available for a cheap price to power it.

As far as different control styles are concerned, I don't think there is much more that we can do apart from mind control. We've had kinetic energy inputs with the standard controllers, Wiimotes, PlayStation Move and the Kinetic. Can you think of another way a human body can input controls into a system that hasn't already been thought of? The only thing left to implement is as I said before, mind control using brainwaves which already becoming a reality.
Hmm, 3D is a bit of a dodgy subject. It's interesting, but I think there is too much resistance when it comes to implementing it. Is it a necessity? It's hard to say, we've done well enough without it and if films are anything to go by, it's just going to make people feel sick watching the games, let alone playing :P I remember hearing a rumour that 3D could just as well die within a few years once the novelty wears off. We had it in the 60s/70s/80s (one of them) and it slowly disappeared, and it could well do the same even if the modern version is a million times better than the green/blue red 3D objects of the olden days. "2D" is gaming could just as well remain the favourite, and to pay x amount of hundreds to buy the "next gen" console for it could seem like a rip off to people, especially if the big 3 companies implement it and start reducing support for their current consoles which aren't necessarily outdated :P

I think mind control could very well be a next gen thing :P The jump between the two would be so big, that the Kinect would look pathetic in comparison :P

[Stephen!]

Just thought of another thing, virtual reality, but that's probably at least 10 years away, probably 15 for something on a consumer level lol.

[GommeInc]

Just thought of another thing, virtual reality, but that's probably at least 10 years away, probably 15 for something on a consumer level lol.
And it'd probably be those weird headsets we see in any cartoon or TV programme that looks a lot like the scope Cyclops wears from X-Men :P

[peteyt]

I don't think the graphics of a console will ever beat a PC.

PC's can be made to be very powerful. Consoles are kind of slimmed down.

[dbgtz]

Crytek said they want 8gb of ram in consoles...

[Eoin247]

Just thought of another thing, virtual reality, but that's probably at least 10 years away, probably 15 for something on a consumer level lol.

Ah now that is something i look forward to seeing. However initially we'll probably have to don a whole suit to experience it.

[GommeInc]

Ah now that is something i look forward to seeing. However initially we'll probably have to don a whole suit to experience it.
And large homes with large rooms to be able to walk around in a decent space to do actions (about 1 or 2 metres squared) :P