2013 Next Gen consoles

[LeSedna]

Hello,

So this year should be released the Xbox 720 (current code name) around summer, the PS4 Orbis, the SteamBox, the Ouya

I just watched a realtime Tech demo by Square Enix for the PS4, it blew my mind ! This will be Final Fantasy XV :



If that's what the console can handle before it's released, I can't imagine what is gonna be able to deliver when the developers get more experience on it (remember the differences between the first PS2 games and the last ones, or even the PS3). Obviously it's a tech demo and not a gameplay but damn, this is incredible.

I recently switched back to console games instead of PC games and loving it so far, I prefer the plug and play system and the pleasure of playing in the couch with a controller in front of a good TV, occasionally with friends coming over and playing with me or the contrary. So I'm considering the PS4, and maybe even the XBox depending on the games released.

I don't care about the Steambox but it could be nice for PC games like open world RPGs, only if the console doesn't restrict their mod capabilities etc, if you fancy the plug and play system.

Have you heard about interesting things about these new consoles ?

 

[Trevoire520]

Playstation consoles always seem to be stupidly expensive and a hassle for developers to code for (look at the shit they've had getting the Skyrim expansions to work on PS3) so I reckon I'll be going for Xbox. I just hope they get the hardware right this time around.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Been waiting to see what the new systems will look like, graphically.

Honestly, as impressive as new technology is, the video posted above doesn't make me go "Holy shit, incredible!!"...

Doesn't seem too far off of what current consoles can handle now, IMO. Maybe its just the Youtube squeezing the life out of it (watched it in 1080, though).

 

[Skinny Viking]

yeah, if that video is not just a cut scene as is actual gameplay then my hair is officially blow back

otherwise it doesn't look that much better than current cinema cut scenes in most newer games on PS3

fucking Skyrim DLC

 

[LeSedna]

I don't know, last time I was impressed was the Halo 4 walkthrough, I found the intro well made etc and some moments impressive graphically, but it's nowhere near what this real time rendering cinematics offers. Come on, this video is just as rich as a movie sequence would be, and with a little blur on it, it would pass for a CGI animated movie. This is only normal, there is a 7 year gap between those two generations of consoles. On top of that the actual video directing is impressive, but this is Square/Enix doing their job (eventhough I haven't been hooked by the last RPGs they made, they have always been the most impressive company when it comes to creating complex games imo).

Current consoles do quite well yes (I think XBox is a bit more powerful than the PS3 as well, but that's like always, after 8/9 years of development on the systems, they squeeze the hell out of everything they can, but they can't do that too far either. The first 3D videogame that was made on Dreamcast honestly looked like shit (really), while the last ones were pretty damn impressive for the time. To see what I mean, just go check what a PS3 tech demo looked like, and compare it to the last videogames released. Now Imagine the same gap between this tech demo, and what videogames will look like in 4 or 5 years, that's what I'm talking about.

I know the PS3 is apparently more complicated to code for, because the XBox is basically a PC (honestly though, playing Skyrim on XBox is a big mistake), but at the same time, I've always preferred the ecosystem around Playstation, most mature and charming videogames are developed on it (that's IMO), while the XBox seems to be more interesting for online gaming, FPS, etc (that's IMO again). That's why the PS4 will get priority for me, but I'm honestly considering buying both this time and use the XBox for FPS and stuff.

 

[Djunn]

How do we know that this tech demo is for PS4? Even if it's realtime, it doesn't look that impressive considering what PC can do nowadays (see CryTek realtime tech demos) and it's not really much different than what Square Enix did with Heavy Rain. We have some fancy fog effects and some physics improvements, that's all. I prefer consoles over PC anytime but they need to do much more to convince me buy a PS4 or next gen Xbox.

 

[Skinny Viking]

the other thing being that I read PS4 will not be backward compatible with PS3 games

anyone else read that?

if thats true ... I dunno man. I was mad as shit when PS3 wasn't back-comp with PS2 other than the one model which got discontinued because it basically would have a meltdown after a while

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

^ Even worse. I read that PS4 may not even allow used games rofl. So you buy a game use it on your console and can't sell it to someone else or even lend it

 

[LeSedna]

Found an Xbox 720 tech demo but could only find short snippets, looks pretty sweet !



I'd like to find a full size tech demo for the Xbox as well to compare it to the PS4, since this is a short sequence of something in essence simple (like the "Kara" PS3 demo, which is sweet, but they would never put so much detail in a full game with hundreds of characters or miles of field of view). I would bet on the fact the XBox 720 inherently does better, based on the PS3/Xbox 360 current comparison

 

[LeSedna]

How do we know that this tech demo is for PS4? Even if it's realtime, it doesn't look that impressive considering what PC can do nowadays (see CryTek realtime tech demos) and it's not really much different than what Square Enix did with Heavy Rain. We have some fancy fog effects and some physics improvements, that's all. I prefer consoles over PC anytime but they need to do much more to convince me buy a PS4 or next gen Xbox.

That was the 2012 E3 tech demo for PS4. It's due to be released end of 2013, so keep in mind there is an 18 month span to consider as well. I don't know if that is run off a PS4 prototype, or off a computer used for PS4 development, though.

Also, you cannot compare PC vs console just as simply, these are not the same. A console is more or less set in stones forever, and the philosophy is different, they provide an SDK, and developers have to stay within those limits. In return, it provides a safer environment with virtually no fragmentation to deal with, except when you have to port to another console of course. PC will always provide better graphics in a mid-term, especially now that it seems you don't need the most powerful computer in the world to run the latest videogames. But also, you don't have the guarantee when you buy a videogame that a PC can run it, while when you buy an Xbox 360 videogame, it will work perfectly, even if the Xbox is a 7 years old design.

I've watched the Crysis tech demo, it's pretty nice as well ! I think the engine is very different though, it looks like the polygon count is way lower, while they put a lot of emphasize on textures and volumes, it looks like FPS oriented where the goal is to keep a high frame per second rate. You can spot it on the ears of the characters on both techs, or their hair

 

[Djunn]

Also, you cannot compare PC vs console just as simply, these are not the same. A console is more or less set in stones forever, and the philosophy is different, they provide an SDK, and developers have to stay within those limits. In return, it provides a safer environment with virtually no fragmentation to deal with, except when you have to port to another console of course. PC will always provide better graphics in a mid-term, especially now that it seems you don't need the most powerful computer in the world to run the latest videogames. But also, you don't have the guarantee when you buy a videogame that a PC can run it, while when you buy an Xbox 360 videogame, it will work perfectly, even if the Xbox is a 7 years old design.

I've watched the Crysis tech demo, it's pretty nice as well !

Yes, I'm fully aware of that and I'm not really comparing console with PC. But when we look at when Xbox 360 and Ps3 came out first, they were more competitive against that time's PC platform.

I hope actual PS4 will be better than this demo and they really need to bring something new into the game. Microsoft and especially Nintendo did a real good job with Kinect and Wii. I have a Wii and preferred to buy PS3 just because of Blu-Ray when I was purchasing. Sony needs to give me something shiny again.

 

[LeSedna]

Yes, now it's easier to run a new game on PC with a modest setup, that has been the case since 3 or 4 years ago. Still I prefer having a console : for the price of a netbook, you get something that runs a videogame at somewhat max settings, max frames per second, with a controller, etc, and this for all its lifetime. That's why I prefer consoles over PC, except for a few types of games like open world RPGs or Strategy Games. Some people prefer upgrading their PC every year and run games on those, that's fine as well, it's just a different philosophy.

Apparently the Square Enix tech demo was for both PS4/XBox 720 so i doubt it was run on either, but certainly on a PC with development specs in mind

About Kinect and Wii... I don't know, I really hated the Kinekt, I found it more of a gadget and , and I haven't been convinced. Same for the wii, you have decent games as well, but passed the beginning, I feel the wii controls actually go against the videogame, because they are just imprecise as fuck, and the Wii being super low powered compared to the competition, there is just no eye candy videogame. This type of consoles only produce casual games for family use, and any game other than that could have been developped on a traditionnal console with better results. They hit strong, by hitting the family market, but the videogames released inherently went backwards imo. The only good thing about it was how fun some games were to play with 4 or 8 friends. But with a next gen console, all I want is good videogames, which happen if possible to be super beautiful. If the PS4/Xbox 720 stay classic videogame consoles with normal controllers, I would be way happier !

 

[ratsapprentice]

for the price of a netbook, you get something that runs a videogame at somewhat max settings, max frames per second,

That's simply not true though. You play a heavily limited version of a game.
Consoles consider 30fps to be acceptable, PC's consider 60 acceptable, and most people would say 120 is optimal.

There are arguments to be made about the practicality of each format, but not about their technical capabilities. This is more true now that it ever has been in the past.

 

[blue_fAng]

I'm not buying games anymore. They want to impress us with nice graphics but at the end these games are either mediocre or terrible. The last epic game I played was Half Life 2 and that was 8 years ago. Videogame companies have been releasing the same things over and over, I wonder how many Call of Duties we'll see in the future. I'm not saying that there's no original stuff anymore but even the most creative RPG's these days are meh, they are not as impressive as they were years ago. Also, it seems that game producers invest money so their games look more impressive at the beggining of the game than in the middle and ending parts.

 

[Damphire]

I really hope PS4 steps up to Xbox 720 in terms of performance, so far it seems that PS3 versions of cross-platform games are always the flawed ones . I'll stick with Sony though, their games are the ones that interest me the most, they have the best excusive games and devs and I would like to see what they can do with the PS4.

 

[Damphire]

I'm not buying games anymore. They want to impress us with nice graphics but at the end these games are either mediocre or terrible. The last epic game I played was Half Life 2 and that was 8 years ago. Videogame companies have been releasing the same things over and over, I wonder how many Call of Duties we'll see in the future. I'm not saying that there's no original stuff anymore but even the most creative RPG's these days are meh, they are not as impressive as they were years ago. Also, it seems that game producers invest money so their games look more impressive at the beggining of the game than in the middle and ending parts.

I disagree, there are a lot of good games out there and they keep getting better in terms of gameplay and "writing", you just have to stay away from the generic shooters that keep coming out

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

That's simply not true though. You play a heavily limited version of a game.
Consoles consider 30fps to be acceptable, PC's consider 60 acceptable, and most people would say 120 is optimal.

I actually prefer closer to 30 cuz it looks more cinematic (films are at 24 fps and the NTSC TV standard is ~30 fps as I'm sure you're aware), and I don't really ever play online multiplayer so the difference in response/reaction time doesn't bother me

 

[Terminus]

I'm not a console user and probably won't buy any of them until the day come when PC and consoles are one and the same and I have to. Might not be soon thankfully, I don't like using controllers for most games and stick to the mouse & keyboard setup (although I do have a PS style one for the 2 racing games I own).

In other news I saw something about ultra-hi-def being a new thing for next year. That is something I can get on board with.

 

[LeSedna]

That's simply not true though. You play a heavily limited version of a game.
Consoles consider 30fps to be acceptable, PC's consider 60 acceptable, and most people would say 120 is optimal.

There are arguments to be made about the practicality of each format, but not about their technical capabilities. This is more true now that it ever has been in the past.

Well yeah what I did say was wrong, what I really wanted to express is that for the price of a console, you have more than what you will get in a PC. I just paid my PS3 250e with a game, and you can barely run a game as smooth on a 250e PC, and that's considering today's standard, while in 2006, that was just impossible. I agree though than the further we go, the lesser the difference. I still don't think for the price of a PS4 you'll be able to run the next gen games so well. Hope I'm clearer.

Honestly though, anything above 60hz is total pimp-my-PC wankery, the brain is not fast enough to make those extra fps any useful. I agree 60hz feels smoother but not a deal changer for me, I have never bought hardware good enough to play at a high fps value because I don't see it so useful

 

[LeSedna]

That's simply not true though. You play a heavily limited version of a game.
Consoles consider 30fps to be acceptable, PC's consider 60 acceptable, and most people would say 120 is optimal.

There are arguments to be made about the practicality of each format, but not about their technical capabilities. This is more true now that it ever has been in the past.

Well yeah what I did say was wrong, what I really wanted to express is that for the price of a console, you have more than what you will get in a PC. I just paid my PS3 250e with a game, and you can barely run a game as smooth on a 250e PC, and that's considering today's standard, while in 2006, that was just impossible. I agree though than the further we go, the lesser the difference. I still don't think for the price of a PS4 you'll be able to run the next gen games so well. Hope I'm clearer

Honestly though, anything above 60hz is total pimp-my-PC wankery, the brain is not fast enough to make those extra fps any useful. I agree 60hz feels smoother but not a deal changer for me, I have never bought hardware good enough to play at a high fps value because I don't see it so useful. It is totally true though that the only way to enjoy a game in more than 1080 with extra high settings and custom textures is PC