flowjo said:
lol no its really not in any way shape or form ever going to last that long, a large part of gaming has been the advancement in visuals and its been this way for decades. if ps3 and 360 hold this hardware for even three more years it will be completely obsolete and they are presently already holding back what is possible, i play every type of genre from mmos to iphone games and one thing i absolutely love is when graphics, physics and size of gameplay is pushed further and further, current hardware in consoles is static and becoming a thorn in that area. another thing is many of us specifically bought 1080p hdtv sets to view movies, shows and games in 1080p so far the only gaming platform that is using our 1080p sets to the fullest is the pc , so again consoles are behind in terms of tech, also wouldnt you like to play shooters or open world games in 60fps in native 1080p? i sure as hell would and im getting sick of lag and blurry textures and 30fps (or lower) and terrible draw distance, its kinda why ive been buying more pc games the games look and play so much better. i say release them the sooner the better and maybe next gen they can finally have an upgradeable console |
While I agree that there is realistically no chance that the current consoles will be around in 2020, I completely disagree with your reasoning. Generally speaking the more powerful consoles in a generation have performed far worse than their less powerful counterparts. Previously this has been explained away by claiming that strong third party support compensated for lack of processing power, but the success of the Wii (a less powerful system with much weaker third party support) demonstrates that processing power and third party support are not the main factors in driving sales that people think that they are.
What drives system adoption is new (and better) gaming experiences which can come from processing power, having the bulk of third party support, new user interfaces, or from a cultural shift making videogame a more social experience. While there have been great 4 player experiences since the N64, the Wii’s accessible controls took this to the next level because everyone (from your 3 year old nephew to your 85 year old grandmother) could play games together.
Although the improvement in processing power at an affordable price has been dramatic, I think the more important considerations to the next generation of consoles is how other technologies have developed to be at a quality and cost level where they could be incorporated into a gaming system. My assumption that the next generation console from Nintendo will blur the lines between digital and physical space has me looking at a lot of technologies, and digital cameras, projectors (including small LCD projectors and mono/two-tone laser systems), and focused sound systems are all becoming very affordable.
The problem all current consoles face is that it is difficult (nearly impossible) to change the social-meaning of a console mid cycle; so even if they have all the processing power they need, it is unlikely that they could produce the gameplay enhancement they need to maintain relevance if it requires add-ons or is conceptually different from what they have already produced.
