What truly makes a console next gen?

[Zlejedi]

Mad55 said:

Zlejedi said:

Mad55 said:

I ask this question because I always hear people say the next gen will have incredible graphics. No one seems to talk about how next gen should push gameplay experiences and allow developers to fully realize their visions. Like the wiiU in my opinion it could have graphics 10% better than the 360/ps3 and still be considered a gen ahead of them because it brings new experiences to the market it allows players to do new things and it should excite developers in creating new games based upon how unique the controller is. Shouldnt a step ahead in a console generation be more focused on how we can get new experiences through gameplay instead of how good the game will look?

Graphics come with more ram and more processing power of CPU.

Processing power and ram allows more complicated gameplay mechanics and bigger  areas on screen as well as more enemies at once etc.

So I'd consider "graphics" as a shortcut for generally more powerfull hardware.

 

New controls don't make your console automatically next generation because they could have been just as well added to previous console model as add-on.

hmm yea your right power and ram does help the gameplay mechanis alot. Though in terms of controls could something like the wiiu's remote run on the regular wii?

Sure - technically such system already exists in form of PS3+PSP pair so with Wii having Wi-fi card it wouldn't be a problem to make something similar (as long as screen would be low resolution)