What makes a console "next-gen"...?

[gigantor21]

Mazty said:

gigantor21 said:

Mazty said:

gigantor21 said:

To me, the main determining factors are release date, and increase in power relative to the preceding console from the SAME company. Comparing the console with it's competitors to make this determination makes no sense. In the Wii U's case, especially, when we don't even know what the other two consoles even look like.

A console being underpowered =/= not being next gen.

The issue with that is the xbox wouldn't be part of any generation. Same goes for the first console made by any company. 

A company's first console is the only case where I would make cross-company comparisons. I put it like that mainly because people keep saying the Wii U doesn't count as next-gen for some reason. And even then, I would put release date up as the main metric--I'd put stuff like the Steam Box and Ouya in the same generation as the Wii U/PS4/720 for that reason, even though the latter may well end up being even weaker than current gen stuff.

I just see a lot of these debates as an excuse for people to look down on other consoles they don't like, more than anything else. It's so petty.

But thats a really arbitary rule saying that the rules change if it's the first console. And if it's to do with release date then why is the PS3 super slim not 8th gen as that came out a few months before Wii U?

Because A) you'd obviously have to use another metric if there's nothing else from the same company to compare to, and B) the super slim is still a PS3. Being a different form factor with different storage doesn't suddenly make it a brand new console. If you were that strict about it, you could say the non-BC PS3s are different consoles, too, which wouldn't make any sense either.

As stated in the first post, this is merely a metric and nothing to do with the quality of a console. If you think it is petty then please look at point 5 - would you then say that we don't need the gen label at all?

I would say we do need the label. Generational shifts are important markers in the industry timeline, both for us as gamers, investors, and the companies themselves. What we don't need is people using declarations of what systems belong where as a club to beat each other over the head. Doesn't seem like many people around here got the memo...