Did we REALLY need or want a new generation of consoles?

[Dr.Henry_Killinger]

d21lewis said:

Funny pic but do you think the 8th gen has something that blows people's mind like Call of Duty 2's online in 2005, Soul Calibur in 1999,   Super Mario 64 in 1996, Tekken in 95, etc.  This thing we're experiecing in the 8th gen (which started with the Wii U in 2012 if you don't count portables) doesn't happen every generation.  Hell, it doesn't usually happen with new consoles!  They usually launch with some mind blowing software that justifies an upgrade.  This time we get the hardware and a bunch of promises.  What's the upgrade? Resolution?  Even now, there's features that the PS3/360 have that still aren't available on PS4/ Xbox One.  We've lost features!!  When has that ever happened outside of format changes?  

You're right.

Compared to previous gens, this one seems lack luster. I didn't even notice the Wii U release, the PS4 announcement bored me, and the XB1 announcement angered me.

However, I've realized that what is important isn't innovation or "blowing my mind", its improvement. Consoles are dedicated gaming machines, that might have more media features/media features coming then their predecessors. But the improvment in gaming is something that usually takes forever with generations. Now that we've got 3D, Online, and HD gaming out of the way, hopefully we can focus on improving game quality, something that was obviously lacking last gen.

The PS4 and X1 ui's alone destroy those of previous generations, boasting a higher feature set, while simultaneously getting us to our games faster. Load times are being eliminated, and console gaming has become cheaper overall if we consider inflation.

All of those "wow" things from previous gens, are things that have become standard now. I think the improvement is more of a justification then the innovation.

All big 3 tried to incorporate new things in their consoles, but its obvious that its going to be harder to "wow" people especially when they are older and their is only so much new stuff under the sun.

I mean what's left that isn't really an improvement or upgrade? VR, 3D, 4k(1080 upgrade), 60-120(30 fps upgrade)?

In fact, MS and Nintendo were so desperate to find something new and be innovative, that they gimped their consoles to support features that nobody asked for praying that the newness would wow consumers.

Even the PS4, with the touch, streaming, and social media features although this is less risky and more in line with what is popular today.

Regardless, there are only so many new things that can improve gaming as a whole, but until now the focus has been on finding these magical bolts of lightining rather than actually directly improving gaming. The latter I see as much more of a justification than the former.