Should Sony release the Playstation 5 before or after Scarlett?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Mnementh said:

Hiku said:

Right. But I'm saying there were no obstacles for developers to either put those same games on the system, or games that look and sound significantly more impressive than what people were used to in the previous generation. The Genesis selling point was similar to that of the SNES. (Though personally I prefer the SNES' library, mainly due to its RPGs.)

The_Liquid_Laser said:

You are right that a system's main selling point is the games.  However Switch has lots of games and the rate they are releasing is still accelerating. 

I'm not saying it has few games. (Wii had lots of games as well.) But that their libraries are quite different, because of the hardware differences. And it's not going to get any easier/cheaper porting Gen 9 games. So if you want certain games, you'll need a certain system.
Developers still commonly go for higher budget games for the more powerful systems because there's a market for that as well.

It's interesting to see you both discuss. Let's see…

Liquid_Laser is right, the games on Switch and PS4 are very similar, as they have similar *gameplay*. You are right, the games on PS4 and Switch are very different, as both have different *looks*. There are different gamers out there, that focus on different things. For the ones focusing more on gameplay, they'll feel like Laser. For the ones looking for technical superiority (aka the graficz), they will feel like you. I can't say anyone of you is per se right or wrong, you both have a point.

And by the way, this is different than Wii vs. PS3. Because in the Wii days, games not only looked different, they had also mostly different gampelay on Wii.

This is a pretty good description of the differences between our two arguments.  I very obviously don't think looks are the biggest deciding factor.  I think gameplay is. 

But this isn't just my opinion.  The two most successful games of all time are Tetris and Minecraft.  Those games did not sell because of looks.  More importantly, in most generations the weaker console is the winner.  Do good graphics help sell a game?  Yes, they do.  But they are not the most important factor.  Gameplay is the most important factor.

Barkley said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

This is the type of argument made by someone who thinks gaming started in Generation 6. 

This certainly seems like an advantage in this discussion. Judging the video game industry and especially market by how it was in the Snes/Genesis days is a mistake. The market has vastly changed.

You have described the fundamental difference between our two arguments.  And we both have a point.

On the developer side things have changed a lot.  The types of games that developers make has changed a lot.  But the consumer side has not changed.  Human nature is the same as it was 30 years ago.  The reasons why people stick with the same console maker or change to another one are still the same.