The different approaches to Next Generation gaming

[Shinobi-san]

Not impressed by the visuals, and more importantly not impressed by the unchanged current generation gaming paradigms.

Perhaps the most interesting potential we've seen is in the EPIC demo (which we will probably never see anything like it in gameplay in the next 2 to 3 years if at all) and the Ratchet and Clank demo. Despite those two demos being at least somewhat different, the implementations were questionable.

Outside of that I cant think of anything significant about the next gen. I think its bad enough that current gen games are mostly visual upgrades over the previous gen (PS3 -> PS4). I mean its kind of sad to think that games are fundamentally unchanged for the last 10-15 years. What was also glaringly obvious when moving to the PS4, was that consoles had finally caught up to TV's. Whereas currently resolutions above 1080p remain uncommon, or are exclusive to the TV room, which makes it even more difficult to perceive visual upgrades on most screens we consume content on. I was happy to accept this for the PS4 gen but for this to be a potential reality for PS5 as well, is sad.

New generations can often spur on innovation in software and directly influence game design, and Sony at least seem to be pushing this angle....but its all talk for now.

I wont even go into what MS is doing...they have for the most part walked away from generational distinctions since they have no plan to make Xbox Series X exclusives. This will inherently hold back the game design process, building software for the lowest common denominator.

I mean if someone builds a game around a teleport/time travel mechanics, whereby you can almost instantaneously teleport into another time dimension or point in time, how would that even work on current gen hardware? I feel as though MS's decision to do this, could shape the gaming industry going forward. And lets face it, money talks, if the Netflix model for gaming works for MS, Sony will follow.