Currently Online 
G2ThaUNiT said:
You kinda nailed it on the head at what this generation has been so far. An upgrade. Nothing about this gen has really screamed "OMG I'VE SEEN WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE!" or given me that sense of wonder from seeing what the next generation of gaming can be. I loved the hell out of Astro's Playroom, it's still the best PS5 game I've played, which I expect to be surpassed by Astro Bot here in less than 2 months and I honestly was pretty blown at how the controller was used in a way I haven't really experienced before, but that's the thing. You can count on your hand the number of games that have actually truly felt like a next-gen experience that wasn't just a better version of a last-gen title. At the same time though, I can't really fault the industry on that. Seeing examples of how advanced Unreal Engine 5 is graphically, it kind of begs the question, where can gaming go? I feel like that's partly the reason why so many game companies are so focused on mobile games and live service games because there's not many more ways the medium can be pushed towards outside of focusing on something that's cheaper to make but makes a lot of money. That's also why Nintendo is continuing to succeed. Rather than being the latest and greatest in computing tech, they've been focusing on what gaming should be first and foremost: fun. And providing hardware that compliments that philosophy. I think we're pretty much done with true generational leaps in gaming technology for the most part. Nothing will ever top going from 2D to 3D, then from counting 3D polygons to such smooth textures we couldn't even see the polygons anymore (like Metal Gear Solid 1 to Metal Gear Solid 2. Just a 3 year difference between those releases too) Nothing wrong with that though. Incremental improvements have definitely been welcomed, such as the introduction of SSDs this gen, minus the stupid increase in costs across the board, but that's where I think we'll primarily see improvements going forward. Under the hood that will make players go "oh that's nice to have!" rather than mindblowing improvements. Hopefully this eventually means ballooning budgets can be brought in from the chase of photorealism, and game makers can go back to making fun and creative games. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess by Capcom is a great example of what I mean. |
It could have went the way of VR if they could have only advanced the tech in the window they had and developed true gaming titles for the medium instead of shooting galleries and experiences. Like, VR is mind blowing still if you haven't tried it but it's on the way out, it was the true next gen experience for us and probably the last we'll get until the industry tries AR or hopefully push VR again once the tech catches up. However there are many avenues for a generational wow factor and one is Ai, imagine having a world tailored to you in real time with real time NPC's who are programmed with altered versions of GPT's that we'll have in the near future. That'll blow minds. Then imagine that on a larger scale where the world procedurally generates itself to your actions and choices and keeps permanence. There are so many possibilities and it's just a matter of game dev taking a detour and training Ai to make the games. Devs will become like sculptors in a way, directors will have freedom like never before. Yes, Ai is in it's infancy now and needs time to get integrated but it's on the horizon. Might even be close enough that we'll see strands of it in 9th gen yet, if even fairly simple integrations. I've already seen rudimentary Voice chat based adventure games using AI NPC's as soon as GPT 3.5 dropped.
