*I wasn't sure where to put this, so please move if you feel it should be somewhere else mods.

Personally, the more and more I see of next generation gaming from the rest of the industry the less and less impressed I become.

Sony/Microsoft/AAA publishers seem to be mostly focused on games as a service/teraflops/etc.

I'm thinking I will be passing on being an early adopter of the 2 other major consoles for now.

Just going to focus on the Switch and catch up on my backlog of games as their next gen focus is more appealing.

Topic seems fine where it is. Content is a little... eh. It'd be better if you expanded a bit more on what precisely you expected from the next gen that you're not seeing. I'd also recommend leaving the Switch out of it, since whether intentionally or not that seems bound to start some console war style arguments.

Not impressed and dreading next-gen.

Not impressed but probably still gonna buy next-gen console at launch or at least in the first year.

Was impressed back in may when they showcased UE5, so whenever a game takes full advantage of it - or uses a similar engine to it - maybe i'll be more impressed. Right now every game announced makes me feel they could've released this gen, which I guess is the normal sentiment to get whenever theres a new console launch.

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.

I think there's a degree of diminishing returns.

Compare DKC3, arguably the best looking SNES game

to Crash Bandicoot, an early PS1 title

Take DK64 which I'd say was arguably the best looking game of the PS1/N64 generation

and compare it to Sonic Adventure, a launch title on that gen's weakest system

I think there's a notable difference. 

If we compare images from Snake Eater

To Perfect Dark Zero, a launch title on the XBox 360

The difference gets smaller, but still is very noticeable (especially because of the resolution bump).

Going from GTA V on the 360

To Killzone Shadow Fall on the PS4...

The difference is smaller imo.

And from Ghosts of Tsushima

Difference is smaller still.

Obviously there are limitations to comparing screenshots from individual titles. Different compression genres, etc. (and tbh I did check to make sure screenshots were on the original hardware, but things get mislabled on the net), but I think if you compare the best looking games from the end of one generation to the best looking launch titles of the next, the gap is getting consistently smaller. And especially because this time around we had mid gen boosts to the consoles, the gap shrinks further. Whether or not that's enough to excite is an individual thing. For me though, not really.

Was more just looking for other people's opinions on the matter.

As for what I was looking for, just something besides a focus on trying to make games "prettier".  Every "next gen" system is only worried about graphic fidelity, teraflops, etc.  Where is the "next gen" gameplay?

As for the mention of the Switch, that is what I consider the current leader of "next gen".  The games/gameplay have been more revolutionary than anything else released in the last 3 years.

There is more to next generation games than graphics and I just haven't seen it from Microsoft/Sony.

I also remember back when the PS4 and X1 launched. Thing is, what I remember about that era was that all the big games for 8th generation consoles were either ports of 7th generation console games or were lacking in content up until roughly mid-2015.

Now don't get me wrong, once we reached 2015 we had games that truly were nexxt-gen. Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid 5, The Witcher 3, and even technical showcases like The Order: 1886 were games that needed a new generation to exist. But those games came close to two years after launch. In that time, the X1's price dropped by $150. All while the PS3 and X360 were still getting games like Dark Souls II, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Titanfall, Assassin's Creed Rogue, and so on.

My point is, next gen will be amazing, but if last gen was any indicator, it won't become anything special until 2022 or so.

Not yet, so far what has been shown are just slightly improved visuals on PS4 games. Expecting to be blown away when GOW2 get announced and gets a trailer. I haven't had an 'Uncharted 2' moment yet, which Santa Monica Studios and Naughty Dog will undoubtedly deliver on.

Horizon Forbidden West in-game in-engine is promising and the closest to impressing me If the gameplay comes close to the cinematics of the trailer, that might be the first next gen experience for the PS5 that I play.

Hopefully rumoured Silent Hill game (assuming its real) can do that for me as well.