Are The Next Gen Consoles Necessary?

  A conversation I was having with some friends of mine at work last night sparked a nagging question for me. See, I had let a friend of mine borrow my copy of The Last of Us to try out before he bought it. We were basically geeking out about how great of a game it was, and the great cinematic qualities of it. How it flowed seamlessly between gameplay, and cut scenes, etc, etc. Talking about this posed a question from him. He basically asked if a game as great in gameplay quality, and graphics is possible on the PS3 then why bother releasing a new console.

  I know the parties made their cases for their new consoles, but all they really covered were a bunch of specs, and adding the ability to share gameplay on social media sites. Both of those points are kind of redundant, and I'm going to spend a majority of this blog explaining why. Before anyone unleashes the fanboy/girl rage on me, just hear me out. Also, I've noticed the illustrious PC master race jumping in on this argument quite a bit. This blog isn't for anyone who plays PC games. I actually have a lot to say about PC gaming, and will cover that in another blog.

  Specs for consoles have never really reflected sales, or fan appreciation of consoles. Penny Arcade's Extra Credits actually illustrated this point quite well, and I will have a video embedded below this paragraph. Simply put, if specs sold the console then Atari should reign supreme over all console industries after their release of the Atari Jaguar. Hell, their whole ad campaign was centered around their graphics processor, with their famous slogan "Do the math".

  How did the Jaguar do? Horribly. The Atari Jaguar was a commercial, and business failure that nearly wiped Atari out single handedly. Why was this? I could literally fill an entire blog with all the reasons the Jaguar failed, but it was mostly due to the fact that a majority of their games did not match with what Atari boasted about their console's processing power. This due in part of developers not really knowing what to do with it, and the fact that their deadlines were far too strenuous to toy around with it's full potential. 

  Now, what does that have to do with the release of the next generation of consoles? Everything! After watching the video I embedded earlier, it appears that this is a recurring theme in console history. Specs do not make a console...well...not completely anyway. What makes a console is the experience it offers the player. If the specs don't hold up to that then it's just wasted effort. 

 

This was pretty much the fate of the Atari Jaguar. 

 

  To the next point. The whole social media options offered by both Sony, and Microsoft. Both companies claim their new consoles will allow players to livestream, and upload gameplay, and pics from their consoles. On the surface this sounds great. However, after you take into account the price of both consoles (aside from the fee required for online multiplayer) it would probably be cheaper to buy hardware for your current gen console that allows for the same thing. 

  Now that we've ruled out those two arguments, let us examine the initial question. Is a new console necessary? Well, I think it all depends on what you want from your console. If graphics are what you're looking at then probably not. I know the next gen processors are more powerful than the current gen, but all that really means is that small bugs in texture pop-ins, and such won't be that much of a problem. 

  Adam Sessler of Rev3Games made a valid point regarding loading screens. Hopefully in this generation of consoles we'll see fewer, if any, loading screens. That would be a great change in the overall gameplay experience. 

  Truthfully, we won't know the need, if any, for a new console until about a couple years after they release. That's usually when a console really starts to shine. After developers have had time to work with them, and figure out all they're actually capable of accomplishing on them. Usually the games that come from a console's initial launch don't look like that vast of an improvement from the previous generation. 

  I know those of you who know me know that I've already pre-ordered one of the consoles (not saying which...don't want to get roped into the whole console wars thing), and that I plan on purchasing the other very soon. That is because, outside of this blog that I do, I do some freelance writing for gaming e-zines, and that I do review games from time to time. My passion requires that I own at least one, if not both, of the new consoles. The main reason I work a full time job, outside of living expenses, is to provide capitol for all this. 

  Also I'm not going into the whole "games are going all digital soon" thing here. I'll save that for another blog. The whole purpose of this blog was to try to resolve a question that has been plaguing me, as well as others, regarding the new generation of consoles. In short, I don't know what will come of the new consoles. No one really does. As always, we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you all for indulging me, and happy gaming everyone.