What will a REAL next gen console be like?

[Comrade Snarky]

I've been considering this for a long time. Let's just look past the Wii U, because there's nothing really interesting going on there. I'll touch on that later though, because it is important.

I'm sort of interested if there will be a splintering of the industry in the future. Sony and Microsoft seem to want to drive the console further and further away from being a console. One look at the new 360 dash basically says that Microsoft doesn't have much of an interest in being a pure game console anymore. That's telling of the kind of company that Microsoft is; they like to go by the biggest numbers that appear to them instead of digging deeper and doing some actual research. What I mean by that is the absurd amount of hours spent in Netflix streaming. Microsoft brass seems to think that the future of their console is in video, music and social content. Which can be seen by games being pushed to the fourth or fifth tab on the new dash. This is somewhat foolish considering the fact that countless more hours are sunk into multiplayer games like Call of Duty as opposed to Netflix.

This looks like even more of a stupid move when you consider that Microsoft said today that they have sold 66 million Xbox 360s with 40 million Live accounts. That's almost a third of Xbox 360s that AREN'T consuming copious amounts of other media, since Netflix is only available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. It's also worth noting that the 40 million Live accounts aren't broken into Silver and Gold subscribers, so it could be an even smaller number that Microsoft has been retooling the Xbox brand for.

The PlayStation 3 has remained less focused on other media, and I'm kind of wishing I had gone the Sony route just a little bit more every day. It hasn't been a wildly successful system though. There are good exclusives, but when most of the other games can be found on Xbox 360 running better and with the console coming in at a cheaper price, it's not a surprise that the PlayStation 3 hasn't found as large of a market as the PlayStation 2.

This is where I want to come back to the Wii U. It doesn't seem to be wildly technically impressive, and the tablet style controller seems like a REALLY stupid idea to me. I thinkt hat Nintendo may have a slight advantage though. They haven't been a company (so far) to embrace other media on their consoles as much. Netflix is available, but that's the extent of it. You can't even watch DVDs.

This is where I'm curious if there will be a splintering of the industry.

I think Microsoft is in a dangerous place of swinging way off of the main gamer radar. The latest dash has been a slap in the face, and their emphasis on Facebook and other media on the 360 reeks of a typical Microsoft misunderstanding of an industry. Sony, on the other hand, have the same bureaucratic nightmare of a business that Microsoft do. I'm sure they'll be nipping at the heels of Microsoft in putting similar content onto their next console.

Then there's Nintendo; as strange as it may sound, I'm wondering if they may really actually take back the hardcore. I think that Microsoft and Sony are eventually going to reach a point where gamers push back against this integration of all of this other content into their gaming machine. The only thing I've really seen people use on their Xboxes is Netflix. Not Facebook. Not whatever ESPN they have streaming.

Nintendo is in a unique place to show gamers that it means gaming. Not all of this silly shit that Microsoft has diverged into, and that Sony will probably be crashing after them trying to imitate. If they can position the company correctly, they could probably really stir things up. I hate to say "my friends" because it's not a good indication of the majority, but they're getting pretty irritated at all of the constant dash changes on their Xboxes and all of the advertisements. I've found myself even turning to my Wii more lately because it feels like it was actually meant to play games.

So, that's my thoughts. Who knows, though.

[Hiryosuke]

Well I can speak as one who took the sony route...imo they've taken a less invasive route as far as the whole multimedia thing has gone...the xmb has certain services that poo up under video but u jus scroll across and ignore them or scroll down to the videos u put on ur ps3...as far as advertising goes the most I notice is the scrolling ticker thing at the top right of the screen (imagine emergency broadcast system/espn score ticker) and its so small its not intrusive but at the same time you look up to see whats scrilling across because they let u know whats new on the playstation store especially high profile demos...and also they don't cram netflix down ur throat or any other advertisements that I've seen for that matter...I think one of the cooler things is when u open the browser to the homepage sony has a tab for crackle which is their free streaming service and its a version that's been optimized for the system...I think if sony keeps this attitude in the next gen and get the price of their hardware down they'll not have as much to worry aboyt as ms from what I read in ur post...

[SEGA-TUDE]

i agree about sony microsoft and nintendo. all microsoft gives a shit about is how much money they'll get from it. they dont give two shits about gaming. sony gives more of a shit but is no different from microsoft but then again ther competing each other. nintendo is just using the controller as a gimmick to buy ther console. that controller is gonna be fun for so little things when it comes down to playing games on it and is probably gonna get in the way of playing games plus that controller looks like it would give you a cramp to your hands in a hour trying to hold it with out dropping it. through out the three nintendo is gonna have a more wave of actual video games instead of hundreds of fps games. yet then again i haven't seen much support to nintendo. nintendo is looking more to go to play then sony and microsoft but i wont turn nintendo and i don't see sega supporting any games for ther console. so yea i don't see anything for next gen video gaming unless someone new steps in.

[CruSega]

I guess Nintendo can never be counted out. Personally, I don't like them for their monopolistic practices in the 80s and early 90s which prevented many good games (some already released in Japan) to be released on the TG-16 or produced for the Sega Genesis.

[stu]

I think that is certainly true about Microsoft. It seems they are intent on making the Xbox a generic entertainment system, rather than a straight game console.
If some of the latest rumors end up being true about MS exploring the next Xbox as some kind of tablet/TV based game console hybrid then I think it just would show that they are trying to imitate the current trends (eg the popularity of iPad etc) and aiming directly at the mass market, rather than gamers.
This may well backfire badly on Microsoft as far as the hard core gamer goes and may well send former Xbox owners in to the arms of either Sony or Nintendo.

As for Sony, I really cannot tell what is going to happen as there really isn't much information to go on as far as the next gen Playstation, other than there is definitely one in development (hardly a surprise really! )

My hope with Sony is that they keep the next Playstation more a game console than some living room appliance. From what I've seen from PSVita I am optimistic that Sony will build the next Playstation/PS4 as a game console 1st and glorified set top box 2nd, it would seem that PSVita is aimed directly at the hard core gamers and that is the way it should be imo.

Nintendo for me is always the hard one to guess. All 3 of the last Nintendo systems released (DS, Wii and 3DS) were all forecasted by some to be epic failures, however the DS has sold over 100 million units and the Wii over 70 million, hardly failures. ( I remember people mocking the Wii brand name and the game controller, then predicting it would be a failure, I think Nintendo got the last laugh on that one! ) Even though the 3DS has had issues initially with slow sales and a poor catalog of titles, Nintendo has managed to turn it around and really start to sell systems. Thats why I am hesitant to write off the Wii U, even though its going to be underpowered compared to the next gen Playstation and Xbox (not a big deal imo, personally speaking I look at how fun the game is to play, then consider the graphics) and the seemingly unwieldy tablet controller. That controller for me is really the big question mark, if devs can find innovative ways of using the tablet controller in games then it could be a big as the Wiimote, how ever if the games don't use it then it could also be a disaster for Nintendo in they screw it up. I hope for Nintendo's sake that their developers are already finding innovative ways of using it in games.

I also doubt there really is much to the current FUD that is being posted on this forum section about the seeming lack of 3rd party dev support proving that the Wii U will be a failure. Remember, Nintendo more than any other console manufacturer is notorious for being secretive where game development is concerned and since the rumors indicate that the Wii U specs are still perhaps subject to change, this maybe why we aren't hearing much about the games in development. My other point regarding this subject is that, historically speaking, having a lot of 3rd party support for their systems has not been a big priority for Nintendo and it is normally their own in house games that sell the systems. Speaking personally I'm not going to count the Wii U out just yet.

[SEGA-TUDE]

So im guessing the whole speculating and rumors about new consoles are over and everyone is retreating to talk about old hardware.