What year will next gen debut?

With the state of the economy, the current excellent quality of graphics, and the release of new motion support from the PS3 and Xbox, it's seems we could be in for the longest console cycle in history, but exactly how long? It's pretty clear it's not going to be any time next year, so let's start with 2012, but I'm thinking it'll be at least 2014 and most likely 2015. Even Nintendo, who's hardware is extremely dated, doesn't need to come out with a new console any time soon purely based on sales figures.

I remember around E3 people were expecting to see an HD Wii. In my own opinion Nintendo will be the first to make a new system because just as you said they are extremely dated. Playstation has a motion controller that works from what I've heard better than the wiimote and is in HD. How can Nintendo compete?
I also don't think a new console will be coming out anytime soon, partially because of the state of the economy. (I don't care what any person on wall street says, people don't have as much money to blow as they did 15 years ago. And things are STILL going up!) and partially because anything they need to tweak or fix can usually be done through updates. Internet connection has extended the life of a console more than people might think.

Yeah, I don't think people really know how much an update can provide. I think that was the reason for all of the newer consoles back when I was growing up. Now, instead of dishing out a whole new system, the evolution of the internet allows developers an easy way to keep our consoles up to date. I put 2014, It's not too far off but it still gives enough time for these current consoles to develop as much as they possibly can, I still don't think we've seen the true potential of the PS3 and even the Xbox could go a little ways. I agree, if anyone's gonna drop a new console it'll be Nintendo. They're behind right now in the quality department, their first party games are great but it seems like their system is lacking in HD graphics and online capabilities, when was the last time anyone swapped friend codes. I think in the next year or so, we'll see Nintendo start teasing about a new console, but as for the others their a ways off.

Nintendo is almost a guarentee. The Wii HD would be so easy for them to do. It would take nothing now for Nintendo to get IBM and ATI to give them 360 level performance chips at a very budget price. I dare say they will keep pretty much the exact same case and design and upgrade it in the same way Apple upgraded the iphone 3G to the 3GS.

Nintendo is probably just waiting for the right moment when the supply and demand of the Wii dips to a certain point. I think Move and Kinect this holiday will certainly play into that.

I wish for next year, but guess it will have to be 2012 or later

Claustrophobic Clown wrote:

I wish for next year, but guess it will have to be 2012 or later

Why do you wish for next year? Graphics-wise, console games are rivaling their PC counterparts and in many instances beating PC graphics unless someone has a $5K rig. When the Xbox 360 debuted the current gen console graphics were lagging quite a bit behind PC's. The PS3 and 360 have still got plenty of legs left in them.

Yeah they rival them cause they are not pushing anything. Crysis alone shows you what could be and what could be expanded on.

Why stretch your legs out as far as you can, to reach the top when you can jump over it with a ladder.

Systems now are not much more than last gen in HD, I still remember a lot of us thinking these games don't look so different from XBOX when we first saw them. To the point where one of the MS reps said the difference is huge but hard to see, like toy story or toy story 2. Well, by next year we should get to see the difference in physics, textures and more immersive game play with the previously stated.

A lot of us here would buy the Xbox 3 or whatever next year if it came out next year, not that it will. Just saying I know I'd be saving up for it and its launch games and put the 360 to rest.

This generation roflstomps last gen tech wise. There's nothing on PS2 or Xbox that comes close, even on launch games.

That includes Chaos Theory and GOW2.

Clown, I know you're still playing in SD, though I'm very sure you've seen games in HD. I can't help but feel like you really need to have your own set to appreciate the massive improvements over last gen.

My friend was playing his PS3 on a 30" CRT Tube in SD, and recently upgraded to a 60" Sony LED 1080p flatscreen. Needless to say, he's no longer underwhelmed by video games. He even told me Uncharted 2 is a completely different game in HD, and I can understand why.

You lose out on resolution, you're not seeing the same image as everyone else. If you honestly think today's consoles are no better than HD versions of last gen, you're missing something.

Gears of War, Halo Reach, Uncharted 2, Killzone in their current state, could never, ever be achieved on last generation hardware. Ever.

I don't see much getting done that wasn't already created last gen.

Playing games like Riddick again, it was more fuzzy and not HD but didn't feel a huge difference in it. Halo added some neat things, but I think they could have had most of them on the Xbox as well.

Xbox is 5 years old soon, so I'm sure they can be made to look bad in a couple of years.

Memory alone is very low in the PS3 and 360.

I'm always looking forward to the next system though, I don't mind worse graphics etc, just like newer tech newer things. I still enjoy PS1/Saturn games.

If they keep waiting for the new systems, they will have to have 8 gigs of ram standard. 4 would have probably been fine for this year, but seeing as how they aren't even coming out in 2011. I think they will need at least 8GB of ram.

My point is, the Xbox 1080 could come out, you'd still miss the improvements if you were gaming in SD.

If you missed the newest Bungie Weekly Update, go take a look at what their doing with Forge 2.0.

They have a real map editor in Halo, and a seamless huge, gigantic map that people can build levels in with different terrain and sections for different styles of play called Forge World. It all loads at the same speed as any other map.

If that's the type of tech you were waiting for next gen, it's here now.

I'm sure forge is great and all, but I don't like the core game play of reach that much. They changed too much and made it feel like a departure from Halo. Now rather that is good for anyone else, it isn't for me. And that is what counts for me (not against you, I just know everyone will say how awesome reach is etc)

I would probably care more about these enhancements if I liked the core game play. I don't like the reticule bloom etc and I can't see them changing these things even if they fix a lot of the other problems.

They nerfed so much from Halo to Halo 3 (weapon shot times, and splash damage) but that was fine, now they are cod nerfing it with bloom and that isn't my arcade Halo that I have always enjoyed.

Now, as far as forge 2.0 I'm sure a lot of it could have been done on Xbox. I remember far cry having a pretty decent map editor on the Xbox when I played it.

I think advanced gesture detection in 1080p will refresh things entirely, and add what is missing from the consoles to be considered ones of a new generation, so much so that I voted 2016 in the poll.

Claustrophobic Clown wrote:

Yeah they rival them cause they are not pushing anything. Crysis alone shows you what could be and what could be expanded on.

Why stretch your legs out as far as you can, to reach the top when you can jump over it with a ladder.

Systems now are not much more than last gen in HD, I still remember a lot of us thinking these games don't look so different from XBOX when we first saw them. To the point where one of the MS reps said the difference is huge but hard to see, like toy story or toy story 2. Well, by next year we should get to see the difference in physics, textures and more immersive game play with the previously stated.

A lot of us here would buy the Xbox 3 or whatever next year if it came out next year, not that it will. Just saying I know I'd be saving up for it and its launch games and put the 360 to rest.

Hell you answered your own question there son. Crysis sucks, because all they cared about was the tech. In Crysis 2 you will be able to shoot individual leaves off trees, but will have no reason to do so and won't have fun doing so. So what's the point? Now that developers know the hardware better, they can devote more time and resources to voice acting, art, level design, etc.

So let's not get back on the hamster wheel again where we have to wade through a year of Gundam Crossfire. Are you not remembering just how phockin bleak the gaming landscape was during launch? Let's put that off for a while.

2013 sounds perfect. We've got atleast 2 more solid years of this generation.

No no, we got 5 more years in these rigs, easy, especially with motion control and 3d. Put the effort into better games for the current hardware, including voice acting and story and local co-op and long campaigns and dlc. We don't all even have 1080p sets yet.

asdfghjkl wrote:

We don't all even have 1080p sets yet.

Are you kidding me?

The majority of the people own an HDTV. HDTV's under 32' don't need 1080p, so they can just keep using 720p. The majority of the others above that size already have 1080p since 2005.

2015. Though I wouldn't really mind if it was later.

Libertine wrote:

Claustrophobic Clown wrote:

I wish for next year, but guess it will have to be 2012 or later

Why do you wish for next year? Graphics-wise, console games are rivaling their PC counterparts and in many instances beating PC graphics unless someone has a $5K rig. When the Xbox 360 debuted the current gen console graphics were lagging quite a bit behind PC's. The PS3 and 360 have still got plenty of legs left in them.

Give it a rest. You don't need to spend 5k on a rig to beat the 360 or ps3. Any well built pc would kill 360 for about 1200 bucks or little less if you know how to build them.

It's tiring to see this attitude towards pcs. They are better in (almost) every way, except ease of use. That doesn't matter to me but it does for many people. On pc I get to determine more of what experience is had for myself with games.

Jeez, just one of my 9800M gt's would crush the gpu in the 360 and the ps3.

Take a good look at metro 2033 in dx 10 as compared to console games. Nevermind a dx 11 rig.

I ain't happy about the way consoles are going right now.
I'll let people know, when the consoles come out short of the resources they really need to do full dx 11 on purpose.

You know, not enough ram the biggest offender to keeping the pc, so called superior. Ahhhh you say "This guy just helped the other guys arguement!"

I know why PC is better but ram isn't one of them so to speak.

The next consoles both need at least 4 gigs of ram, at least 4 gigs. Then the pc graphics argument will not hold up. But the freedom of choice on pc's will. They both need t least 480GTX or ati equivalent. Then build from there.

Nope, either console will get either. They will both be short in the hardware dept as usual. It sickening to watch it over and over and over again.

I can wait.

Oh noes! I exaggerated on the interwebs! Although honestly, I don't think consoles need anywhere near the amount of RAM as a PC since they run stripped down OS's and there's not a million (note: hyperbole) programs and processes that will be draining resources.

Libertine:

My real beef in my last post is, the fact MS and Sony and Nintendo all have the money and know how to put enough ram in the system for the same price points machines are now, but won't.

I know all about processes and all that crap about PCs. I know it's real.

That has nothing to do with making the console powerful enough to do DX11 hands down. Take a good look at crysis and metro 2033 on pc. These two games give an idea of where games should be going but aren't.

Next gen consoles will have 1 gig or 1.5 maybe. Not enough in my opinion.

so yes, I can wait.

Claustrophobic Clown wrote:

Yeah they rival them cause they are not pushing anything. Crysis alone shows you what could be and what could be expanded on.

Why stretch your legs out as far as you can, to reach the top when you can jump over it with a ladder.

Systems now are not much more than last gen in HD, I still remember a lot of us thinking these games don't look so different from XBOX when we first saw them. To the point where one of the MS reps said the difference is huge but hard to see, like toy story or toy story 2. Well, by next year we should get to see the difference in physics, textures and more immersive game play with the previously stated.

A lot of us here would buy the Xbox 3 or whatever next year if it came out next year, not that it will. Just saying I know I'd be saving up for it and its launch games and put the 360 to rest.

If we could find one. If Xbox 3 came out 11-11-11 there would be overnight lines at best buy and gamestop.

I voted 2012 since 2011 not an option.

So, I don't really know what is currently going on in this thread so I will stay out of it.

i'm going to have to say 2014 because it gives microsoft and sony time to put out kinect and playstation move and plenty more time to start working on a new console.