Forget what *might* be, what do you *want* to be in the next gen?

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DragonMasterAlex

2[H]4U
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So I've been thinking about this a bit, in part because I'm convinced that Nintendo will actually launch next gen with an announcement in 2011 and release in 2012, but more generally I'm thinking of it in two categories: Consoles and Portables, vendor neutral. Let's not talk about "Playstation" this, "Xbox" that or "Wii" whatever, let's just think in more basic terms:

What do you want from next gen's home console? Next gen's portable?

To start things off, here are some hopes and the reasons for them.

CONSOLE:

Visuals: I'd like to see something that can do basically what 360 and PS3 can do, but at a native 1080p render with 16x AA. My reasons for this are simple: Most HD sets going forward are going to be 1080p (may Ultra HD die before anybody gets any stupid ideas), and jaggies suck. Today's consoles need to make tradeoffs in this regard: more fx, or more AA? I'd like them to not have to choose.

Audio: Optical connectors on everything, please. I'm perfectly happy if you support 5.1 (7.1 is nice, but not required; if they make it at least optional, I'll call "good enough"), but goddammit, gimme an optical connector. And don't effing disable it just because I plugged in an HDMI cable!

Form factor: Smaller is better, across the board. I want it powerful, but I don't want it huge. PS3 slim size or smaller, please, at launch. If this means we won't get top-end PC GPU capability, that's fine-year or so old tech that's been die-shrunk and made to run relatively cool is fine, as long as it can meet the visual hopes above.

Controls: We've learned a lot about controls this gen, including how to really botch motion controls and how to do really great ones (both extremes on Wii). I'm looking for WMP caliber detection or better, ideally without obnoxious lights anywhere on the device. If adding cameras to the mix helps, that's fine, do what you need to do. HOWEVER, I also want options-I'd prefer that every game, without exception, give you the option to use a classic type controller or the motion controls, at your discretion. Even if it's the same controller with the motion stuff ignored-fine.

Also, on the control or interface front, surprise me with something, would ya? Let's not have 3 almost identical consoles again--that made for a boring generation. Do something unique, something BEYOND the refinement of the Wiimote or the questionable nature of Natal. Surprose me. Please.

SDK's: Open the goddamn platform! Microsoft has made some progress here with its indie games service, but I want to see EVERYONE provide an SDK and a low-cost point of entry for indie development studios to get their wares on the system. Don't lock them out of hardware features, either, that's ridiculous. And let them price their stuff however they want-if an indie wants to give their wares away for free, *let them*.

Connectivity: 802.11n in the box, of the 300Mb variety, not that 150 crap. 'nuff said. I don't give a crap about web browsers, it's a games console, after all, not a PC. Beyond that, software that can use the internet (see SDK) should have free access to the internet, provided you've got a connection to log your console into, of course. Oh, and guys, if I provide the internet connection, the game and the P2P server, lemme play online for free, huh? I get that you need to make money--but charge me for something you actually *provide*, don't make me pay to use something I'm already paying for.

Media Features: I didn't expect to care too much for the media features of 360 and PS3 this gen, but I LOVE streaming content with a passion, and I love being able to snag episodes of stuff I missed from the web so I can play it back. Support for even more containers and codecs (I'm looking at you, MKV) would be damn nice. Icing on the cake would be MORE partnerships with content providers for a native app: Hulu, Vudu and other services, even premium ones, would be a welcome addition.

Integration: Integrate with your portable and do it well. PS3/PSP and Wii/DS already do this to some extent, but I want to see the integration become much, much tighter. I'd like to see full games with portable counterparts like what Dreamcast and it's VMU games had, but nicer. Maybe I can't play my RPG while I'm out being portable, but it'd be nice to be able to run my character around and grind for some levels and gold while I'm out and about, then upload the character and his new buffs back into my game.

Portable:

Graphics: Easy enough: surpass PSP by a little, we'll call it good enough.

Sound: Stereo should do, as long as it's at a decent bitrate and will sound good with some decent headphones. I'd like half decent speakers in the device itself, but given the nature of the device it's not exactly critical. I'm prone to wear headphones while porta-gaming anyway.

Controls: Touch screen and stylus support are a given, as are some various button and dual analog stick support. Face and voice recognition could be nice, too, but beyond that I'm at a loss as to what to recommend for a revolution in portable gaming controls.

Storage/Distribution: Flash only, please. Optical media in a portable device is a disaster. Don't do that. And let's integrate a decent chunk of storage at the outset, huh? I see 8GB MicroSD cards for $20 and less at RETAIL these days, so gimme 8-16 gigs internal and a MicroSD slot to do with as I please and we'll be good. Don't limit developers as to the sizes they can use (yes, I know that cart-ROM's are different than flash memory in SD cards). Make your online stores robust and accessible via the web, using real money, not points. I don't want to do conversions. I'm lazy.

SDK: Just like with the home consoles, release an SDK and let the indies go nuts. Feel free to skim 30% off the top of what developers charge, that's fine, nobody (well, OK, some people are, but ignore them) is asking for a free ride, but make it worth their while. It'll be in your best interests to help indie's succeed and will pad your bottom line along with theirs. That's called Win/Win Capitalism, buddy. Put ads for well ranked indie games on your service! Even if you make the indie's themselves *design* the ads, do a little pop-up promotion!

Controller connectivity: This gen's home consoles use wireless controllers, 2 out of 3 of them, bluetooth. Put that connectivity in the portable and let it make use of the home console's controllers. PSP Go got this (and very little else) right and the idea should be carried forward.

TV Connectivity: Let me connect my portable to the TV if I'm so inclined. Maybe sell me a dock that connects to a mini-HDMI port or something, so if I prefer to have just a portable console I can use it on my tv when I'm at home, relaxing on the couch.

Media Support: Let me take my MP3's and ripped dvd's on the road, please.

Screen: Ideally, I'd like a 480p screen with multitouch. Dual screens if you can swing it, or at least a clamshell design so the screen is protected. Cameras would be nice--DSi's inward and outward facing cameras are a nice touch, but they need a rez boost. Stylus support is a must, too.

Online Connectivity: At least 802.11g Wifi support, n preferred if it's not gonna drive the price up a bunch. I don't see 3G as necessary or desirable, given that it generally comes with a subscription fee.

And that's about what I've got. I've avoided specific details about specs-exact processors, ram and so on-simply because so much can change between now and the time these things are readied for release.

Love to see what everyone else is looking for in a next gen device :)
 
pretty much everything you said apart from in
home consoles:
full hd 3d support 120fps (wether its with glasses or powerful enough for 3dtvs that dont require glasses)

Massive Hard Drives ps3 got it right with being able to get your own.

If you have multiple of the same console i want it to be easy to get all dlc to all of them without having to download the same content multiple times.

Full BC wether im gonna use it or not

portables:
i want minimum of 64gb for portable consoles, my psp go is already dying for the 32gb m2s to come out (27gb of psp games already)

Full BC wether im gonna use it or not

i think tethering is important if your out and about and want a quick blast online and theres no hotspot available.

I think the most important thing for me is the home dock situation so i can also use it as a full blown gaming/media centre

Rumble would be nice if batteries can hack it

Dual analogue please, wether its onscreen or hardware

To follow suit with Apple (as much as i hate them!) with their 2 solution ipod touch or a potable with phone capabilities (iphone)
 
Not a bad addition. I agree with tethering, and rumble would be nice (as long as you can disable it if you prefer to, of course; I'd hate to be stuck with it on long trips when I really need to maximize battery life). I don't think 3D support will be big (not a big enough market by the time next gen launches), but as long as it can be disabled I have no arguments with it being included in the system.

It'd be nice to tether a game system to your phone via bluetooth. It'd sure be nice if fucking AT&T would let us have tethering on our damned iphones already.

Although I don't see 64GB as very likely with the next generation of portables, I could see somewhere between 8 and 32 being possible, maybe 16 as the likely "happy medium". As long as they can take SD cards (MicroSD is fine) to expand, that'll be good enough. I say that based on my belief that the next *portable* gen is coming sometime between late 2010 and late 2011. Today's portables are now 6 year old tech, it's about time for a leap :).

I do agree with BC, and think the Wii's method is the ideal one, so Virtual Consoles all around :)
 
I like the way consoles are right now, an increase in visuals is fine, standardized AA is also good, i think 16xAA might be asking for too much unless you want to have the same geometry with shader detail and just get rid of the jaggies then I see your point.

Size, controls, space is good, of course newer consoles will come with bigger HDD's, looks all of these I'm plenty fine with right now.

One thing though that is a MUST is native 1080p output with better sound output.

I don't know I can't see the PS3 or the Xbox360 going in any of the wrong directions, of course adding features will be a must and increase in performance as well.
 
At this point, I'd just like to be able to play a console that wasn't using hardware from 2003. That's all I want.
 
No more loading screens in the new engines - have everything stream loaded while you are playing... or at the very least, cleverly hide them (Uncharted for example) .

Seem-less complex indoor and complex outdoor environments. GTA, and every other FPS, I'm looking at you on the next interation.

The ability to pause games whenever,
PLUS the ability to "suspend" and save game states.. So I can quit and shut off the console, turn it on, start another game, suspend that game, and resume another game state. (reference, PSP GO)

When you finish a game, you should be able play it back like a "recap". For example, all the cut scenes put together, and some of the gameplay highlights in between. Final Fantasy 15, I'm looking at you.

Also, maybe, instead of saves, you just have the ability to "rewind" time. (I believe Duke Nukem 3D for Xbox 360 had this interesting feature)

More complex environments, more interactable stuff. I'm tired of shooting down a corridor or warehouse with indestructible stuff.
 
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Much better media player sorting and search for MP3s and deeper games is a must for me because most current console games just do not float my boat. My Nintendo 8 bit and Sega Genesis had deeper games than either PS3 or 360 has. Not one fucking Koei Romance of the 3 Kingdoms type game on PS3 just sucks. It doesn't even have Chess FFS!
 
Udo said:
Much better media player sorting and search for MP3s and deeper games is a must for me because most current console games just do not float my boat. My Nintendo 8 bit and Sega Genesis had deeper games than either PS3 or 360 has. Not one fucking Koei Romance of the 3 Kingdoms type game on PS3 just sucks. It doesn't even have Chess FFS!
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Generally I'd agree-this generation has had some amazingly shallow games highlighted by nothing more than visual polish. It's the hallmark of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, unfortunately. There are enough exceptions that they're worth owning--but they're far from being the majority of games.

I'd actually say 80% of this generation's games are complete garbage.
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
It'd be nice to tether a game system to your phone via bluetooth. It'd sure be nice if fucking AT&T would let us have tethering on our damned iphones already :)
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i absolutely love this on the psp go. cranking up an online game of motorstorm AE anywhere was one of my gaming highlights of 2009.

i have the feeling that MS Is going to storm the handheld market with windws mobile 7 with xbox live integration. infact that should be on my portable list.
 
RS3RS said:
At this point, I'd just like to be able to play a console that wasn't using hardware from 2003. That's all I want.
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It's a vicious circle tho, you'll be saying in 2017 that you your sick of playing a games console based on hardware from 2010.

tbh I'm pretty meh about next gen home consoles, it's just gonna be bigger and brasher than now with the same games part X at a higher resolution with the same fanboy bullshit flying around.

Personally I'm looking forward to the next round of portable, I'd love it to contain everything in one device. Say a PSP2 in a PSPGo housing with touch screen, dual analogue, at least 3.2mp cam and phone capeabilities (with all that entails nowadays). If done right, which is unlikely given Sony's track record, it would kick ass.
 
Rash said:
i absolutely love this on the psp go. cranking up an online game of motorstorm AE anywhere was one of my gaming highlights of 2009.

i have the feeling that MS Is going to storm the handheld market with windws mobile 7 with xbox live integration. infact that should be on my portable list.
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You might be right, I've actually been thinking about that a bit lately. The various "insider" leaks are generally calling WinMo 7 a real ace of a product (and it'd have to be after the stinker that is WinMo 6.x, heh), and MS's been talking "Live Anywhere" for a long time. It'd make some solid business sense to play off the iPhone model and turn up the heat by requiring something along the lines of a Tegra processor in every WinMo 7 device to guarantee a baseline for the games market.

Will PSP Go tether to a mobile phone for internet via bluetooth? If so, that's a nice feature. Still not nice enough to justify their obscene price point for essentially 6 year old hardware, but a nice incremental addition, anyway. I'd like to see it in future portables, for sure.
 
Tigerblade said:
It's a vicious circle tho, you'll be saying in 2017 that you your sick of playing a games console based on hardware from 2010.

tbh I'm pretty meh about next gen home consoles, it's just gonna be bigger and brasher than now with the same games part X at a higher resolution with the same fanboy bullshit flying around.

Personally I'm looking forward to the next round of portable, I'd love it to contain everything in one device. Say a PSP2 in a PSPGo housing with touch screen, dual analogue, at least 3.2mp cam and phone capeabilities (with all that entails nowadays). If done right, which is unlikely given Sony's track record, it would kick ass.
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I actually have a lot more faith in Nintendo to do a portable games system right than anyone else, but those goals seem decent enough.

As for the vicious cycle, yeah-that's true of all tech, no escaping it :). I think the day is coming when it no longer matters, though, at least from a graphics perspective. Nintendo said with Wii that "graphics are good enough", and though most of us poo-poo'd that idea, they've been proven right, through and through.

I don't think consoles will need to go much further than PS3 and 360 go to make most audiences happy (the hardcore will never be happy, and it's a moot point to try and make them so), but it'd be nice if the games were a true 1080p with no jaggies or slowdown. I'd even take consoles with no hard drive at all, and a 32-64GB chunk of flash memory if it'd make the load times decent. 360's aren't too terrible, but PS3's are unbelievably slow.
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
Will PSP Go tether to a mobile phone for internet via bluetooth? If so, that's a nice feature. Still not nice enough to justify their obscene price point for essentially 6 year old hardware, but a nice incremental addition, anyway. I'd like to see it in future portables, for sure.
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Yeah it does, nice little feature especially for PlayTV over remote play.
 
Tigerblade said:
Yeah it does, nice little feature especially for PlayTV over remote play.
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That's awesome, I like that. I also like that you can bluetooth connect a dual shock to it and connect it to your TV; I'd like to see both those features become common to portable consoles. What I'd like to see *stop* with portable consoles is charging way too damn much money for archaic hardware :)
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
That's awesome, I like that. I also like that you can bluetooth connect a dual shock to it and connect it to your TV; I'd like to see both those features become common to portable consoles. What I'd like to see *stop* with portable consoles is charging way too damn much money for archaic hardware :)
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Isn't just a portable console problem really tho. By the time PS4/xbox720 (or whatever it's gonna be called) hits the tech there is gonna be at least a year old if not more so early adopters will be royally raped hard in the wallet. Nature of the beast unfortunatley.
 
Tigerblade said:
Isn't just a portable console problem really tho. By the time PS4/xbox720 (or whatever it's gonna be called) hits the tech there is gonna be at least a year old if not more so early adopters will be royally raped hard in the wallet. Nature of the beast unfortunatley.
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No doubt, too. With regards to the archaic hardware, I'm mostly referring to PSP Go, which is massively overpriced for its 6 year old hardware. If I've learned only one thing from this gen, it's that I'll never again be an early adopter. They always get the shaft compared to the deals and improved hardware/games libraries that come later. I'm SO glad I waited on PS3, and ended up with a better system with twice the hard drive that uses half the power for one third the cost (factoring in the $100 worth of free games I got in my bundle, I essentially paid $199 for my PS3 slim).

To be fair, I never felt like I should have waited on the Wii; between the games I've enjoyed solo and all the fun I've had with family and friends on the system, it's been well worth its launch day purchase price. Still, next gen I'll definitely be waiting for at least the first round of price drops on all consoles across the board.
 
F@H still on PS4. Don't include it on the XBOX Whatever or I'd rarely get to game. :D
 
Kowan said:
F@H still on PS4. Don't include it on the XBOX Whatever or I'd rarely get to game. :D
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LOL. I rarely ever turn on the folding app. I suspect it's because I'm too lazy, though it may also be that I just don't give a shit. I'm not sure which.

It'd be nice if you could set it to folding runs any time you're browsing the dash or doing something that doesn't need much CPU power.
 
I think I’d actually be pretty happy with what Sony originally scoped the PS3 to do.
I want 1080p visuals running at a steady 60fps.
I want a machine capable of lossless or HD-codec audio in real time. As far as I know it doesn’t take any extra power to do 7.1 over 5.1, so they might as well support that even if almost nobody’s using it. Since not everyone will have the setup to use this, the ability to have normal Dolby 5.1 or even just PCM 2.1 is also essential.
3D support. Might as well toss it in there as I’m sure it’ll at least partially catch on during the lifetime of the system. It’s going to be the next big thing someday, so early support is essential. Do I care…not really, but that might change in 5-6 years.
I want an online interface akin to Xbox live AND the ability to use the internet on the fly as well.
USB support as much as possible. KB/M? Treat it like DirectInput so that no matter what kind of mouse you have, it just sees the buttons as 1,2,3, etc. For the keyboard, offer us a single utility to map who we want the controls (arrows, WASD, etc.) that games will support across the board. Keep it simple so that game makers will support it.
Replaceable storage options and support for lots of portable media forms.
The option to have reduced quality chat to save bandwidth. Gimme the low quality XBL chat over the Bandwidth hog that is Bluetooth any day. Give us both options.
Motion controls. Not every game needs or supports them, the integrated Natal or even Wii MP is needed.
3D support. Might as well toss it in there as I’m sure it’ll at least partially catch on during the lifetime of the system. It’s going to be the next big thing someday, so early support is essential.
 
What I want:

1) Full 1080p support on ALL games, not 720p (or even upscaled)
2) Rock-solid hardware (Sony, MS... I'm looking at you :mad:)

What I do not want:

1) Motion controls
2) Motion controls
3) Motion controls
 
inotocracy said:
What I want:

1) Full 1080p support on ALL games, not 720p (or even upscaled)
2) Rock-solid hardware (Sony, MS... I'm looking at you :mad:)

What I do not want:

1) Motion controls
2) Motion controls
3) Motion controls
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LOL

Sadly, I think we're being primed for the next "cool" thing as being 3D gaming with motion controls....imagine that breakout game they always demo for Natal only in 3D. While that might be kind of neat to mess around with, or show off your new stuff to your buddies, I really hope that is not the future of gaming. However, with every major player now in on the motion controls and 3D being shoved down everyone's throats the way it currently is, I think it's probably more of a matter of when than a matter of if.
 
^ Sadly, I agree. They're going to get shoved down our throats. I admit that motion controls are fun for "some" games, but its a select few. I don't want motions controls in God of War, Tekken, etc. Sports games are fine since those vibe really well for the Wii, but anything else.. please just give me a dual analog so I can sit and relax on my couch when I play.
 
I like the idea of optional motion controls...but not required. That's one of those areas that irk me about the Wii. Don't force me to wiggle the stick or whatever in a game that doesn't need it. Just let me play some games with a stationary pad.
 
Just thought of a good example: the New Super Mario Bros on the Wii. I need to shake the damn controller to spin? Really? Thats a tactical move too (bouncing on spikes), very irritating.
 
That was actually the game I was thinking of :) For that matter, ditto for Super Mario Galaxy, and even Zelda.
 
I really don't care about the size, it's the performance that matters. To get a next gen card into a console like the Fermi that dumps 200W of heat I wouldn't want the a tiny box.
 
WANT

No new console, all developers move to the PC platform.
Handheld - single 720p touch screen psp. USB 3.0, SD slots. HDMI out.

LIKELY

3 new consoles, XBox 720, PS4, Nintendo Techno. 720 and PS4 completely different but run the same software at the same levels. Techno will likely be an HD wii with better online.
 
Well, as for portables I don't think HD of any kind will EVER be necessary for just those little screens. Now, if we get the TV connectivity and that becomes a legitimate option, we may be talking :).

As to motion controls, they're here to stay, we might as well get used to it. We also might as well realize that, motion controls aren't a problem--BAD motion controls are a problem. The same has been true of every controller type *ever*, including dual analog sticks-somehow, some developers just end up doing a shit job of implementing controls. I have no idea why.

I will say this: Anybody who had the expectation that this gen, the first with motion controls, would hit a high mark on all or even most games, is absolutely out of their minds. I can sum up this generation's motion controlled game paradigm with two words: LEARNING CURVE. This is the first generation with motion controls, it's only natural that there'd be a lot of failure to go along with a handful of successes in figuring out what works and what doesn't.

I fully expect next gen's motion controls, both in terms of technology AND in terms of implementation, to be a lot better. Heck, even this gen so far they've improved *drastically* compared to Wii and PS3's year 1 motion controls.
 
Consoles
Can't really think of a lot that I really need changed on consoles. Built in 802.11n and larger storage are no-brainers. As for visuals, I think I'm happy with current gen visuals if it will keep the cost down. I would like to see games running at 60fps and 1080p as standard though. Extra RAM for larger environments never hurt either. I could go without all the "next-gen" control schemes though. Just give me a 360 control pad and I'll be happy. SSDs that you could install games to would be nice to cut down on load times, but I get the feeling it's still a ways off before that's even remotely cost effective.

Portables
These on the other hand... First off, ditch all the wacky control schemes from the DS and PSP. Give me a single D-Pad on the left, 2 face buttons on the right, two shoulder buttons, and a single, 3-4 inch, capacitive (no stylus) screen in the middle. 802.11n and 16GB flash are bare minimum. Build it on Nvidia's Tegra 2 SOC for plenty of visual horsepower. Offer games via download (ala the PSP Go) or flash based cartridge (ala the DS) at a broad range of prices. Though it would be nice, 3/4G wireless is unnecessary. It will just drive up the price of the system and require a monthly fee. And offer real online gaming, no more of this ad-hoc and/or friend code BS.
 
i would like to see the next gen basicly just step it up a notch with perofrmance, i mean to me a console is just a cheap computer whos sole purpose is to play specific games, why not just improve the performance, keep the controls and step up the graphics and sound..
 
deweatherly said:
i would like to see the next gen basicly just step it up a notch with perofrmance, i mean to me a console is just a cheap computer whos sole purpose is to play specific games, why not just improve the performance, keep the controls and step up the graphics and sound..
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The problem here is that with each successive generation, the leap in performance becomes less and less important to more and more people. So console makers have to turn to other ways to sell their product to those who were perfectly happy with the last generation's visuals.
 
Itchyeyes said:
The problem here is that with each successive generation, the leap in performance becomes less and less important to more and more people. So console makers have to turn to other ways to sell their product to those who were perfectly happy with the last generation's visuals.
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Yea yourt right like the wii... but i think the next gen of xbox and ps will step up a notch and not comform to the 8-13 and family crowd
 
I just want to point out that the majority of *wants* in this thread make it look like you guys want a PC. ;)
 
Bankie said:
I just want to point out that the majority of *wants* in this thread make it look like you guys want a PC. ;)
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In theory, sure...but with the plug/play ease and singular experience offered by a console. Once PC's can do that, we won't need consoles. It's been 20 years and we're still waiting.
 
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