A holodeck creates physical matter.
The Next-gen Situation discussion *spawn
- Thread starter gongo
- Start date
One thing to keep in mind about the Xbox next vs PS4 performance comparisons IMO is that if you consider the next generation in terms of X number of Xbox 360s, a next generation Kinect 2.0 may have many hundreds of gigaflops devoted to it. Microsoft actually has a specific use for higher performance with Kinect and therefore the idea that the next Xbox is the most powerful actually makes sense in this context. The real world performance on the other hand may be a lot more similar say if the PS4 is 6* Xbox 360 and the Nextbox is 8* Xbox 360 if say a whole Xbox 360 worth of performance is devoted to Kinect.
I am moving towards 'no'.
Why would you need dedicated processing on the device when you aren't limited by bandwidth (USB3) or processing power to nearly the same extent? I suspect that the system will be designed as simply as possible and with ample processing available on the Xbox 3's GPU and CPU, why not use that instead? It gives greater flexibility with software and lower cost, especially if they intend to put a Kinect 2.0 in every box they ship.
If Kinect 2 is only intended as an interface to Xbox and PC, sure.
If they have any intentions of maybe hooking it up to other devices without the CPU processing power like a TV, cable set-top box, or even the repurposed 360 that's being sold as a media streamer, then it might need its own processor.
What if you decouple gameplay from screen refresh? Update inputs at like 120hz, only draw half or one quarter of that to keep the game as responsive as possible...
Re-purposed 360? Since when?
Anyway like anything it depends on the application and the requirements of the platform. Then you could look at specific needs for different platforms.
Sure.
Nintendo has created lovable characters and franchises which many kids will/would-like-to play.
Same held true for Sega.
But when you can't move hardware ...
Nintendo is being hit especially hard as their bread and butter was/is kids (ie: parents).
Parents these days are answering the call of "we want games" with iOS due to the exponentially lower game investment budget required.
And kids likewise are asking for these devices directly as they hold value above and beyond being a toy.
For the livingroom, the new new is seemingly kinect for this market and MS seems intent on expanding here further with their future wares and offerings geared toward kids/family.
I don't see much wiggle room left for N before they are relegated to being a software developer of their key franchises (which is the best thing they have going for them).
I don't recall any of Sega's properties selling > current CoD numbers before they stopped doing hardware.
The sheer lack of anything exciting happening at E3, going by the lack of noise in this forum, paints a scary pitcure for me. The biggest noise makers seem to be next-gen games on PCs, with the possbility of dumbed-down, low-framerate current-gen console ports. There are a few key console titles (Halo 4, Last of Us, Beyond), but really, these gen seems all burnt out. And I can't help but feel a lot of the best of last gen was dropped. A number of games I liked last gen didn't get sequels. I'm wondering if next-gen will manage to bring back the excitement of gaming, and if we'll get another exciting E3 full of discussion, or is the reveal of next-gen ahrdware just going to be more of the same that we're seeing on PC? Because the showcase of PC versions of games is going to take the generational advance out of next-gen.
We are at the end of a console generation. The hardware shows it age and some gamers are slowly migrating back to PC gaming. It is the exact same situation as in 1999/2000 and 2005.
As for good games/game franchises getting killed, that's not new either, - regrettably.
Cheers
If I recall correctly, E3 2003 and 2004 were pretty similar. The console titles were conspicuously absent and the primary highlights were Half-Life 2 and FEAR, both PC only at the time.
So all in all, looks pretty normal for this part of the cycle.
You may well be right.
Not true! The video game museum at e3 was badass, found out the old Centipede poster I have hanging in my office is actually quite rare. Got to play some Pacman and Defender in the old arcade they had setup as well, exciting stuff.
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Considering the only E3 thread here that has even the slightest bit of legs is the one on MS's conference, and that one is focused mainly on what new services will be provided rather than what games will be coming, I'd say Shifty has a good point.
And yes, I did see your sarcasm tags, Joker.
And yes, I did see your sarcasm tags, Joker.
SedentaryJourney
Regular
SE's Agni Philosophy demo should put to rest some of those doubts. The genie is being let out of the bottle so next E3 will be about new hardware from Sony and Microsoft, it has to be. This also demonstrates that many developers are transitioning to next gen development, and probably accounts for the lull in announcements this E3.
It should be said that console games have never looked better than what we've been shown at this year's E3. It's still impressive stuff, and as a strictly console gamer I have nothing to complain about nor any need to switch to PC gaming.
My question is whether next gen will bring the excitement (and sales) back or whether it's a more fundamental problem of core consoles being eroded by smartphones/tablets/free to play PC/PC MMORPG/etc. I've always rejected the latter notion, but console sales figures are not good of late which is a new twist.
I also wonder if people are going to get excited about the same old franchises in new clothes next gen. Is it going to be more COD's, more AC's, more Gears and Uncharted's, and will that bore people to death.
This gen we got a flood of new (or newly popular in COD case) IP's. Somehow I dont see that being an obvious case for nex gen, I imagine pubs will keep pushing the same franchises. Dev's have talked about early in gen's being the exciting time where new IP's flower, but I dont know if that's set in stone.
Also if it's a modest upgrade, EG a ~<6x ~1-1.5 TF Cape Verde GPU, I think that will further dent people's enthusiasm. If we're not getting a huge leap it will just be less exciting and compelling all around.
The consoles are still expensive. I'm sure a price drop to $150 ish would see sales pick up. combined, PS360 have been selling as fast as PS2 did at a higher price, so console gaming has been very healthy. In terms of numbers.