It doesn't matter if there's a global recession and game and console sales are down. You know there has to be some behind-the-scenes work on next-generation consoles going on. If I were a betting man, I'd say that at least preliminary work was going on at all three camps. But who would be the next out of the gate? id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead says that it would have to be Microsoft.
"Somebody’s going to do it, and - to me - probably the player who's in the best position to do so is Microsoft, because I do think they’ve recouped a lot of the costs of their console," Hollenshead told VG247.
He says that he could sere Microsoft pushing their flagship system to year six or seven, but believes that the next hardware generation is in the works, pointing out that he thinks Microsoft sees that "there are some weaknesses that they can exploit with what's going on at Sony."
So what would bring this next generation about? Hollenshead thinks that the "PC is going to gain substantial competitive leverage by virtue of superior technology," and it is then that console makers will be forced to compete.
I don't know about that last part.
[via GI.biz, image from here]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
2:40 PM on 08.24.2009
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If it took that long for new consoles people WOULD get rather jealous of pc games and their graphical awesomenesss.
Xbox 720: $399 min
Super Wii: $299 min
Playstation 4: $450
And I base these things and numbers on absolutely nothing.
Besides they have yet to solve their format problem, with dvd barely cutting it this gen (and that's debatable) it sure as hell won't cut it next gen, and with MS's utter refusal of anything to do with the blu-ray association (I find it funny that a lot of people don't know they had a chance to be in the association, they just spat it back in their face)and the fact that most large companies have now joined the blu-ray association and the others supported HD dvd (and paid dearly for it) they have no good solution to that for the time being(unless they do swallow their pride and go back to sony,but I'm not holding my breath on that one).
Not to mention they probably DON'T wanna be first outta the gate this time as speculation of the new rrod will surely stop sales becauses people are gonna want to know if were gonna go through that all over again, so launching too far ahead of sony and nintendo will probably do more bad than good this time.
If they use Blu Ray, wouldn't they have to pay royalties to Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung?
Microsoft should have a new console in the next three years and Nintendo will probably release the super wii Soccer mum edition.
If they were the first of the next generation with such a machine Nintendo could conceivable sow up the hardcore and softcore gamer market.
Also, if Microsoft ever runs into a problem with media format, they could always go completely digital. No discs, download all your games onto the hard drive. While I hate all things Microsoft, that would be really nice to finally see happen. Technologically, we've had the capability for that for a long time now and we're probably eventually going to wind up there. This is an extremely feasible possibility if onLive and PSP Go happen to do well in the next few years.
You'd think that after all these years this "superior technology" shit would pan out the way they think.
All those saying PC gaming will make console gamers jealous, without meaning to sound pessimistic of humanity, PC gaming doesn't appeal to the majority of people because it's not simple enough, i realise that installing a game and then playing it isn't that difficult, but so many people are computer illiterate that i doubt people will ever turn to pc gaming even if it out does the consoles graphics wise...
The Xbox 360 has had a bad rap for hardware failures, and Microsoft wants Natal to be big - a copycat move would be to mimic Nintendo by making only slight hardware improvements but package the new console with natal, just like Nintendo did. Ubisoft recently mentioned that they were preparing for the next console launch - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/we-have-to-get-ready-for-the-next-generation-of-consoles-guillemot - which won't be Sony because they release slim, nor Nintendo because frankly, a new console would be financial suicide considering the way they marketted the wii and it's still dominant sales over it's rivals.
Microsoft is primarily a marketing company too, so leaks such as this are actually common. Leaks are good marketting when a company doesn't have any innovations for it's competition to steal.
And while it wasn't immediately evident, Microsoft would probably say they enjoyed certain advantages with being first. They'll certainly try to gain those advantages again.
And if Sony learns from their mistakes, they won't be caught dead with the most expensive console on the market.
(Personally, I hope this generation lasts as long as possible.)
I honestly can't see how anyone thinks that it's a good idea. Perhaps when we all have 100+mb internet connections and terabyte HDD's, then it will be a viable option.
And also,
@PappaDukes
It's been said that there isn't too much of a difference between the twos' hardware.
@ViciousBoston, Black Nexus, and matrixdude171
Why would Sony, who is in competition with Microsoft, let them use their tech? Why would Sony benefit a competitor. Think about it.
@MountainGorilla
What did the Zune copy, and how? If you say Ipod, then I don't know where you've been.
Just as halo 2 indicated the end of the time-line for the xbox 360 I forsee two more major software pushes (~4 years) before the end of this cycle.
I remember the first thing I heard about the 360 was a preview for Oblivion.
I'm well unconvinced that it will be due to competition from the Windows market though, no matter how large the graphical gains are. There just aren't enough games pushing the graphical limits on Windows these days and almost as few people playing those games. The average "PC" game is still targeted behind what we're seeing on consoles as far as graphics and the landscape is dominated by "casual" games (like WoW) that could be rendered on a PSP.
Black Nexus: Microsoft video codecs are part of the Blu-Ray video standard. I don't know how many studios (I assume some, but who knows) are actually using them.
bustaballs: The question isn't whether computer hardware can crush consoles, clearly it can and has for a while. It's whether or not anyone cares. Obviously a few do, but they're not going to be able to support that industry. We're already seeing that with Crytek (the poster boys of high-end "PC" graphics) shifting a lot of their focus to consoles. The current generation of console hardware is good enough and the development budgets are already so out of control that no one bankrolling these projects is in any hurry to make the move to new systems that will cost even more to develop for.
It isn't that "PC" gaming is dead, it's just that it's gotten old and tired and would rather hang out on the front porch in a rocking chair with a lap blanket.
falinter: No one is going to get jealous of "PC" games because there aren't anywhere near enough games that require top shelf hardware to justify the price of keeping up-to-date. Most games that do come out are targeted primarily at consoles, with console sensibilities, and other than supporting higher resolutions the graphical increases are minor.
I don't believe the decision is purely up to Sony. Blu Ray wasn't made just by them. It was a collaboration of these companys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Founders
These companys and individuals created Blu-Ray. Now if Microsoft adapts BluRay in future systems, wouldn't they have to pay royalties to Sony and the others? Making it extremly costly for their next system. Basically what i'm saying is it seems Microsoft is staring at a "glass ceiling".
Anyway, yeah, regarding the actual article, of course microsoft will be first. That's a no brainer. They were a year ahead this time which means for every year except the first they are less impressive than the competition for one reason or another. except for live.
As for the comments, digital distribution isn't viable right now for the masses, but new technology is rarely bought up by everyone at once. How many of us had high def TVs when the 360 came out? how many have now? High limit broadband availability will catch up to the demand before long, trust me. I'm sure the ISPs can hardly wait, they obviously know this is coming too.
I mean really, there's so little room to move significantly forward graphically with the current technological methods, that I don't think a "new" generation is going to be a traditional step forward anymore.
The PC has always shined brightly in the last half of a generation as a place where more advances are made on a technical level. Some people upgrade their PCs during this time, other people have the patience to wait for newer consoles. If the newer consoles this time are too long in coming, or not much of an improvement when they do come, I could see PCs making a lot of headway.
Also, keep in mind the PC is already way ahead in a few key areas for the future:
1 - Digital distribution. People like it, the PC is far, far ahead both in the number of games that are sold this way, the services like Steam that provide the games, and the fact that anyone can release a game digitally without jumping through corporate hoops, which leads me to...
2 - Independent development. As games get more and more mainstream on the consoles and everything is controled by a Sony or Microsoft overlord, the PC will shine by offering unrated independent games that cater to all kinds of niche audiences and people looking for something MS or Sony won't let them play.
3 - Media and storage. PC games all install, so they can come on as many DVDs as you want and everything goes on your hard drive, or you can download it all from Steam and not have to worry about discs at all. Grand Theft Auto 4 on PC takes up 15GB of space, three times what it does on Xbox, which allowed for better textures and less compression. PCs are also easily upgradeable to BD Rom, if people decide they want that.
Depending on what these companies do I see a real possibility for a PC resurgence, for all kinds of reasons.
Nintendo is a whole different story. They might not even operate on the same schedule as the Sony and Microsoft. They've gotten so much out of the Wii and they've won so many consumers that might not be interested in shoveling out another $300 (approximately) for a new toy. Nintendo is probably going to be juicing this thing until it truly runs dry, and then move onto still being behind the PS4 and Xbox 720 graphically. Hell, I'm beginning to wonder if Nintendo is going to go completely off the rails and turn back into a toy-business.
I miss the old days, where about every generation really meant something. Rumors were sparse and usually not really fueled by actual evidence. Every new console was groundbreaking compared to its predecessor and they would all have grand announcements. With leaks like we've been having over the past few years, there isn't going to be any more excitement if we really do have a new generation again.
Given that PS2s still are ... maybe not flying, but more para-sailing off of the shelves still, graphics are just a red herring. Gameplay is still king in the gaming industry. Halo 3 might be a mediocre shooter, but it didn't fly off the shelves because it was graphically awesome, it leaped off the shelves because people liked multiplayer(Which is fun, no doubt, but it's no TF2).
They will most likely do what they did this generation as it seemed to work quite well for them...
1) Rush to beat Sony and Nintendo to the generation launch
2) Release a borked console put together by hamfisted blind chinese children
3) Enjoy mulitple replacement sales for borked consoles until legal action forces them to extend the warrantee.
4) Still enjoy selling millions of consoles with a 50%+ failure rate.
5) Make enough money by fooling people into buying a piss poor console to buy loads of exclusive DLC and games.
6) enjoy the millions of "my friends have the cheap one so i should get it to" sales.
The true American way.
I got the 360 because I liked the games that were on, not because my friends already had one. And I've never bought another 360 after it RROD'ed, I gave it to Microsoft to fix.
i don't rate the exclusives enough,
I don't understand the appeal of Halo - it was fucking terrible, all of them.
I enjoyed Gears of war but one play through was enough.
Fable interests me, but not enough.
I gave the 360 it's chance, it was one friend who still has one, that put me off, when his disks got trashed by the drive, then the drive drawer died, then the RRoD got him, then his second 360 lasted about 6 months before another RRoD - all before the extended warrantee.
It's not isolated either it's EVERYONE I know with a 360 has had at least 2.
Just put me right off. That and paying for LIVE and no blu-ray when you've got an LCD is a bummer, bit of a waste.
I love my PS3.
There are very few games on the 360 I can't play elsewhere. Very few.