Are you excited about next gen?

I was wondering what ppl’s feelings were on next gen going forward this year w/ COVID. Are you excited? Are you going to buy in? Does it feel inappropriate?

I wanted to get a sense of the temp in the room. Normally a new gen is a cause for celebration and the hype is palpable. With everything getting cancelled or delayed, does another round of consoles feel a tad out of touch at the very moment? Or maybe you feel the other way. Is it actually the best time to launch something that’ll keep you in your home?

I’m not trying to make this about the pandemic. Just wondering how much, if any, have the events of this year and the way it’s shaped the gaming calendar affected your thoughts on the fall/holiday releases, particularly the console launches?

Yeah, very much. This is going to be the first generation where I feel technologically on par with what's coming in a very long time. I had a CRT with component inputs during the PS2 era, but that TV also carried me through the PS3 era and I acquired a 720p big screen the year the PS4 came out, so I always felt out of step with graphical advances. That's not to say God of War or Uncharted 4 or Arkham Knight weren't impressive looking at the time, but I pulled the trigger and bought a TCL 6 Series (QLED, 4K and HDR) right after finishing The Last of Us II, and did some compare/contrast with that, MLB The Show and Bloodborne and holy crap, I have been missing out!

All I want to do is hook a PS5 and Miles Morales into this thing and see what's up.

I'll get a PS5 because I like what I've seen using that hardware and it's potential. Series X seems more TBD potential wise. I get that it's more then likely the strongest console but I haven't seen a game yet use that power yet. Besides that Series X is irrelevant to me because of my high end PC.

I would say I'm just very unimpressed. Has nothing to do with COVID19 or any other situation right now, but I just feel like there is not a lot being offered to get me excited and I feel like I am alienated as a consumer with them right now.

At this point I feel like an alienated consumer because I haven't invested into a proper 4K setup. I helped my parents setup their 4K tv and we watched Wonder Woman and Mad Max Fury Road. The colors were super vivid and beautiful, but I'm not really seeing anything super awe inspiring with it. It just seems like the upgrade is so minuscule and the investment price is so high with the 4k able console, 4k TV and 4K stereo. That's a lot of money to drop on something that just looks a little bit sharper and has some more color to it. That's not even getting into gaming at the moment where 4K seems to chug a lot. that may change with these new consoles, but I'm not holding my breath.

That being said... what I am looking forward to is being able to run at that high fidelity and at a high FPS rate. So really, I think my goal is to look for 4K gaming on PC rather than consoles. These new video cards seem really promising and once they are officially revealed, I'm super interested to see the performance stats.

These new consoles just seem really boring and are not really offering anything I desperately need right now. It feels like buying into a super entry level PC, but I'm getting a device that is limited with what it can do.

It seems like before with the PS3 and even the original idea of the Xbox One, they were trying to push the boundaries of what a console can do as a media entertainment center, but consumers just wanted a Fortnite machine. Where is the technology innovation with these new consoles?

Nothing to do with COVID, although maybe in terms of Sony and Microsoft's ability to present during it. Nothing that has been shown so far has made me super excited for next-gen like I usually am. That said, without a doubt, I am getting both consoles, hopefully around their release. Well, okay that's not entirely true, unfortunately. I say that hopefully, I will get next-gen systems around the time they come out, but really, I'd have to get a new job which sucks. I haven't been back to work since COVID's lockdown started, and I can't imagine that I'll be going back for a while, and when I do, it'll be different as part of my job is to be an attendant for large gathering events, like weddings, birthday parties, etc. My brother, on the other hand, may be the one to put most of the money into both. I don't want to get another job, but at some point, it's going to come down to that. I can tell you that, as for right now, video games are not on my mind when it comes to what I have in my wallet.

Yes, very much so. I've decided that the PC will no longer be my main gaming platform, so this is exciting. For that reason I'm getting both consoles on day 1. The idea is that the Xbox will be the "main" console with game pass ultimate and all that. The PS5 will be used for exclusives only. That is the idea at least.

Because of Covid our travel budget has been getting way too fat and for that reason we'll also be upgrading the TV and home cinema receiver along with the new consoles.

In a broad, general sense then sure, I'm excited to see what the future of gaming holds. So far though, there's practically nothing that's been shown that has made me excited for the launch of the next generation. A lot of the interesting stuff is coming 1 or 2 years down the line, which is fine, but the line-up feels extremely thin.

A lot of past console launches have game line-ups that look mediocre in retrospect but they mostly didn't feel that way in the moment. I can't help but think that the delays in development from Covid probably impacted the ability of MS and Sony to present a good show for launch.

So far nothing that either party has shown really blew me away. I remember some of the PS4 demos back in the day like InFamous Second Son looking simply amazing compared to what we were getting on PS3/PS4. I guess we have gotten to that point where games just look real good already so you can't push progress with polygons alone. The most impressive tech I've seen thus far was the Ratchet and Clank game and it's hard to tell how real that is. Most of the games Microsoft showcased yesterday either had no real gameplay or the gameplay itself looked just serviceable. Like for all the fuss about Halo Infinite it neither looked particularly great nor did it showcase any standout systems. If anything their apparent regression back to no ADS-ing in just makes it seem dated. I guess if thats what the fans want then sure, and I know Halo fans are quite particular in how they want that game to play and feel, but man I dunno.

yeah it's an interesting question that i suspect people will be all over the place with. i'm personally feeling a little ambivalent- but less in a negative sense and more like i have conflicting impulses and i'm not sure what i'm going to do.

i largely sat out this past gen- i got a switch in the fall of 2017 (i kinda consider switch its own thing anyway), and i didn't pick up a PS4 until black friday 2019. part of that was being on the fence between a ps4 slim and ps4 pro- i had an extended bit of choice paralysis and i waited for a pro price cut that never really materialized. also i had told myself i would buy a ps4 once The Last of Us 2 was nearing completion- so that sealed the deal.

as it turns out- waiting and getting in at the late part of the cycle a very good choice. i got that black friday slim bundle with God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and TLoU Remaster for $200 USD, and since then i've been working my way through the highlights of the catalogue, never really paying more that 20ish per title. it's been tremendous, and it makes me want to wait for the new consoles to mature again since it's been such a positive experience.

then again- having just completed TLoU2 and coming off a legitimately singular experience with that game- it's kinda excited me for the possibilities of the medium again. and i'm thinking it might be fun to get in on that early with a ps5.

BUUUT- TLoU2 also represents a very mature, very methodical first party title that we won't see the likes of for many years with this new batch of machines- my expectations are probably out of alignment- so i really should just wait again. i also haven't really seen any IPs between both the sony and microsoft presentations that are a system seller for me like the TLoU2 was. maybe the new Horizon Zero Dawn, but that's still a ways out.

the tl;dr is- i'm excited for the medium, but the stuff that will likely wow me probably won't be here for years- so i think i'll wait and build a new pc in the meantime.

Same as above. I'm excited but the launch isn't really where the action is. Unless the tech has some interesting features.

With COVID, I still have a job, so that isn’t a concern (....yet....knock on wood.....boy I sure hope I still have a job this year....)

So beyond those concerns, I am looking forward to the PS5 and will pre-order one if I can get my hands on it.

I am more excited about this one than the last one for sure. I feel like games are on a precipice with some things as far as tech allowing for some bigger possibilities to allow some more profound games to come out building on what we've seen in open world genres and multiplayer games. I thought this last gen was too much of a slight improvement to see that. But I think there can be a lot of improvement in open worlds and stuff here, I hope.

I want to see destructibility come back into games for an example. Once games got more complex last gen almost no one bothered with it.

But this is on my expectations at the moment. I am hopefully the systems cost a bit but for the power to back that up and personally I am going to wait. I play on PC mostly but I do play some consoles and consoles set the field.

I've seen a bunch of games I'm interested in, but few if any will be coming out near console launch. I suspect I won't get either system until late 2021.

At this point I'm more interesting in replacing my creaky old video card with an RTX 3000. DLSS and ray tracing are evolving into legitimately exciting tech, and all Xbox games are coming to PC anyway.

Im always interested in more video games, I am always excited for more stuff in native 4k even if it is similar to current gen in terms of gameplay. I got this silly 4k tv and yes it gets used in 4k a decent amount but definitely not even close to 100%.

EDIT: also everything better have HDR! I love HDR even above resolution... it adds a lot more when implemented well

Hell yeah I'm excited! Mainly because I skipped this console generation, only playing what I can on PC. I can't wait to play all the exclusives I missed on the PS4 hopefully most of them readily available at launch and enhanced for the PS5. If I had bought a PS4 then maybe my hype level wouldn't be that high but as it stands I am very much counting the days until Holiday 2020.

The advancement in graphics is very minimal and i haven't seen anything using the extra power for any gameplay benefits, there's ray tracing here and there but the reflections in Gran Turismo looked good anyway, Halo is big enough to have a map screen now but it seems to have come at the cost of texture resolution. I'm only talking about graphics because it's the easy excuse for a new generation i personally don't care that much, except when it gets in the way of performance.

I suppose the real benefits of this next gen are frame rate and 4k, but i don't own a 4k display and i spent the entirety of the previous gen on PC with as much fps as i want, one good thing is if more games come 60fps as standard then the ports will probably be better optimized for PC, developing for 30 then forcing it to go higher is worse than starting at 60.

With regards to games i'm excited for... i don't know, i'll play Watch Dogs Legion because i like those games, i'm interested to see if the next Forza has a brightness setting but that's miles off, honestly the trailer that surprised me the most is that single player campaign for CrossfireX, being contracted to make a campaign for what's known as an asian free to play Counter Strike rip off it shouldn't look as good as it does, there has to be a catch somewhere, is it 2 hours long? Is it just smoke and mirrors? We'll have to wait and see, also no PC release has been announced so... i can't play it anyway, also i still need a cheaper Switch so i can play Bayonetta 2 for christ sake, i can't be thinking about buying a whole new console to play games i care less about.

I suppose it counts as next gen but really the game i'm most anticipating, and i'm sure regulars know what i'm going to say, is Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The graphical fidelity and the technology being used to create the entire planet in greater detail than ever before is truly next gen, every piece of footage we've seen has looked impossibly good and maybe that's why i'm generally unimpressed by everything else that's been shown, everything at the moment just pales in comparison.

I think the new consoles should be pushed to 2021 so that there is a stronger launch lineup/people might actually have money to buy them, and none of the near-future first party games are making me jump out of my seat, but the potential is very promising. I'm really happy with Microsoft's services and PC approach to next gen...having just upgraded my PC and being paid up for Game Pass Ultimate through 2022, I'm pretty psyched that I'm going to have access to a big swath of next gen without having to do anything. I'm also happy that Playstation is doing a traditional hard-stop generational leap so I can still have that dopamine rush of buying something new and shiny and uninhibited by legacy hardware. I also have a list of recent Playstation exclusives I haven't played yet that I'm going to save for when I pick up a PS5 (hopefully as my first launch purchase ever). A personal launch lineup of Final Fantasy VII Remake/Ghost of Tsushima/Last of Us 2, all likely running much better and prettier than they could dream of on my OG PS4 sounds pretty effin' great. I'm also finally going to upgrade my TV after 10 years, which will probably be even more of a noticeable jump in quality than the hardware...jumping from 1080i to 4k HDR will be *chef's kiss*. So yeah, quite excited!

Fairly excited? This is the first generation where I'll have enough money to buy a console at launch instead of waiting 2+ years. I'm not particularly blown away by anything (I have a 2080 Ti) but some of the eventual PS5 exclusives (Ratchet, Demon's Souls, etc.) are games I know I'll want to play, so I figure I might as well grab the console at launch just for the hell of it.

Sort of. I'm curious to see how it shakes out and what the new systems will look and feel like.

Is the PS5 just a continuation of the cross-media bar experience or are they redesigning more? The Xbox One was originally designed with all of that TV pass through and Kinect, how will the new one feel without all that stuff weighing it down?

And what the hell does Nintendo do in a few years when games aren't being made with current console specs in mind?

As in ray-tracing being more of a thing? Sure, but I'll be keeping my 2080 Ti for a while since my intent for me buying it was to have really high rasterization performance in 1440p ultrawide. Being able to mess around with Control's level of ray-tracing is just icing on the cake at the moment; really, really, pretty icing, but not enough for me to want to get a 3080 Ti, so I'll wait until the RTX 4000 series before I drop another $1,200 on a GPU.

They become the wii u again where it is "indie trash" and first parties. "Indie trash" is really awesome these days (and at least some of us bought our switches for that and don't care about the first parties) but that only goes so far

I think the more interesting question is what happens to the switch in a year or two period. Razer have their switch-like phone cradle and you can be sure more are on the way now that enough people have seen that to give peripheral developers feedback.

Similarly: We know that xcloud, psnow (?), and stadia all want us to stream games on our phones and at least the first two also will allow lan streaming. And with so many "nindies" either already having android ports of their games or having the experience getting that working on what is basically a three or four year old android tablet, "gamepass for phones" starts seeming very feasible.

Why would you spend 200 bucks on a shitty low res screen and a console with demonstrably poor build quality and overpriced games when you can use your carrier subsidized phone with a gorgeous display and a 60 dollar controller and get cheaper games that look better?

It would basically be the wii/wii u all over again. Nintendo found a really cool gimmick. Suddenly other platforms will do it better while simultaneously highlighting all the ways that gimmick fell apart. And Nintendo is left trying to convince people that the best mario game ever (SM3DW) is worth buying a console for.

I'm not excited at all TBH. Nothing MS or Sony has shown is impressive or very interesting. The Unreal Engine tech demo has been the only impressive thing so far, and that's not even a game lol. I might get one or both systems next year, but I see no reason to get one this year other than "OMG I was first".

@gundato: you’re very spot on. I haven’t downloaded or cared about a new game since Apple Play launched. I cancelled my free trial when I realized their business model was for me to subscribe for the rest of my life and not let me buy items piecemeal.

For me phone games are confusing. I would expect them to go through similar phases of development to what we saw in consoles but it’s like they started out with Snake and then moved straight into Ps2 quality games. So the really hindrance cellphone games is only the controller and the current model where they don’t sell you games outright.

I would 100% give animal crossing new horizons a shake if it were on my phone and I could buy it completely outright. The only reason I don’t play PUBG mobile is because there isn’t a de facto standardized controller adapter for phones. No I don’t want to mount my phone on my PS4 controller. I want a controller that duplicates as a screen protector and offers extended battery life. Kind of like the Smart Cover or Smart Keyboard for iPad.

I'm excited for Halo. But there isn't really anything else next gen coming in 2020. And probably not till mid or later 2021. So while I'm excited for the future, that future is still awhile away.

I wasn't excited until the Sony Presentation last month. That hooked me back in. Microsoft is what it is, as a PC gamer with a build that is barely going 4 years in I feel like I'll be able to benefit from their games without having to get a Series X right away if at all.

yes and no . i lost my job due to mask policies ( can't wear it due to a tic disorder that gets set off when i put it on tho i would wear it if i could) so that makes money tight and my living situation is about to change since my mother and grandmother are moving in to help ( also they're being evicted) which is less than ideal. considering all that its hard to justify the likely price of a new system , even moreso when debt is high right now. i had expected to pay off 1 of the credit cards i have before interest kicks in on another and with everything happening that just isn't gonna happen right now. i put away 600 of the 'extra' 600 unemployment money to go towards the ps5 since i can't imagine them charging more than 600 but that said i don't even know why i would want it right now. i mean yes i know theres some things coming that i'll wanna play and i rather have it on shiny new hardware vs old. but that said do we really even know what the launch line-up is? i mean last time around i pre-ordered my ps4 and was really hyped for infamous second son and then boom that got delayed by a few months so i had nothing i really wanted to play on it , resogun was nice and unexpected but the only game i ended up buying for it for a while was black flag and while i loved ( except for 3) previous AC games i was planning to skip that entry originally and still have never beaten it because it just doesn't feel like an AC game persay and more a pirate game which is not what i wanted. now here we are at the start of a new gen and once again i find that the only thing i know i want from launch is .....AC:valhalla gone are my expectations of liking/wanting an old AC style AC game but thats fine i'm sure valhalla will be fine even if the ubisoft stuff coming to light is shitty. my issue then stands ok i can get a ps5 and it on that or i can just get a ps4 copy and my guy can play it in the living room since his ps4 is in there ( mine in the bedroom which is where my ps5 would go). other than that and yakuza maybe idk what i'd be getting because who knows what the actual launch line-up really is.

also back to the money front of things we just can't justify the cost of 2 ps5s in the house right now and his hype is just non-existent i'm sure he would have more excitement if money was different but its not andeven then hes just not as big of a 'gamer' as me overall he has other hobbies that he enjoys and will pick that over gaming which is fine but when you live with someone who's hype isn't there or is diminished by life hassles then it just kinda deflates your own hype a little bit.

on the xbox side of things i have zero hype, yesterday's showcase told me no reason why i need or would even wanna think about a series x and the fact that i have a gaming pc just solidifies that but i think even moreso that had i not had my pc like some ppc and just had a console nothing i seen/they showed seemed exclusive to series x for at least a good bit past launch so i feel like its just not nessessary. altho the on the flip-side of that i found gamepass to be even better of a deal than it is not which while it has its downsides is imo really great.

anyway sorry for the wall of text and bad formating i'm not good at not rambling.

TLDR: hype is hard with money issues and lack of cemented launch knowledge. i'm still looking forward to next gen and will probably get it anyway

Not really? I mean, I'm exited to keep playing new video games, but I don't think I'm any more or less excited to do that on the upcoming new consoles.

I'm in a weird place. I am in a position where I will most likely preorder a PS5 short of it being prohibitively expensive. I am excited and looking forward to new hardware, but there isn't a real reason for it. Spider-Man looks like it'll be fun, but other than that, there isn't really anything else right now. I'm more excited for potentially playing Trails of Cold Steel 4 on it, and I think for a lot of people, these consoles don't make sense right now.

Not really honestly, the price point is really off putting for the upgrade. I still don't pay 60$ for games lol, 100$ is just crazy especially with the current pandemic induced recession that is about to hit people pretty hard. The games still look the same, i mean we are still getting sequels from games from 2001 etc. I think games will soon be pricing themselves out of the mainstream honestly, at least consoles I don't think f2p mobile games will be going anywhere.

Nah not really. I'll be getting a PS5 on launch because I never got a pro and an upgrade for the games I have will be nice enough while the next gen exclusives start coming but nothing either party has actually shown has me all that excited yet.

Oh hell yeah. I’m getting both Xbox Series X and ps5 day one, no doubt about it. Fable is at the top of my list.

I'm excited about the demon's souls remaster, and that's really it at the moment.

Eh, I feel like in two years once these consoles have established themselves we'll starting seeing really exciting projects being released. Until then I think I might sit the launch out, unless Sony announces something amazing service related.

I'm excited to be done with the annoying "new consoles are coming" period where there's a bunch of hype but game production slows down because they're switching to new machines. Otherwise...not really.

I just played Ghost of Tsushima on my PS4 Pro and it looks amazing. I don't need better graphics than that. I'd much rather they work on improving other aspects of game design like more varied missions, better writing and acting, etc... than have another generation where the focus is on making the same things look prettier. Game design has stagnated and nothing about these new consoles looks like it will improve that. Ghost of Tsushima is a massive world with great loading times already. Maybe AI will improve with faster RAM and more system resources, but I doubt it. I think the limitations on games at this point are more in the design and software side than the hardware side.

I can't recall ever being less hyped for a new generation of hardware than I am right now. I thought Sony's showcase was really good and there were some games I'll definitely want to play but honestly the leap isn't that great to me. Games still look pretty great on current hardware, and I haven't even played TLoU2 or GoT yet. I need something more than minuscule loading times to get on board.

I thought MS' showcase was shockingly awful and really put me off from the XSX big time. It has nothing to do with COVID, unless you're going to tell me there would've been all these awesome exclusives that got massively delayed. But Sony has to deal with the same issues and they delivered.

I'm probably becoming non-typical, but I have no interest in either. I was somewhat more impressed with the The Microsoft presentation, but I have a pretty good pc.

I could of course change, especially with Sony. But I strongly feel right now that it won't be till midterm, and an enhanced console. What's always in the back of my mind is that 2 consoles and a already built media pc may be the smarter way in the mid future. Or much further on, before becoming deceased

Yeah, it should be good at one point.

Nah.

I'm sure I'll get one at some point, just like this past gen where I eventually got a PS4 and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. But I don't see any reason to drop money on day one unless you're the zeitgest/FOMO kind, which I'm certainly not at this point.

I'm pretty sure I would feel exactly the same way without the pandemic.

I honestly don't know. I am on some level always excited about new consoles, but I am not sure if it's the weird lack of bombastic E3 press conference reveal or just the games shown but something about next gen just feels a little bit deflated. I suppose I am more curious than excited right now.

This reminds me a lot of the same feeling i had with prior to this gen. I'm not excited because i know they're over promising. On PS360 gen they were promising full hd but only few games had it. Funny enough, even this gen had a lot of games that are below full hd!

Imagine my feelings when they are promising for 4K! lol, or even 8K!! for next gen.

If the PS5 or XBXS can deliver 1080p 60fps as the minimum standard then i'll be happy man.

I am more excited about the possibilities of next gen rather that anything we've been shown so far.

I'll end up with both consoles and I think we will end up seeing some pretty amazing things over the next few years!

That said I still have so many older games that need playing, whenever the 8 month old is asleep :)

I'm still looking forward to the next gen, but so far everything we've been shown has been a bit of a downer.

Ratchet and Clank and Horizon look great, but it's not clear when they will be ready.

So far it is third party games that I can see picking up the slack so far.

Cyberpunk, Watchdogs and Valhalla all look right up my street.

I'm probably going to pick up both consoles, just because after such a tumultuous year I feel the urge to treat myself and the kids, but in truth, I think I'll get the most fun out of larking around with MS Flight Simulator on the PC.

Not really, last gen I had a 360 and when ps4 came out I picked up a ps3 to catch up on the games I missed. Around that time I got a PC w/ a GTX 980 that I'm still using (5 years old now). I picked up a ps4 pro (the Destiny 2 one) because at that point there were enough exclusives that I wanted to play, so I'm planning on doing the same thing with the upcoming generation. I just haven't seen anything that says I need to get in on this at launch, but over the next few years I'm sure there will be (or I really hope there will be) enough exclusives that I can't get on PC that I'll be willing to pick up a new console.

It's weird that as much as I like Microsoft's approach to this gen, that I have no reason to buy their console (because I have a PC) and regardless of Sony's approach to this gen I'll end up buying their console eventually because I can't get their games anywhere else.

Nothing I've seen so far has felt next-gen to me. Quick loading is nice but I would lie if I told you it made me look past the lack of 60 fps support in 2020 or the absence of anything I haven't seen before. Right now it just feels like an obligation to buy a new console when the next games in some series I alrrady enjoy come out. So for me it's a 'wait for a hefty discount' or new version, like with the PS4. I'm a little weary of the risk that the disc version will disappear though. I still want to play my BDs.

Am I excited about next gen? Yes.

Am I excited about the next gen games announced so far? No.

To me, the most exciting next gen thing shown so far was the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo. Something's wrong when a tech demo is more exciting than an actual full game.

Not excited but still looking forward to them.

I know neither has shown anything all that amazing yet but I also don’t think it is entirely fair to judge based on limited bit rate/resolution streams. Some things like frame rate, level of detail and HDR don’t show off nearly as well when it is not in person.

In the end I know I will end up with a Series X at launch as I like Game Pass and the ability to carry my progress over from couch to PC. It also looks like the X will have the best playing version of the cross-platform games. I’ll get a PS5 as well but may wait until they have built up a library of exclusives.

One thing I am looking forward to is the back log of games I haven’t played yet being played on the new consoles at 4k/60 instead of the compromised frame rates we get on the current gen. That will hold me over while developers figure out what to do with the new systems.