News on upcoming consoles isn't anything...well...new. Ever since the WiiU was revealed last year, little bits and pieces have been swirling around the internet about Microsoft and Sony's next console. We hear that a Sony developer is working on the specs for the console while Microsoft is putting in a DVR. Despite the "10-year plan" that Sony has reiterated like verbal diarrhea, I don't know if they will be able to hold out another 3 years. Microsoft is in the same boat claiming that the Kinect is it's anchor until the next generation of consoles, but other than causing paranoia about sexcapades in front of the Kinect, it hasn't done much of anything.
So perhaps Nintendo has forced the hands of the other companies. No company wants to be the last to release their console since that clearly means they will be the worst in sales. I mean, why would any company want to see the sales that Nintendo did with the Wii, am I right? Open the flood gates to the rumors, because there is no doubt that the next-gen consoles are in development. My main concern is whether or not they learned from their mistakes. The following is, in my opinion, the biggest mistake each last-gen console had and what they need to improve on the most to come out on top this upcoming generation.
1. Microsoft - Better Hardware
So Microsoft released the first last-gen console showing great graphics with an impressive system and an online service that still hasn't been challenged. But is there really a point in challenging a system that may not even work? Say what you will about the waggle of the nunchuks on the Wii or the boring interface on the PS3, the systems worked. Now, the PS3 suffered from the yellow ring many years later, but almost right out of the gate the Xbox 360 gave the finger to it's customers and died quicker than a pet goldfish.
While Microsoft may have fixed the problem in later consoles and did everything they could to fix the red-ringers at the time, it doesn't excuse them from the faulty hardware they put out almost a year before the other two consoles. If they have to wait another two years to release the next console to make sure they don't run into the same backlash they received six years ago, they need to hold off. But if console development is anything like game development, they may just force it out as quickly as possible than hope the patches they release later will fix everything.
2. Sony - Don't force me to sell my child into slavery
Had I been stupid enough, I may very well have found out how many pints of blood and sperm samples I needed to sell to afford a PS3 at it's launch. My god Sony....$500-$600 for a new console? How in the hell do you expect to sell people on that? Blu-ray? It's no HD-DVD. Nice try Sony!
I don't see them making the same mistake twice. One of the rumors coming out of this next-gen console creation has Sony using a lot of third-party materials to help keep costs low. Most people didn't understand the whole "core" terminology used in every write-up about the PS3 before it came out and in the end it didn't matter. I don't need to know what's under the hood as long as it looks nice on the screen, runs fine, and like most console hardware, is outdated in a matter of months. Keep the console cheap and you have a better chance of selling it. But just in case, my wife will be delivering our first born child in August.
3. Nintendo - Last in love
Do I even have a right to tell Nintendo what they did wrong last gen with the Wii? The amount of green they made with that console is more than I will have had in my entire lifetime. They started out last in the race but snuck up on both Microsoft and Sony, clubbed them in the legs, and took off running past them without looking back. They owned this generation of consoles.
Yet, despite the Wii sales numbers, nobody gave a damn about the Wii. The majority of games people wanted to play were first party games and those came once or twice a year. Third party support went elsewhere and it's online store was a joke despite the amazing back catalog Nintendo has. Add to it the mixed feelings of the controller and the lack of HD and you have a book-end to keep all your 360 and PS3 games straight and upright. The WiiU has the biggest improvement to make, and that's keeping the attention of gamers by proving that it is the console that not only the developers want to make their games on but the gamers want as well.
I'm excited for this next generation of consoles. While I don't expect the leap to be as large to the next-gen as the previous-gen was, there's a sense of excitement new consoles bring. Seeing new games that look amazing reminds me of looking through old Nintendo Power magazines astonished at how crazy the upcoming Nintendo 64 games looked compared to the SNES I had at the time. I think back to when I used to play the demo disc that came with my Playstation even though it only gave me the first level of a few games. I was playing games that weren't even out yet! It was a crazy thought at the time for me. To be able to play games with people who weren't beside me was something I never would have thought would happen when I played Super Mario World at a friends house before going to elementary school.
I want to know what the next generation of consoles have in store for us. I want to know what breakthrough will come next. Whether or not you are ready for a new console, I would hope you are ready for the possibility of new innovations to come to gaming.
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