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[maneil99]

Current gen has been exactly as impressive as I expected, that is, not much. It's by far the smallest leap in visuals across gens that we've had, and people denying it are either delusional or don't remember previous leaps. Even the previous leap was much more impressive; I distinctly remember seeing screenshots of my first "new gen" game, Oblivion, and being incredulous that such an image quality was possible in real time.

The harsh truth is that, as we hit physical limitations on hardware (we've been there for many, many years now, which is what necessitated the development of dual and quad cores) AND the diminishing returns on polygon->visual fidelity, this was absolutely going to happen. What's more, it will be more pronounced in the future; barring any major technology breakthrough (which seems more and more unlikely as years pass), the generation after this will be even less of a leap, more distanced in time than this to the previous, or likely both.

And I'm personally OK with that, frankly. We're well far beyond the visual fidelity I need for games.

You realise thats a bullshot right? Oblivion on 360 doesnt look like that.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Diminishing returns.

 

[-MD-]

I'll be sticking with PC/PS3 for now. I currently have no interest in PS4/XBO. Once Borderlands 3 comes out however...

Borderlands 3 will be on PC though.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

The difference is there, but I be damned if the first trailers didn't over-promised.

 

[leadbelly]

Current gen has been exactly as impressive as I expected, that is, not much. It's by far the smallest leap in visuals across gens that we've had, and people denying it are either delusional or don't remember previous leaps. Even the previous leap was much more impressive; I distinctly remember seeing screenshots of my first "new gen" game, Oblivion, and being incredulous that such an image quality was possible in real time.

The harsh truth is that, as we hit physical limitations on hardware (we've been there for many, many years now, which is what necessitated the development of dual and quad cores) AND the diminishing returns on polygon->visual fidelity, this was absolutely going to happen. What's more, it will be more pronounced in the future; barring any major technology breakthrough (which seems more and more unlikely as years pass), the generation after this will be even less of a leap, more distanced in time than this to the previous, or likely both.

And I'm personally OK with that, frankly. We're well far beyond the visual fidelity I need for games.

That picture is misleading.

It's funny because what Oblivion made me think when I first played it was that we've still got a way to go before we get a fairly convincing looking open-world. I'm not really talking about photorealism here, it is more about LoD and draw distance issues. It looked kind of nice from 2 ft away, but everything else was a blurry mess. The LoD is so aggressive in that game, perhaps more than any other game last gen. It's not really impressive for that reason.

 

[Necromanti]

I've definitely been spoiled by PC gaming. I've only seen people play Second Son, for example, and while it is a very good looking game, it's not an a large leap from the PC version of Sleep Dogs with the exception of particle effects and such. I've been more impressed by things like the silky-smooth 60 FPS of the Bayonetta 2 demo, but I'm expecting it will be a while before they roll out a game that graphically wows me. It is disappointing to see certain resolutions and framerates being sacrificed for additional effects, though, but it's nothing new.

I'm more interested in seeing in how the additional power can be used for new gameplay experiences, but that would be a lot harder to pull off.

 

[leadbelly]

You realise thats a bullshot right? Oblivion on 360 doesnt look like that.

No, it does look like that, just only from 2ft away.

 

[block tower]

i think it's a transition period so it is more of the same because most games are cross generational and most launch games from Sony and Microsoft have to focus on "graphics" to sell the average consumer on the new consoles. i think the gameplay changes be things like no load times, more co-op or socialization in games, larger more detailed worlds, and more variety within a single game. i think more radical gameplay will come on the indie game front rather than in AAA games.

Destiny looks more and more sexy with every new screenshot (bullshot)

 

[Freshmaker]

Haha, Sega Dreamcast is the only console I bought Day 1 other than OG xbox (cause of Halo and in anticipation of jSRF)

Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure Sold me on dreamcast. I remember seeing those games and being Blown away. Especially Soul Calibur.

I actually went a bit beyond day 1 and imported a modded DC. VF3 and Sonic Adventure.

Man that's brutal. You just HAD to have Trevor McFur didn't you?

I was more interested in AvP. (THAT was a brutal wait. Cybermorph was so freaking boring.) I didn't really suffer much from my Jag. Ended up selling it off a few years later for $250 so I can't complain.

 

[Macapala]

Yeah, but it was released a little later.



Funny thing is that this is on WiiU. Which, technologically, is like a last gen PS3/360 console. Which proves OP's point.

It's quite amusing that a "last gen" console has more visually appealing games than the "true" next gen consoles.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Borderlands 3 will be on PC though.

This is a huge reason why I'm not in a rush this time around. Next gen third party games are available to me right now without buying a new console. That wasn't the case for me at the start of last gen.

 

[Boss Mog]

I definitely think there was a bigger leap between the PS2 and PS3 generations than the PS3 and PS4 ones.

I would've preferred to have payed $499 for the ps4 and have it be more powerful, especially if this gen lasts more than 5 years which I seriously hope it won't.

 

[KongRudi]

But he said there really isn't a generation leap to be seen. It's like last gen when you compared high end PC games to their console counterparts. The difference was there, but there was no generation leap. When we go from last gen to next gen, people expect a real generation leap.

PC where way ahead of consoles last generation aswell..
And Xbox/PS2 had titles pretty close to 'next-gen' back then aswell.. :-/

God of War 2 (PS2) - March 16 2007 screenshot
http://www.tothegame.com/res/game/5149/feature/2007-03-16/screen1_large.jpg

Untold Legends (PS3) - October 2006 screenshot
http://www.tothegame.com/res/game/5161/feature/2006-10-05/screen1_large.jpg

Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Island (PC) - March 2007 screenshot
http://www.tothegame.com/res/game/6268/feature/2007-03-28/screen4_large.jpg

 

[Fredrik]

first one has shadows of the player ? ;-)


How old are you, Op? I've found as i got older i am a loooot less excited by "the shiny new tech" because I've seen it all before.

We're no longer seeing the kind of mind blowing jump we got when Mario 64 launched, we're just getting "prettier versions of the same". Also there is no sense of surprise and wonder as for this gen we have been blanket media bombed - youtube, twitter, blogs, there is no sense of surprise any more. I reckon VR is the next big WOW! tech, but only if it's backed up by truly immersive games.

38 :/ You might have a point with the news being offered to us more frequently. Now we know about games and might've seen trailers years before release, that wasn't the case back in the days. The wow factor is long gone when the game is out. But I also think this generation is unique in that all the consoles are basically budget PCs. 60fps Off TV Play is still unsurpassed (I think) but it feels like every other feature is already there in the same quality or even better on PC.

 

[R_Deckard]

So 5 months in what did you expect?

Best looking launch 360 game

Best looking launch x1 game...Launch

Launch ps3

Launch ps4

Launch games, and this has not moved on?

 

[Huggers]

I dunno man. Look at The Last of Us and then look at inFamous Second Son. The latter is infinitely more impressive and open world. Plus it's a very early gen release. I'd say the difference is pretty impressive graphically.

I'd say this gen is disappointing more for the fact there isn't a single 'must own' game. There are far better places to game right now than PS4/Xbone. This from a PS4 owner

 

[Auto-Reply]

If i could chose to have one console exclusive out now to be portet to pc it would be last gen GTAV. Even on 360 that game is more impressive to me than anything i see in this thread.

 

[farmerboy]

Have not dived into this generation just yet, but was in the local eb games and saw Infamous running for the first time and must say, I was a touch underwhelmed. But I'm not exactly sure why.

Maybe it was an area in the game that just wasn't that great, maybe it was the picture settings on the tv or maybe I'm just cynical old bastard. I've seen screen grabs from the other thread and no doubt Infamous looks great, so I suppose I will put the cynicism aside till I can sample things for myself at home on my own tv.

I will say this though, I think if we are underwhelmed, it's testament to how good some games looked last gen (considering the hardware they run on). I have no doubt we are going to be amazed going forward.

 

[grandwizard]

PC gaming has spoiled us, or me anyways. New consoles just don't have the leap they used to.

It's this for me I think, combined with the new consoles not being as powerful in relation to current PC hardwares and price as they were last time. The games still look great and are undoubtedly going to look better in the rest of the gen, but if you have been PC gaming you have seen the individual steps to get where we are and are not going to see a giant leap like you would expect from a new hardware generation.

 

[Seanspeed]

You might have cancer, OP.

 

[Maxrunner]

Killzone its such a bore fest...also sony are using the exact same controls since their fiest consoles...so yeah youre playing the same way...

 

[deadpixel]

It's sad when people cannot recognize the fine details.

 

[atpbx]

Is it 2006 again?

Or for that matter 2000?

Same inane arguments about the same issues each and every new generation of consoles.

 

[jimi_dini]

PS4 and XB1 would be outputting 60fps if everything was 720p like on Wii U.

I don't think so.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I'm very underwhelmed technically speaking but on the game play front it's more of a cultural thing than anything intrinsic to this generation. I'm insulated from a lot of genre fatigue by playing weird and wonderful PC games mostly.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

I remember people saying the same thing 8 years ago. "The difference isn't as drastic as it was between PS1 and PS2." "I hate this low-poly/high res texture crap, it looks cheesy." "I'm not impressed by the 360's graphics." "It looks the same as last gen only shiny." Yet, here in 2014, the difference between gen 6 and 7 was apparently night and day.

I can appreciate that people have varying expectations, and I understand that the people who complained 8 years ago may not be the same ones doing so now, but at least give it time. PS4 and Xbox One haven't even been out for 6 months. It took a year to get a "Gears of War", and then another full year for Uncharted to eclipse the bar that Gears set. Up until that point the only good looking game was Fight Night, and that only managed to be an exception because it was set inside of closed arenas with little else going on.

It is true that the jump from 2D to 3D was probably more impressive than subsequent generational leaps. And as games start to more closely resemble reality/hyper reality/stylized reality each round of successive improvements will be less noticeable than the last, but we've still got a long way to go before we start becoming limited by imagination rather than technology.

I wouldn't be surprised if people looked back at the beginning of the next generation and said the same things they're saying now about going from PS4 to PS5 (or whatever cloud service we're playing on at that time). It's easy to forget that you're looking back at the best games of an 8 year long generation.

 

[cacildo]

ZombiU had some novel ideas with the Gamepad screen which I really liked but WiiU sadly isn't delivering the visual leap I'm looking for when entering a new generation

ZombiU was the most innovative game i played in the past 5 years and somehow it still felt old, in a very good way

Im really afraid nothing in this gen will top ZombiU survival mode gameplay. That was a rush

 

[Bishop89]

Bottom line is that the same thing gets said at the start of every generation...and then years into the gen, they get wowed by the games.

The cycle of life continues.

 

[Fredrik]

First releases on a new generation of hardware are never overly impressive. Just look at Resistance 1 (PS3 launch game) to Resistance 3 (much prettier, and better too). I was just playing BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Episode 2 this weekend, and that game is super pretty for a PS3 game! That's what you get from 7 years of learning. Give it time.

Now that all said, inFamous is crazy pretty. Sure it runs at ~30fps, but DAMN.



I don't think if any of us quite know the answer to that yet. In the early days of last generation, it was Assassin's Creed's traversal and Gears of War's cover system. (Yes I know Kill Switch created it, but GoW made it popular)

Compare Resistance 1 to any PS2 game, it looks amazing. The only thing that made the first PS3 games seem a bit meh was that 360 had been out for a year and PS3 was said to ve so much better.

 

[nkarafo]

Bottom line is that the same thing gets said at the start of every generation...and then years into the gen, they get wowed by the games.

I don't remember saying things like that on previous generations. I only remember how our jaws dropped when we saw the first Genesis games, the first PS1 games and the first PS2/GC/XBOX games.

 

[Marvel]

GTAV. Even on 360 that game is more impressive to me than anything i see in this thread.

Weapons-grade hyperbole right there.

 

[leadbelly]

I don't remember saying things like that on previous generations. I only remember how our jaws dropped when we saw the first Genesis games, the first PS1 games and the first PS2/GC/XBOX games.

People did say the same things actually. I remember this topic of discussion being had on the 1up Yours podcast.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Nothing at all wrong with you. This generation so far has been very boring and safe.

 

[chewydogg]

64 player BF4 is pretty impressive...

 

[Jay Sosa]

The last generation I was impressed with was PS1 early PS2, ever since then it's the same bullshit, just prettier.

All my hope rests on VR.

 

[Hoje0308]

We compare new games to the latest games before them, not games that are 7-8 years old.

I hope you're joking.

 

[Hoje0308]

If i could chose to have one console exclusive out now to be portet to pc it would be last gen GTAV. Even on 360 that game is more impressive to me than anything i see in this thread.

Who needs new hardware when you're impressed by sub-HD at 25 fps.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

I don't remember saying things like that on previous generations. I only remember how our jaws dropped when we saw the first Genesis games, the first PS1 games and the first PS2/GC/XBOX games.

Visit old GAF threads. This happens every time.

 

[emalord]

Infamous Second Son is somehow better than Resistance? Oh God I think its rather clear am I wrong?

Is TitanFall better than Kameo or COD2? Well I guess so, I do not owe an XBone

First gen games must be compared to first gen games IMHO

That said, I expected some more magic too from this generation but let's judge at the end of this year at least. I've never been blown away by any first gen titles with old consoles, except by Sonic on Dreamcast

 

[nkarafo]

Visit old GAF threads. This happens every time.

People really claimed that there wasn't much difference between PS1 and PS2? I just don't believe this.

 

[Konosuke]

We didn't even experience this years E3, which is the first one post-launch. Shitloads of games are going to be announced there.

 

[StuBurns]

This is the first generation where it's been available on PC for years. InFamous looks great, but Crysis 2 already looked a lot better.

I don't care personally about that stuff. The real next-gen is VR, and it hasn't really arrived on PC or console yet.

 

[KAL2006]

Its a combination of PC gaming taking off, diminishing returns and no room for innovation.

PC gaming taking off means we have already seen games in 1080p, 60FPS in Ultra settings, and nothing on nextgen is a big enough leap from what we seen on PC. As for diminishing returns, that is self explanatory, a leap from early PS1 3D to PS2 is huge, and from PS2 to HD on PS3. Finally innovation is the big one, we won't get anything as revolutionary as Mario 64, the first popular online shooter like Halo 2, the first online store and dashboard, the epicness of the first God of War, the cool action from the first DMC, cover shooting like Gears 1 and etc. Now everything is just the same thing of everything we already have but this can't be helped as ideas start to get used up in any medium and it gets harder to innovate.

 

[PdotMichael]

Am I the only one with this feeling?

Pretty sure, you aren't. But it's maybe a sign that you should get a new hobby.

 

[Chris_C]

There's definitely a difference here but not a difference like we saw from PS2 to PS3/360. Not anywhere near that level.

And it's pretty funny that the first picture has player shadowing and the second doesn't... Or wait maybe it does but its drawn so weirdly there.

On an ovecast day, light is diffused and the light source isn't "the sun", but rather bounced light, making shadows a lot softer and harder to see, they tend to appear more as a blob or idistinct shape. Second Son models that behavior.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

People really claimed that there wasn't much difference between PS1 and PS2? I just don't believe this.

Not necessarily that there wasn't much of a difference, but certainly that going from PS1 to PS2 was much less impressive than going from 2D to 3D. TBH I can't say that I browsed any forums in 2000 because I was 10 years old, but human beings don't really change.

 

[CadetMahoney]

PS4 and XB1 has the power to impress.

PS4 has an ok price point to power ratio.

Still unimpressive though especially bone for the price. Wasn't there a thread where a $100 graphics card can outperform the PS4 GPU?

I actually feel the only choice I have is PC at this moment. That has downsides compared to consoles such as convenient and simplicity aren't that important in the grand scheme of things.

Weapons-grade hyperbole right there.

heh/

 

[quetz67]

Cant't say I expected more but I do expect much more. Just wait for the Last of Us of this generation.

In five years PC games will run at resolutions I don't care about and with texture sizes I don't care about but console games will look gorgeous regardless, especially the Naughty Dog games.

 

[Lernaean]

The generation does not suck, it's just fine. What is wrong is people making the same mistakes all over and feeling disappointed.

1) They consider this gen is only PS4 and XBOXOne. Wrong! This gen also includes WiiU, 3DS and Vita. Now these 5 consoles, accompanied by a 6th being a current spec PC have a very large and diverse library of very impressive games.

2) They hunt the games that offer the most obvious graphical leap, then they realize that not only the product does not represent what they saw on the preview but that it's also a bad product for reasons beyond the visual section. People should have their eyes open and look out for new ways to implement original gameplay, for good performance and leave visuals for last. If a bad developer releases a bad game with shinny new graphics, it's still gonna be a bad game. Take for example Ground Zeroes. The game was widely ignored for being a 'glorified demo' as some said, but the majority of the people that actually played it know what a great gameplay experience is. The game is ignored atm and it's Konami's fault as well, i'm not blind, but i think people should give a chance to all those games that most others ignore because they are too expensive, or they run on 'underpowered hardware' or they are handheld only, because there really are games worthy of your time out there.

3) People should lower their expectations. Consoles are pretty much PC's right now and they act accordingly, so don't expect a huge leap visually. By the end of this gen we'll have games we wouldn't believe they could run on this hardware, it's always like this.
Also keeping your expectations low improves the way you see the software. I mean think of this, we are so very close to cg quality and some people say 'c'mon, one more push and we can have Spirits Within quality running in real time!' and they soon forget the blow performance will take if they push the hardware too much with the visuals. Same goes for all that want 4k games. Guys let's make games with awesome visual quality that run smoothly on 1080p first and once we perfect that we will see about 4k, one step at a time.

Just my 2 euro-cents.

 

[Moosichu]

Visually you have AAA titles like Second Son, we also have gameplay titles like Octodad and other indies and VR coming on top of that. What were you expecting OP? It took a whole year for GoW on 360.