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[Psycho_Mantis]

The generational leap is obvious. Pretty much anyone can see that and its quite big as well.

Now if your saying you are disappointed with the games then I would say its only been like 5 months -___-

 

[RaikuHebi]

The European launch was in November 2000, and I look at it from that perspective.

It's not fair to look at it like that. Japanese devs are not what they once were, and the level of the Western devs today is not the relative level of Japan back then.

March 2000 launch with late 2001 releases, means that we are comparing roughly the library of what PS4 (Nov 2013 launch) will be in mid 2015. It's only fair.

 

[Pound_lb003]

Nothing impressive about this gen so far. Better graphics alone don't make for a better game.

And you know what, it took until Call of Duty 4 to have last gen's first, next-gen experience. (Not that I liked it).

But it defined most of the games following it, making MP an almost standard, in the way before it GTA3 influenced a ton of PS2 games to become open-world.

It will happen this generation, but it NEVER happens in the first year. It just doesn't.

 

[Gskyace]

Hyped

 

[Metalmarc]

If they hadnt cancelled star wars 1313 and had it out now, and watchdogs was day 1, and looked as good as when we first saw it if not better then i think that would have helped.

 

[Dire]

...

games suck this generation not the hardware.

That sums up my feelings pretty well. Previous gens always had interesting looking new concepts coming out. Oblivion hit the 360 a few months after launch with a huge focus on its new "Radiant AI" system, massively improved physics, etc. It actually made me interested in the game and what else could happen now that consoles had a bit more CPU juice to play with. This gen so far looks like incremental graphical advances baked onto the exact same old games. In many, if not the majority of titles, that is still literally exactly what it is.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

And you know what, it took until Call of Duty 4 to have last gen's first, next-gen experience. (Not that I liked it).

I think most would agree that "last gen's first, next gen experience" was not COD4 which came in the early middle, but rather Gears of War which came a year after 360 came out.

 

[Famassu]

7th to 8th? I don't know. I don't see anything big. Games only look slightly better. And there is absolutely no difference in frame rates or resolution. Games still run at 30fps and the resolution is still 720p most of the time. Heck even the WiiU looks very competitive to the "next gen" consoles with offerings like Mario Kart 8.

Games look much better and the resolution for at least PS4 games is almost 100% 1080p. And PS4 has plenty of games that run better than 30fps.

 

[omonimo]

So, I've had WiiU since day 1, PS4 since day 1 and I plan to get XB1 day 1 if Microsoft some day remember that Sweden exist.
Anyhow, I've played on an import XB1 and today I think I've seen the games that is said to really show off the generational leap on all platforms.

I finally played Second Son for the first time yesterday, which DF said was the best looking game on any platform in their technical article, and I thought I would finally come away really impressed.

But no, I was not impressed, like at all.

I get that games will get more impressive over time and Naughty Dog still haven't shown their next gen stuff which might be amazing, but so far this has easily been the most underwelming start of a new generation for as long as I can remember.

Games still look about the same, most games still run at 30fps and we basically still play the same exact games as before since nothing has happened on the gameplay front.

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. Off TV Play at 60fps without lag is probably what I'm most impressed about so far, but it's on WiiU again. PS4 and XB1 has the power to impress, I think, but so far I'm just not impressed at all with the gameplay or performance there. Also, isn't it annoying that we see far more 60fps games on WiiU when it's supposed to be more like a last gen console technically?


Am I the only one with this feeling?

I'm not that sure what exactly is not impressive about infamous... you mean gameplay wise? Could be. But graphically?Are you kidding me? The leap from infamous 2 it's huge , the hell you are talking about? I don't remember so many free roam on pc with that better graphic at all. About gameplay , it's a total different although I love it so much more than any other game coming out on next gen but it's my personal taste.

 

[bigbaldwolf86]

I can't say anything about the X1 as I don't have one but I am impressed by the PS4. The graphical leap in something like BF4 is pretty clear and KZ looks stunning imo. The games will come in time but obviously things will be a bit bare early on in the new console cycle. I'm looking forward to what is coming in the next year and beyond so I couldn't be happier really.

 

[Famassu]

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.

inFamous Second Son is a far bigger jump over the average PS3 games than something like Resistance was over PS2 games.

 

[omonimo]

In any case case the OP it's quite confusing. He take infamous because eurogamer said it's tech wise impressive. Than he claims it's not ,because it's nothing new for him but the same eurogamer claimed it's wonderful garphicalky but nothing of new gameplay wise so... I'm not sure what's the real matter here.

 

[omonimo]

Its by far the smallest discerable generational leap in console history imo

diminishing returns in action

Based on what?

 

[KAL2006]

360 and PS3 had digital games with XBLA and PSN games, that was new. Downloading demos and videos instead of getting access to those on a demo disk. Achievements and trophies. Universal friends list. Matchmaking and leaderboards in nearly all games.

These things were revolutionary. This generation we were promised things will be more social and instant. But it hasn't lived up to that so far. PS4 is instant, but has yet to have sleep feature that was announced on PS4 launch event. The social features are okay with the sharing features but it is lacking refinement. I expected shared videos for specific games in each game hub, with top rated of the week features and etc. I expected each game has its own hub like Miiverse but better, where you can chat about the game and etc. This would have made it easier to find clans for older games instead of hunting for people on a gaming forum. The news feed is lacking with just who like what and what someone last played. I expected good things like a tournament announcement for a game, top rated shared videos and etc. Social features need a huge refinement. Finally the store is lacking, prices are way out of hand, and is lacking simple features like wish lists and gifting.

 

[Melchiah]

It's not fair to look at it like that. Japanese devs are not what they once were, and the level of the Western devs today is not the relative level of Japan back then.

March 2000 launch with late 2001 releases, means that we are comparing roughly the library of what PS4 (Nov 2013 launch) will be in mid 2015. It's only fair.

Why not? The system wasn't available for us Europeans to play before that. I doubt the Japanese were judging the PS4's offerings based on last November's games, as opposed to games available when it launched there. I'd wager, that many American gamers have an equally myopic viewpoint. It's only natural, the way I see it.

It's easy to compare the PS2 and PS4 Nov-March launch window from the European perspective, as they both came out on the last week of November.

I think it's a matter of an opinion, and personal taste in games, whether the western devs of today are on the same level as the Japanese devs were back in the day.

 

[The Hermit]

Nah me either.

I believe one of the reasons for that lack of "wow" for me is that developers are focusing on how detailed a building or wall can get, but forget about interativity.

Think about Crysis 1 vs Crysis 2. The first one allowed to level an entire camp and several trees but the second one you had that interactivity severly reduced... Sometimes it felt like the old days of prerendered graphics.

Also, this gen already started outdated compared to mid-tier gaming PC.

 

[SparkTR]

I can see that if you previously owned a high end PC, but it's definitely a jump over last generation consoles. The image quality was so terrible on the PS3/360, having cleared that up to a degree is big in its own right. But yeah I personally haven't had that 'Kameo' moment yet, and I doubt I will this generation, but the jump is there compared to prior consoles.

In terms of game design I'm expecting stuff to be more homogenous and risk averse than ever. In that regard I expect to be very unimpressed.

 

[omonimo]

Nah me either.

I believe one of the reasons for that lack of "wow" for me is that developers are focusing on how detailed a building or wall can get, but forget about interativity.

Think about Crysis 1 vs Crysis 2. The first one allowed to level an entire camp and several trees but the second one you had that interactivity severly reduced... Sometimes it felt like the old days of prerendered graphics.

Also, this gen already started outdated compared to mid-tier gaming PC.

So basically after the first Crysis on pc, everything on console appears outdated. Sorry but I completely disagree here.

 

[KojiKnight]

You don't see a difference between this

and this?

And we're only 5 months into this gen. And the above is an open world game made by a 100ish-man team.

This comparison shot is the poster child for diminishing returns.

 

[omonimo]

This comparison shot is the poster child for diminishing returns.

Uh why?

 

[theytookourjobz]

Best thing about this gen so far is Twitch streaming available on both consoles. I agree with the OP about lack of innovation in games though. Infamous and Dead Rising are impressive technically compared to previous entries but they are still sequels that feel pretty much the same. Later this year and into next I hope we start to see some new IPs with fresh ideas.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

The only system this gen where the generational leap was ridiculously obvious was the Vita. That's the only system to wow me. Going from PSP to Vita was fucking amazing. Hell, even going from the 3DS to Vita was amazing. The handheld leap this gen was huge and obvious to everyone from day 1. Well day 1 of the Vita. Both in terms of pure graphical power as well as gameplay possibilities that weren't available on the last gen handhelds.

The next gen consoles? It does seem like the smallest generational leap I've ever seen. Remote play is awesome, downloading in standby is neat....share button is cool I guess(or at least it would be if you weren't forced to link to a facebook account to use it). There's some neat features but I don't feel like the overall experience is much different or so much better that I'm going to be impressed. I think the problem is that games went way past the point of acceptability to a lot of people visually a long time ago. Even as games start to look better it's not going to impress all of us, and it doesn't seem like next gen is opening up new gameplay possibilites that weren't possible last gen either. We'll see if things improve, but right now I don't see the next gen consoles as impressive. Certainly nowhere near as impressive as the handheld leap was this gen, or any previous console leap.

 

[zoukka]

Polishing existing gameplay features and systems often brings huge "next-gen" feels for me. The camera of Journey. The bubble of NSMBW. The combat system in Bayonetta and 101. Use better tech in improving your games usability. Make your presentation more clear instead of more cluttered and detailed. Improve player feedback with dynamic animations and reactions instead of mo-capping stuff to look slow and boring.

Next-gen is a design mentality. It doesn't require cutting edge tech.

 

[kinggroin]

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.

Except its not, so it really doesn't in THAT regard.

I feel ya on the gameplay front however, we're not seeing very many new ideas, but thankfully that hasn't impeded my enjoyment of the games I'm playing.

 

[Jacobi]

The consoles are great, but I'm waiting for the next-gen games. E3 will fulfill the promise, I hope.

 

[The Hermit]

So basically after the first Crysis on pc, everything on console appears outdated. Sorry but I completely disagree here.

Did... Did you even read what i wrote?

Don't even bother, I won't read your reply because you are in my ignore list now

 

[dralla]

I've had my PS4 for about a month now and haven't been all that impressed either. Infamous definitely looks great but the difference from last gen isn't that big. I had no problem going from Second Son back to Dark Souls II, in fact, I appreciate DS2 more now considering the hardware. There are some truly amazing looking things in that game. I even went back to Infamous 2 and realized how much better it is than SS.

 

[SovanJedi]

I kind of feel the same, and I think unfortunately it's to do with old age. Technology isn't really enough to wow me as much, I don't get all giddy at the thought of improved IQ and damp pavements. To be fair I felt quite similarly last gen, though the huge advantage technology gave to games such as Dead Rising with it's (literally) thousands of zombies and GTA4 looking like a real world instead of a cardboard city drenched in misty lentil soup eventually swayed me. I was genuinely more excited about the Wii with it's new control scheme, but motion-based casual games have been run into the ground enough now to make motion controls stale. The Wii U Gamepad might have been amazing, but nobody has used it in a way that grabs everybody's attention (even though NintendoLand and ZombiU are genuinely fun with it), and nobody will properly use it now thanks to the system's appalling sales.

I think virtual Reality - as in actual, commercial-wide accepted and hyped Virtual Reality - will be what does it this gen. We just need that one game that blows everyone's minds with it. I'm hoping it's a horror game.

 

[Appollowexx]

There are quite a few people in this thread mentioning diminishing returns and a far smaller jump from previous gen to this gen than last time back in 2005, however none of them really cite examples especially between say 360/PS3 to XB1/PS4.

The reality is that the jump is there and it's pretty noticeable already. Having said that every generational transition fails to impress at times due to the previous system having a few games that already look a little 'next-gen'.

Here is an example of late gen Xbox vs launch XB 360. Same developer.

Now here is another late gen PS3 game compared to launch day PS4. Same developer.

To me this illustrates the point. Theres always a big leap and this gen is no different. However select titles that already pushed console graphics will take some of the punch out of the first wave of true next-gen launch releases.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Polishing existing gameplay features and systems often brings huge "next-gen" feels for me. The camera of Journey. The bubble of NSMBW. The combat system in Bayonetta and 101. Use better tech in improving your games usability. Make your presentation more clear instead of more cluttered and detailed. Improve player feedback with dynamic animations and reactions instead of mo-capping stuff to look slow and boring.

Next-gen is a design mentality. It doesn't require cutting edge tech.

This. Most games look good enough these days. Infamous looks excellent and it's fun to play, but nothing special. Ground Zeroes however shows great potential. Tons of options, great AI and it looks lovely to boot. It bodes well for The Phantom Pain. I don't need to see games become a lot more beatiful, a clean IQ and nice framerate go a long way. Look at the new Mario Kart. Give me interesting gameplay systems instead, like those of Wonderful 101 and Ground Zeroes.

But yeah, this gen barely started. I wasn't exactly blown away by Lair and Wreckless at the time either.

 

[RaikuHebi]

Why not? The system wasn't available for us Europeans to play before that. I doubt the Japanese were judging the PS4's offerings based on last November's games, as opposed to games available when it launched there. I'd wager, that many American gamers have an equally myopic viewpoint. It's only natural, the way I see it.

It's easy to compare the PS2 and PS4 Nov-March launch window from the European perspective, as they both came out on the last week of November.

I think it's a matter of an opinion, and personal taste in games, whether the western devs of today are on the same level as the Japanese devs were back in the day.

I take your point on a matter of opinion thing, but I'll still hold that we can't fairly compare until this Christmas. As someone else said, a few of the games you listed were launched in early 2002 in Europe.

 

[MYE]

You don't see a difference between this

and this?

And we're only 5 months into this gen. And the above is an open world game made by a 100ish-man team.

I'm actually impressed by IF2 there lol.
hmmm, might give it a try if I find it at the right price.

 

[TheDrowningMan]

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

This.

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.

And this.

And the fact that - unless Xbox One is your only console - there's a far, far bigger leap in resolution than there was from PS2 / Xbox to PS3 / 360. I know some people really fail to appreciate that, but then there actually exist those who couldn't tell the difference between iPad 2 & 3.

 

[Applebite]

Yes, something is wrong with you - I'm afraid you have transitionitis. It's when you expect way too much from the first 5 or so months of a generational leap between video game consoles, especially in the midst of an industry filled with sequels and cross-gen games.

 

[Narpas Sword0]

Yea, I miss the heady days of King Kong, GUN, Perfect Dark, and Resistance FOM. With Lair and Heavenly Sword to look forward to.

I'll take Titanfall over GRAW, all we're missing is an Oblivion substitute but I'll take all the indies over that.

 

[Balb]

The generational leap is obvious. Pretty much anyone can see that and its quite big as well.

Now if your saying you are disappointed with the games then I would say its only been like 5 months -___-

True, but there isn't much on the horizon that I'm interested in either. Things will probably change at E3 but right now I'm not impressed. I have an Xbox One and it's pretty much a paperweight right now.

 

[dr guildo]

You don't see a difference between this

and this?

And we're only 5 months into this gen. And the above is an open world game made by a 100ish-man team.

In this comparison, basically for me : videogame vs reality

And for fhose shouting there is no shadow in SS, just look at the context, rain+dark ground+reflections = shadow barely visible, the same phenomena IRL... As Simple as that ! Do you go out sometimes ?

 

[Melchiah]

I take your point on a matter of opinion thing, but I'll still hold that we can't fairly compare until this Christmas. As someone else said, a few of the games you listed were launched in early 2002 in Europe.

That's certainly true for some of the games, like FFX, MGS2 and Ico, in the pic I posted.

I think the PS4 Nov-March launch window has been better compared to the PS2's EU launch, but I highly doubt this year's games will top the 2001 games of PS2. That was an exceptionally good gaming year, which I still hold as one of the best, among 1999 and 2013.

 

[Deadpool_X]

One thing that I'm noticing OP, is that you seem to be falling into the same trap I see others falling into. It seems like you expect with this new gen, it should be easy for everything to be 1080p at 60fps. If games were still using last gen engines, then yes, all these games SHOULD be running like that. However, with the new generations, we are always given new engines. Engines that tax the systems in ways that the previous gen couldn't handle at all. New lighting, better shading, higher res textures, more complex AI. When you add all of these things up, it ends up taxing the new systems to the point where 1080p and a solid 60fps becomes very difficult to achieve, especially less than half a year into the generation's lifespan, when developers are still struggling to understand the new systems.

TLDR: Just because systems are more powerful then last gen does not mean they will be pushing 1080p with a solid, locked 60fps within the first year of launch.

 

[MMaRsu]

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...

I see you haven't played KZSF

 

[Feindflug]

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.

The only good looking game until Gears and Uncharted 1 arrived was Fight Night? is this a serious post?

 

[Nev]

The only game that looks "next-gen" and like nothing else I've ever seen to me is The Order and to a lesser extent, Ryse.

 

[Gurish]

You don't see a difference between this

and this?

And we're only 5 months into this gen. And the above is an open world game made by a 100ish-man team.

I really don't understand how people can look at those two pics and still claim that this is not a significant jump.

OK, I'll give you that PS1 to PS2 was a bigger jump, as well as SNES to PS1 but PS2 to PS3 jump is more impressive?
Why?
Look at the model and the environment, lighting and effects, how can you say it's not as big as PS2 to PS3?

And that's Infamous 2 that looked pretty good, you don't want to compare it to Infamous 1 that came out 2 years (2!) after launch, and I:SS is only 5 months after launch!

You can say it's not enough because the gen was too long and you are getting a similar jump to previous gen, or you expected more, but if you deny that the jump is very noticeable compared to PS3 you really need to see a doctor.

 

[RaikuHebi]

That's certainly true for some of the games, like FFX, MGS2 and Ico, in the pic I posted.

I think the PS4 Nov-March launch window has been better compared to the PS2's EU launch, but I highly doubt this year's games will top the 2001 games of PS2. That was an exceptionally good gaming year, which I still hold as one of the best, among 1999 and 2013.

Probably not, but I'm hoping on an E3 surprise (and hopefully MGSV this time next year).

 

[Dr. Buni]

There is nothing wrong about you, because there is nothing to be impressed about in this new generation. It sucks so far.

 

[TGO]

I'm impressed with the graphics and whats to come, but what I'm not impressed with is the output of games
while I like Indies they are the face of this generation so far and it doesn't impress most if not all if those games are possible on lastgen, Vita even mobile, retail games are in limited quality and as more come(if they do) they'll paint a better picture for this gen

 

[SparkTR]

The only good looking game until Gears and Uncharted 1 arrived was Fight Night? is this a serious post?

I don't see that either. Kameo blew me away from day 1 last generation, it was a clear step above anything even on PC at the time and I still think it's one of the best looking games available for the 360.

 

[Melchiah]

Probably not, but I'm hoping on an E3 surprise (and hopefully MGSV this time next year).

Same here. Hopefully something from Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, Quantic Dream, and/or Japan studios will be revealed there.

 

[jacobeid]

Second Son made me realize the obvious generation leap. A PS3/360 would burn with dat IQ and dem particle effects.

 

[peace]

I really don't get such negative posts as the creator of this thread. If you can afford to buy all the consoles and have the time to play all the games you should be grateful for that, at least. Give me the machines and I'll be very happy with what I have! I refuse to believe that any of the realisation he came to could have come as a surprise. We knew how powerful the new consoles were etc.

Also, it would probably cost too much money to make games so much 'more' than current blockbusters. And the PC isn't getting any better games, they are the same games we were playing 10 years ago just with ever better graphics. So it's not just consoles where games seem the same.

Stop moaning and just buy the very best games that you know you will get a lot of enjoyment from.