Console gaming going downhill?

[kaiju_wars]

I have a few things that have been on my mind, and I wanted some people's thoughts.  Warning, this post will be all over the place

Is it just me, or has console gaming gone down hill?  I've always been into gaming, mostly console (and recently PC) but this generation, I'm just not feeling it.  Not in the sense that I don't like gaming, but nothing is wowing me like in the 7th generation, and the 6th, and 5th.  

A bunch of series started on the 7th gen, Uncharted, Gears of War, Resistance, The Witcher, Killzone, Crackdown.  There's more, I know, but I'm just naming a few.  From reading old reviews, and remembering talking with friends, these games were awesome.  8th gen really hasn't done that.  Destiny is crap.  If you like grinding, it works for you, but what it was supposed to be, and what it is... well.  Titanfall, that did wow me, but now no one plays it.  This generation is also the generation of 'definitive' and 'remastered' editions.  Some I like, don't get me wrong.  (I think Halo 2 anniversary from the MCC is one of the best looking games that have come out for 8th gen) but is that what this will be?  Hell, at least from what I've seen, people aren't excited for Gears 4, when it was a loved series last gen.  

And then games that should work don't.  Master Chief Collection came out back in '14, and I still have connection issues with the multiplayer.  

New IPs aren't really sticking.  (I know Titanfall is getting a sequel) but like Splatoon and Sunset Overdrive.  Both really fun games.  

 

This is what drove me more to PC gaming, but I still like to play on all systems.  Is it just me, or has console gaming lost it's 'shine', it's 'pizazz'?  It feels like the drive and the wanting to make something new is gone.  Or maybe it's the want for something new that is gone.  Which has also led me thinking of selling my Xbox One and Wii U.  I still have genuine uses for them, but they are slowly just feeling, meh, to me.  Should I sell them?  Should I keep them?  

[minibois]

Yeah, this whole gen (and the last half of gen 7) are a bit lack-luster. No real big releases, like GTA V was or how the MW2 and Black Ops 1 were big releases.. The video game market is just ... working now as in companies can just release their big franchises every year (think you CoD's, Assassins' Creeds, etc.) and with minimal changes still get so high sale numbers. They don't feel the need to innovate.

 

I would say thusfar, the last couple of years have been the years for indie devs. From Minecraft to Undertale, they are just doing so well now that people are getting tired of yearly lackluster releases which all try to look realistic, but end up looking like muddy pools of textures.

 

(also, Killzone started in the 6th gen, on PS2)

[AresKrieger]

See gaming has become a major industry (especially console gaming), and generally companies in larger industries try to maximize profit by cutting corners or relying heavily on marketing (rather than quality products), this however is short sighted and leads to consumer distrust and low enthusiasm, in a sense the industry has become stagnant due to the big players making it that way foolishly. Fortunately we have people like CD Projekt Red who are fans of PC gaming and against a lot of the BS practices of other companies, but the console market doesn't really have someone leading the charge right now. 

 

Unless the console market becomes more open this will only get worse, especially if microsoft gets it hands around the throat of the PC market, as they intend to with windows 10.

[Techicolors]

consoles will be relevant as long as there's console exclusives. but i agree that console gaming is starting to become more and more lackluster. 

[Mordant221]

Idk man, I honestly don't care about consoles except as a streaming device for my TV and the occasional once a year exclusive that interests me (Halo 5, UC4, Bloodborne). But I don't want consoles to go away. They, for us PC gamers, are a base. When new consoles come out, you upgrade your PC to be twice if not 3 or 4 times more powerful and you're good for the next few years.  

[malon]

i think that nostalgia for older games and consoles prevent me from getting exited for the current(and the inbetween gen we are going to get) gen of consoles. I personally love the older burnout games and the original need for speeds and the underground series, also on ps1 and 2(majority of my early gaming days) games like rachet and clank, older final fantasy games, shadow of the colossus, grand tourismo, first half of the metal gear solid franchise and freaking silent hill were a real adventure and had good story(ocasional movie tie ins happend, and bad voice acting was a thing), and the visuals were also so much simpler and a game that looked good back then stood out of the crowd and most of the time was a good or great game.

 

but this generation and for the last part of last generation there was no real game that stood out for me(exept catherine and the non remake of the last of us)and some great looking and promising or realy hyped (and in the core good)  games realy disapointed me(halo master chief collection, many CODS, mass effect3, gta5 (online)and fallout4  to call a few) 

also remakes of last gen console games and all the micro transactions that you see in many popular full price AAA game(every BF sinceBF4, destiny, every cod since black ops2) and all those stupid big pre order rewards or special pre order bonuses that almost never are worth half of the extra cost( and are often worthless since they translate in terrible in game purchases for a tacky multiplayer part of the game), and the state that some games are released in(Last batman pc port anyone, bf4, SONIC 06( even though that is in the begining of ps3 and xbox360 but fell obligated to include)  and almost every bethesda game i ever played since fallout2 even tthough i awlays play those on pc and i forgive those problems since i like their way of broken games) just made me lose faith in the current state of this and next gen of consoles from sony and microsoft(atleast nintendo is comming with the mini nes console).

 

Sorry for the long reply but this is somthing that was somthing i just wanted to share about this topic

[kaiju_wars]

So I decided to play Sunset Overdrive this past week, as I got it for free.  It's a really fun awesome game.  It's quirky, sure, but for what it is, it's a blast.  Most just silly mindless fun I've had with a game since Bulletstorm.  

It got praised by critics and consumers alike.  But unlike Gears, Halo, Uncharted, etc of last gen, no one is talking about it anymore.

 

So it got me thinking a little more.  I think the 8th gen was overhyped.  We've had new IPs for this gen, some were hits some weren't, but also it wasn't a huge graphical improvement.

Two things I've noticed:

1. Graphics weren't as huge a leap from the 7th gen, as it was from the 6th to 7th gen.  Developers warned about this, saying it wouldn't be graphical 'improvements' but graphical 'refinements.'  Of course consumers didn't listen and were expecting a huge leap.  What happened instead was smoother textures.  Less jaggies on characters and in game objects, meaning less need for anti-aliasing in some cases.  Also, more artifacts and more stuff overall can happen on screen all at once compared to 7th gen.  Look at Titanfall for example.  Objectively, yes, Titanfall on Xbox One looks better than the 360 version.  Subjectively, it's dependent on how big of an improvement.  But when stuff got heavy on screen, titans going nuclear, players running everywhere, titans falling in, etc etc, the game on 360 would take a huge dip in FPS, so much so that the developer added the option to lock the framerate at 30FPS.  
2. Game mechanics.  I feel that the 7th gen overall, perfected many gaming mechanics.  Gears of War with cover based shooters, Call of Duty with first person shooters, Tomb Raider and Uncharted with action-adventure titles.  So now, when these new IPs come out, such as Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive, Splatoon, even Destiny and The Order 1886, people are kind of let down.  Two things wowed people in the 7th gen, graphics, obviously, and how smooth and tight the controls felt.  Well, these control schemes are now cemented, they work, and work great.  There's not really room for improvement, just small refinements.  As a result, we get the new stuff everyone wants, new stories, new games, etc etc.  But now everything is called a copy cat because it uses controls that were perfected for that genre from last gen.  

[skywake]

We're just getting more multi-platform releases than we used to. It's as simple as that. I really can't think of that many games that have been exclusives. Even the ones that are are usually sequels, remakes or timed releases. And even the ones that aren't often end up on PC anyways. If you have a PC I don't see why you'd even bother with the XBOne/PS4. It's not like it was a couple of generations ago where pretty much ever game was an exclusive. 

 

The only guys really pushing interesting exclusives hard this generation have been Nintendo. And over there the Wii U has been on pause for over a year now. The last major release on the Wii U was Splatoon and that launched in May 2015. They've basically pulled the pin on that system and are shifting over to the NX. So there's no real excitement there either. At least not currently.

[kol]

"Next Gen"