Topics:
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
>What should determine when a new console should be released?
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
>Is the NX coming too soon?
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
I think with games taking longer and longer to develop, it makes sense to have generations last longer than they used to. I think generally the companies have this in the right zone.
>What should determine when a new console should be released?
IMO the breadth of the library should reach a certain point before a replacement console is released
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
I think it's stupid and pointless but by that same token, harmless. Nobody is going to create content that can only be played on the newer beefier model, so it's just able to do a couple extra things or run them slightly faster in the end.
>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
Don't really know what you mean by this
>Is the NX coming too soon?
We have no idea when it's coming or what it's about or even whether it's a handheld or a console or both. Seriously insufficient information. If it's a home console that releases this year, then yes I'd say that's too early. If it's a handheld that releases next year, then not at all. If it's a hybrid the way some theorize it to be then it can release whenever because it wouldn't be an outright replacement unless it takes off.
>>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
>Don't really know what you mean by this
The ps3 had an abnormally long life and some say it stagnated the market.
>>332707995
>>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
I think 5-6 years works, last gen was little too long but it was OK
>>What should determine when a new console should be released?
When the hardware can no longer support games at a somewhat impressive graphical quality and playable framerate; when the market is testing as ready to invest in new hardware
>>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
Pros are improved performance and longevity, cons are dividing the fanbase and angering paying customers
>>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
Didn't have a PS3 so I don't feel qualified to speak on this
>>Is the NX coming too soon?
No, but I didn't buy a Wii U so I have no reason to not be OK with it. The Wii U will be 4 years old when the NX comes out and that's impressive considering it's performance.
>>332708961
I don't get why the PS3 is being singled out when the gen was long for all three consoles? My answer to the first question pretty much is my answer to this one anyway
>>332709136
I think he's comparing the PS3 lifespan to the PS2, rather than PS3 to 360 or Wii.
>>332709136
360 should be included. I sometimes forget the Halo 3 box.
I'd be fine with ~6 year long lifecycles, shorter than that and the console dies before reaching its peak, longer than that and it starts to stagnate game development techwise.
>>332709435
Wouldn't longer console life give devs time to perfect the development of games for that console and absolutely push it to its limits?
With how long it takes to make games today, console gens need to last 15 years before decent games start to come out. PS3 didn't even have half the games PS2 did because of longer dev cycles. At this rate it will be the year 2020 before the PS4 gets going with its first games.
>>332707995
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
I think the initial price point should play a factor. I expect a $400 machine to last more than 5 years. The cheaper it is, the less of an issue I have with upgrading.
>What should determine when a new console should be released?
When the technology is there and enough significant improvements are made to warrant a new model.
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
We're up to like 5 now and as far as I know the PS4K is the same shit with better output. If sony doesn't calm their shit, it could be the PS3's complete waste of 3D capability all over again.
>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
I don't know.
>Is the NX coming too soon?
Probably not. Nintendo failed to realize the potential of the Wii U feel as though they're abandoning it too soon. However, it was also gimped right out the gate. If you could take everything the Wii U offers and give it the power of either of the other two "big" consoles, it would have been amazing.
Now it was only impressive during that awkward gap in between last and current gen consoles.
>>332709729
Theoretically maybe, but most devs can't really survive that way. They need to release the game at some point before the project would start losing them money. A longer console life is more for a larger library as opposed to a more polished library.
>>332707995
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
At least 5 years, but no-more than 8.
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
They're going to release slim versions of consoles anyway, why not make them a bit more powerful? There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of improvements in technology, as long as they don't make too many exclusives for the slightly improved system.
>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
Last gen was too long for all consoles, it was probably really hard to make multiplat games for them because of the difference in power.
>Is the NX coming too soon?
WiiU flopped hard because of their marketing so they should just pull the plug on it and NX is probably going to have BC so we loose nothing.
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
~5 years, no more of this 8 year gen bullshit.
>What should determine when a new console should be released?
When new games have to look and run like colossal shit to function on them (i.e. Dragon's Dogma).
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
Deciding the CPP wasn't going to be compatible with the NuNipple functions was dumb as fuck. Don't really care about PS4K since there's no damn sources to make use of it and games aren't going to run anyway.
>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
The PS3's life was fine. The 360 was the problem with all its outdated media and bullshit.
>Is the NX coming too soon?
No, Wii U isn't going to recover, no point in trying to resurrect the dead horse further.
>>332707995
at least 6 years given how long game development takes now
PS4 should have easily been able to last that long given it has 16x the RAM of the PS3 but Sony doesn't seem to want to stick to that plan.
>>332710336
>muh ram power
The problem is the garbage APUs in both the PS4 and Xbone. Might as well have used a fucking Tegra if they wanted to be cheap assholes.
>>332709332
But the ps2 lasted longer than the ps3. It got that 2013 expansion to FF11. There's nothing on the horizon for ps3 except Star Ocean 5, and Persona 5. Both of which will be severely gimped experiences
7-8 years is a good lifespan. Which consoles would just kinda accept graphics being lesser than PC and have a healthy life cycle rather than a console every 3-4 years
>>332710514
I mean production time lifespan, not playerbase. I honestly can't believe anyone even still plays FF11, seeing as how it's not even possible to play on the slim version.
>>332710421
memory was the single biggest limitation on the PS3 and 360
PS4's APU is perfectly fine and has a lot of forward thinking HSA design choices. I think most of its performance issues would be alleviated if Sony had just included AMD Turbo core support and left it up to developers how to allocate the system's TDP.
A new console gen every 5 years was worthwhile in the past when improved tech made for new gameplay possibilities but now that all we get each time is diminishing returns on improved graphics and nothing else significantly new I have no problem with 8-10 year long lifespans.
>>332710910
That's a pretty good point
>>332707995
>How long should companies wait between major console releases?
They should stay at this current level of hardware for as long as possible. They should only upgrade when the hardware is cheap and there is a sizeable demmand
>What should determine when a new console should be released?
The conditions I stated above. The thing is pushing the graphical standard even higher than what it is now is unsustainable and it results in an industry being run by only those who have AAA budgets which will be devastating.
>The pros and cons of releasing a New 3DS or a PS4K?
Minor hardware revisions are okay, if it doesn't make the previous console superficially obsolete. It' simply appears to me as more options to the end consumer. The negatives would be if the new hardware revision met the conditions I just started.
>>Did the life of the PS3 have a negative impact and did it have any positive effects?
The longer life a console has the more the end consumer benefits as well companies brand name if they are seen supporting a last gen console after the new one is currently underway.
>Is the NX coming too soon?
That's no longer the question, Nintendos release cycle are completely out of sync and it's been working to third disadvantage ever since. The behave in a way that is almost anti-competitive but they take risks that equally backfire on them.
The PS4K is a the result of the upcoming NX no doubt, but as I said before, raising the graphical standads this gen is harmful, it's needless and it shouldn't be done until the time is right. PC users are the number one driving force behind that movement though, they are the most cancerous to the industry for multiple reasons.
>>332711363
>most cancerous to the industry
>most of the sales of unfinished EA shit and made-of-lies Ubisoft shit are to console users
At a certain point consumers are going to need to take a hard look at how much they are willing to pay for games. We aren't there yet, but we are starting to approach the limits of performance increases through shrinking process nodes. Moreover, rather than making chips less expensive because less silicon is being used overall, it's going to start trending towards more expensive.
So we'll pay more money for more incremental gains. Games already take 3-4 years to push out the door. In a six year cycle, major publishers and studios are going to need multiple, massive teams working to crank games out. Look at a game like FFXV and it's development time, team size, and the fact that's running like molasses on PS4/Xbone.
Not only do we need longer console cycles, we need radically longer console cycles. Ten years, minimum. Now, this particular generation doesn't necessarily need to be the ten year one, but unless everyone is cool with paying $200 a pop for a 7 hour third person shooter loaded up Denuvo, we're going to need to just accept a certain quality of graphics and say "that's good enough for a long while".
5-6 years was a good lifespan (with slim revision after about year 3). But now, since technology isn't really advancing with such paradigm shifts as before (ie, the jump from shit 8-bit pixels to better 16-bit pixels in 4th gen, the jump from 2D to 3D in 5th gen, the jump from shit 3D to actual good 3D in 6th gen, the jump to HD in 7th gen), I feel that today's consoles should last 10+ years now.
The pros of releasing better spec'd revisions to consoles are being able to fix design flaws with the original release (3DS should've always had a second analog stick) and being able to run games with better performance. The cons are alienating the early adopters that figured there wouldn't be a new revision (I can't count the times /v/ and /vg/ said there would never be a 3ds with the CPP functionality built in), and that it's a lazy excuse to not optimize the game for the old revision (look at Hyrule Warriors Legends and MH4).
I'm not sure how the PS3's lifespan could've had a negative effect. It got games until GTAV (which was multiplat anyway), then after that, all it got were gimped crossgen multiplats. 360 lasted longer by virtue of being released a year earlier.
Yes, the NX is coming too soon. The Wii U isn't even a bad console. It's the console this gen with by far the most exclusives, and the only one with free online. It's just that the hardware isn't impressive, too reliant on the gimmicky gamepad, not that many new interesting IPs (Splatoon's the only one, honestly), and Nintendo continues to alienate third parties. Also, amiibo is shit and I hate how a lot of amiibo locked content can't just be in game unlocks, or at the very least, normal DLC.
>>332713681
MH4U plays fine on old 3DS, and old 3DS + CPP is frankly a better control scheme than N3DS. God damn so many people fell for that scam.
bumparoony
ITT: actually decent posts
this thread is too good for /v/ and it's not even amazing it's just good
>>332716661
I agree, this was very pleasant.
>>332707995
New 3DS is nothing new for Nintendo. They released the DSi and the GBC before it. They've done this before to prolong the life of the handheld with little fragmentation.
PS4K and XB1.5 are the same as new 3DS in theory but different because it hasn't really happened with consoles (aside from old 8-bit consoles). Peripheral upgrades don't count.
This is mainly a thing because of super cheap PC hardware. If x86 was cheap enough to put in the 360 they would have done it back then. Now it's cheaper than ever and incremental updates will retain backwards compatibility so there is no reason not to do this every three years.
Console cycles really need to die. Consoles really need to die too in all honesty. I'm concerned about Nintendo and wish they would just make games and peripherals. Microsoft is in the best position because they also have PC which they will leverage somehow. Sony is fucked though in the long term because of this but in the short term they will be fine.
PS3 and 360 lifespan was unhealthy for the industry. It was a direct result of the original giant noisy boxes losing so much money and but it helped that they were pretty good for their time unlike PS4 which was barely midrange at launch.
I see the future of consoles merging with PC and Xbox being part of Windows. It already is in fact but it will become more unified. When that happens the console is dead. Nintendo can live off their games and peripherals alone but Sony will be dead when it comes to video games. Sony consoles will be no more. Nobody will want to buy a closed Sony PlayStation console that plays different skus of the same games that PC based console devices with Xbox and even maybe Nintendo branding play better
With the NX, PS4.5 and Xbox One becoming a Windows 10 machine, it looks like console gens are shrinking, if they even exist anymore. people joke that consoles are just cheap, shitty PCs but that's literally true now. Consoles will just upgrade every 3 years to better hardware. Sure there might be a huge jump in tech once it's time to upgrade the CPU/mobo, but for the most part consoles will upgrade just as often as people upgrade PCs. Xbone will probably be the most versatile if they add a PCI-e port so you can use aftermarket GPUs.
>>332718217
I'm imagining a world where PC is just a means. We will have the PlayStation Store for Sony published, Nintendo eShop for Nintendo published and Windows Store for Microsoft published games. And then the big 3 can make dedicated gaming PCs with certain gimmicks, such as gamepad with screen to stream gameplay, HDMI in ports, DVRs, etc.
I can't tell if this is a future as obscure assteampunk but I want it to end up this way.
>>332719661
Would likely never happen, the console manufacturers make their brand off of their encryption and drm bullshit tied in with their system. If you could run any Playstation or Xbox game on a pc no one would buy one of their shitty consoles except for casuals considering they would either be gimped or have a big markup compared to building your own rig to play the games.
>>332707995
>Is the NX coming too soon?
literally no one knows when the NX is coming out...
>>332721014
Why couldn't a PS5 run a playstation OS similar to the steam OS or as a Windows overlay at a $399 price point?
>>332721535
No one bought Steam machines because there's no market. Console gamers want a plug and play box, not a PC disguised as a console. PC gamers have been conditioned to avoid prebuilts at all costs. Although part of the blame is that Linux has no games, although I think you could install Windows on Steam Machines.
