Things I'll Miss Once Next-Gen Consoles Release

This console generation is coming to an end, no doubt about it. It has been a very engaging generation, with the rise of digital disruption and online gaming it’s hard to believe this cycle of consoles has last for about seven years. Now it is time for new hardware to advance gaming to another level like the old saying “out with the old in with the new.”

Good things are supposed to come from change and advancements; I on the other hand fear the future for next-gen consoles.

I’m going to miss split-screen Co-op

     Online gaming has become a big marketing campaign for games. Just about every game features some type of online multiplayer component, even games that don’t necessary need multiplayer features. There is no question in my mind we’ll see some massively multiplayer online games for next-gen console and I’m looking forward to it. On the other hand you can say goodbye to split-screen co-op, which has been seen more less this generation as the cycle continued. As much as I enjoy online gaming nothing beats having a few friends over and playing a cooperative game on the same T.V. It builds friendships and you get to know a person more. Also, you don’t have to worry about some 9 year old screaming in your ear.

I’m going to miss my controller

     Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony seem to be pushing their motion sensor hardware more and more this past year. I’ve seen the Kinect, Wii, and PlayStation Move used in both good and terrible ways. With Kinect’s voice command you could navigate through Xbox’s dashboard without picking up a controller and yell out commands during gameplay. In Mass Effect 3 you can command your teammates via voice commands on Kinect without having to pause the game. That is the good way. The bad way is making players get up and do some ridiculous hand gestures the hardware can’t even processes. I see room for improvement with motion sensor hardware, but that truth is the last thing I want to do after a long day is move around. I love simply sitting down with a controller in hand and playing videogames, not doing jumping jacks and cartwheels.

I’m going to miss finished games

      With online features for console gaming developers could patch and update their game as they see fit, which is both good and bad. Remember the time when you would buy a game and what you got was a complete finished game, with some acceptation of a glitch here and there that didn’t really ruin the game. For next-gen you can expect to see less of that. Games released this generation are not 100% complete anymore, some games are completely broken players can’t even play it. I have a feeling we will see more unfinished games in the future. Sure developers can fix the problem with patches, but is your $60 worth a game that can’t run properly on day one?

     The future for next-gen might seem grim now, but we also need to look on the bight side of things. The things I listed are not terrible features next-gen will have to offer but they're not good either. Anybody without Internet access might suffer if the next-gen does decide to focus on being connected to the Internet 24/7. Let’s hope that is not the case.

Note this was first posted back in Aug 7, 2012