Topic: Almost one year later, the next-gen problem.

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In my opinion, gaming has become more iterative with each generation since around the start of the PS2/Xbox era. By that point in time, we had all the technology to deliver all the 'core' game-play mechanics and whatever style you wanted to make. Audio too was now delivering CD quality.

There is never going to be another 'major' breakthrough - going from B&W, to 8 colours, to 32 etc made quite a difference, but going from 16m to 1bn - not much difference at all - its 'iterative'. Going from 2D to fully realised 3D worlds was transformative and opened up gaming in a big way but 3D is 'everywhere' now and used in every genre. Audio is as good as any 'movie' with full orchestral scores, thousands of lines of dialogue - a long way from simple beeps to synthesised and digitised speech.

Since the PS2/Xbox era, its been 'iterative' advancements. The 360/PS3 era enabled higher polygon counts and more objects on screen - so had a much more noticeable impact - but its still an iteration. The PS4/XB1 era gave us even higher polygon counts, more objects and improved lighting - which again boosted visuals, and now with the PS5/XSX era, there is a another 'big' jump up in terms of polygon counts, object density, lighting (especially with RT) but again its another 'iterative' step up.

Whatever aspect that goes into Games - from Audio to Graphics to the 'mechanics', its all been done now so its all 'iteration'. going from 8 colours to 32 colours had a bigger impact than going from 16m to 1bn despite adding a LOT more colour depth, going from beeps to digitised audio was bigger than going from 5.1 surround sound to 3D audio, going from 2D Pixels, to 3D Polygons was much bigger than going from 50m polygons per character to 200m polygons per character - its 'diminishing' returns so to speak. A circle made of triangles gets more and more 'circular' but beyond a certain point (depending on radius) doubling the Polygon count doesn't make the circle look 'more' rounded and doubling again has even less impact.

Its when you stop to look at the finer' details that you see how much 'more' the newer hardware offers. Look at the ground in FH5 or H:I on an XB1S and its just a flat texture layer but on an XBX, there is much higher level of detail, more geometry etc. Its a night/day difference - but in terms of game-play, its not doing anything 'new' and not going to make the 'game' feel different to play. Games like Forza or Gran Turismo haven't changed - just became more visually impressive due to hardware allowing them to increase the polygon counts, resolutions, lighting, object density etc etc

Everything is now iteration. There isn't really anything they cannot do from a 'core' game-play perspective that they have had to wait until now to do. Making use of 'instant' loading to jump through portal to portal isn't 'new' - you could do that last gen too - but not with as many objects or polygons to load in. RT is more 'realistic' lighting - an upgrade on SSR, AO, Baked GI etc etc. Things like AI, Physics etc existed before and any advanced AI/Physics is just an iteration. Whatever game you can 'imagine', its possible today in gaming. Its not like in 1990, wanting a Real looking 3D environment, with full surround movie quality audio, AI, Physics etc full motion capture animation to base your narrative in with a cast of Actors - you can today.

Regardless of whether or not the 'visuals' are that important, the last gen consoles (especially XB1S) is barely able to maintain a consistent frame rate at the minimum acceptable 30fps. Its also the 'worst' from a visual perspective - lowest resolution, lowest quality visual settings, lowest draw distances, lowest quality lighting etc and even if you don't have a 4k TV, its not 'great' on a HDTV either. So upgrading will give you much better visuals and better feeling games to play because they are more likely to offer 60fps as a minimum and much more consistent fram delivery. Add in the much faster loading, and the actual gaming experience is a generational leap above. I don't know if you have a Switch, but its like playing Doom at 'low' res, with 'low' visual settings and capped to 30fps on Switch or play it on an XB1S - visually, the 'essence' is the same, the story/enemies etc are the same, but the overall experience is quite different and feel different. Also there will be increasing numbers of games that you won't get on last gen - not because its such a radically new style of game no-one could have made before, its more down to the way it was 'designed' - for example, designing it with RT GI means it can't run on last gen hardware as the devs haven't built in an 'alternative', designed around fast loading (R&C for example could run on PS4 but players maybe stuck in 'portals' for 30s+ to load in the new world - Titanfall 2 did 'instant' swap between past/present versions of the world last gen). R&C still plays like an old R&C game from before the PS4 gen - albeit with much better looking visuals, but the core game-play loop is not that different at all - its iterative. Same with Fifa, CoD, BF, AC, Forza, GT. New IP's aren't unique either as they are all offering similar game-play loops. Its all iterating on what came before and the reason to upgrade is to get the latest features, games etc and the 'best' gaming experience you can for the money and ensure that you can play all the new games you want to play for the foreseeable future - the XB1/PS4 consoles are going to get fewer and fewer releases so you will 'miss out' on those....

If you don't upgrade, you miss out on 'new' features (Quick Resume, SSD loading times, RT/120fps modes), miss out on games (more and more games will not be released on last gen hardware - but you may be able to play via Cloud on XB1 with Game Pass - like MSFS for example) and the games you do get to play are costing the same, yet you get a scaled down (visually and in terms of playability) version. Higher Frame rates offer lower input lag for a more responsive game play feel. I'd argue too that higher resolutions and of course, higher visual settings too make it much easier to acquire targets at mid-longer range. Trying to spot an enemy sniper in the distance when they are about 2 pixels (due to low resolution) that is upscaled and very blurry on a 4k TV is impossible, but with higher resolution, that gives more definition, shape and detail, and the fact its not 'upscaled' and blurry makes it much easier to spot...

At the end of the day, the choice is yours. You don't need to buy a console at all and if access is ALL that matters, you could play on a Smartphone for just $10 a month. Who cares if its not currently the 'best' way to play games, you can still play Halo, FH5, MSFS etc Story, game-play etc is all the same - but some want the 'features' that Consoles offer. People bought a Pro/X because they wanted the 'best' version of those games - more 60fps modes or at least a better, more consistent frame rate, better/higher visual quality (inc at least a native 1080p image - something the PS4/XB1 are increasingly struggling to offer).

Basically, the 'newer' consoles allow the developers a much bigger 'budget' to work with. Instead of say being limited to 35k polygons per character, only 200k polygons on screen, they have so much more available so those 'trees' you see in the distance can be '3D' models instead of a 2D billboard of a tree that is swapped out for a 3D model when you get closer - see it pop-in. They don't 'need' to build in transition loading screens (like lift sequences) although they may still 'exist' because they offer a chance to deliver Narrative options, can stream in a LOT more objects much quicker so can fill Open Worlds with more objects and higher polygon counts - and do this at higher frame rates.

If you had been a PC gamer, you'd also not notice any 'generational' leap over the past 20yrs. Its all been iterative improvements to what came before. RT is an iterative step up on handling Lighting, Shadows, Reflections etc, DLSS is an iterative step-up over other methods of upscaling and everything is just iterative...

You'll never get that 'wow' this is something I've 'never' experienced before - not unless you haven't tried VR (but that novelty may wear off) because there isn't really anything 'new' they can do. Even if they get to the point of being indistinguishable from reality, its just iteration on where we are today. Some Photo-mode pics from games can be very difficult to tell from real photos.

I'd love someone to come up with 'something' that is 'next-gen' from a Game-play perspective that is truly unique and creates a whole new experience that is only possible now. Its more about making bigger, better playing, more immersive (less distracting, with no-pop in, screen tear, frame rate stutter, long waiting for loading etc) more visually impressive 'versions' of the types of games we already play. And to get the 'best' versions of these, you need the 'latest' hardware or 'put-up' with all the compromises the devs had to make to get the game running on antiquated (technologically) hardware of last gen. Yes you may still be able to 'experience' them, their story etc, but you get an 'enhanced' experience on better hardware.