With next gen starting holiday 2020 will you look back on current gen fondly?

[seether]

I didn't think it was that good.

[kamikazekeeg]

This gen was abit of a mixed bag.  The Xbox One was pretty poor in general, but the PS4 did really great.  Nintendo is in that weird in between state, but the Switch is a cool piece of tech, underpowered as it is, but I personally think the Switch game output hasn't been that good.  Started out super strong, but fell too hard into Wii U ports and not having a good spread of releases throughout the past two years.  You get like one or two alright or good games in the first 3/4's of the year and then they load up the latter end of the year with their big releases.  Barely even touched my Switch this year.

[oldgamerz]

I didn't think it was that good.

I agree completely 

At least you tried I didn't even play an 8th generation video game. But from the sound of it compared to the other generations it flat out sucked unless you like all of the hassles, I said before

[Warmsignal]

No, this gen was lackluster as will be every future gen. Why? Psychical media is dying. Physical consoles are dying. Developers are out of original ideas. Everyone is going bankrupt. Basically the end is nigh, and the glory days are quickly fading in the rear view.

I consider Switch next-gen because it will remain relevant through next-gen, and I am somewhat optimistic about it still. Although, I'm just so over the kind of games that Xbox and PlayStation typically produces. If I never have to see another grey post-apocalyptic landscape, or another damn zombie shoot-em-up again it'll be too soon. Let me guess, there will be more Halo and more Final Fantasy! More Forza and more Gran Turismo! More Gods and Gears of War! It's all so tired and played out. I really don't see how this stuff is still sustainable. I guess I never really liked it that much to begin with, but all these years later I still prefer my Nintendo IPs. As long as I've got that stuff, I'm good.

[seether]

This gen was abit of a mixed bag.  The Xbox One was pretty poor in general, but the PS4 did really great.  Nintendo is in that weird in between state, but the Switch is a cool piece of tech, underpowered as it is, but I personally think the Switch game output hasn't been that good.  Started out super strong, but fell too hard into Wii U ports and not having a good spread of releases throughout the past two years.  You get like one or two alright or good games in the first 3/4's of the year and then they load up the latter end of the year with their big releases.  Barely even touched my Switch this year.

I thought the xbox controller (feel/battery life), game pass and backwards compatibility were all really great but they sorely lacked in good exclusive games.

Conversely, I thought the ps4 controller had poor battery life, for the longest time PS Now was horrible value and there isn't ps3 disc backwards compatibility - however there were several exclusive games considered some of the best of the generation and many of them were single player in a world of multiplayer games as a service.

I loved my switch when I first got it, Mario Odyssey was a total joy and I put a ton of time into Mario Kart coming first in all cups and unlocking golden mario but the lack of power has meant a gimped game lineup outside of first party and the nintendo releases are few and far between and not all of them interest me.

I wish there was hybrid of all three - the feel, features, services of xbox - the exclusives of playstation and the portability of nintendo.

They all have their shortcomings in my opinion. I remember my PS4 initially also did not support external hard drives and all generation the battery life of the controller has been very poor, probably due to the pointless light always on it.

The trackpad and light on the PS4 controller were dumb and unnecessary.

I think I actually enjoyed my XB1 the most this generation, as unpopular an opinion as that is. I thought it was better than playstation in every way other than exclusive games. The controller lasts much longer and feels better, game pass is a great value, there's backwards compatibility of a lot of good titles.

The xbox also had external hard drive support from the start and the S and X are 4K blu ray players while the Pro is not. The X is also more powerful than Pro. The PS4 still has no backwards compatibility.

I could go either way on my console choice for next time honestly. I want to hold off on a day one buy for sure this time round and see the landscape a year or so in.

[aliensstudios]

They all have their shortcomings in my opinion. I remember my PS4 initially also did not support external hard drives and all generation the battery life of the controller has been very poor, probably due to the pointless light always on it.

The trackpad and light on the PS4 controller were dumb and unnecessary.

All valid criticisms. Personally, I really like the PS4 controller, I've even got adaptors to use it on my PS3 and PS2. On my controllers at least, you can dim the light and I typically get 8 hours or so of life, which is pretty decent if you ask me. When not in use, I've got a very nice dock for them. In my experience, battery life has never been an issue. I'm hoping the PS5 will have an extremely similar controller to the Dualshock 4, maybe even offer native support for it.

[seether]

I have this really bad feeling that games next gen will be 80 to 100 GB and a total pain to wait to install plus even larger day one patches and regular updates. Annoying even with the ability to only uninstall either single or multiplayer.

Maybe the inconvenience of game sizes and inadequacy of hard drive space will position next gen as primarily streaming based after a while. 

[hoshichiri]

I've actually enjoyed this last generation. The rise of the boutique publisher has brought many indie games I may not have tried otherwise into the physical game space. The AAA space, dominated last gen by the first person shooters I don't care for, diversified just a bit and popped out a couple titles I very much enjoyed (Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter World come to mind.)

I realize this gen has also been full of real dumbf*ckery- mostly involving loot boxes & greedy DLC- but those games are almost always in forms I don't care for even before the money grubbing kicks in, so it's not something that's really messed with my gameplay. My experience has been a few people realizing weirdos like me, with a preference for indies, imports, & b-tier titles got cash to burn & started selling the crap I want. Yay!

[kamikazekeeg]

I have this really bad feeling that games next gen will be 80 to 100 GB and a total pain to wait to install plus even larger day one patches and regular updates. Annoying even with the ability to only uninstall either single or multiplayer.

Maybe the inconvenience of game sizes and inadequacy of hard drive space will position next gen as primarily streaming based after a while.

They've said for PS5 that you'll be given the option to install, and I assume uninstall, certain parts of a game.  Like if you have Battlefield 6, and you only play multiplayer, you can choose to only install multiplayer and not install the singleplayer component.  Stuff like this will do a lot to deal with the large installs for a number of games.  Large downloads will still be pretty big, but streaming won't be taking over that much.  It's not proven to be even a notable feature yet and this generation will only be about testing those waters.

[bikingjahuty]

For the most part, yes I will. Some really incredible, fun games came out this generation and I also had a lot of great memories of being hyped for those games. For me, two games that both made this generation in terms of being announced towards the beginning of the gen, anticipating the hype for those games, and then finally them getting released in several months are FF7 Remake and Shenmue 3. E3 2015 was nothing short of magical for me and I remember having a total meltdown during Sony's conference that year where both games were announced. I literally got two games I thought I'd never see get made within 10-minutes of each other, especially Shenmue 3 which I had given up on at that point after years and years of rumors, false information, and lost hope. And now, right on the eve of this gen ending we get both games! On top of that we get The Last of Us 2 which isn't a series I'm a huge fan of, but I completely understand how much those games mean to others. Quite honestly this will go down as one of my favorite, most memorable generations of video games. Probably not my favorite, but once the dust has settled I can see it being in the top 3.

[sworddude]

No, this gen was lackluster as will be every future gen. Why? Psychical media is dying. Physical consoles are dying. Developers are out of original ideas. Everyone is going bankrupt. Basically the end is nigh, and the glory days are quickly fading in the rear view.

I consider Switch next-gen because it will remain relevant through next-gen, and I am somewhat optimistic about it still. Although, I'm just so over the kind of games that Xbox and PlayStation typically produces. If I never have to see another grey post-apocalyptic landscape, or another damn zombie shoot-em-up again it'll be too soon. Let me guess, there will be more Halo and more Final Fantasy! More Forza and more Gran Turismo! More Gods and Gears of War! It's all so tired and played out. I really don't see how this stuff is still sustainable. I guess I never really liked it that much to begin with, but all these years later I still prefer my Nintendo IPs. As long as I've got that stuff, I'm good.

first of all i disagree in for example botw or mario odyssey as far as ideas go.

also going bankrupped while profits have been multiplied and costs of making them decreased how do you come up with this stuff 

You do realise that companies have way more profits in videogames than ever before.

first of all CE for way higher prices wich are cheaply made extra profits, than DLC and games getting micro transactions again a ton of extra profit. obviously the lootbox system within micro transactions. also let's not forget the amiibo excuse people who would otherwise not collect figures on average people would buy more than a few each at 12 to 15$ a pop.  a ton of people on this site have 50 or a 100+ amiibo wich mostly was for smash only. do you realise how much extra cash that is instead of just the base price of a game. these things only cost 2$ or something from production to get on store shelfs. while it began on wii u it still is going on switch even if the sales are much less than back than also for multiple games besides smash.

the people who always go for CE spend a ton more and even the common man who normally buys a regular release might want to go for dlc to get the full game and the occasional whale for lootboxes. people have a deeper hole to fill in a single game these days.

I can assure you that profits for videogames have gone up by maybe several times not gone down. share holders would kill the devs if they would just go back to the old days of selling a game wich is 100% finished and where CE where actually rare and for only few games.

in the past games only made their original sales price. nowadays not only is the production cheaper but additional sources of income and multiple waves thanks to extra content while in the past a game was 100% finished before it was released to the consumer.

original ideas maybe in the case of microsoft or sony but them getting bankrupped i don't think so since profits are multiple times better than in the past it's the golden age as far as that goes.

while mostly it's not my stuff i think even for sony your discrediting them as far as ideas go.

witcher 3, nier automata, persona V and bloodborne where very well received and not the same stuff. and let's not forget the very big boom of the indi scene with games such as fire watch and a ton more.

[argyle]

I've actually enjoyed this last generation. The rise of the boutique publisher has brought many indie games I may not have tried otherwise into the physical game space. The AAA space, dominated last gen by the first person shooters I don't care for, diversified just a bit and popped out a couple titles I very much enjoyed (Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter World come to mind.)

I realize this gen has also been full of real dumbf*ckery- mostly involving loot boxes & greedy DLC- but those games are almost always in forms I don't care for even before the money grubbing kicks in, so it's not something that's really messed with my gameplay. My experience has been a few people realizing weirdos like me, with a preference for indies, imports, & b-tier titles got cash to burn & started selling the crap I want. Yay!

This exactly. This gen saw not only the rise of the physical indies but of the import - it's way more common now than it was at the start of the gen for imports to be released with English support. Beyond the method of release, indie games have seriously matured this gen. Every time someone talks about the Switch's poor lineup I just glance at my packed shelf and wonder what they're talking about. And in the AAA space, both Nintendo and Sony first-parties have been killing it. Capcom, possibly my all-time favorite dev/pub, has come back with a vengeance to release some of the best games of the gen. In the midst of all the money-grubbing from the likes of Activision and EA, devs like CD Projekt Red and Techland have shown that actually caring about your audience hasn't completely gone out of fashion.

There's negatives in every gen, but IMO the positives far outweighed them this time...unless, I suppose, you're a MS fan.  

[kashell]

It was a mixed bag.

There are some fantastic games on the PlayStation 4 that I never thought would get the green light for our shores. Sadly, playing on the PS4 was/is a proper pain. I'm so glad that the PlayStation 5 will have BC.

The Switch is dope. I love it. It's my favorite modern system. If there's a game coming out, then my first order of business is to see if there will be a Switch version.

I have no experience with an Xbone, but I'm nudging closer and closer to finally getting the One S. The BC letting me finally play The Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, and Lost Odyssey is too damn tempting.

[Warmsignal]

No, this gen was lackluster as will be every future gen. Why? Psychical media is dying. Physical consoles are dying. Developers are out of original ideas. Everyone is going bankrupt. Basically the end is nigh, and the glory days are quickly fading in the rear view.

I consider Switch next-gen because it will remain relevant through next-gen, and I am somewhat optimistic about it still. Although, I'm just so over the kind of games that Xbox and PlayStation typically produces. If I never have to see another grey post-apocalyptic landscape, or another damn zombie shoot-em-up again it'll be too soon. Let me guess, there will be more Halo and more Final Fantasy! More Forza and more Gran Turismo! More Gods and Gears of War! It's all so tired and played out. I really don't see how this stuff is still sustainable. I guess I never really liked it that much to begin with, but all these years later I still prefer my Nintendo IPs. As long as I've got that stuff, I'm good.

first of all i disagree in for example botw or mario odyssey as far as ideas go.

also going bankrupped while profits have been multiplied and costs of making them decreased how do you come up with this stuff 

You do realise that companies have way more profits in videogames than ever before.

first of all CE for way higher prices wich are cheaply made extra profits, than DLC and games getting micro transactions again a ton of extra profit. obviously the lootbox system within micro transactions. also let's not forget the amiibo excuse people who would otherwise not collect figures on average people would buy more than a few each at 12 to 15$ a pop.  a ton of people on this site have 50 or a 100+ amiibo wich mostly was for smash only. do you realise how much extra cash that is instead of just the base price of a game. these things only cost 2$ or something from production to get on store shelfs. while it began on wii u it still is going on switch even if the sales are much less than back than also for multiple games besides smash.

the people who always go for CE spend a ton more and even the common man who normally buys a regular release might want to go for dlc to get the full game and the occasional whale for lootboxes. people have a deeper hole to fill in a single game these days.

I can assure you that profits for videogames have gone up by maybe several times not gone down. share holders would kill the devs if they would just go back to the old days of selling a game wich is 100% finished and where CE where actually rare and for only few games.

in the past games only made their original sales price. nowadays not only is the production cheaper but additional sources of income and multiple waves thanks to extra content while in the past a game was 100% finished before it was released to the consumer.

original ideas maybe in the case of microsoft or sony but them getting bankrupped i don't think so since profits are multiple times better than in the past it's the golden age as far as that goes.

while mostly it's not my stuff i think even for sony your discrediting them as far as ideas go.

witcher 3, nier automata, persona V and bloodborne where very well received and not the same stuff. and let's not forget the very big boom of the indi scene with games such as fire watch and a ton more.

Odyssey was derivative as it gets the series is dead for new ideas, and BoTW is by no means the most original game ever. Maybe within the series alone.

In this current console generation, there have been more game studious shut down than I can even count. Shut down means basically bankrupt, closed due to financial ruin or insustainability. Companies like Visceral, Capcom's Vancouver division, Tell Tale Games, Disney's game studios, Maxis is dead, Guerilla Games, Sony Liverpool, the entire publishing giant known as THQ died along with all of it's IPs and franchises being sold off to smaller companies. Konami basically died, announced it's resignation from games publishing, fired Hideo Kojima and went into the slot machine business (now they are kinda back, but not really). Hudson Soft died in part with Konami. Atlus disappeared into Sega's void. I'm surely countless others I can't think of off hand. There are countless good franchise and titles we may never see return because there are so many studios and publishers that made them now gone, and many of them died in the 2010s. That's where I come up with this stuff. Make one wrong move financially as a smaller studio, or even a larger studio, and it could be lights out. So record profits going to the same game developers again and again? Big deal. That doesn't bode well for diversity and quality in the games industry.

[sworddude]

No, this gen was lackluster as will be every future gen. Why? Psychical media is dying. Physical consoles are dying. Developers are out of original ideas. Everyone is going bankrupt. Basically the end is nigh, and the glory days are quickly fading in the rear view.

I consider Switch next-gen because it will remain relevant through next-gen, and I am somewhat optimistic about it still. Although, I'm just so over the kind of games that Xbox and PlayStation typically produces. If I never have to see another grey post-apocalyptic landscape, or another damn zombie shoot-em-up again it'll be too soon. Let me guess, there will be more Halo and more Final Fantasy! More Forza and more Gran Turismo! More Gods and Gears of War! It's all so tired and played out. I really don't see how this stuff is still sustainable. I guess I never really liked it that much to begin with, but all these years later I still prefer my Nintendo IPs. As long as I've got that stuff, I'm good.

first of all i disagree in for example botw or mario odyssey as far as ideas go.

also going bankrupped while profits have been multiplied and costs of making them decreased how do you come up with this stuff 

You do realise that companies have way more profits in videogames than ever before.

first of all CE for way higher prices wich are cheaply made extra profits, than DLC and games getting micro transactions again a ton of extra profit. obviously the lootbox system within micro transactions. also let's not forget the amiibo excuse people who would otherwise not collect figures on average people would buy more than a few each at 12 to 15$ a pop.  a ton of people on this site have 50 or a 100+ amiibo wich mostly was for smash only. do you realise how much extra cash that is instead of just the base price of a game. these things only cost 2$ or something from production to get on store shelfs. while it began on wii u it still is going on switch even if the sales are much less than back than also for multiple games besides smash.

the people who always go for CE spend a ton more and even the common man who normally buys a regular release might want to go for dlc to get the full game and the occasional whale for lootboxes. people have a deeper hole to fill in a single game these days.

I can assure you that profits for videogames have gone up by maybe several times not gone down. share holders would kill the devs if they would just go back to the old days of selling a game wich is 100% finished and where CE where actually rare and for only few games.

in the past games only made their original sales price. nowadays not only is the production cheaper but additional sources of income and multiple waves thanks to extra content while in the past a game was 100% finished before it was released to the consumer.

original ideas maybe in the case of microsoft or sony but them getting bankrupped i don't think so since profits are multiple times better than in the past it's the golden age as far as that goes.

while mostly it's not my stuff i think even for sony your discrediting them as far as ideas go.

witcher 3, nier automata, persona V and bloodborne where very well received and not the same stuff. and let's not forget the very big boom of the indi scene with games such as fire watch and a ton more.

Odyssey was derivative as it gets the series is dead for new ideas, and BoTW is by no means the most original game ever. Maybe within the series alone.

In this current console generation, there have been more game studious shut down than I can even count. Shut down means basically bankrupt, closed due to financial ruin or insustainability. Companies like Visceral, Capcom's Vancouver division, Tell Tale Games, Disney's game studios, Maxis is dead, Guerilla Games, Sony Liverpool, the entire publishing giant known as THQ died along with all of it's IPs and franchises being sold off to smaller companies. Konami basically died, announced it's resignation from games publishing, fired Hideo Kojima and went into the slot machine business (now they are kinda back, but not really). Hudson Soft died in part with Konami. Atlus disappeared into Sega's void. I'm surely countless others I can't think of off hand. There are countless good franchise and titles we may never see return because there are so many studios and publishers that made them now gone, and many of them died in the 2010s. That's where I come up with this stuff. Make one wrong move financially as a smaller studio, or even a larger studio, and it could be lights out. So record profits going to the same game developers again and again? Big deal. That doesn't bode well for diversity and quality in the games industry.

if you can't adapt to the market you won't survive that's how the world works. smaller companies should make an approach such as limited run and obviously digital sales that seems to be the low risk option.

besides aren't their a ton of indi developers atm maybe to many. there is an indi scene boom. surely smaller companies such as atlus hudson soft going to have a tough time with all these game devs for niche titles to name one example .  shoot em ups action platformers in old school 2d 2d rpg's seem kinda tough to compete in that market. there isn't that much demand for that kind of stuff compared to the sports, gta or shooter titles.

Also while you might hate them gran tourismo's and sports games you have to realise that those buyers usually are very interested in them actual live matches of said sports in real live. baseball soccer you name it all have tons of matches each year including the bigger leagues each year. to people who are not to interested it might look like the same stuff every year. but if your into this kind of stuff it's different to them with different players. matches having their peak points etc etc. their is a very big market for it and they won't get bored of this kind of stuff anytime soon.

Also as far as game development goes i don't think it has any impact on game quality or variety at all since the people who work on such games have a different skill set it's not comparable to say the creators of zelda and mario and vice versa. it won't hold anything back different market different interests. considering that most sports games these days look almost like a real life match I would consider current gen sports games a bit different compared to normal games.