I'm... skeptical about the next-gen. There have been a lot of great games for PS3, 360, and Wii, but on the same token, there's also been a ridiculous amount of effort put into gimmicky controller nonsense, stupid DRM schemes, microtransactions, on-disc DLC, and unnecessary, half-assed MP features. As far as I can tell, publishers and console manufacturers are perfectly content to keep moving things in that direction, unfortunately.
Put simply, my money is going to go to whichever company seems to be the least interested in dicking me over, with all three taking steps to correct past mistakes. Microsoft won't get a pass from me if their hardware is built like crap for the first half of its lifespan, and they spend the other half adding on features that should've been in place from the beginning. Sony won't get a pass if they don't get a better handle on online functionality and launch with a prohibitively expensive price. Nintendo won't get a pass if... well, the Wii U has already failed to measure up to any of my expectations, but that's another topic.
The ridiculous thing is, none of this should be all that hard. A console really doesn't need to offer much more than solid build quality, a comfortable controller that's adaptable to a wide variety of genres, stable, fast online functionality, and a convenient way to charge controllers and expand storage options. It's not rocket surgery! For all the obsession with being "innovative" these days, the answer is the same as it's always been: we want GAMES. Period.
Instead, we get a mountain of bullshit like Smart Glass. If that's how things are going to go across the board, I suspect I'll be sinking a lot of money into dead consoles the next year or two
