PlayStation 3 Successor In Development...

I don't even know what I want from a next generation console at this point. Heck, when people think "next generation console" at this point, they still are referring to the current Xbox and PS3. Is it this time already? I know Nintendo is introducing Project Cafe next week, but this is really just a catch-up to Xbox and PS3.... but what's next for Sony and Microsoft? What will the next gen's (Xbox 720 & PS4) do that the current ones can't?

Gigabyte video card for HD textures for xbox 720 and ps4 or a two gigabyte video card. Steady state drive support.

Onlive is the next generation.

The console is dead.

The writing was on the wall when the ps3's hardware was hacked.
I'm sure things have been in development for awhile, but you have to imagine things kicked into high gear then.

Honestly I can only imagine that the PS4 will be designed to do LESS than the ps3.

We know the "other operating system" thing isn't coming back.
They've made no updates to the crappy browser so who knows if that will stay.
Even if the browser does stay, expect major video lockouts since they want you to use Netflix now.

I can't imagine hardware has advanced that much so that it's going to make a stunning difference. I can't imagine any studio is set to handle any kind of major update.

In short, I expect a lackluster performance boost with less features, but with tighter internal security.

Sony needs to tread carefully here.

Not to mention, all their recent consoles have major over heating issues.
My Ps2 Slim operated in a state of controlled meltdown.

masturbatory graphical prowess.

The last time Sony made a console that wasn't built like a piece of shit was when Nintendo designed it for them. The original Playstation unit was the only one that doesn't have some sort of issue with it. Also, a sign of how I feel about the PS3 - My mom was gonna get the deal at Rogers where you get 2 smartphones and they give you a free PS3, and I said don't bother cuz I don't want it. Considering how much gaming I do, that says something.

That you're an idiot, who could have sold a free ps3 on ebay?

-Note: The term "idiot" not used as an insult or flame.
Simply meant as a person who made a stupid or moronic decision.
I believe this falls within Press Start rules of conduct.

Well, as an owner of both a PS3 and an Xbox, I have to say that thew PS3 is my console of choice. There are advantages and disadvantages of either one, but for me, the only console I will avoid in this genration is the Wii. I still have an open mind with regards to Project Cafe, but if that comes out this year or early next year, it's not going to be much more powerful than a 360 and PS3.... and another year or two down the road, Microsoft and Sony will leap frog them again.

But that's neither here nor there. What I wanted to talk about here is what do you want from your next generation home console. I cant think of much. I read a rumor that Nintendo's Project Cafe will have touchscreen controlers... the speculation being that you can take the controller with you and continue to game with it like you would a mobile device in the bathroom or even on the go. Sounds like that would be cost prohibitive to me... and to be honest, I already have a mobile gaming device called a smartphone. It does a lot more than just game.

What do you guys think?

Hopefully this "next gimmick" thing will pass.

Motion control for the wii was a great idea. The rest of these ideas not so much.
What did that last Sega controller do again? It had some kind of LCD display or something.
Even the vibration controller is starting to piss me off, Burnout Paradise WAY OVER USES it, everytime I crash I get a 30 second shake quake.
Motion control for the Xbox/PS3 is a marketing tool, nothing more.

Every step we take forward in the gimmick market we take a backstep in the actual game department.

That sounds like a horrible idea. How many games are going to implement that successfully? The portable device won't be capable of the console's power, so what you'll get is a bunch of tacked on minigames for the controller.

What I want is for gameplay to trump everything. Since that seems to be taking a back seat in recent years, I'll just keep playing my NES, with a side of Rock Band from time to time

The lifespan of this generation of hardware has already been longer than that of its predecessors. We're reaching the point of diminishing returns.

I think the best use of the vibration controller is the use that you hardly even notice. For instance, I play Call of duty a lot. Especially Zombies mode. Each weapon is programmed to provide a certain feedback when it's shot and you get a different type of feedback when you're shot. One day, I came home and popped in my favorite game and something was just off. I didn't even realize what it was for about 2 days. Someone had shut the vibration feedback off. The vibration control when done right, provides a sense of immersion that I find valuable in gaming, but it has to be done subtly. I've played games where it gets on my nerves too.

I think that motion control is so new to developers right now that they don't quite know what to do with it yet, but hopefully, it will come to them sooner rather than later. All in all, I don't think it will be quite the revolution that many thought it would be, but I can see room for it in the future of game design.

Real-time ray tracing!

As neat as this would be, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Sounds cool, but what is it?

The scanner from Tron.

The pain is incredible, but well worth it.

Just a different way of rendering the game. You can get much more detailed and accurate effects with ray tracing, but it's a lot slower.

Basically, for each pixel that you want to render, you shoot a "reverse ray of light" out of that pixel (in actuality you shoot an awful lot of them for each pixel, but let's keep it simple). Imagine you are following the light wave/partical backwards from the eye off of all of the surfaces it would have reflected off of or passed through and all the way back to the light sources.

Ray tracing is slower than rasterisation (what video games use now), but in the long term it might end up being faster since each ray can be computed separately, meaning it is easy to run on many cores / processors. But still, even though we have multi-core machines now, there are still millions (billions in the case of big budget CGI movies) of rays that need to be traced for a single frame.

All the big CGI movies (Pixar, etc) are done using ray tracing. I think I remember reading that when making Finding Nemo, using the entire company staffs computers (at night) to render frames of the movie, it still took > 2 hours to generate ONE frame. And at least at that time, the level of detail being added to Pixar films made render times get much much SLOWER as time went on (Toy Story was faster to render than Finding Nemo, even though the computers were waay faster just before 2003 when Finding Nemo was made than just before 1995 when Toy Story was made).

Sony should get to work on inventing holodeck technology!

Well, I think the next consoles should do much more than just gaming. I'd like to see an Xbox 720 and PS4 function more like a Multi-functional set top box than just a console. How awesome would it be to not only get Netflix & Hulu on your console, but HBO on Demand and Skin-e-max errr... Cinemax and Shotime?

I'd like the ability to arrange, participate and host online multiplayer tournaments of your favorite games with registration fees and prizes... Along with customized trophies/achievements. Oh... And better graphics.

I know it's a longshot, but I'm really trying to think what could be improved upon from my current consoles.

I'm not anything remotely like a "gamer" but someday I'd love to play a game that was so close to being entirely unscripted that you'd have to really work at it to find the "edges"

The driving games that have a "free roam" feature touch on this but there are still boundaries, there are buildings you can't go in and tons of pedestrians with no real AI and so forth.

Imagine playing a GTA where you could not only drive all over the map, but you could enter any building, you could talk to any character and that character would have a specific "role" (i.e. the bartender and the hooker are not just two separate people who run screaming when you take out a gun and nothing more) - at the very least as a free-roam but even more so if the game itself worked that way.

Or at least that the actual game-play was multi-leanier in that the thing is littered with dozens of action-choices which branch off into different "time streams" as it were depending on your choice.

I'm sure that's present on a very limited basis in some games now but I'm thinking of something where you might have 50 or 100 different play-troughs before you used up all the potential alternative.

Of course, there's no profit in making a game you want to play 50 or 100 times, is there?

Still, a game like Arkham Asylum done that way would be the next best thing to VR to me.

I haven't a clue how much memory it would take to handle a game like that.

it'd like to see the next generation of consoles have a built in DVR and a capture device so I could record audio and video and post it direct to youtube

I agree. Games are ok. I like to play them once in a while - mostly the treasure hunt type games or figuring out clues and stuff. But, I do like the Wii and the x-box with Kinnex.

But, really ..., I'm just biding my time until we can get a holodeck.

You might try Fallout 3 or Deus Ex -they pretty much meet with your criteria. Open-ended stories with multiple ways of doing the same things, and interactive characters with good AI.

I think I'm gonna be happy with my PS3 for a long time. Don't even have a TV that takes full advantage of it yet. So, I'll be lagging behind while everyone else jumps on the fancy new thing. Which is fine, because the PS4 will probably cost a thousand dollars and require a 3D Sony TV to work properly.

Wing Commander Privateer. is like gta of arcade space s hooting games.

Or the Elder Scrolls games. They are exactly what Nova described, except in a fantasy setting.

Or you could go back further to the Ultima games (V,VI,VII) which were basically open-ended and free to explore at leisure.

I agree totally. For me, it won't be the fact that there is a new console out there, but the software that's available for that will drive me to upgrade. I expect for Sony and Microsoft to support the current gen consoles for a few years after release of the next gens, so there will be some overlap. God of War V or Bioshock IV? Yeah, maybe then.... and I won't pay more than $350 for a new console.

That's why i love rpgs like dragon age and mass effect games along with no alignment in dragon age means more realism.

It sounds like Microsoft gets it. If the console makers can expand the capabilities of their boxes, then maybe I can do without some other enterainment spending.