Gamers Need To Stop Expecting Graphical Leaps For Next-Gen Consoles

I know that feel bro.

I don't need major graphical leaps, but I do expect better gameplay.

Or else, why am I buying?

Haha. as well they should be

I expect a little leap in graphics.
The thing I expect the most is more content and details.

I agree. I want to play games that are limitless in scale and innovation. I want the gratuitous love-child of uncharted and saints row

A beautiful and obnoxious little bastard!

I gotta admit, ever since i played walking dead, my expectation of what a great game should be completely changed.

I want to see conference where the writers and the script supervisors come on stage and describe people and worlds rather then see an uncanny valley of a face of an old guy on the big screen.

Yes stop expecting graphical leap this next gen and expect real physics!

I really just expect better texturing on environments. Lets face it explosions can be better.

I was pretty much "gfx'ed out" on the current gen of consoles. Now that we've reached this mark we need to work on things like optimization(making ALL games run at 60fps), art direction, and better ai.

What's up with all these longer-form, editorial articles all of a sudden? I love them!

I think David Cage, for all the crap he got from people who completely missed his point, was pretty much dead on in the sense that subtle non-verbal emotion is a definite area of improvement.

Show me the next-gen Alyx Vance. When she appeared in 2004 there was no NPC that even came close. In terms of forming an emotional connection with the player, I think she probably still holds the crown. But playing through HL2, I can see the things--the pauses before a sweeping gesture, the subtle-but-present cuts between dialog and animation strings--that 8 years could probably smooth over. And that's just the stuff I see. Who even knows what talented devs have planned.

I just hope that industry moves towards multiplayer and mobile don't shift focus away from creating the next generation of AI characters. Things only seem 'good enough' right now because no one has shown us what could be.

I decided a while ago that if i wanted better graphics i should get a gaming pc/powerful rig. Since i play on consoles i don't really mind so much anymore.
The moment i put a new game in i focus on how it looks, but those thoughts get left behind as i get more immersed in the gameplay. If it's a fun gaming experience, i don't really care about the other aspects. There are, of coarse exceptions. Far Cry 3 on ps3, for example. Impressed by the graphics at the start but after a while mainly just thinking how ****ing great the game is. But i'd still stop and take in the view when standing on a cliff or whatnot.

On the other hand you have a game like F.E.A.R 3 which my housemate and i bought so we could play co-op. Now i realise it's a few years old, but i couldn't get past how dated it looked. Which wasn't helped by the fact that the game's story was really uninteresting with boring gameplay and weapons. All in all a lackluster experience in a game which lacked any amount of depth.

Gameplay, Story and Writing > Graphics

My favourite game of all time is a little known RPG called Betrayal at Krondor, and the graphics are so bad it hurts your eyes to look at it for an extended period of time. But the story, characters, world and everything are all so good after 10 minutes you don't ever think about the graphics again.

Just get the damn games to run at 60+ fps. It's just annoying at the end of a console cycle they don't all run like Rage.

Graphics aren't as near as important as immersion. Graphics and art style can help you, but can't take you there. This article just scream MMO and RTS.

screams*

This IS SPAM!!!!

For me, it's all about the overall user input experience. The dashboard is probably the #1 thing for me. I like to have a lot of features software wise, and I like to be able to use various devices with the console, in other words the original PS3 should have happened. Multi-HDMI inputs, multi-ethernet inputs, various media cards slots, why didn't it happen? Oh yeah, because it would have cost us $1,000.

Another problem is that alongside the increased obsession with higher fidelity visuals (to be squeezed out of hardware as old as my nephew, no less) is the increased over-valuing of cinematic experiences. The cinematic aspect has its value when used well but it's largely just useless eye candy. Players never interact with cinematics in any significant way. It's the reason why QTEs are hated. They're cinematics with button prompts to disguise their lack of actual mechanical depth or involvement. The opposite sort of experience, what MrBTongue terms the 'Shandified' narrative, is where games show their strongest potential. In a Shandified narrative the innumerable digressions from the main thread are not distractions from the plot - they're the plot. They're the meat and potatoes of video game storytelling. Robust choice and consequence, logical and consistent world-building, and solid mechanical design make heavily shandified games a species apart.

Unfortunately many games make their mark with graphics, as opposed to fun(!!!), story, physics, gameplay, etc.

The question I'm left with is, if the next generation aren't going to have significantly better graphics, what's the point of releasing release new consoles (since the infrastructure for almost everything Sony and MS want to do already exists with current hardware)? More "features" that don't in any way add to the experience? Making gamers purchase all new accessories? Create a new pay-to-play culture? Social networking integration (they have that already, and it's terrible)? Gaming exclusive social networking "Xboxbook" "MyPlaystation+" (umm... patent pending...)

I'm all for new consoles if they're "worth it," because I know my 360 has seen better days. With everything Sony and MS have shared about their new consoles though, alongside the failure of the WiiU, I'm starting to wonder why I should invest in a new console.

... Why does this always post twice...

Unfortunately many games make their mark with graphics, as opposed to fun(!!!), story, physics, gameplay, etc.

The question I'm left with is, if the next generation aren't going to have significantly better graphics, what's the point of releasing release new consoles (since the infrastructure for almost everything Sony and MS want to do already exists with current hardware)? More "features" that don't in any way add to the experience? Making gamers purchase all new accessories? Create a new pay-to-play culture? Social networking integration (they have that already, and it's terrible)? Gaming exclusive social networking "Xboxbook" "MyPlaystation+" (umm... patent pending...)

I'm all for new consoles if they're "worth it," because I know my 360 has seen better days. With everything Sony and MS have shared about their new consoles though, alongside the failure of the WiiU, I'm starting to wonder why I should invest in a new console.