It's been about a year since the Xbox One and Playstation 4 came out; so which one did I get? Neither one, so far. Which one am I eyeballing? Neither one in particular. Both consoles have failed to produce critical mass of titles which interest me. The Last of Us Remastered looks awesome, but I'm not spending $450 to play a slightly prettier version of a game I've already played (and thoroughly enjoyed). The Xbox One has Forza Horizon 2 which looks pretty cool, but I'm not that social so it probably wouldn't be fun unless my few friends joined in. Otherwise, nothing out now looks that interesting.
Looking into the future, From Software's Bloodborne seems really promising. It's a PS4 exclusive that I'll be keeping an eye on. The Xbox One doesn't have any exclusives at all I'm looking forward to at this time. In terms of console exclusives, the next-gen market is largely stagnant.
Multiplatform titles are starting to come out, albeit slowly and the previous-gen versions are still available so there's no compelling reason to upgrade. The fatal flaw of Xbox One/PS4 is they are simply not powerful enough. Neither one can reliably output 1080p (without an upscaler) at 60 frames per second. The graphical jump from 360 to One and PS3 to PS4 isn't all that earth-shattering; the least they could have given us is full HD at a reasonable framerate. But this generation's consoles are too weak for even that, let alone other improvements. Here's hoping developers can innovate on gameplay, at least.
Since most next-generation games appear to be multiplatform so far, I'll be sticking with the PC until further notice. PC and Wii U seems to be the gaming combo of choice at this point in 2014.
This is a thoughtful take on the first year of the Xbox One and PS4. The point about the lack of compelling exclusives is fair — Bloodborne was definitely one of the few games that made the PS4 tempting. The Last of Us Remastered is great, but paying full price for a prettier version of a game you've already played is a hard sell.
ReplyDeleteThe criticism about the hardware not being powerful enough is valid. Neither console reliably outputs 1080p at 60fps, and that's disappointing for a "next-gen" experience. The jump from PS3 to PS4 didn't feel as significant as previous generations.
Your decision to stick with PC and Wii U makes a lot of sense. PC offers better performance and more flexibility, and the Wii U has some great exclusives.
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