Ok let us start by saying that I know the next gen consoles may or may not be called the PS4 and the Xbox720 respectively but I used the term because you know what I mean when I say those names. Now there are a lot of rumors of what these consoles are going to have in them. So let’s get into the things that we want to see in the next gen consoles.
5. Free Online Play – I know what you are going to say, “We already have that in consoles now”. Yes that is true, at least in some cases, but I believe this is so important that it needs to carry over to the next gen consoles. PS4 needs to stay free and Xbox720 needs to keep offering online at a low fee. With the high probability of internet pricing plans to increase it is just a matter of time before gamers are going to have to spend more cash to play online. That is why it is crucial to offer internet play for as cheap as possible.
4. Greater Multi Media Integration – The current consoles straddle the line between gaming only machines and multi media devices but we want to see these machines do everything. Take a game machine and combine a cable box, music player, PC and everything else we could want and make it one device. I would love to have one box underneath my TV that will take care of all my media needs and I think they have the ability to do that now so I say it’s time to take the plunge and get into the 21st century.
3. Games on SD like cards – Remember the days where you popped in a cartridge and the game ran with no load times from beginning to end? That is what we need today. When games moved from cartridge to disc the quality of the games improved with more memory for developers to work with as well as many other advantages. Unfortunately with all the advancements came draw backs in the form of CD load times. Sure graphics looked awesome and games were amazing but now you had to wait while your cutting edge graphics and levels loaded before you could jump right in. Technology has sped up considerably and we now have memory cards that can surpass the physical limitations of CD based games. We can eliminate load times or at least reduce them significantly so I say it is time for a change people.
2. Ability to Upgrade the Console – When you break it down consoles are just specialized computers and we should have the ability to upgrade the machine. Xbox is better than Playstation in this area with the ability to add a larger hard drive but I would like to see the ability to add a better video card or the ability to add a TV tuner card to the console so you can watch cable TV on the machine. Things like that would really expand the life cycle for the machine and allow games to naturally evolve over time rather than evolving one console at a time like they do today.
1. A Great Library of Games – Let’s face it, a console is nothing without its games. That has been a staple of gaming since the beginning. You just can’t successfully sell consoles without it and the next gen consoles are no exception. This is why I want to see these next gen consoles have a ton of games right from the start and the more quality titles the better. People don’t want ports, they want new games that are going to make them go out an buy that console. So take that to heart software developers and help make the next gen console worth buying!