Your hope for the next-gen

[ncxcstud]

So, spurred by another poster's love for Kameo and our mutual desire for the powers that be at Microsoft make a sequel sometime soon...

What is your biggest hope for the next gen consoles? Any particular games you want to see made? Some form of interaction to develop to make games more immersive? What?

As someone who is initially going to back the XBOX One, one of my biggest desires is for the XBOX Community to get a really stellar baseball game.

Microsoft, resurrect High Heat Baseball! You have the name license, you can make authentic baseball games, tap into this much needed market on your platform. MLB 2Kx series just doesn't cut it...

 

[ncxcstud]

Of course, I come up with this idea, and here Polygon writes up something, 'similar'....

Why do we need new consoles? | Polygon

 

[Pete]

I hope it arrives in the morning. Afternoon delivery would be too long to wait.

 

[Coreldan]

Interesting question.. I guess one important thing to notice about me was that I was never really before much of a console gamer, the only reason I got interested in this generation was the "off-gaming capabilities" of the Xbox One, as I couldn't justify buying a console just for gaming.

I'm sure good and interesting games will come, but I probably don't have any "must haves" that havnt been announced yet, so I guess my hopes would revolve around the "off-gaming capabilities" and integration with other MS products. I have Win 8.1, Surface RT (also 8.1), Lumia 920 and my fiancee has a Samsung Omnia 7 and a Win 7 laptop. I would like to see some strong integration between the "Windows 8 ecosystem devices". I already know about many things, but I want as much as I can get!

The other hope would be that media doesn't manage to kill things with it's bias again. Many good products never got a chance cos of stupid journalism. I don't think Xbox One will tank or anything and they have a long generation to pick things up but I feel that PS4 gets quite the headstart, partially unjustified. But I do think both consoles will manage just fine, but I suppose PS4 will indeed take the lead around launch, but it depends a lot on the region as well.

I was originally hoping to wait for a 2nd batch of hardware or so just to avoid any early hardware issues like RRoDs back in the day, buuut I got too good of a deal to not preorder So I also hope that my first gen Xbox One would live a looooong life, but I guess hoping to manage with it for the whole generation is probably a bit too ambitious?

I'm also fairly new to console gaming, having mostly been a PC gamer, so I hope that the next gen truely sucks me in and I wouldn't really go back to PC gaming anymore. I've changed as a gamer over the years and I feel that I could use the more relaxed way of playing, rather than slouching at my desk with mouse and keyboard.

The last.. 6 months maybe Ive been wanting to get a 360, cos I already saw the 360 have a lot of cool off-gaming stuff, but I decided to hold it cos the new gen was so close and I rather saved the 200? I wouldve easily spent on a 360, accessories and games to just buy Xbox One. Due to not having a current-gen console, I'm not really bothered By the "when my 360 looks almost the same, why drop 500usd on a new console?"-argument, as I dont have one. I know games will improve over time drastically, so for me it's a whole different deal when I was holding myself from getting a console so late to the generation

I'd also hope that the finnish release wouldn't go too far, but I'm not really holding my breath to have it before March 2014.

 

[gsquared]

I'm in the same boat as Coreldan. I currently do not play any games on my 360. I have a few Kinect games that I will break out when I have company (mainly bowling). For the XB1 I will be trying out a few of the games but I am more looking forward to the enhanced media capiabilities. I haven't had cable for five years so I use the XB quite a bit for TV viewing. I am also interested in SmartGlass. I would like to see the capiability to use a tablet as a second screen for games such as baseball, ect.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Ok, so I have a nice, fun list for this already in my head!

1. Halo 5--Give us a new Halo where the multiplayer won't die after 6 months. I read an article yesterday about how a year after they launched, Halo 3 and Reach were at 1.1 million and 900,000 players per day, respectively. A year after ITS launch, Halo 4 struggles for 20,000 players in a day. Following the Killzone model and giving maps out for free woudl be a great start, IMO. It might also mean dialing back the Call of Duty stuff, like the Ordinance and Perks, which I wouldn't mind (they don't bother me, either). Just get the multiplayer back to sustainability.

2. Kinect Disney World Adventures--I don't own a Kinect, but my little brothers do. I don't ever go over there and play it, but I DID play Disneyland Adventures once. The first-gen Kinect was a nightmare, btu the new one would make this playable and fun, and the new hardware means we HAVE to go bigger. I want to play Kinect-style mini-games for Test Track (my grandma's favorite ride; she'd flip out), Soarin', Tower of Terror, and all of that would be the BEST. Seriously, do this. Hard.

3. Viva Pinata--If you don't like that original game (never played the sequels), you didn't play it. I loved that game, it was so much fun, and I'd enjoy a TRUE follow-up (same play style and all) immensely.

4. Roller Coaster Tycoon--I've never played Zoo Tycoon, but it looks cool, and I'll bet Kinect helps it out quite a bit. This means RCT needs to follow, because we haven't had a new one in years.

5. Defiance--I really like this game, but it gets badly ruined by current-gen hardware. The consoles can't handle more than a few players in an area, so anything in double digits basically means that every model but yours is reverted to a default one to make the game work. That, and when you're in an Arkfall (think of it like a single-boss WoW raid), the lag is unbearably bad. This game should have been saved for next-gen, but they needed it out for the launch of the show, and they need a next-gen refresh to come out for season 3, since it's unlikely to hit for season 2.

6. Music Games--Bring them back. I miss them. Don't bring them back every 6 months, though. Treat it like Rock Band 3, giving up a game that lasts 3-5 years but has loads of DLC.

7. Kingdom Hearts Ultimate Remix--I have a major love-hate relationship with Kingdom Hearts. As I said, I love Disney, so I love that franchise for its Disney-infused goodness. However, I abhor that they throw the story over about 5 different platforms (PS2, PS3, GBA, DS/3DS, mobile). With the announcement that KH3 is hitting the Xbox One, I need a way to get my story straight. I have only beaten the original and Chain of Memories on the GBA, simply because I have no DS/3DS, no PS2, no PS3, and the mobile game's not on Windows Phone. This means I can't get KH3 without catching up, and they are HIGH AS A KITE if they think I am going to go buy a PS3 (the old, backwards-compatible one), a 3DS, and a mobile device to figure out the story. So, if they want my business, let me throw money at them for an Xbox One Remix collection, like they have done on the PS3 a couple of times now.

I could keep going on games, but I'll wrap up with this, as I have to leave

8. Shootertar--Make the Forza Drivatar feature (where AI cars drive based on real players' habits) have a comparable feature on shooters. I'd rather NOT have the marines in Halo 5 be idiots. Have them learn from my friends and play the campaign intelligently with me. If you want a killer selling point for your consoles Sony can't touch, there you go. Leverage that cloud crap up and down the street.

 

[ncxcstud]

I mentioned that 'shootatar/gunatar' idea to one of my friends (who is high up at gamestop corporate btw...) and he loved it. He took it one step further by saying, "wouldn't it be cool if it could record your voice through Kinect, then when the marines in Halo are talking its my voice instead of some random person?"

You could do that idea with sports games as well, especially football games. Of course, I wouldn't want the CPU to ALWAYS go for it on 4th and forever on their own 10......

 

[Coreldan]

Well, I'm pretty sure I would prefer the actual voice actors over some armchair warrior screaming "Reloadiiing!", even if you or your friend might be able to pull it off, would be loadsa fun when it's the 12 year old Joe screaming it

Generally speaking though the Shootatar-idea isn't too bad, I guess it could easily track certain things and simulate them later on with AI, such as preferred weapon types/role.. For example my most played class in BF3 is by far support. Then it could track whether one is prone to just assaulting head on or trying to use cover, etc. Also tendency to go for stealthy knife kills vs. just shooting people etc.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Well, I'm more just of the mindset of having Marines take cover or not charge up without me. to anyone else who has the "save all Marines" Achievement in Halo 4, or anyone who has tried it, you understand what I mean.

 

[Polychrome]

So, spurred by another poster's love for Kameo and our mutual desire for the powers that be at Microsoft make a sequel sometime soon...

Oh gee, was that aimed at me? XD

Seriously, I usually go for the cartoony, fantasy-ish games. Dirt and zombies are boring, give me a good fairytale any day. IMO, the most visually pleasing games of the last gen were all very cartoony looking. Kameo was my favorite launch game, and I played Tales of Vesperia for well over a year. Lost Odyssey had me in tears, Blue Dragon's split world had some cute and silly imagination behind it, and Viva Pinata had me plodding away for hours in my little plot of land. I loved the 360 for *these* kinds of experiences, not the dime-a-dozen boring brown shooters. Though at least Halo had some color in it.

And before somebody suggests the Wii-U, already got one.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I'd never suggest a Wii U. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

I'd never suggest a Wii U. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Sheesh, you too? I'm just waiting for a Pokemon Snap sequel or at least a new Mario Kart to jump in. EarthBound being on the VC told me to get a Wii U

 

[Polychrome]

I'd never suggest a Wii U. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Your loss.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

I just hope that Nintendo succeeds with the Wii U. They've been tortured lately by the media and the bro gamers out there.

If I think about it, the Wii U is the only home console that actually fits me. Unlike some people out there who live alone or have a TV dedicated for gaming, I'm practically exiled to our (crappy) 21" TV if I want to play on our Wii. And this is where the Wii U comes in.

Plus, I could see a ton of games coming out for the Wii U, including an ACTUAL Pok?mon Snap game.The second screen might actually make a main series Pok?mon game possible, or make a Double Dash sequel possible. Or, use the second screen as a method to utilize 2.5D on a new Paper Mario game, or...*gasps* a new Metroid game. Or a new Starfox game. Or a new F-Zero game!

Actually, I just want F-Zero.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Ok, this isn't a Wii U thread, but I'll try to quickly cover why I dislike it so much.

1. Third-party support is pretty crappy. It just isn't on-par with the competition, because some publishers (EA seems to be the big one, but I don't buy from them) just don't care to deal with the console, for whatever reason. It just means there is a potential to miss out on a lot of big-ticket games, and I don't like it.

2. Nintendo really DOES cater to the younger audience. If I get a Nintendo console, I get pigeonholed into a group of games. This mostly means that mature games don't touch the console. You don't get a good FPS like Halo or Call of Duty or Battlefield or Killzone. You don't even get a TPS like Gears of War. I don't get a sweet, beautiful racing sim like Forza. I don't get a wild, bloody action game like Ryse or God of War. I have to stick to Mario, basically, which leads me to point #3.

3 Even the franchises I DO like from Nintendo don't get pushed forward. When I had a Nintendo 64, there were a lot of games I liked. Two examples are Diddy Kong Racing (yep, liked it more than Mario Kart). The other was Snowboard Kids (similar kind of game, but on snowboards, and with MUCH cooler attacks and features). Neither game series gets any love now, having been left in the '90s (unless you count a horrendous SBK game on the DS that never should have happened). I loved NFL Blitz. I loved Pokemon Stadium, and am even with you on liking Pokemon Snap! (though I doubt I'd like that at my age now). The stuff that sticks is every Mario game known to man, Metroid, and Zelda. I tried Metroid at a store once, and I couldn't figure jack out. I tried Ocarina of Time YEARS after its time (like, 2004), and couldn't get into it. There's only so much Mario I can take, people. Which, again, is a good lead-in for my next point.

4. Nintendo iterates WAY too much. What do they release without either "Mario" or "Zelda" in the title, or a number after it? When was the last time they brought out god, new IP? I legitimately don't know, though maybe Animal Crossing (which I kind-of liked on GameCube) or Pikmin is the answer, but dang it if that isn't a LONG time ago. You can suggest Wii Sports, but if we're calling Kinect 2.0 an enticing feature, then what is the Wii's motion control?

5. I don't want to get a Nintendo DS or 3DS. However, I love Pokemon games. Because of this, Nintendo puts me in the awkward position of they OFFER a great franchise I want to play, but they isolate it. They need this franchise on the console, because it would draw in sales for the console AND the franchise. They could offer sweet features between the console and handheld. They could make the game more-engaging with a bigger screen and a setting which invites longer stretches of gameplay in a sitting (hunched over a 3DS can only last so long).

6. Perhaps the biggest issue, I never see Nintendo talk up online gaming. I honestly can't tell you what their online service is called, or if it even exists. I know they have an online store, but can you play games online with friends? Can you co-op New Super Mario Bros. U online? Can you get friends to play Super Smash Brothers online? It's pretty telling that I know you can do online stuff with the 3DS (even though I don't own one), but I have no clue about the Wii U's capabilities.

That's all to ignore just how clunky the hardware setup is. I tried to play New Super Mario Bros. U at GameStop with my cousin once. We thought one of us played with the Wiimote and the other with the tablet. Instead, it seemed like the tablet was a support thing. To this day, I cannot tell you what its role is in the game, or for the console as a whole, and while you can say "look it up," I shouldn't have to go do an in-depth Internet search to learn about the basic things of a product. I never see Wii U commercials. They don't market it well, and I can't say it instills any faith in me.

Anyway, that's my rant. I like some of Nintendo's stuff, but they isolate themselves with their hardware, and they even isolate themselves by having handheld exclusives. They need to AT LEAST do like Sony and embrace Remote Play or something.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Keith, to be honest, I only wrote that to see why you didn't like the Wii U. To be honest, I want an XB1 because I've been shoehorned into the Microsoft ecosystem (and I want to try out Halo and the Kinect).

It's your opinion, and I'll try to honor it.

 

[TonyDedrick]

I'm not gonna harp on the Wii U. I have one and the only reason I wouldn't recommend one is because of the lack of games. That's something Nintendo should have seriously prevented. Otherwise, its a great system with the games it has. And the Gamepad comes in handy when the TV is unavailable.

Also, I don't get why Nintendo gets crapped on about for using its franchises as if they are the only ones.

As for Nintendo and its franchises specifically, there are plenty on their systems that aren't named Mario or Zelda. We just had a new Donkey King Country that more than lived up to the franchises legacy (especially in terms of difficulty). Animal Crossing New Leaf has probably consumed my life more than any game has in recent memory. Pokemon X and Y have really been the refreshers the franchise was looking for. I've never played Pikmin, but it has its fans and the latest game was widely praised. Over the last decade, we have had some great offerings from the Metroid series. The Metroid Prime trilogy was one of the highlights of the Gamecube/Wii era. Other franchises (not from Nintendo) like Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, The World Ends With You are other treats that shouldn't be missed. I can go on and on.

And I wouldn't hate on what Nintendo has done with Mario and Zelda. If you've never experienced the Mario Galaxy games, you missed out big time. Mario Galaxy 2 remains perfection, in my opinion, of 3D platform gaming. And they just released an HD remake of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker which still remains as one of the most inventive games of its time, graphic style wise and the story itself (if you have any familiarity with Zelda mythos, it really turns it on ita head).

By the way, I still don't understand this idea that Nintendo gears its games toward kids. Sure, it provides experiences that a wide range of gamers can enjoy. But for the most part, its heavy hitters are still for the most experienced. DKCR, as I alluded to earlier, had me ready to throw my Wiimote at the TV at times.

Also, there are Call of Duty games available for the Wii U. I believe Ghost was released for it as well.

 

[TonyDedrick]

As for the PS4 and XB1, there really hasn't been a game that's grabbed me and made me say "I have to buy one of those". I'm not a FPS shooting fan. Also not a racing fan (Unless its Mario Kart, lol). Project Spark has piqued my interest. I'm also a huge Fable fan, so I am interested in seeing what happens with Fable Legends. I do like action/adventure games like Tomb Raider. I would love to try Sony's Uncharted and Infamous someday. But as I see it, there are still a handful of games (between the 360, Wii U, 3DS and WP) that I need to finish before even thinking of buying a new console.

By the way, I'm almost certain this evenings' Greys Anatomy had a character playing Killer Instinct on the XB1

 

[Keith Wallace]

I find it funny how you got "I don't get" to defend Nintendo. I can say "I don't get how you don't like FPS game," but that's not really a defense. I thought I explained myself pretty thoroughly. Zelda didn't grab me when I played it. IDK why I couldn't figure out Metroid, it was in the middle of the game and I didn't know what was going on (I wasn't buying a GameCube to figure it out either, haha). I like Mario, but only to a point. I don't want to ONLY play Mario.

You point out older franchises you think are good, but that just brings me back to the whole point I made about the franchises I liked on Nintendo 64 which didn't make it out of that generation alive, like Diddy Kong Racing and Snowboard Kids, which I maintain are a LOOOOOOT better than Mario Kart was. You mention Pokemon, but I reiterate that I don't want to have to buy 2 consoles to have fun. When all they release of interest to me is Mario and Pokemon, it REALLY sucks that you have to get a Wii U AND a 3DS to enjoy two franchises from the same company.

I think you kind-of misunderstand (and maybe I misspoke) about what I mean by "catering to kids." I don't mean adults can't have fun. I mean that you don't have those adult-targeting games with great, realistic visuals, like Gears has. Sometimes, I just want to shoot someone (not for real, Congress), and Nintendo doesn't offer that. I sometimes want to race legitimate supercars, and Nintendo doesn't offer that. Sometimes I want to play an engaging title online with friends, and I cannot say Nintendo offers that, either (it might, but I REALLY don't know). You can mention Animal Crossing (which I liked on the GameCube when my cousin had it) and Pikmin, but I can easily say that as someone who liked Animal Crossing (but never play Pikmin), I liked Viva Pinata much more. That game was DEFINITELY kid-friendly, but it was still awesome in general.

Between the lack of character variety I like, the lack of intense, realistic experiences, and the lack of online gameplay worth mentioning (seriously, is there online multiplayer for Nintendo CoD?), I can't ever justify a Nintendo console purchase anymore. I could definitely enjoy Mario at a friend or relative's house (played it some at my sister's one the Wii), but putting $300 into such limited hardware for such limited software...why woudl I bother?

 

[TonyDedrick]

I'm not sure what your first point is trying to say. My point wasn't so much to defend Nintendo or to imply anyone has to defend their position. Just stating the obvious. Nintendo has its franchises just as MS has Halo, Fable, and a host of others. Sony has God of War, Littlebigplanet, and Killzone. I can go onto third party developers. But my point is outside of maybe Activison and Ubisoft, Nintendo gets flack when, really, all of these companies use their franchises. Some more than others. But they all do.

And again, I respect your opinion on Nintendo not really being your thing. But I don't see what makes a Battlefield or Forza more adult oriented than Zelda, Mario or DKC. Sure, one has realistic graphics over another. But realistic graphics or situations don't necessarily make a game "mature to me" outside of its rating. This harkens back to the idea of what is "hardcore" or mature vs. casual or kiddie. IMO, because a game has mature themes, visuals or whatever doesn't give it an exclusive on being a mature game. Again, not speaking to your specific likes or dislikes. But just general experiences. IMO, an awesome match of SSB is just as mature a gaming experience as a multiplayer match of Halo