What bothers me with modern gaming (or modern gamers) is how insane everyone goes with graphics. I don't say I can't enjoy some really good graphics, but people argue so much about it and forgetting the gameplay. I was looking at videos of the new Wolfenstein, trying to read some youtube comments to hear opinions about the gameplay, is it too linear? Is it too small? Is it really classic FPS coming back? I was looking and a lot of comments where like "graphics, graphcics, graphics,. oh graphics sucks, not next gen, bad game because of bad graphics" and it surprised me because I found the graphics good. Not something you haven't seen before but really nice. I have said it again, graphics are so abundant now, that if you went 5 years ago and grabbed a random game, aesthetically they would still be pleasing and doing it's work. So good are graphics now, that developers might not need to always spend time for the state of the art and can finally focus on the gameplay with an engine that is 2-3 years old or something. Afterall, sometimes graphics is not the last tech but how you design/model your world. Borderlands 2 might be outdated for some people but the cell shading and colors and character design is lovely! And it's a very damn addictive game (ok, some friends disagree, speaking about the gameplay) but I know some graphics hogs who hate it because it's too cartoonish, aka not realistic enough. At the same time, they love some Call of Duty or Battlefield or whatever military shooters with depressing themes, which is ok they can love whatever they want, but too me it's bland and boring and if you get random screenshot from different military shooters it seems like the same game. And then you also have a lot of games in the last XBOX/PS3 generation, where it's linear gameplay, cinematics, linear gameplay holding your hand, cinematics. Because it's glorified graphics, many gamers will forget how linear the gameplay is because they will be blinded by the graphics. And yes, Elder Scrolls did it right, it's open like crazy and just too addictive, I am currently playing Oblivion and Fallout 3 again (and soon Skyrim too).
As for current gen consoles, I am not considering buying one because to me they are just branded boxes with PC (AMD) hardware inside. That's how I felt about the previous gen too (ok, as an exception PS3 had the Cell processor which was unique). And it's not just the hardware, but nowadays there are not many exclusives, you find most titles that is PC, Xbox and PS3, and the console versions are trying to tell me I should play an FPS with controller instead of mouse and keyboard. So, most of the time I was like "Why should I get a PS3/Xbox or now a PS4/Xbox1? I have already a proper PC to play all those games more properly and if I want graphics at HD and everything at full, but if frame rate is not good I can still compensate with more options, also there are MODs from community and much more cool stuff on PC". Ok, PS3 had some sweet exclusives (Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Last of Us, Beyond two souls, although they suffer from the same things, glorified graphics, too linear reactive (press X/O to do the next thing, I hate quicktime events), not feeling like playing, but I'll pass because they are supposed to be "adventure games" and maybe I can just enjoy like this being an interactive movie more then a game) and might get a cheap one soon just for these. But right now, I am playing games in old consoles (yep I started collecting everything from SNES to PS2 and f****g 3DO, haha) and reading tech/specs about them out of curiosity of the past, what was possible and what was achieved, and I am surprised so many unique exclusive games you couldn't find on PC, and every hardware was so unique, you had Jaguar with programmable blitters, Saturn and 3DO with quad rasterizer only, PS1 with non perspective texture, N64 with too small texture cache, and unique processors/GPUs, not a generic PC hardware on a box branded Sony/Microsoft. The old consoles were more interesting, it made sense buying one for a lot of cool exclusives and unique tech different from PC. And some of the games are still amazing to play no matter the graphics!
Oh, an exception I forgot is Nintendo. Wii was unique, you couldn't "emulate" it on your PC screen (in fact you can, but it's not the same) so you felt like it made sense buying a Wii even if you have a PC. I even think about getting a WiiU too, because you can't emulate the gadgety things nintendo does, so it won't feel like "hey, I could use mouse/keyboard and just buy the exact same game that is also ported on PS4". And there are more exclusives, even if it's the same reharshed "oh another mario. And another zelda. And another mario kart". I hope for some 3rd party games too.
Also I love handhelds. This is an exception, while I was never a big fun of consoles (even though I decided to collect some now), handhelds are an exception to this. I love them more than consoles. You can take it with you in the metro, in the toilet (hehe) or everywhere. You can't take your PC (unless a laptop but still too big). So, they provide something unique. And I love openhandhelds especially, something most people snob nowadays because it's not sony/nintendo, like gamepark, dingoo or now gcw zero. Also good for hobby programming.
p.s. Also XBOX ONE & PS4 Fans Flip Out About Call of Duty Ghosts Resolution (Just Shut up
XBOX ONE & PS4 Fans Flip Out About Call of Duty Ghosts Resolution (Just Shut up
