It’s showtime in the video-game industry again. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are getting ready to unveil their next-generation consoles, the machines that will be at the heart of their strategies for years to come. Nintendo made the first play, with the release this past November of the Wii U, its first system to support high-definition graphics as well as a touch-pad controller. Microsoft has yet to announce the successor to its popular Xbox 360, though a new console—rumored to be called the Xbox 720—is expected this year.
From school politics to ping-pong, pistols to police procedurals, let’s dive into the best that Rockstar has to offer.
If the PS5 Pro leaks are accurate, the eventual PS6 is slated to be one powerful console. But if modern GPUs still lag behind true photorealism, can the PS6 get there?
I hate to be "that guy", but we have go ask ourselves do the industry need photorealistic graphics at this point or actually good games, good content, less anti-consumer practices?
This graphical obsession has brought nothing but years upon years of waiting for a game to launch with huge detailed empty worlds, bad stories and predictable gameplay and (micro)transactions everywhere. Sorry for the rant.
Same. I really don't want to be in an interactive film and, to me photorealism is not needed for immersion.
Why always target photorealism?
Why not use the extra horsepower for better, complex & diverse AI?
Why not target more interactable world? Why not use the new performance headroom for more physics effects?
Player choices that drastically affect and changes the game world?
Let’s first see what PS5 graphics look like.. we’ve seen nothing yet
@Cacabunga
For that, first Naughty Dog's PS5 single-player exclusive, then Guerilla's PS5 single-player exclusive
If anything, the massive layoffs in the industry right now are showing that investors are pulling out and not wanting to invest as much as they are right now into AAAs. Much less push for even higher detail, unless many parts of it are automated by AI for a cheaper price. Not saying I support people's jobs being replaced by AI, just stating a reality of what the money people want.
Photorealism should be reserved for games like Gran Turismo. It costs far too much to incorporate that level of detail.
Even then, if it comes at the cost of physics calculations or frame rate given the shared resources of consoles, I'd scale it back in favor of a smoother experience.
Nintendo was quite smart to never pigeonhole themselves into that. Great foresight on their part, I'd say.
But they've gotten very lazy on their games. I still like their approach don't just make game play your biggest innovation.
8bitAssassin,
I assume you're talking about Nintendo.
I think it works for them. I'm honestly glad that it's nothing like PlayStation or Xbox. It's a great reason to own one.
Yup!! I am. Yes it works for them and I love it. I want them to have better than average old tech so the scope of some of their games can drop jaws. I'm not talking about counting pixels either.
I think we need both. Why lower the standard? A photorealistic Bloodborne or Elden Ring game would be insane.
Nah im with you on that, like visually games look fine, maybe up the resolution on average but i would much rather resources be spent on things that actually make the game FEEL good to play at this point.
agreed - stop with the expensive photo realism and just create amazing games that are less expensive that are not a risk to create an original game within 2-3 years and not 7 years of development - like the OG PS2/Xbox era !
There are individual goals for individual parameters. Graphics, gameplay, scale, geometry, AI Sophistication, etc.
This article touches one of them. No need to cancel the conversation because you care more about other things.
Some photorealism is much cheaper to produce than what devs are currently forced to do.
If all games could have path tracing, there would be no need for developers to manually map ambient occlusion, shadowmaps, reflection probes, etc. It's a huge undertaking that's making games cost way more to produce on account of the rather pathetic-for-2024 RT and general performance of the current gen consoles.
As much as i hate to say it, we need new consoles as soon as feasibly possible. These consoles launched at the absolute worst possible time, right before RT/DLSS2.0/3.0 were able to quickly skyrocket games in quality on the PC side of things, leaving a ridiculously large gap between PC and console almost immediately after launch and preventing things like CyberPunk Pathtracing Mode in other games. They're holding everything back and making games take longer to produce.
I think Microsoft may be smart if they end up adopting a model where multiple companies (including NVidia) can release multiple spec variant "PC" boxes with the XBox OS. One console every decade doesn't cut it with how quick technology moves in this new era we're in.
I would love the Next step in graphic to be massive but it always turns out that it takes a long time so the ps6 graphics are gonna be like the best we have now Just with 60fps in every game. World love to se the big ass large worlds with fantastic graphics and depth. Gta 6 are gonna bring that for sure.
@hugo
100% agree but it also made the use of upscale tech the norm which made games worse and the fact console now are just tablets we need a console with a real gpu real cpu real ram setup.
It would be so amazing to see a game like you said made like the ps2/ps3 era using today's pc parts pushing the hardware.
There are titles out there that make my pc run like its still on the desktop
Agreed. For me at least, games are escapism. I don't want them mimicking real life. Graphics don't have to be photorealistic to be impressive. As with you, I'm more about the story, and I would prefer innovation in other ways. The PS5 did it with the DualSense. This it more important to me than just shinier graphics.
Personally for me, graphics have already gotten to the point where I don't really feel the need to see having it to make anymore realistic or better.
At this point, I rather game developers focus on quality/engaging stories, gameplay, & contents. Also not every every single game needs to opened world just for the sake of it.
I'd rather they focus on both. It's a trillion dollar industry. They should be able to do both.
Zenzuu
Believe it or not when it comes to consoles and games graphics are still the biggest factor. Why do you think we still see CHI trailers or in engine footage. The first impression is very important. Not for us core gamers but for millions of casuals who are quite easily impressed with wow factor graphics
"More, more, more!!! I don't care what it takes - I deserve more! And I won't PAY a dollar more!"
That's the mindset of some people out there.
I mean, can we still say that's the case even when casuals flock to mediocre looking battle royales? PUBG became huge among casuals, and it looks like a PS3 era shooter with textures that didn't load properly. And casuals have embraced the cartoon aesthetic (Fortnite is the easy example here, but there are others). What is the recent graphics focused game casuals have flocked to? Are you counting COD for that?
@1992 Candy Crush and Monopoly Go
@Tired Like I said. It's a trillion dollar industry. They could definitely do more. Customers are paying a ton of money.
There are individual goals for individual parameters. Graphics, gameplay, scale, geometry, AI Sophistication, etc. No need to cancel the conversation because you care more about other things.
Agreed especially for those who aren’t hardcore gamers. We core gamers look at everything through core gamers POV. But there is a much bigger casual market who likes looking at pretty things
Honestly with UC4 I thought we were close but things don't really seem to have improved much in 8 years. Hellblade 2 seems to have raised the bar a bit though
I don't think publishers have the money to make that happen. They can barely sustain the current level of fidelity.
The goal post for what photorealistic graphics are has always been moving. I remember some 360/PS3 sports games being called photorealistic way back in the mid 2000s.
Simply, no! Graphics wise there is barely any difference between the PS4 and PS5 just a little more particle effects and very minimal use of ray tracing. I expect even less diffence between PS5 and PS6. Just better implementation of Ray Tracing.
you are correct, but there ram has doubled, and now we have ssd not a spinning disk drive, I think we have not yet scratched the surface of next gen personally,
Yet another leak for the ASUS ROG Ally X points towards as much as 8 hours of battery, but how does that compare to the competition?
Honestly, I really like this updated version. But it doesn't solve the biggest flaw that the original had for me: the Z1 Extreme APU. Yes, it's an extremely powerful part, but it is not part of AMD's Adrenalin driver update program, so it's dependent on Asus for driver updates. And unfortunately, Asus doesn't have a stellar record of support for their devices.
Up to 8 hours basically just means the least demanding games. AAA gaming at highest wattage would probably be about 2-3 hours which is good compared to just about 1 hour with the current ally. The OLED Deck can do about 2-3hrs.
With much less performance so that makes sense.
The Steamdeck shines at the lower TDP end but gets absolutely mopped at the high end.
Similar longevity with much better performance is a big win for the Ally X
They used to be the best when it comes to motherboards, now I will never buy anything from them again.
Nope. The only improvements I want to hear is better customer support. Otherwise, I can't be bothered.
Wiiu and PS4 4lyfe .....
There is ZERO evidence for the kind of speculation that the above title is trying to indicate.
dazzle is video games, social is facebook. I bought the system for video games.
Or, Gee, how about more of both...there's an idea.
Sick of this social/always connected/compete against others 24/7 stuff, single player games suffer due to companies wanting to milk online and I can see the next gen becoming a massive free to play, money milking, dlc fest with facebook/twitter/100 other ways to show the world how big your balls are and the sad thing is the little sheep will flock to it the same way they buy the new iPhone etc.
What happened to just making great games? Sure have multiplayer but don't make it your main focus, divide your time equally and innovate with good stories, great audio, great visuals, solid gameplay, better ai etc.
Thank goodness some developers out there still love gaming and are not all scammers like the war z devs who just want all your money and to take advantage of the simpletons.