1.) Backwards Compatibility
I will be the first to admit that I was greatly excited when Microsoft announced Xbox One would be getting backwards compatibility. You can see my excitement in my blog post here. However, I felt bad for all the consumers who traded in their Xbox 360 and games for that platform just to purchase and or afford the Xbox One. I am not entirely happy with the way this feature has been implemented so far. The Xbox One burns the entire game to the system. This kind of defeats the whole purpose of playing games from the disc because discs helps save memory. Next-gen games takes up enough storage already and I don't need anymore draining it. So it looks like I will still be keeping my Xbox 360. I had six Xbox One games and they have already taken up 90% of the hard drive. Which brings me to my next topic.
Advantages of Playing Games from Discs
Although games are becoming digital, that does not mean we should abandon game discs! Discs are not some outdated form of technology. You have to take into account that full games are Gigabytes of memory which will take up a lot of space on a 500GB hard drive. Being able to play games from discs are great because they are essentially portable, convenient and take up less memory than a download of the full game. Due to game discs being portable, this allows players to easily share their games with their friends and family. You also have to take into account and consider all of the other downloadable content such as game demos, music, tv shows, movies, videos and map packs. When you add all of that on top of downloading full games, it will take up majority of the console's hard drive space in almost no time. This is partially why we see Microsoft and Sony adapting the cloud because it allows gamers to store their game saves and memory to a server, but an internet connection is required for this to work ofcourse. This brings me to my next topic.
Remember when you just popped a disc into your console and the game started? That never happens anymore because developers now release games before they're ready. This puts gamers in a situation where they pop the disc into their console and then wait an hour or two for updates to download. Considering that being able to instantly play games once gave consoles an edge over PC gaming, this is a major problem that needs resolution.
Yes, as gamers, we want developers to make games faster, but we also want them to make sure that the games work and that main characters aren't missing faces (which actually happened with the release of Assassins Creed: Unity). So after you've inserted the disc in your system and walked away for an hour, you'd think the game would run perfectly, right? No, because those updates and patches still don't cover every bug and the next time you want to play the game, you may have another hours' worth of updates to download. Meanwhile, you could just plug in your old copy of Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo 64 and save the princess before these patches even download.
When a close friend of mine bought and started playing two of PS4's first-person shooters, he was already using more than a 10th of the drive. Call of Duty Ghosts required 49GB of space and Killzone: Shadowfall required 45GB of space. At the time, Sony alternated between calling this "mandatory install" and "caching", the later term allowing for the possibility that the data may not have to stay on your hard drive. Now Xbox One owners have the option to purchase external hard drives to store their games on them, while PS4 owners have to swap out PS4's internal hard drive manually with a new one. If you are looking for a tutorial on how to replace your PS4's hard drive, check out the following video below.
One Major Problem
The problem with PS4's method is that there is no way of transferring your memory over from the old hard drive to the new one after swapping hard drives. So how can you get more storage than 2TB? Check out this following video below.
Why are game installs mandatory now?
One of the major reasons as to why game installs are mandatory is because the Xbox One and PS4 can pull data more quickly off a hard drive than they can from Blu-Ray discs that the games for these platforms are sold on. Running games off the hard drive helps keep the Blu-Ray drive from needing to spin much and prevent a lot of noise. In my own opinion, mandatory installs should be optional to the players. The need to store games on the systems will force PS4 and Xbox One gamers to adopt a PC gamer's sense for balancing what's installed and what is not. Therefore it effects what is or isn't available to play immediately. It was because of this issue I had in the past with PC gaming (while also considering the cost) which played a huge factor as to why I bought a gaming console in the past. I can't even describe how frustrated I am with the gaming industry as it stands right now. Like myself, many console gamers are now forced to decide which games they will keep and which ones they will have to delete in order to save memory and storage on their hard drives.
You also have to take into account installation times. As much as I enjoyed Fallout 4 on Xbox One, it took 2 hours to install the game. I don't want to have to delete the game in order to play a different game online with a friend considering how long it takes to re-install Fallout. One big issue I have with both Xbox One and PS4 is that even after you have installed an entire game to their systems, you will still need to put the game's disc in the console to run it. Why should the game disc be required to play after the entire game has been burned to the system? Why can't gamers play their games without the disc after install? I sense a disturbance in the force... I sense... Greed.
Why I kept my Xbox 360
You also have to take into account installation times. As much as I enjoyed Fallout 4 on Xbox One, it took 2 hours to install the game. I don't want to have to delete the game in order to play a different game online with a friend considering how long it takes to re-install Fallout. One big issue I have with both Xbox One and PS4 is that even after you have installed an entire game to their systems, you will still need to put the game's disc in the console to run it. Why should the game disc be required to play after the entire game has been burned to the system? Why can't gamers play their games without the disc after install? I sense a disturbance in the force... I sense... Greed.
Microsoft also announced that Xbox 360 supports external hard drives with larger storage capacity. Another reason why I kept my Xbox 360 is because it holds more games than PS3 and next-gen consoles. This is primarily because the file size on last-gen games are smaller than the file size of next-gen games.
Here above is a picture taken of my external 2TB hard drive connected to my Xbox 360. I am using it strictly to store full games to save memory off my Xbox 360's internal hard drive. So far the full games have taken up about 600GB out of my 2TB hard drive. 1Tb is equvialent to 1000GB, so 2TB is essentially 2000GB.
I have 159 full games moved and stored to the 2TB external hard drive. Allow me to re-word this a bit differently. My Xbox One, which has a 500GB internal hard drive is literally almost out of memory at only six full games installed. My Xbox 360 slim has a 500GB internal hard drive installed as well and it held up to 130 full games! I'd also like to point out that the vast majority of these full Xbox 360 games were free mostly through Xbox Live Gold. One particular feature I like about Xbox Live Gold is that with every free game, you don't have to keep buying an Xbox Live Gold membership in order to keep playing them. After downloading a free game, it is yours... forever! Unfortunately, Microsoft will shutdown Xbox Live for Xbox 360 either later 2016 or early 2017, forcing gamers to buy the Xbox One. My hope is that Microsoft does not shutdown Xbox Live for Xbox 360 because its all the same service and it would render so many games useless; if not unplayable.
Catch my drift?
Microsoft should keep Xbox Live around for Xbox 360 a bit longer because as it stands, there are more games already out for the platform and the Xbox 360 can store hundreds if not thousands of games on hard drives also due to the fact that the videogame file sizes are smaller. Microsoft should capitalize on that aspect, but I fear Microsoft will stop manufacturing Xbox 360. If they do stop manufacturing the Xbox 360, then this will be a missed opportunity. Instead this day in age, consumers are buying next-gen consoles solely because of hardware specs and paying more money for the same games on next-gen simply because of slightly better graphics. My apologies for the poor image quality of the pictures above. I took them from my phone which has a crack in the lens. What we should be looking for as gamers are the features that really set the systems apart and makes them unique. In the end, its a matter of preference and specs don't sell game consoles, awesome videogames do! For a more in-depth explanation on how there hasn't been a console generation that has won sales based on hardware specs check out my blog post here. If you want to see actual proof that hardware specs are not actually required to achieve graphics of great realism, check out my blog post here.
3.) Lack of Variety in Genres
There has been a watering down of the market with a consistent lack of variety in the genres that are available for most of us as players to be able to enjoy. Too many companies are focusing on what I call the "me 2 aspect" trying to be the next call of duty and gears of war, or whatever game is selling the most at that point in time... Year 2016 which is right around the corner is looking to shake things up a bit within the FPS genre. Below is a video compilation to 10 upcoming titles. If you have any more in mind that weren't shown in the video, please share their names in the comment section below.
First party and third party companies are seemingly ignoring the please of their fans. They say they care about their fans’ opinions, meanwhile they can't back it up because their decisions are proving otherwise. We have seen this with Destiny. Check out my blog post here on ways Destiny can be improved. As time progresses, I am confident we will see more variety of games especially with now that some game companies are exploring virtual reality.
4.) Downloadable Content being released on the same day as the game is released
Why on planet Earth would game companies do something like that?! It doesn't make any sense. If a game is coming out that day and you are releasing downloadable content, that means that you purposefully took content from the game and made it available separately for an extra sum of money. That shows you are greedy! It seems that downloadable content being cut from the original videogame for an additional price, although that content was part of the game in the first place has become the norm for companies now. Also, a season pass for DLC cost almost half of the original game. Then there are microtransactions that encourages players pay for in-game items. It's ridiculous to ask gamers to pay even more after they've shelled out $60 for a title. Fortunately, smaller development companies break this trend. For example, The Witcher 3: WIld Hunt by CD Projekt Red offered all is DLC for free. It can be tough for smaller game development companies to not get caught up in an industry trend that only wants to take advantage of gamers' wallets.
5.) Shovel-ware Galore!
How often have you looked at games on the shelves and had to sort through all the games essentially getting the same price tag as a game that has tons of hours, time, (often money) and more effort put into its creation? Yet it sits side by side with the same exact price tag. Is that fair to gamers?
6.) Lack of Innovation
Remember when the first BioShock came out and it was so unique and different that we instantly fell in love with it? Remember that same feeling with titles like Mass Effect, The Darkness and Dead Space? Now since past titles took off, developers got stuck in a sequel rut and kept delivering those same games over and over and over like Assassin's Creed and Madden NFL for example. Even now, with next-gen titles, there aren't a lot of original games making it to development. Unfortunately, so many get cancelled like Prey 2 for instance. Fortunately, rare gems come along like The Last of Us, but those games are too few and too far between. At least independent developers come up with original content, although more often than not, those games only get released for PC.
Game development companies need to start rapping innovative ideas that are either daring, hasn't been done or just something weird and off the walls, or is a little different from the rest of the pack. Test the waters and come out with something different from the rest of the pack. Make games to express yourselves and try not to compete with the Call of Duty crowd and garner their cash? I'm aware there are more shooters yet to come. Check out my next blog post here about a cancelled game called Project Offset. This is what the FPS genre could use today. Gamers need more innovation in shooters or something for the genres that haven't been getting a lot of innovation and attention like platformers and survival horror. This would be really nice because they would make game genres like the FPS for instance feel less saturated with too many similar games.
Game development companies need to start rapping innovative ideas that are either daring, hasn't been done or just something weird and off the walls, or is a little different from the rest of the pack. Test the waters and come out with something different from the rest of the pack. Make games to express yourselves and try not to compete with the Call of Duty crowd and garner their cash? I'm aware there are more shooters yet to come. Check out my next blog post here about a cancelled game called Project Offset. This is what the FPS genre could use today. Gamers need more innovation in shooters or something for the genres that haven't been getting a lot of innovation and attention like platformers and survival horror. This would be really nice because they would make game genres like the FPS for instance feel less saturated with too many similar games.
7.) No third-party headset support
In the past, so many gamers invested in a nice wireless headset for the next-gen launch. Unfortunately, the majority of third-party and wireless headsets did not work with the PS4 or Xbox One at launch. Gaming headset didn't come cheap folks. They cost gamers hundreds of dollars. So its understandable why so many gamers are upset about their existing headsets not fully working with PS4 and Xbox One. The obstacle on the Xbox One is the new proprietary headset port on the controller, which is different to the one on Xbox 360. So now gamers are pretty annoyed because they have to spend $24.99 on the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter just to use their headset (if its compatible) on the new platform. If you are looking for a way to get your Turtle Beach headset working on PS4, check out this upgrade kit. Yeah, so now gamers have to go through so much hassle just to see if their headsets are compatible on Xbox One and PS4 and then pay an additional sum of money just to use their existing headsets.
Most games now require network connectivity. As of right now, Xbox One Will Not Play Games Without an Internet Connection, even if those games don't have multiplayer. Hopefully, this will soon change. "Always on" isn't supposed to have become a thing with console gaming, but it has, especially if you're a member of Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus. Even if you download a game through those services as a subscriber, if you happen to have Internet issues, you can't play that game until the system connects to the gaming platform's network and verifies that you're a subscribing member. This often happens with other titles, too, although it's not supposed to. And considering that high speed Internet is relatively reliable in most parts of the U.S., this shouldn't be a problem. However, what about when you've got networks that go down often? You often can't play when you want to.
9.) Cross-Platform Online Play
Posted by The Best of Gaming on Sunday, March 20, 2016
Lets say I own Black Ops for Xbox One and my friend owns Black Ops for PS4; why can't we play online together? If its the same game, why should it matter what systems we own in order to play online? Everyone has their own preferences. Just to be clear, I am not a fanboy of any particular platform. My preferences range all over the place. I am simply addressing my concerns about this console generation and trying to help make consumers more aware of these topics. Currently, console gamers are restricted to playing titles on the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live, and many gamers pick either Xbox One or PS4 based on what their friends purchased. Opening up online multiplayer gaming across different platforms will remove a big restriction in console gaming as well as PC. Unfortunately, this might also open up many conversations and concerns around which titles should allow PC gamers to play against consoles. A mouse and keyboard can still have many advantages over a gamepad for first-person shooters for example. To fix this, allow gamers to have the option to choose whether or not they want to include gamers into game matches based on their platform. This poses a new challenge, since game developers will still have to find balance between console and PC gamers if they do decide to play online with one another.
10.) A Higher Demand in Pre-ordering Games
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