[Loic]

My kids are playing Fortnite on a PS4, it works, they are happy, I feel the rendering is really good (but I am an old guy) and normally, the only problem while playing is the stability of the Internet connection.

We also have a lot of fun playing board games, simple stuff from design, card games, here, the game play is the fun factor. Yes, better hardware may bring more realistic, more x or y, but my feeling is that the real driver, long term, is the quality of the game play. Like the quality of the story telling in a good movie.

[LarsDu88]

Every generation thinks the current generation of graphics won't be topped, but I think you have no idea what putting realtime generative models into the rendering pipeline will do for realism. We will finally get rid of the uncanny valley effect with facial rendering, and the results will almost certainly be mindblowing.

[flohofwoe]

Every generation also thinks that the uncanny valley will be conquered in the next generation ;)

The quest for graphical realism in games has been running against a diminishing-returns-wall for quite a while now (see hardware raytracing - all that effort for slightly better reflections and shadows, yay?), what we need most right now is more risk-taking in gameplay by big budget games.

[Rover222]

I think the inevitable near future is that games are not just upscaled by AI, but they are entirely AI generated in realtime. I’m not technical enough to know what this means for future console requirements, but I imagine if they just have to run the generative model, it’s… less intense than how current games are rendered for equivalent results.

[amlib]

Yes, that's something I failed to address in my post. I myself have also been happier playing older or just simpler games than chasing the latest AAA with cutting edge graphics.

What I see as a problem though is that the incumbent console manufacturers, sans Nintendo, have been chasing graphical fidelity since time immemorial as the main attraction for new generations of consoles and may have a hard time convincing buyers to purchase a new system once they can't irk out expressive gains in this area. Maybe they will successfully transition into something more akin to what Nintendo does and focus on delivering killer apps, gimmicks and other innovations every new generation.

Or perhaps they will slowly fall into irrelevance and everything will converge into PC/Steam (I doubt Microsoft can pull off whatever plan they have for the future of xbox) and any half-decent computer can run any game for decades to come and Gabe Newell becomes the richest person in the world.

[pipes]

I can't figure out what Microsoft's strategy is with the Rog ally X or whatever it's called. The branding is really confusing, even on just the devices. It gets even more confusing with Xbox on pc.

Are they planning on competing with steam and that's how they'll make money? I have a steam deck and I've zero interest in the Rog ally, windows 11 is bad enough on my work pc.

[flyinglizard]

That's the Nintendo way. Avoiding the photorealism war altogether by making things intentionally sparse and cartoony. Then you can sell cheap hardware, make things portable etc.

[tonyhart7]

also nintendo vision which is "mobile gaming" are

handheld devices like switch,steam deck etc is really the future while phone is also true for some extend but gaming on a phone vs gaming on a handheld is really world of a differences

give it few generations then traditional consoles would obsolete, I mean we are literally have a lot of people enjoy indie game in steam deck right now

[xiande04]

I.e., the uncanny valley.

[pipes]

Unreal engine 1 looks good to me, so I am not a good judge.

I keep thinking there is going to be a video game crash soon, over saturation of samey games. But I'm probably wrong about that. I just think that's what Nintendo had right all along: if you commoditize games, they become worthless. We have endless choice of crap now.

In 1994 at age 13 I stopped playing games altogether. Endless 2d fighters and 2d platformer was just boring. It would take playing wave race and golden eye on the N64 to drag me back in. They were truly extraordinary and completely new experiences (me and my mates never liked doom). Anyway I don't see this kind of shift ever happening again. Infact talking to my 13 year old nephew confirms what I (probably wrongly) believe, he's complaining there's nothing new. He's bored or fortnight and mine craft and whatever else. It's like he's experiencing what I experienced, but I doubt a new generation of hardware will change anything.

[dehrmann]

> Unreal engine 1 looks good to me, so I am not a good judge.

But we did hit a point where the games were good enough, and better hardware just meant more polygons, better textures, and more lighting. The issues with Unreal Engine 1 (or maybe just games of that era) was that the worlds were too sparse.

> over saturation of samey games

So that's the thing. Are we at a point where graphics and gameplay in 10-year-old games is good enough?

[teamonkey]

I get so sad when I hear people say there’s no new games. There are so many great, innovative games being made today, more than any time in history. There are far more great games on Steam than anyone can play in a lifetime.

Even AAAs aim to create new levels of spectacle (much like blockbuster movies), even if they don’t innovate on gameplay.

The fatigue is real (and I think it’s particularly bad for this generation raised to spend all their gaming time inside the big 3), but there’s something for you out there, the problem is discoverability, not a lack of innovation.

[tonyhart7]

"if you commoditize games, they become worthless"

???? hmm wrong??? if everyone can make game, the floor is raising making the "industry standard" of a game is really high

while I agree with you that if everything is A then A is not meaning anything but the problem is A isn't vanish, they just moved to another higher tier