The Next Gen

It's now been a week since the reveal of the Xbox One and even longer since the one of the PS4. Whilst neither has done much to eliminate the rumour mill that continues to circulate around the internet, the one conclusion I have come to is that I won't be purchasing either for a good while. That is unless some huge incentives are revealed as to why I should (extremely low price, absolutely must have exclusives...)

Indeed both are shaping up to be products no one is completely happy with. Whilst Microsoft has revealed far more about its next console, Sony is keeping its remaining cards close to the suggest, though both companies have information they are yet to announce. Thus far, nothing on the Xbox has made me keen to buy it on the first day. I'm more than happy to wait and see what E3 delivers in terms of games and perhaps additions to the lineup of functions the new console will have, however I can't imagine there will be anything that revolutionary that it will warrant immediate purchase. At the end of the day, the games may look better, may have improved gameplay elements and so on, but I can't envisage a drastic re-haul of what we have already.

The Xbox 360 has a huge catalogue of games. This isn't like the end of the original Xbox where it's users were thirsty for the 360 because of the game drought that plagued the latter. The Xbox had a good but relatively small catalogue of games, which most people had played by the time the next gen launched. This time around though, I found there are so many game worlds I'm yet to discover, whose delights could keep me busy well into next year and further. I'm yet to finish Red Dead Redemption,. Rocksmith or Borderlands 2 (the latter I've gotten a little tired of). I've never picked up a Mass Effect Game (criminal I know), nor an Elder Scrolls, nor Fall Out, nor Bioshock, nor Far Cry 3, Battlefield 3 and so on. There is a big list of games I am keen to play at some point, including those mentioned in a previous article and I feel that will keep me glued to my original Xbox for a good while. On a side note, for those who feel I should have played them earlier: I bought the 360 for Halo and online Multiplayer (which wasn't omitted from the original, but I didn't have it) so was keen to play my console for those key features; what can I say I'm a social guy! As a result, I missed out on many of the great single player experiences, which I'm now keen to return to and discover.

Furthermore, many of the big publishers plan on supporting the current consoles for a few more years at least!

Going back to what we do not about the consoles, other than the fact that neither is completely enticing (I am keen to try out the motion controls on both though believe it or not), information that has been revealed has made them less appealing than more. The issue of the DRM on Xbox, and most likely on PS4 as well, whereby a game can only be played on one console (or one profile) and not on multiple ones seems annoying. Microsoft has got a lot of slack for it so far, and though Sony has yet to comment on the matter, I'd be surprised if they don't have a similar system.

Although I've made MY decision, it will be interesting to see what E3 has to offer in terms of new content. Though I won't hold my breath, I'm sure some of it will be enticing nonetheless.