It’s the time of year that every gamer loves: the shops are filled with brand new PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo releases and you can’t switch on the television without an advert for some blockbusting sci-fi shooter attacking your eyeballs.
But if you’ve resisted the lure of the latest games consoles for the last two years, is now the time to dive in?
Here are five reasons why the answer may quite possibly be yes.
Developers are getting to grips with the hardware
Just after the launch of PlayStation 4, the machine’s designer Mark Cerny said it would be three years before we saw studios starting to truly exploit the capabilities of the hardware – for example, using the graphics processor for other tasks such as collision detection and physics to boost performance. This, he said, would hugely increase the depth and accuracy of game worlds.
“It takes a while before the software development kits – the applications that developers use to make games – really come into maturity,” says independent developer Byron Atkinson-Jones. “It’s even longer before developers fully learn how to exploit the hardware. This means less constraints on your imagination – I certainly expect to see leaps in artificial intelligence, physics and graphical realism”.
Right now, we’re getting the first wave of big titles – Witcher 3, Star Wars: Battlefront, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate – that are leaving the last-gen machines behind. Coming up, Uncharted 4 is set to really push PS4 in its use of physics and graphical shaders, while on Xbox One, Quantum Break is promising state-of-the-art rendering tech and Crackdown 3 is using cloud computing to create 100% destructible cities. We’re also seeing interesting experiments with online multiplayer gaming, including hugely ambitious projects like No Man’s Sky on PS4 and Elite: Dangerous on Xbox One.
There are already lots of great games
The first year of a console’s life is usually pretty low on truly excellent titles. Developers are still getting to grips with the hardware, while the manufacturers are busy making desperate tweaks to the user interface and operating systems.
Two years after launch, however, things are really picking up for the current generation. Xbox One and PS4 have several bona-fide classics including Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Batman: Arkham Knight and Bloodborne (a PS4 exclusive). There are also strong second tier offerings likeDragon Age: Inquisition, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry 4, Until Dawn (PS4 only), Forza Horizon 2 (only on Xbox One) and Destiny.
Both machines also support a large vibrant indie community producing beautiful offbeat titles like Shovel Knight, Guacamelee, Ori and the Blind Forest, N++, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Resogun and Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time. So it’s not all shooting serious looking men in the face with licensed firearms.
Nintendo’s latest machine was slow to start but now it has a beautiful collection of family-friendly titles like Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros, Super Mario Maker and Pikmin 3. There are also choices for older gamers including Bayonetta 2 and a great update of cult action role-player Darkstalkers II. It’s not a vast library that’s for sure, but you’ll get many hours of pleasure out of all of these – and you can’t play them anywhere else.
Alternative view: most of the big PS4 and Xbox One releases are also available on the PS3 and Xbox 360. They don’t look as good and are missing some of the more sophisticated features, but you’re still getting roughly the same game experience. Indeed, a lot of well-reviewed Xbox One and PS4 titles – including GTA V, Last of Us, Dishonored and Tomb Raider are merely graphically enhanced versions of last-gen titles. If none of the new or forthcoming releases interest you and you’re not a big online gamer, you could hang on for another year.
This is a pretty good Christmas for new releases – and more are on the way
So far this quarter, we’ve already had Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain, two great football sims (Pro Evolution Soccer and Fifa 16), Forza Motorsport 6 (on Xbox One) and the game-changing Destiny: Taken King. Coming up there’s the vast apocalyptic adventure Fallout 4, anarchic sandbox stunt ’em up Just Cause 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Rise of the Tomb Raider and the long-awaited online shooter Star Wars Battlefront. As for exclusives, Xbox One is getting Halo 5: Guardians, while PS4 owners will need to wait a little longer for promising biggies like space exploration sim No Man’s Sky and rollicking action adventure Uncharted 4: Thief’s End.
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On Wii U, we’ve seen the gorgeous platformer construction kit Super Mario Maker and the super cute Yoshi’s Woolly World – there’s also a nice version of Skylanders Super Chargers which adds Donkey Kong and Bowser to the cast.
Things are looking healthy in 2016, too – especially if you like huge sequels. New Gears of War, Mirror’s Edge, Dark Souls, Crackdown, Hitman, Doom and XCOM are all on the way, with Zelda, Star Wing and Mario Tennis heading back to Nintendo’s console.
Alternative view: We’re yet to see any incredibly innovative, vastly experimental ideas on the current consoles. These machines are still relying on the same familiar franchises and well-worn genres from the last generation. If you love sci-fi shooters and open-world action role-playing fantasies, you’re going to be fine. If you’re waiting until we get an absolutely pivotal, epoch-shattering moment of transcendental genius – erm, keep waiting.
The prices are pretty good
The PlayStation 4 is around £300 with a one terabyte hard drive. Xbox One is £280 with a 500GB drive or £320 with 1TB. The Wii U is between £180 and £200 for a basic box. There’s also a vast range of decent bundle deals which come complete with big new games – often for no extra cash. Look out, too, for the nice limited editions and exclusives around big games like Halo 5, Destiny: Taken Kings and Metal Gear Solid 5. Retailers are really looking to undercut each other this winter so check around for good deals.
“Both Xbox One and PS4 are now around 20-30% cheaper than their original launch prices on the original specification machines with new, improved models on the way,” says Debbie Bestwick, the managing director of Team17. “These include the 1TB Xbox One with a 20% faster boot up time and the new 500GB CUH-1200 series PS4 which uses 25% less power, running cooler and quieter, as well as a 1TB model too.”
Alternative view: OK, these things are still not cheap. If you just want to play games alone or on the sofa with your family and don’t care about keeping up with your friends, the PS3 and Xbox 360 still have plenty to offer – and can be picked up used for less than £100 each. You’ll get a Wii and a shed-load of games for half that.
There are intriguing new things on the way
Playstation 4 is about to enter the virtual world with its PlayStation VR headset, due next year with a large list of supporting titles. There’s no firm release date or price yet, but even if it’s £300, it’ll still be one of the cheapest ways to get in on the virtual reality craze.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s incoming Hololens augmented-reality headset will be compatible with Xbox One – as is the Windows 10 operating system which introduces cross-platform play between computer and console. Oh, and this winter, the Microsoft’s machine is getting a huge update. The New Xbox One Experience will update the look and feel of the interface and add new features such as backwards compatibility with over 100 Xbox 360 titles.
Conclusion – or “hey, what about the PC?”
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If you have the money to spare, then yes, it’s a good time to buy a console, particularly if you enjoy playing online with friends. We have three really strong machines that have large varied software back catalogues and plenty of intriguing games on the way. Developers are starting to test the hardware, especially the PS4 and Xbox One, leading to intriguing advances in areas such as physics, visual effects and artificial intelligence (advances that mean the PS3 and Xbox 360 are gradually being left out of release plans). There’s also a thriving indie community with lots of offbeat unusual titles like Grow Home, Beyond Eyes and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, which don’t fit into the well-worn genres.
“Both the Wii U and the PlayStation 4 now have a great selection of games to choose from, and the Xbox One has a great Christmas line-up ahead,” says Keza MacDonald, editor of Kotaku UK. “Shops are starting to get aggressive about pricing, too, so you’ll inevitably get a better deal – and be able to pick up more games for less money – than the early adopters.”
If you just can’t afford to spend £300 on a games machine though, there are plenty of beautiful, compelling experiences on Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 that will keep you and your family entertained for a good while.
And of course, the consoles don’t exist in a gaming vacuum ...
Alternative view: “It’s worth considering making the jump to PC gaming,” says Oli Welsh, editor of Eurogamer. “It’s not much more expensive to get a console-equivalent machine, the games are cheaper, and you get all the big cross-platform releases and much, much more besides. The online service Steam –- which has a special mode for use on TVs and with console controllers - has a bigger, better library of games than either Xbox or PlayStation will ever have. It’s the most exciting platform in games right now.”
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