Neither Sony or Microsoft have told me why I need to buy one of their next-gen consoles.
I own a PS3, Xbox 360 and a gaming PC. The 360 came first and combined with Xbox Live it became my default gaming device. Probably 60% of my games are for my Xbox 360. After a few years with my 360 I bought a PS3 because there were some exclusive games I wanted to play. In 2010 Battlefield 3 came out and I built a gaming PC for it because in my opinion the Battlefield series excels when played with a keyboard, mouse and servers that can accommodate large scale battles.
A strange side affect of building that gaming PC was that I started buying games for my PC instead of my consoles because the games looked and played better on my PC then my consoles.
This next console generation is going to be the most homogenous yet. Developers will be able to make a game that works on PC, Xbox One and PS4 so easily that brand loyalty will mean a lot less.
Unless Microsoft actually releases some TV features that actually work outside of the United States I don't know if I'll be buying one of these new consoles. I'll probably continue buying games for my PC until a platform exclusive game (which are becoming increasingly rare) comes out.
I've built a gaming PC before. What I underestimated was how nice it was to have my console in my living room. Having to get up and go into another room to play games meant that games never got played. And then the PC started getting flaky and then it was old and new games didn't look good any more. This happened very quickly.
My consoles always work (no red ring on my 306 yet, knock on wood) and the new games always play great. I'm almost definitely getting one of the Microsoft or Sony next-gen consoles. I would definitely consider a steambox as well, as I love the idea of a living room game PC... Though I'm not sure how I'm supposed to manage the wireless keyboard and mouse while sitting on my couch.
Just plug an xbox gamepad into the PC, most newer games will let you use it instead of keyboard/mouse (assuming it's a game that actually makes sense to play on a gamepad).
> Developers will be able to make a game that works on PC, Xbox One and PS4 so easily that brand loyalty will mean a lot less.
Developer effort hasn't been the limiting factor in the current gen either. Exclusivity is all about politics/marketing. And I don't see any signs of that changing.
So the reason to buy a next-gen gaming console would be the same as for the previous: games.
I own a PS3, Xbox 360 and a gaming PC. The 360 came first and combined with Xbox Live it became my default gaming device. Probably 60% of my games are for my Xbox 360. After a few years with my 360 I bought a PS3 because there were some exclusive games I wanted to play. In 2010 Battlefield 3 came out and I built a gaming PC for it because in my opinion the Battlefield series excels when played with a keyboard, mouse and servers that can accommodate large scale battles.
A strange side affect of building that gaming PC was that I started buying games for my PC instead of my consoles because the games looked and played better on my PC then my consoles.
This next console generation is going to be the most homogenous yet. Developers will be able to make a game that works on PC, Xbox One and PS4 so easily that brand loyalty will mean a lot less.
Unless Microsoft actually releases some TV features that actually work outside of the United States I don't know if I'll be buying one of these new consoles. I'll probably continue buying games for my PC until a platform exclusive game (which are becoming increasingly rare) comes out.