Roundtable: What Makes a Game "Next Gen" to You?

The VGU staff discuss the term next gen and what it means to them.

[Meltic]

1: Good Life real story
2: Good sence of play
3: Graphics
4: length of the game
5: Gore

[JOEgolferG]

All other last gen's have these except graphics.

[TomShoe]

I consider a title "next-gen" when it's on next-gen titles (PS4/XBO) only. Of course, there are some exceptions (Destiny), but that's what I think, and I don't even own a next-gen console.

[ChickeyCantor]

And that's exactly why artistic creativity is bound to go to hell.

[gpturbo81]

i dont care for the term. whatever happened to just having fun with what your playing?

[SteamPowered]

Next Gen is just a buzz word. I don't really take stock in hype.

[corvusmd]

Kinda like SteamPowered said...it's really just a hype word and really means nothing. To me, it just simply means that it's on the newest console. Most want to look to resolution as the argument, but it's never that simple. The new consoles are doing so much more than the old ones and there is so much going on in the background that the other ones can't do. The new consoles really don't get the credit they deserve for the step up they took. 720p on an old console is no where close to everything going on in a 720p game on a new console. At the end of the day, it's really just a marketing word...we are still at the same place where if a game sucks...it sucks, no matter how shiny it is....if it's good, it's good.

[ABizzel1]

An experience that was not capable on the last generation of hardware due to technical limitations.

[kiz2694]

An enhanced experience from the last, which I will leave with the developers to think of.

[Major_Glitch]

What makes a game next-gen? Graphics. It's always been about graphics.
If it was about just having "fun", then why not buy a Playstation 2. That console had thousands of great games. The PS2 still boasts one of the largest library of quality games for any console to date. People know this, and do you think anyone is going to rush out and by a PS 2 today? No. They're going to go out and buy a PS4 or an xbone. They do so because they want better graphics.
Video games are supposed to be fun. That's the whole point of their existence. What makes a game "next-gen" is that it's fun with superior graphics to a game from the previous gen.

[Ck1x]

I hate when people use that excuse! Well if graphics don't matter then just buy a PS2 then... If graphics were everything, the Indie scene wouldn't be growing as fast as it is. And it's growing primarily because some of the most innovative and fun games are coming from this sector. Let's face it Minecraft could be done on a Super Nintendo pretty much, but it's not the graphics what people are interested in. I'm not saying that graphics don't matter at all, but when people come on to sites like this and start arguing pixels and resolutions. Then that's pretty ridiculous.

[ChickeyCantor]

Graphics do matter. But the demand is so ridiculously high that other parts of the creative aspect suffer (read: Budget). If one polygon mesh looks a bit blocky everyone looses their mind.

[Ck1x]

Despite what many will force themselves to type on their keyboards. This site alone is a good generalization that most consider graphics, resolution and tech specs as the definition of a new generation. Nobody is being critical of the things that actually matter in gaming. If visual fidelity is all that gamers care about and clamor for these days, then this might as well be the movie industry then. The gaming industry is to divided and immature to grow to the level that it could and should be. An art connoisseur doesn't go into a gallery and say that a Picasso isn't art because it's not realistic in design. But that's what you have in the gaming industry. If I'm not playing and appreciating what you are, then I don't know what true gaming is...

[BosSSyndrome]

New ways to play games, whether it be hardware innovation like a gamepad, software innovation with new game mechanics like portal, or simply an enhanced experience from before. Enhanced meaning it introduces new elements of interactivity, not just better graphics.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I'm gonna go with sequels.
Because, you know, generations are literally defined by sequence.
Common logic prevails once more!

[Nocando]

Clouds.