Two (and a bit) years in, what do you think of the next gen consoles?

[HarryBizzle]

So this is a bit late, but am curious to see where we are since this thread:

 

 

 

I don't think stock is still an issue, but have included it just in case.

 

How are you feeling about next gen at the moment?

 

I'm still feeling pretty buzzed about the whole thing. My games still look good and they still run well. Series S is still knocking it out of the park with 60fps games. Loading times are basically a thing of the past. Quick resume works well. I don't really know what the point of a mid-gen refresh would be at this point. Maybe RT? Ray Tracing doesn't really seem to be a thing on consoles - at least not if you want to play at 60fps, but I can live with that - PC gaming is really expensive in comparison and PC ports seem a bit wonky at the moment - shader stutter being a bit of a plague at the minute.

 

I own both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X. The latter gets nearly all my gaming time. The PS5 is basically a Sony exclusive machine, due to Game Pass. Sony's Game Pass competitor doesn't interest me at all - I already have Game Pass, I don't have time for two subs and the PS offering doesn't have day 1 first party games. When my 3 years runs out this July, I'll probably sign up for another 3 years of Game Pass immediately.

 

On the exclusive front, I don't know if I would say Sony's stuff has been all that great so far. Highlights for me have been Astrobot, Miles Morales and God of War Ragnarok. I've even been thinking of selling my PS5, but know I will want to play Spiderman 2 and that Wolverine game, so might as well hang onto it for that.

 

Anyway, over to you guys - how's the generation going?

[teddymeow]

I own both, really happy with the PS5 most of all.

 

Sony's first party stuff is just my cup of tea and I've finished most of them.

 

The Series X is a great piece of kit but I still don't like the UI and the first party drought is getting beyond a joke. It's mostly been used as a GamePass machine.

 

I don't think there will be mid-gen refresh purely because it's taken so long for decent stock levels to hit shelves. Might as well start planning and prepping for next-gen.

[theredstar]

5 minutes ago, teddymeow said:

I own both, really happy with the PS5 most of all.

 

Sony's first party stuff is just my cup of tea and I've finished most of them.

 

The Series X is a great piece of kit but I still don't like the UK and the first party drought is getting beyond a joke. It's mostly been used as a GamePass machine.

 

I don't think there will be mid-gen refresh purely because it's taken so long for decent stock levels to hit shelves. Might as well start planning and prepping for next-gen.

Hey, stop talking Britain down.

 

[chris on the moon]

6 minutes ago, teddymeow said:

 

The Series X is a great piece of kit but I still don't like the UK

You can't blame that on Microsoft!

[David Kenny]

I also own both an Xbox Series X and a PS5 and am pretty happy with both. I tend to buy multi-platform games on the PS5 so that's seen a lot more action. In fact for a long time the only thing I'd played on the Xbox was Forza Horizon 4 when I first bought the console, but recently with Hi-Fi Rush and Chained Echoes I've been giving it a bit more attention. It probably is missing that flagship title but I suspect Starfield will fill that gap when it arrives.

 

I mostly use them to play titles from previous generations, and I've never been that bothered about subtle graphical advances, but the fact that they are both totally silent and load up games in seconds rather than minutes has more than justified owning them for me.

 

Edit: I also dislike the Xbox UI but have learned to live with it. That's also true of the UK much of the time.

[Jackson]

Series X being such an emulation beast is making it an all time favourite console for me. Yes it doesn't have many big releases of it's own but there's a steady stream of interesting gamepass games to play online with my mates, great usability and the respect for backwards compatibility, happy days.

[Wiper]

Own a Series X, owned a PS5 but sold it mid-2021; I daresay I'll pick one up again, but the exclusives I was interested in were few, and more of an issue for me, the machine was just unpleasantly loud, making it a machine I'd avoid getting multiplatform games for. I'm hoping for a mid-generation refresh, if only to play my favourite PS4 games on, as a smaller, quieter model that doesn't feel like it might just break at any time is what I'm really after.

 

The Series X continues to be wonderfully solid, by contrast, and I've no problems with its UI; certainly I prefer it to the flashy but unfinished experience the PS5 gave me (though I'd hope they've ironed out the kinks by now)! Runs games well, near-silent, backwards compatible, nice controller, Gamepass is great — it's exactly what I want in a machine. It's my first choice for multiplat games, bar those that really call for a mouse and keyboard or portability, which is always a good sign.

[Unofficial Who]

I own a PS5. Or rather my partner does. Between it failing 18 months in (it can't run God of War Ragnarok for more than 10 minutes) and the recent issues I've had with PSPlus Premium I'm about ready to switch.

 

Well really I've practically dropped it switching to PC and Switch for most of my gaming now.

[phillv85]

I’ve got both. The series X gets a decent amount of play time, the PS5 not so much, although having a large PS4 library means it’s not just gathering dust. I think both perform well but game pass is the clincher in the deal. Most AAA games don’t interest me these days, so all the smaller stuff that goes on GP is great. 

[Paulando]

You might as well rename question 4 to ‘Do Microsoft and Sony like making money?’

[moosegrinder]

3 minutes ago, Paulando said:

You might as well rename question 4 to ‘Do Microsoft and Sony like making money?’

 

Which side does it fall on? Like, if they like making money we're not getting a hardware refresh?

[Paulando]

Just now, moosegrinder said:

 

Which side does it fall on? Like, if they like making money we're not getting a hardware refresh?

Errr, I just thought it was a given, like, of course they’re going to release mid-gen Pro consoles because they love making money. But the hive mind seems to disagree.

[cubik]

PS5 since launch and love it.

I'm another fan of the Sony first party games and have zero interest in online multiplayer.

 

PS+ has even proven to be worth every penny to me. There's some real duff months but a few times a year I end up with something that gives me 50+ hours of fun.

 

[Stanley]

I have them both but I’m still mainly a Switch player, and more recently Steam Deck. The goalposts have shifted and it’s no longer about the home consoles that have been popular since the 90’s, there’s so much more choice now. 

[teddymeow]

28 minutes ago, theredstar said:

Hey, stop talking Britain down.

 

 

28 minutes ago, chris on the moon said:

You can't blame that on Microsoft!

 

Hehe!! You both know I meant UI.

[Kevvy Metal]

29 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

I own a PS5. Or rather my partner does. Between it failing 18 months in (it can't run God of War Ragnarok for more than 10 minutes) and the recent issues I've had with PSPlus Premium I'm about ready to switch.

 

Well really I've practically dropped it switching to PC and Switch for most of my gaming now.

Have you tried: 

 

Getting it fixed? 

[PaB]

Yes I own a ps5 . Yes I am happy with it, yes I think we will see a mid gen pro version . Might get a series x when the games demand it . 

[smac]

Dude, you forgot 'Switch' in question 3.

 

What? What!?

[Mr. Gerbik]

I own a Series X, a PS5, and the most recent next gen console: a Steam Deck. To be honest the Deck is the one that has impressed me most so far.

 

[Kevvy Metal]

PS5 since launch and love it. It’s basically my favourite console of all time now as it’s essentially a silent turbo-PS4. 
 

Mine has zero noise issues (touch wood) and I buy the games I want to own there, usually physical or at least if the option is available. Love the controller, love the look of the thing. UI is slick and easy to use. Everything great. 

 

Also own a Series X and an S, but after the honeymoon period, they’re just Gamepass machines. Both controllers have issues, the UI is horrid and I can’t fit the Series X properly anywhere. The cross saves do work beautifully with two consoles! 

[Siri]

Only own a Series S, but I still really like it - practically silent, sits neatly under my telly and plays game pass stuff perfectly well. PC's still my main platform of choice, but the S was perfectly cheap enough to be a secondary box.

 

I think we'll see Pro-esque refreshes, if only so Sony and Microsoft can push RT quality modes to 60fps as a feature.

[moosegrinder]

35 minutes ago, Paulando said:

Errr, I just thought it was a given, like, of course they’re going to release mid-gen Pro consoles because they love making money. But the hive mind seems to disagree.

 

Sony have raised the price of their console and Microsoft have outright said they lose money on theirs. A hardware refresh with newer components probably doesn't make much financial sense to me. Maybe some people more familiar with how these things work may be able to give more clarity but just logically speaking the outlay wouldn't justify the returns.

[SeanR]

My series S is a great backup to the ps5, which has been a joy so far.

 

apart from the dying controllers, obv.

[MW_Jimmy]

Bought a PS4 at launch.

Bought a Xbox 360 about a year after launch at Halo 3 beta.

Bought an Xbox shortly after launch.

Bought a Dreamcast at launch.

 

So this is the longest I've ever waited and still no real reason for me to bother. It's definitely the worst start to a console generation I've known, with hardly any exclusives and those few exclusive not doing anything particularly interesting or innovative. I'll probably end up with a PS5 at some point as it's backwards compatible, but Switch and PS4 still meet my gaming needs - both in new releases and the massive unplayed backlogs.

[moosegrinder]

Series X and S, no intention to buy a PS5. Not until they do a smaller console for less money which seems increasingly unlikely at this point.

[Strafe]

I’ve got all of them. Aside from when Halo Infinite came out I haven’t used my X much. Hopefully that’s going to change this year with Atomic Heart, Redfall and maybe Forza.

[Sumire]

I am not that happy, never got my actual 4K native 60fps on the Series X or PS5, I thought I was getting that with the One X when that arrived as well....

[Alex W.]

They need to release a version of these things that fits in an ordinary sized TV unit before I’ll seriously consider either. But it’ll be interesting to see if that happens. If we take it for granted that a refresh can make the consoles more efficient but not necessarily cheaper - Microsoft’s publicly stated rationale for the Series S - then I wonder if Sony might decide a Slim console is not a useful product, and go straight to a Pro hardware revision of the same general size, while leaving the base PS5 on the market using the older, cheaper fabrication process.

[SeanR]

I very very very rarely get anywhere near the Switch, as the boy is always on it.

[Qazimod]

Disclaimer: Generations are daft, so I'm not going to fight anyone who doesn't agree with my assertion that the 7th gen contained the Wii, PS3, 360; the 8th gen was the WiiU, PS4, XB1; this gen has the Switch, PS5, Series.  

 

On the whole, I feel like the tech hasn't delivered any major breakthroughs, but the overall way we enjoy the games is a lot nicer. Thinking about the early days of digital when everyone believed you were nuts if you paid £50 for something on the Xbox 360's Marketplace when it was much cheaper to order it online - we're now in an era where people are happy to have a digital library thanks to Game Pass, PS+, Twitch Prime, Humble and so on. And I only own a PS5 at the moment, but it's been really nice and reliable. Without a disc it's super-quiet, I've grown to like the DualSense, and it's easy to hop around the UI. Also being able to play my old PS4 discs and digital games is most welcome.  I admit that I haven't bought a whole lot of new-gen games - only really the PS5 version of Elden Ring - but that will change this year.  I only really got in early because I worried that the stock issues and semiconductor shortages would still be a thing when there were actually games I wanted to play (as there will be this year)!

 

Although I don't tend to pick up all consoles in a generation, I don't really have any platform loyalty either - so I may get a Series console or a Switch in the future. And in the meantime I still have an oldish PC for Destiny 2 and indie games.

 

E: oh! I don't know about a mid-gen refresh because the PS5 and Series X seemed like fairly "hobbyist" machines already - powerful consoles that were priced at enthusiasts rather than dabblers. Although I'm ready to be proven wrong.