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

[Flanders]

The PS5 is a great machine, although I actually think it’s lost a bit of steam since it’s very underrated first six-seven months, which I honestly think is one of the best launch periods any console has ever had. 
 

Part of the problem is that window had next-gen only games and everything since has been cross-gen, which means the most technically impressive releases are all two years old now.

 

Xbox Series S has been a bit of a waste of time for me. Has never felt like a proper next gen console, too many games look a bit crap compared to the PS5. 
 

I essentially stopped using it altogether once I got a Steam Deck, almost all the highly rated stuff that’s on Game Pass these days is much better suited to a handheld. I don’t know why anyone would be playing Vampire Survivors on their living room TV. 

[Alex W.]

3 minutes ago, Sumire said:

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....

[MidWalian]

Bought a series s when it hit £189.99 before Christmas. I've been enjoying it and loving the faster storage and multiple quick resumes. 

 

 

[makkuwata]

Counting the days til PSVR2. Haven’t felt this excited about new hardware since Christmas 97.

[Halo]

It’s fine but disappointing - it feels like a continuation from the end last generation in all ways than anything revolutionary and there’s not much new to get excited about.

 

[robdood]

I've still not even seen them in real life properly, barring a passing glance in a shop. 

 

I do feel gaming as a hobby has waned for me a fair bit. 

 

I think I'll always get drawn in for the occasional obsession, but as I get older I think I want to put my "spare" time into more productive activities! 

 

So pc suits me best as I can use it for multiple obsessions! 😁

 

[HarryBizzle]

1 hour ago, Paulando said:

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

The margins are either razor thin or non-existent, and Microsoft have gone on record to say that the whole reason Series S exists is that most sales volume is at around that price range and they don’t expect significant component savings over the course of the generation to allow them to hit that with Series X. 
 

I think if there’s a Series Z or PS5 Pro the drum being beaten will be Ray Tracing at 60fps or more games being native 4K. And either way, it will be expensive. £600 at a minimum. 
 

 

Games look great to me as the consoles are but I could see myself falling victim to hype. Especially as I have about £150 of MS rewards (and growing). 

[Gabe]

I got a very, very good deal for a used Series S on here. Not because I wanted the console (I didn't) but mainly because I wanted a new pad, and they were £70 at the time. The machine also came with the wireless headphones, all in for (I think) £120. Bargain.

I'm mainly a PC gamer though (with Game Pass Ultimate), so I've tended to force myself to use it for games where I'm not so fussed about shinies or resolution or for some co-op with a friend. It's a nice, quiet and compact little machine., but I don't really see me ever buying much for it, bar a couple of games I got at Christmas from my Argentinian relatives for about £10. Oops, I mean they paid that, obviously 

 

No interest in a PS5 and I have always detested their controllers. The couple of games I'll possibly grab on at some point, God of War and Miles Morales, are on PC now anyway and very little else of their catalogue appeals.

[Hewson]

I’ve got a PS5 and a Series S and I’ve found them an excellent pairing, not least because there are so few big games on Xbox that I’ve cared about. Sony first party output has been excellent with Returnal surprising me the most. It’s one of my favourite games of all time. My Series S is a lovely little machine that wasn’t getting a lot of play until this last year when Vampire Survivors, Pentiment and Immortality suddenly made Gamepass feel more essential to me. 

[dumpster]

I've always bought everything because I've always done that.  Having been a Game Store Manager in the day when you got a free console every time, it just seemed reasonable to keep buying them all after I left.  But this generation has been a strange one in that I barely used the Switch and it made me wonder whether I really needed to buy all the consoles every time.  I don't regret buying the Switch, Metroid was great, and it was a lot of fun playing Mr Driller and having easy multiplayer etc, and it's often used when I babysit my nieces.  But it never felt an essential purchase like, for example Xbox and PS2 did.  If you didn't have an Xbox you missed out on Halo.  A PS2 got you Gradius 5.  You had to have both.

 

But there's the thing from 2021 onwards.  Everything, not just gaming, has too much content.  To compare, I am a massive fan of Star Wars and I tolerated the 3 prequels, then went to see the sequels at the cinema, enjoyed them for what they were...  But then I stopped watching Mandalorian after a couple of episodes and have never seen OBI Wan and Andor. I'd like to see them, but I don't have Disney Plus. And I'm all StarWars-ed out   I'll probably see them at some point.  I'm sure they're good. But there was a time when a new Star Wars thing would have me queuing at the store at midnight and the world has changed. There's just so much content from so many providers and I'm completely aware there are not enough hours in the day to see it all... And I accept that.  I'm not getting 25 streaming services. And I'm not buying every console, or every game that I might be interested in. 

 

So for gaming, this generation,  I couldn't decide what to get and also there were such terrible stock shortages that I signed up to a stock informer app, and bought the first one that was freely available. Got myself one of those Xbox Series X things. The intention was to play that and get a PS5 at some point.

 

Now, it's 2023 and I'm playing Informax on Gamepass with its 8 bit graphics and NES style music.  It's become a Gamepass machine and also a Fantastic Emulation Machine (TM), and it's the best console I've ever owned.  But that whole Too Much Content thing has killed that enthusiasm. I'm totally convinced I have no reason to buy a PS5, and when I browse in a Game store I realise I already have half the games they sell on my Gamepass subscription.  Game shopping has me reading the boxes for inspiration then leaving empty handed and downloading from Gamepass when I get home.

 

So what's weird about this generation for me is summed up as follows:

-I'm using the console more than any console I've ever owned.

-Im using the most powerful hardware I've ever owned to play indie games that look 8-bit and sound like a NES.

-for the first time I only use one console and have no interest I buying any others.

-i haven't bought a game in ages.

-enulation is incredible on Series X and Burnout 2 is still the best game ever. 

 

 

[ontwofronts]

Got a Series X on launch because Game Pass. I’m really happy with it.

 

id have probably bought a PS5 for Gran Turismo but couldn’t find one in stock. Though I didn’t look that hard.

 

got a Steam Deck in December and it’s a game changer. Has totally reignited my passion for gaming.

 

if Sony release a mid gen, cheaper digital only PS5 I’d probably be all over it.

[Fry Crayola]

A year ago, I said this:

 

"I have a Series S, and it's an excellent console, but primarily because it's fast and responsive compared to the Xbox One, rather than because of specific games."

 

That still holds. In fact, it's probably even more true than it was then, because I've predominantly been playing older games on it. The last game released this generation that I bothered to play for any length of time was Halo Infinite. Since then, on the Xbox I've been through Ghost Recon Wildlands, Arkham Knight, Manhunt, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and about half of Far Cry Instincts Predator. The most recent of those is nearly six years old. Two of the games are from three generations ago. Goldeneye is arguably four. The only actual modern game I've been playing is FIFA 23. 

 

And I think that's why I love it. It's a small box that plays a large selection of games going back twenty years, even without the use of third party emulators. It's fast, it's quick to get back into, there's a fuckton to play, and a fuckton I want to play. I've been long out of the loop when it comes to chasing the most recent releases. By the time I play Elden Ring I expect the doctor will be sticking his finger up mine on the regular. So the paucity of first party releases doesn't register, and the box isn't sitting unused.  

[SuperFamiTom]

I'm daft lucky enough to have all the latest consoles, a gaming PC and a Steam Deck. When I'm using them I thoroughly enjoy and love each one. However with my gaming time spread so thinly across those and retro stuff I just don't feel like I'm getting a decent amount of use out of any of it. I can go months and months without touching my Switch, Series X or PS5 and so it feels like a waste having them at times. 

 

I wouldn't have it any other way as they each have a purpose and it's important to me that I've got access to all systems as they all have games I'd wouldn't want to miss. However for the first time in my life I wish everything would just come out on PC so I could just have a single box. 

[dvdx2]

The x is starting to creak at the seams with regards to trying to maintain a high resolution and framerate (120 fps). I am starting to notice the Vaseline smear with games with the high fps mode. Bring on the series x2 or whatever it might be called.

[PikaStu]

Despite having a 3070 powered PC, I absolutely love my Series X. It offers almost-as-good visuals in a comfier environment, plus HDR that actually works (Damn you Windows 11!)

It’s a shame they never went with an NVidia GPU though, which would’ve helped make 60fps raytracing achievable with DLSS.

 

I’ll end up getting a PS5 at some point, I’m still catching up on exclusives I missed last generation on my PS4 Pro.

[makkuwata]

5 minutes ago, PikaStu said:

I’ll end up getting a PS5 at some point, I’m still catching up on exclusives I missed last generation on my PS4 Pro.

Any of these?

[HarryBizzle]

13 minutes ago, PikaStu said:

Despite having a 3070 powered PC, I absolutely love my Series X. It offers almost-as-good visuals in a comfier environment, plus HDR that actually works (Damn you Windows 11!)

It’s a shame they never went with an NVidia GPU though, which would’ve helped make 60fps raytracing achievable with DLSS.

 

I’ll end up getting a PS5 at some point, I’m still catching up on exclusives I missed last generation on my PS4 Pro.

I don’t know about DLSS vs FSR, but FSR 2.1 is now in Cyberpunk. RT and 60fps doesn’t seem to be on the cards, though. 
 

I’d love to see them offer a 40fps mode, though.

[fat flatulent git]

3 hours ago, Halo said:

It’s fine but disappointing - it feels like a continuation from the end last generation in all ways than anything revolutionary and there’s not much new to get excited about.

 

I have a Series X and a PS5, and this is exactly what I think.

[rafaqat]

Faster loading. More games sat on instant resume. MS infrastructure smoother than ever.  Cloud streaming working really really well for me so it feels like tech wise a Great Leap Forward.   Games themselves have been the same as ever. All that talk of building games you couldn’t do without a fast ssd haven’t really happened as far as I can tell.  No major new concepts. Just faster everything which is ok.   
 

Will hop onto the ps5 when it doesn’t look like such a turd.  Should have a lovely backlog of great cheap games to play.  I’ll hate their shitty save syncing across multiple consoles but I don’t think that’ll ever change.  Games are always awesome though. 

 

[Sarlaccfood]

I have a PS5 and a Series S and I’m pretty happy with both yeah as they do quite different things. I really like the next-gen feel of the UX, pad and games on the PS5 and my Series S is a great retro and indie machine that keeps me in the loop should the big MS games come along. 
 

I’m still going back in for the Switch if my house was on fire though.

[Jamie John]

I own a Series X, a Series S, a PS5, a Switch OLED, a Steam Deck and a 4000 series-equipped gaming PC and, frankly, it's too much: I don't have enough time to spend on all of them and I can go months without playing one particular platform. There's also a lot of needless doubling up going on - I don't need a Series X and a top-end gaming PC, for example, so I'm likely going to sell my Series X soon.

 

The same goes for the PS5: there are no upcoming exclusives for it that truly interest me, and they'll all end up on the PC at some point anyway. The only real reason I have for keeping it around is to replay PS4 exclusive games on it, but I might just sell it on regardless and get a PS5 slim, as and when Sony decide to make one.

[Skull Commander]

2 hours ago, dvdx2 said:

The x is starting to creak at the seams with regards to trying to maintain a high resolution and framerate (120 fps). I am starting to notice the Vaseline smear with games with the high fps mode. Bring on the series x2 or whatever it might be called.

Goodness knows what you are playing, but I've found nothing released this gen so far really pushes it. If I have one complaint then that's the one. I don't think a single game has really made me feel like the "New Gen" has even arrived. Until that point I don't want a new generation of machines

 

[layten]

I won a PS5 on a Twitch stream of all places. Came with GT7 and the baseball game. I played through all the café books in GT7 and don't really feel much of a pull to try anything else. Haven't even unsealed the baseball game and Sony's first party games don't really do it for me. So my giant ugly mid 2000's router lookalike will likely sit there and gather a lot more dust.

 

It might get a look-in when FFXVI launches, depending on the noise around howe long the wait for the PC version will be.

[PikaStu]

2 hours ago, makkuwata said:

Any of these?

Yeah I saw that, thanks. I don’t actually have a Plus subscription (I did for a month and completed Spiderman and Days Gone). I’ll probably pick up the other games I need when I see them cheap. Currently playing Bloodborne and my next purchase will probably be Tsushima. 
 

A PS5 for faster loading, Returnal and Demon Souls is on the cards at some point, but there’s no rush. My Xbox and Switch backlog is frightening!

[Unofficial Who]

7 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Have you tried: 

 

Getting it fixed? 

 

It's out of warranty. Tried every self servicing thing we could cleaning it out but apparently some launch models suffer from this. (And my partner has used it possibly more that your average user would.)

[Sarlaccfood]

3 hours ago, Jamie John said:

frankly, it's too much

I literally fantasise about just having one console and being happy with it. 
 

But I just read and watch too much about the hobby and can’t help spreading a wider net.

[Jamie John]

3 hours ago, Sarlaccfood said:

I literally fantasise about just having one console and being happy with it. 
 

But I just read and watch too much about the hobby and can’t help spreading a wider net.

 

I think just PC and Switch is a pretty viable option, seeing as everything on Xbox is also on PC, and Sony exclusives are now making their way to PC as well. Maybe with a side of Steam Deck, too.

 

Initially, I was dubious about PC gaming as it wasn't as 'pick up and' play as the Xbox/PS5 with their quick resume functions. Set up your PC properly, however, and you're back in the game just as quickly as you would be on a console. I also thought not being able to sell games on PC once I was done with them would be a drawback, but over the last year the number of games I've played on disc I could count on one hand - the majority of games I've played have been either been digital purchases or Game Pass games - and PC games are cheaper than their console versions anyway, so I don't anticipate it being much of a problem. Plus, being able to play games in 4K native at 100fps+ on my big telly is a pretty big boon, as is being able to upgrade components piecemeal and not having to worry about dropping £600, or however much it's going to cost, on the PS5 Pro, or whatever.

[Kayin Amoh]

I'm not going to get into a total breakdown, but every system should have Quick Resume. It's the best thing ever, cutting about about fifteen billion hours of loading times and splash menus every time I switch on the X.

 

Load times have been massively reduced since last gen, but Quick Resume also cuts everything to do with developer logos, menu screens and loading up save files for a whole bunch of games at once. Not a big deal if you only play one game at a time, but I typically dip in and out of several.

[Timmo]

PS5 and Series S. These things:

 

- Super fast loading times (including quick resume)

- 60fps

- Solid backwards compatibility including common frame rate boosting

 

have made this an incredible generation so far.

 

There is always the niggle of the Series S sometimes not being quite powerful enough but generally speaking it’s a little beast and a fantastic second console. Right now I just hope it runs Atomic Heart and Wo Long well enough not to bother me. 

 

[fasteasyfree]

12 hours ago, robdood said:

I've still not even seen them in real life properly, barring a passing glance in a shop. 

 

I do feel gaming as a hobby has waned for me a fair bit. 

 

I think I'll always get drawn in for the occasional obsession, but as I get older I think I want to put my "spare" time into more productive activities! 

 

So pc suits me best as I can use it for multiple obsessions! 😁

 

This is where I'm at right now. The Switch has been great, and I'm currently in my third playthrough of BotW. This time with my daughter who's affectionately named it "save the princess game". She only ever wants the controller when we're activating towers and shrines, or to ride her horse for a bit, and is more concerned with the story.

 

But outside of that, I only play Minecraft with the lad, on our PCs. He's not bothered about other platforms because Fortnite and Roblox are his main attractions, which are obviously cross platform.

 

I've always toyed with getting a Series S as a Game Pass box but with how little I actually play games nowadays it would likely be a waste.

 

We're all looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom though. Switch wins the day again!