Next Gen: 5 Ways It's Going To Rip You Off
Next gen is coming… soon. Are you rich enough?
We all know the next generation of consoles will be arriving. ‘When’ appears to be the major debate, but what concerns us most is a question of a different kind altogether. What we want to know is ‘how much is it going to cost us?’
We’re not talking the price of the console, nor the doubtlessly ludicrous pricing of its first round of titles. No, we’re talking about the ways in which Microsoft and Sony are likely to go about doing a Sam Fisher on your cash – a stealth-kill to your anxious wallet.
No Backwards Compatibility
Both Microsoft and Sony have wheeled out all sorts of excuses as to why full backwards compatibility wasn’t available on either console this generation. ‘People don’t want it/need it’ they said. ‘We can reduce production costs if we take it out’ they said. ‘Lots of games work for the last generation, just not the ones you want to play’ they said.
The truth of the matter is that backwards compatibility was cut down in its prime so they could monetise all that content and sell it back to you once your disc copies had turned to dust. Probably. It’s for that reason that those expecting backwards compatibility may be in for a rude awakening.
Offline Passes
With the way things are going, there’s no doubt that the industry as a whole is united in its attempts to stamp out the second-hand market. Taking away our multiplayer on traded games is just the start. The logical progression is discs, or whatever media format next gen will arrive with, will come with unique signatures imprinted onto them.
Once ‘paired’ with your console, they will not be useable anywhere outside your profile. The technology for this already exists. The platform holders are unlikely to change the rules mid-gen, but with new machines on the market, they’re in a position to make it so right from the off.
All Side-Quests Are DLC
Let’s face it, a lot of people just buzz along to the end of a game without stopping to take in the view, let alone indulge themselves of a game’s many other distractions. If this is you prepare to not be ripped off. Games for you will be cheaper; you’ll pay twenty bucks for your side-quest-free campaign experience. Those who like to explore, complete and indulge in a game’s many distractions, however, look out. Moneys are likely going to be incrementally charged you for everything. You’ll probably have to pay money for an in-game NPC to give you directions.
Sports games are going to charge you for a new ball when you lose it or kick it out of bounds. Driving games are going to charge you real money for new tyres. Think about it; we’re really not very far off this model now and we’re all sitting idly by while we slowly boil like the proverbial frog in the pan.
£500/$700 Minimum
With truly epic graphics technology on the cards (nVidia’s Project Denver the current conjecture of choice), PS4 and Xbox 720 are going to cost you an absolute fortune, but then, you knew that, right? What’s money compared to realistic skin on an NPC’s knee?
Cloud Space
All your saves and other data will be stored on the cloud. With a mind for fairness, the amount of space you occupy on said cloud will be subject to tiered pricing. Oddly, this means that those who play the most (the most loyal) will be charged more.
Note: This article may or may not have been entirely made up because the author liked the title. Thanks for your time.
For more on the next generation, go here for why GTA V May Delay Next-Gen, or check out our article on Next Gen Launch Games.
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x720 or ps4, i’m waiting for you.
i want games like uncharted, killzone, little big planet, motorstorm, grand turismo, infamous, etc etc, in real 1080p at 60fps.
i didn’t buy a x360 because of its rrod problems and noise, but i know i will buy the x720 when it’s out.
i can’t imagine how games will look like, on these new consoles.man, i can’t wait.
ok, there will be online passes, there will be many dlc to buy. but hey, people spend money on cigaretts, which are just “smoke”. and they are ok with that. they should be ok to spend 9.99$/€ on a dlc, that will give them 2-4 hours of gaming.
every guy has his pleasures. one of mine is playing games. i try to have a little budget for gaming, every month.so instead of spending my money on stuff i don’t really need, i prefer to keep that cash, and “invest” on games, platinum games, and, if i really liked the game, in dlc.
There was talk of imprinting a game to your console with the PS3, but it came to nothing. I can’t see gamers really being happy with that at all if you buy an Iron Man of Kane & Lynch and don’t get half a days play out of £40-£50 (£60?). The market will fall out of the industry if gamers aren’t given some wiggle room to take a chance. At least with Trade In you an get some money against the next game.
To be honest id prefer a console to launch at $600 and be packed with tech. No cost cutting like skimping in ram or having no hdd. Put it all in. The hardcore will buy it and after a few months when quality games start rolling out cut the price. No reason to cut corners to keep launch prices lower for hardware we will use for the next 6 years.
next gen will not be $600… the reason the lamestation 3 was that much was because it has 7 processor cores, sony will NOT do that again as the whole architechture of the PS3 is considered to be a failure, it took too long and was too difficult to utilize most of the power it offered.
the 360 has 3 cores ( 2 gpu 1 cpu) and is much more standardized.
even though the 360 is much weaker then the PS3, games look about the same, or even better on 360, because its such a pain to make PS3 games compared to 360, so a 360 game is ported to ps3, and thats that.
don’t believe me? play an exclusive for PS3 and compare it to a multiplatform title… uncharted looks good, but MW3 looks like trash,
MW3 also looks about the same on PS3/360, point proven.
Firstly, why not the Xbox 1080? With the obsession with HD, capitalise on it! No law says you have to step up the numbers in equal amounts after all.
They will seriously need to look at pricing however, if they go fully digital. We’ll be expected to buy the storage, memory cards or extra hard drives, and if it turns out buying games has a hidden cost of taking up £10 of storage, that’s going to get around.
As I said on another thread, the PS Vita is currently charging £75 for a 32GB memory card, where other cards of the same size are £18. It’s pure profiteering, and means that a 4gb game bought from the PS store is actually nearly £10 more than the cost shown on the site.
On top of all that, they really need to sort out charging more for downloads than for real copies that need to be made, packaged and shipped around the world. You want no preowned market and no returns, you need to make downloads a preferable option financially.