Generation Eight: Consoles, Controversies and Concerns

It is perfectly understandable that gamers are starting to worry about what's coming in the next generation of video gaming. For a short time before Sony announced their upcoming console, the PlayStation 4, gamers have panicked and celebrated over rumours of backward compatibility, online service carry-overs, the preowned game market and online passes. The excitement started to simmer down as everyone waited in preparation for Microsoft's unveiling of the Xbox One, but shortly after the conference, paranoia had returned in full force.

Sony introduced the PlayStation 4 with a handful of tantalising sights that give us a look into what Sony perceives as next generation gaming: sexy and sleek. With the technology demonstration from Quantic Dream, gameplay footage from Watch_Dogs and some hardware specifications, gamers believe that Sony stole the show at E3 and at their unveil. Gathered from the information we've received so far, the PlayStation 4 is harbouring an 8-core AMD x86 Jaguar CPU, 8GB GDDR5 RAM and will not require a constant Internet connection.

Microsoft introduced the Xbox One during their conference on 21 May 2013 and focused on showcasing entertainment as a whole as opposed to showing off how gaming will function. This was understandably ill-received by the community, as gamers care not about fantasy football and video chatting on a video game console, but...well...video games. Microsoft has always strived to be the go-to for all things entertainment, as defined by what the Xbox 360 offers: Internet browsing, streaming movies and music, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. A larger percentage of the gaming community were left with a foul taste in their mouth given that Microsoft pretty much talked about everything except gaming at their unveiling. The Xbox One comes preloaded with a Blu ray drive (following in Sony's footsteps), 8 Core Microsoft custom CPU (speculated to be in part with AMD) 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive and Kinect 2 (packaged with every console.)

I'm personally a little concerned with the Xbox One. The name is nice; simple and to the point - much better than Durango and Infinite. The design is spectacular; it's sleek, it's sexy and it's appealing. However, the intent on appealing avid television buffs and sports fans does not capture my attention. If I'm going to purchase a video game console, it's going to be for video games. If I wanted to watch television or participate in sports, I'll turn on my Dish Network box or head down to the local YMCA. Microsoft's implied priorities do not align with what appeals to me and that worries me.

I own the three consoles of the seventh generation (X360, PS3, Wii) but the Xbox has always been my go-to console for primary gaming - the Wii I used for exercise and fitness gaming while I used the PS3 for exclusives that caught my eye (Uncharted, Heavy Rain, etc.) so when I tuned into the conference, I was a little less than satisfied. It seems like Microsoft's focus is more on entertainment as a whole than video gaming. Don't get me wrong, I know it's foolish to jump to conclusions before they've dealt all their cards, but they definitely gave the wrong impression at the conference and I am certainly eagerly awaiting E3 to see if they'll redeem themselves.

Hearing about the Kinect's functionality completely rubbed me the wrong way. Every Xbox One console will ship with an updated version of the Kinect sensor which uses a 1080p camera and processes 2Gbits of data per second to read the environment. It can now track heart beats and gestures made with the Xbox One controller. What I did not like to hear was that the Xbox One will not function unless the Kinect sensor is connected and that the Kinect microphone will remain on at all times. The paranoid "government is watching" yuppie inside me did not appreciate learning of that fact, but I settled down a bit after learning that users retain the software capability to turn off all Kinect functions while the sensor remains connected to the console.

Now, onto more pressing matters that has everyone up in arms: the preowned game fiasco. Whether or not the Xbox One would register preowned games was one of the biggest questions heading into the conference and it was not even addressed; Microsoft was continuously asked afterward but they still have not given a full spectrum of detail. In short, yes it will play preowned games, but there is an alleged fee.

There is no better response to this than what Strass Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, stated today. He doesn't think it's necessary to "punish" consumers for purchasing second-hand games, arguing that "pushing up quality" and delivering robust DLC is a more effective way of persuading people to keep hold of the disc. That said, he's bang up for a share of Microsoft's rumoured Xbox One "pre-owned fee," assuming the scheme actually exists.

Microsoft would be utterly foolish for one of many reasons to charge a fee to play a preowned game. That reason being as Mr. Zelnick outlined: Microsoft would be legally inclined to divvy up the profit from the used game fee between themselves, the developer, the publisher and possibly the middleman. That legal requirement will null and void Microsoft's only reason for charging the fee in the first place: to make themselves more money.

The fact of the matter is, whatever Microsoft and Sony decide to do about the preowned game market will benefit the player. It's common sense, but it's even easier to understand when you work at GameStop. It's no secret that GameStop is a middleman: the company makes a small percentage of profits from selling new games, but their income stems from trade-ins and the selling of preowned products. If Microsoft and Sony decide to finalise something that ends up making a large percentage of the gaming community give up on trade-ins and purchasing preowned games, it will hurt GameStop and no company wants that.

"Well so what? Microsoft, Sony and developers can get Target or Wal-Mart to sell video games like they do currently."

Wrong. GameStop is the leading company in video game distribution by an undefeatable landslide. Target, Wal-Mart and other stores as such do not and will not have a selection as massive as GameStop's and there is no franchise that will ever be as gamer-centric as GameStop is. The bottom line is, they need GameStop and they wouldn't do anything to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot. At the end of the day, Microsoft and Sony will do whatever it takes to keep GameStop around.

As for the Xbox One's rumoured required Internet connection, Microsoft gave Kotaku an answer: yes and no. No, a constant, persistent Internet connection is not required to play games. But yes, the Xbox One needs to check in with the Internet at least once a day. So yes, it has to be connected to the Internet, but no, not all the time.

What this means is that a brief Internet outage won't interrupt your gaming but it also implies that if you do not have an Internet connection in your home, the Xbox One will not be able to perform the required "check-in" once every 24 hours. The purpose of this action has not been stated, but it's safe to say it will serve as a product authentication/verification to deter piracy.

We won't know for certain what to expect when the new consoles launch later this year, but all we can truly do is cross our fingers and pray that they're listening to fan feedback.