Playstation 4

[Neon Ignition]

Lol, I'd love that though the sticks need updating. More like a sexy Cube pad

[EvilBoris]

I think the sticks should be relocated to the front of the console :P

[Neon Ignition]

YES! But you can't get within 4 feet of them or they stop working, lol

[Matt]

If, as expected, the PS4 is building on the PS3 hardware, there's no reason it can't be profitable relatively quickly. More Cell processors, newer nVidia GPU, you'd make 100% backwards compatibility viable, and can get a machine significantly more powerful without need to spend a fortune in R&D.

As for the Dual Shock 4, maybe it's just me but I actually prefer symmetrical analogue sticks. It makes sense, and I'd imagine at the highest level, allows for more precision. Hopefully they concave the sticks and the triggers. The shape could use a touch more grip, and the analogues a little more resistance.

[Sketcz]

I still hope for a relocated left stick, reshaped prongs and a new Dpad

I've never understood why people complain about the PS2/PS3 pad design. It is perfect - and I mean perfect. I can't think of a single way to improve it.

The dual sticks are even, as in they are horizontally level. I get terrible cramp with the 360 pad because the sticks aren't level, and it's a pain for playing anything that has one stick for control and the other for camera.

Some complain of cramp with the PS2/PS3 controller, but my hand fits it like a glove.

EDIT:
like Matt said, symmetrical is best.

[Sam The Man]

As for the Dual Shock 4, maybe it's just me but I actually prefer symmetrical analogue sticks. It makes sense, and I'd imagine at the highest level, allows for more precision.

It's not just you, in fact i think the majority of gamers including myself would prefer symmetrical analogues. Even the shape of the DS pad i.m.o is better and more comfortable than the 360's which just feels to big, fat and bulky at the base of the handle part of the pad.

Like Sketcz said i feel the DS design is the best designed control pad in the history of gaming as in i could hold it for 12 hours straight and it would feel just as comfortable at the end as when i picked it up and clearly Sony understand this as they have stuck with it since its inception almost 15yrs ago.

[saturn-gamer]

I'd rather see the unconventional Cell leave the building. I think we'll get port headaches with the Xbox yet again. I fail to see the advantage Cell has in gaming. Wouldn't a conventional i7 ish CPU (or whatever is high end by 2014) be a better option? I would kill backwards compatibilty if I were them, and offer the games through Classics HD in the future. Keep the Ps3 on the shelves (if its still viable).

Sony should also sort out the RAM thing, and kill this part XDR part DDR setup.

[Matt]

There's no reason to ditch Cell. Developed, stable. Sony can get it cheaper than the i7 I'd imagine By now devs know how to use it, no reason for "port headaches". And they'd literally be able to build on existing engines, immediately getting say 10 times the performance without breaking into a sweat.

There's no reason to ditch seperate RAM either. In fact I'd be surprised if the next XBox didn't go back to a more traditional memory setup. The question is How Much. If Sony were smart, and released after the next XBox, they should simply bite the bullet and double up on however much RAM their rival has.

[wakka]

Am I the only one satisfied with the current gen and content for it to run forever?

Wow, it's lucky we're not all like that or technology would never move on at all. The current gen while impressive has massives of technicL limitations which are already being pushed, as can be seen in games like LA Noire. Why on earth would you want to be stuck with PS3 level graphics forever?

[saturn-gamer]

Wow, it's lucky we're not all like that or technology would never move on at all. The current gen while impressive has massives of technicL limitations which are already being pushed, as can be seen in games like LA Noire. Why on earth would you want to be stuck with PS3 level graphics forever?

I dunno man, I used to be a graphics whore but I'm actually still happy with the graphics on my Ps3. Gotta say that there isn't an obvious new benchmark to look up to either. PC isn't that far ahead anymore. I have Crysis, I've seen Crysis 2... its not the step I would invest in from the Ps3 onwards. They have to show something really, really beautiful to make me feel that my Ps3's being done for. I remember seeing Soul Calibur 1 and thinking, 'yeah thats better than my saturn alright'. But as it stands 2007's Crysis is still the leader and if thats a good thing I dunno.

What they could do is render current gen games such as Uncharted 2 at 1080p and 60fps. But perhaps thats the step we will see. And it could probably be achieved by just a better GPU and more RAM.

[Neon Ignition]

I don't find the DS uncomfortable but I find it's a bit small for my man hands. Even with no changes the dpad is ****e with a capital s, h, i, t and e

[Sam The Man]

Alot Better than the xbox 360 dpad though by quite some margin. Now that is one tacky piece of ****e!

[Sketcz]

Why on earth would you want to be stuck with PS3 level graphics forever?

Here's something that's going to bake your noodle:
I still like games with Sega Saturn level 3D graphics. Man, I love Sega Saturn 3D so much. I also still like SD low-res sprites. I keep three SD TVs spare just so that I can enjoy my 16-bit retro fix the way they were meant to be viewed.

I was reading this article and it made me realise that this kind of low-poly look is, in its own right, a unique kind of visual style.

I had hoped that since with this generation we seemed to be reaching the logical limit of how far we can push graphics, we'd start to regress and experiment with other kinds of style, such as chunky low polygon models with scratchy textures, or 8-bit sprites with 3 colours per block.

FOR EXAMPLE: I don't like the look of newer Silent Hill games. The scariest is the first because the grainy textures and crude poly-models only add to the atmosphere of being in an alien place filled with malformed freaks. Another example is System Shock 2. The original low-poly models for the Mothers looked inhuman and freaky, which was good, it was scary. Then some guy went and redid all the polygon models for photo realism, and suddenly the Mothers look like page 3 models with robotic legs - more erotic than inhumanely scary.

Instead of asking how can we make this look bigger or better, such as with LA Noire, I'd love to see a game that toned down the beef of its graphics to do something stylistically unique and interesting. Pathologic was one of the defining experiences in gaming for me, and I wasn't put off by what others would describe as last-gen visuals. In fact I think they added to the atmosphere - it made Soviet Russia look ever more bleak.

Once photo realism was achieved with the camera, painters started experimenting with all manner of non-realistic styles. Sadly it seems that the public and the industry are still bleating for greater photo-realism.

[prinnysquad]

I've never understood why people complain about the PS2/PS3 pad design. It is perfect - and I mean perfect. I can't think of a single way to improve it.

The dual sticks are even, as in they are horizontally level. I get terrible cramp with the 360 pad because the sticks aren't level, and it's a pain for playing anything that has one stick for control and the other for camera.

Some complain of cramp with the PS2/PS3 controller, but my hand fits it like a glove.

EDIT:
like Matt said, symmetrical is best.

Mutant hands! I've always find the ps2/3 pad servicable at best. It's feebly light, and feels cheap and breakable. Yet, the design is so angular and uncomfortable, it gives my hands more cramp than a thousand wanks. The analogue sticks are too big and bulge out, lessening precision and grip. The trigger are terrible, abolutely ****e. I've never really thought about the symmetrical sticks, and never noticed a difference when playing 360/ps3 games, which tells me that it doesn't bother me. The 360 pad is better balanced, with superior triggers and a superb mould. The first second I picked it up, it was like it was made for my hands. So, so comfortable. It feels better quality.

Except the d-pad and the shoulder buttons. They're awful - the ps3 pad wipes the floor with them in that respect.

[Team Andromeda]

FOR EXAMPLE: I don't like the look of newer Silent Hill games. The scariest is the first because the grainy textures and crude poly-models only add to the atmosphere of being in an alien place filled with malformed freaks. Another example is System Shock 2. The original low-poly models for the Mothers looked inhuman and freaky, which was good, it was scary. Then some guy went and redid all the polygon models for photo realism, and suddenly the Mothers look like page 3 models with robotic legs - more erotic than inhumanely scary.

I though the highlight of the series was SH2 and especially SH3 in terms of GFX and found the 2nd game the most scary to play mostly down to the Audio You also have to factor in changes to the teams and Art dept (with Konami handing the game out) . I find RE to be far more scary than RE4 to play, but that's down to design choices made by the developer , rather than so -called photo real graphics (which we aren't even close to for humans in games) in GFX terms RE4 blows away RE and is all the better for it, it just went for more action and had a different setting


I think Dead Space shows what can be done, when you get a good team that want to make a horror game, that game is scary thanks in no small part to the stunning Audio and lighting effects

I've never understood why people complain about the PS2/PS3 pad design. It is perfect - and I mean perfect

??? It's a terrible pad , the trigger buttons are crap and the analogue sticks them self's just dire, Playing a FPS on the PS3 is total **** compared to playing 1 onthe 360 and most of that is down to the pad . SONY never made a good pad imo