Game engines are typically very scalable, though. A PC game made with a 2012 GPU in mind can be scaled down to run on a PS3 or 360, for instance. As long as there's support for programmable shaders in the hardware and enough RAM (ie. not Wii), engines can be ported. Even Unreal Engine 4 will make its way onto iOS devices, according to Epic (in a limited form, of course). Next generation consoles will have some nominal improvements in their shader hardware and be able to pull off some nice tricks, but it's nowhere near the visual leap we saw compared to systems with none at all (PS2, GC, DC). Regardless of the brute force power of the hardware, unless publishers are afraid of money, they will make sure to port their games wherever they can. Multi-platform is pretty much the name of the game anymore.
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The definition of "last generation"
- Thread starter LonelyGreyWolf
- Start date
Game engines are typically very scalable, though. A PC game made with a 2012 GPU in mind can be scaled down to run on a PS3 or 360, for instance. As long as there's support for programmable shaders in the hardware and enough RAM (ie. not Wii), engines can be ported. Even Unreal Engine 4 will make its way onto iOS devices, according to Epic (in a limited form, of course). Next generation consoles will have some nominal improvements in their shader hardware and be able to pull off some nice tricks, but it's nowhere near the visual leap we saw compared to systems with none at all (PS2, GC, DC). Regardless of the brute force power of the hardware, unless publishers are afraid of money, they will make sure to port their games wherever they can. Multi-platform is pretty much the name of the game anymore.
unreal engine 3 made its way to ios, but not wii.
Clemsontigers35
Member
Last gen:
Next Gen:
There you go
Next Gen:
There you go
JordanN
Banned
So?
Smartphones are capable of programmable shaders. The Wii was fixed functioned only. UE3 needed the former.
so I think unreal engine 4 will come to ios, but not wii u, for one reason or another. likely because 3rd party games will stop selling.
EternalGamer
Banned
The Wii U's processor and graphics card are siblings to the 360. Almost literally.
And you know this how?
BTW, are you guys aware that PC cards who are "siblings" (i.e. have the same architecture" can have a huge range of performance?
Kageshinzo
Member
Jesus Christ, I don't think I've seen so much ignorance in one thread before. It's almost like a YouTube comments section here.
The Wii U is a next-gen console. How anyone could ever consider it otherwise and using software and hardware to defend their points is well beyond me.
For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to start with the major consoles after the crash in the early 80s:
8 bit - NES, Sega Master System, Atari 7800
16 bit - SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Neo-Geo
32 bit - PSX, Sega Saturn, N64, 3DO, Atari Jaguar (at this point, people started to stop using bit power to differentiate the generation of consoles, mainly because of the N64 and Atari Jaguar's appearance)
128 bit - PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox
Current gen - PS3, Xbox360, Wii
Next gen - Wii U
How fucking hard is that to understand? If anything, things should be simpler now since we only have 3 major consoles instead of the 6 or so from previous generations.
The Wii U is a next-gen console. How anyone could ever consider it otherwise and using software and hardware to defend their points is well beyond me.
For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to start with the major consoles after the crash in the early 80s:
8 bit - NES, Sega Master System, Atari 7800
16 bit - SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Neo-Geo
32 bit - PSX, Sega Saturn, N64, 3DO, Atari Jaguar (at this point, people started to stop using bit power to differentiate the generation of consoles, mainly because of the N64 and Atari Jaguar's appearance)
128 bit - PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox
Current gen - PS3, Xbox360, Wii
Next gen - Wii U
How fucking hard is that to understand? If anything, things should be simpler now since we only have 3 major consoles instead of the 6 or so from previous generations.
soulassssns
Banned
Kageshinzo
Member
Bony Manifesto
Member
Well it's not that simple, as you've changed the criteria twice!
I think it's telling that even with hindsight, we can't come up with consistent rules that account for every piece of hardware.
Kageshinzo
Member
The criteria's changed but even without the bit connotation, all the consoles outlined above are still considered by the industry well within their respective classification/generation. Which illustrates the fact that power =/= classification of a console's generation/era.
AndresON777
shooting blanks
when does it come out, again?
April 2013, if they're lucky. It seems like the two groups split here are over power similarities, and release windows. I wouldn't consider 2600 and the Colecovision being in the same generation, but that's how people tend to put it together.
It was physically impossible for Wii to run UE3 because it had no support for programmable shaders. Before anyone says it, it's not up to Epic to port UE4 to Wii U, either; any game publisher that wants to run their UE4 game on the system can do it themselves. That's coming from Mark Rein, not me.
As far as 3rd party sales go, it's up to the 3rd parties to get their best games on the new system before we can begin to talk about it. This is the first time in a good long while that 3rd parties are getting AAA titles onto a Nintendo console. Wii missed out on a ton of major franchises which made up the bulk of 3rd party sales last gen, games that couldn't run on Wii even if they tried. So we'll see in the coming years how the (finally good) 3rd party titles sell on the system among its user base.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Gaf just loves talking about power (probably to compensate their penis or flaps). I don't know why people keep going on and on and on and on about hardware specs. It's boring and repetitive.
Bony Manifesto
Member
But what does it all mean? Okay, you've grouped these consoles by way of these ever-shifting metrics, but then what? Why is it so important that this cosmic ordering be studiously maintained?
it's easy for me.. successors define new generations. Next gen will start with the WiiU because it's the successor of a current-gen console. I'd put Ouya in that category since it will come out when next gen will already have started. It's really as simple as that...always been this way and always will, even though those revisionists will try to spin it otherwise
Because that is the market they were all competing in. Wii U won't be competing in the same market 360/PS3 is in. Sure, there will always be an overlap, but as always, they will standout in each generation.
Kageshinzo
Member
So that people will have a basis of comparison when they talk about video games?
"Oh man, do you remember when Mario was the de-facto mascot of video games?"
"Yeah, but then Sonic came out; that was fun."
"Yeah, the 16-bit era was the best."
"In what has become a surprising turn of events, the Wii outsold the PS3 and the Xbox360 in this generation of video game consoles. This comes at a pleasant surprise considering Nintendo was struggling along during last year's generation of console wars."
They love talking about power until you bring up the pc, and then suddenly power doesn't matter and it's about art style or exclusives or money or it's not a fair comparison. It's the most transparent sort of fanboyism.
Kageshinzo
Member
Which is really funny because the PC is not even in the same category as a console. It's a multimedia/workhorse machine that happens to play games.
So true.
The exclusives argument shows up in every PC thread and its so pathetic to hear it repeated since there is no comparison on the basis of power
I find console only gamers arguing about hardware specs hilarious
And by that you mean ever since the invention of a lexicon?
It's not just "this day and age", playing with meanings of words has been a meter stick for linguistic mastery throughout the ages.
It also just so happens to be really, really fucking good at playing games. And modern consoles are trying to become closer to multimedia machines all the time, compare Xbox 360 2005 UI (Blades) to Xbox 360 2012 UI. The Xbox 360 has taken a clear turn from "game playing machine" to "multimedia machine with games".
Littlegator
Banned
Exactly.
If you care about power, you get a PC. Otherwise, by the end of the generation, you've got some pretty shit hardware, relatively.
Consoles come out in these nice little 5-7 year gaps that we have always called generations. This gen, people decided it'd be cute to call the Wii "last gen" pejoratively. Flash forward to next gen, and people somehow think that their little insult is now the standard for defining console generations. Only, to get away with it on GAF, they have to defend it like they're right.
Here's another analogy. Computer graphics. Radeon HD6870 is more powerful than HD7650, so OBVIOUSLY the 7650 is last gen.
It gets really fucking old, people. You can't redefine what "generation" has always meant, especially when all you use it for is to insult consoles that you, as a "gamer," have some sort of aversion to playing because it's not good enough or some horseshit.
Get over yourselves. Games are games. Consoles have games on them. Gamers play games. Why the fuck does it have to be more than that?
Because this is GAF and we need something to split hairs over for the sake of discussion.
As far as the Wii and the WiiU go, I would consider them "Current generation consoles with last generation graphics". As in the Wii is current with the 360 and PS3, but graphics comparable to PS2/Xbox/GC, and the WiiU is current with the next Xbox and PS4, with graphics comparable to 360/PS3. Pleases both camps because that's really exactly what it is.
The irony alone would be too much to bear.
Cameron122
Member
The Wii U is next gen. Let's say one of you have a child. If that child is uglier than the other children, it doesn't mean he's not part of the next generation.
To answer the OPs question, yes it means Bioshock Infinite is last gen once Wii U comes out.
To answer the OPs question, yes it means Bioshock Infinite is last gen once Wii U comes out.
neogaf, the gaming sewing circle
Who are they?
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Do you really expect me to count to 8 console generations?
Come on, man, I'm way too lazy for that.
I assumed he meant console fans who like to gloat about the power of their console of choice.
Kageshinzo
Member
Agreed. But what gamers don't realize is that the PC isn't primarily designed to play games. For the vast majority of people, the PC is more for multimedia/work. So for people to lump the PC in the console wars is really funny.
It's like seeing three schoolkids fight with wooden swords, and then someone drags in a Marine, hands him another wooden sword, and tells him to join in on the fray.
I didn't know I can do my current work, create digital illustration, and process office documents in a modern day console.
As a former Marine and hardcore PC gamer, this comment is oddly relevant to me.
Where's my wooden sword? I heard some 10 year olds need an ass whooping to teach them the values of PC gaming.
Forsaken82
Member
Yeah I agree with this...
I am a consumer and don't even know what this "consumer pov" you are talking about is even referring to.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Yea man they have internet browsers that are capable of doing that within the browser. Catch up with the times slowpoke.
Kageshinzo
Member
Sadly, my company's dedicated software doesn't have a browser equivalent, those luddites.