The Next Generation

If there was ever a point where I just said "I'm done with you!" it would be now to Microsoft's new Xbox One.  This brand-new gaming platform looks pretty good for all the hype that has surrounded it, but I still feel like it is under powered in comparison to Sony's PlayStation 4.  Both graphics and quality looks top notch, but I am not going to shovel out $500+ for this new generation because I have little to go on.  However, I am completely turned off by the Xbox One, and Microsoft's new gaming market has proposed.  What the plan is, as far as I know, is that every game you buy for the console is linked to your gaming profile on Xbox Live, Microsoft's online service.  Also, the game you buy must also be downloaded onto your harddrive before playing.  This might be for no-disk playing, which is a cool concept.  What else will happen, and this is my least favorite part, is if you pick up a used game from Game Stop or another retail, or trade/borrow hard copies of games from friends, you can be charged the market, I repeat, MARKET, price for the game.  Its as if you were "buying" it for your own use.  This can apparently be avoided by having your friend log into his profile onto your system, which is a round about way to do things.  But what happens if you are playing a used game from a retailer?  Is the game still linked to the original owner, or do they relinquish ownership when they sell it to the retailer?  This whole thing sounds like a way to corner the retail game market.  Unfortunately this will also push away the social aspect of going into the retailer and talking to other people about games.  Even the midnight releases for games could be removed because of online purchasing.

In the meantime, Sony has not said anything about their own marketing for games, and won't do so until the E3 event this June.  So with my opinions on the table, I am just waiting for E3 to come and tell us more about this next generation.

Until next time.