What we can expect to happen is this:

There will be a select few blockbuster titles. It will be fewer than the previous generation, but the games themselves will be bigger and cost more to make. There will be fewer development studios making these games.

Those will be supported by low-budget indie-to-small studio projects. These will be largely downloadable rather than retail, and there will be more of these on the next-gen download platforms than ever before.

The mid-tier developer and publisher - those 50-200 people organisations making and publishing games like what THQ did or Focus Home Entertainment does will all but disappear. These games will cost too much to make next-gen, and yet will not be impressive enough to "win" retail money from the blockbuster releases. There won't be enough of an audience (or enough visibility) for these games to survive as download-only titles, however.

We're already seeing all this happen, but next gen hardware is going to exasperate it.

Eventually, games will be so big that each console will only have one, and they'll be sold like Game&Watches.

"Unprecedented partnership"!!!!

Negative comments about EA aren't random, they're universal. EA didn't win the worst company of the year award for nothing.

In that case, EA's not going to like the PS4.

The Wii and Wii U are so much more innovative than the Xbox and PS3. I would call them generations ahead. A "generation leap" cannot only be defined by graphical powers (probably the biggest topic of the debate right now); it only defines a small part of what determines it, especially when we get into the future when graphics will get so powerful that consoles will only differ with things like CPU and such. Innovation (like motion controls and the Wii U gamepad) will also be a huge determining factor there, which the Wii and Wii U have sooooooo much more than the Xbox and PS3, in my opinion.

Anyway, the Wii U is factually "next-gen", as it is the "successor" to the previous system, which is what defines a "generation".
I was thinking about an entire rant, but I held my breath, calmed down and that is basically a summary of my thoughts!

No one's aware of the specs of Sony's PlayStation 4. Just rumors as of now.

lol ea

you do know sony plans on a screen for the ps4. so is it next gen then because sony does it?

The official company of dudebro jackwagons doesn't like WiiU? I'm heartbroken.

true, but look at the vita and the psp before it. powerful handhelds that didnt live the hype. i cant wait to see how much the ps4 is goin to cost if the supposed rumored specs are real. carlin said it best about religon that fits this topic with fanboys. not saying your one lol

That's innovative enough for me.

My thoughts on the article? Meh. /shrug

Nintendo is in a League of its Own...
No, its not a superpowered system like sony or microsoft will put out...
but sony is a tv company, and microsoft is a computer company.... neither are gaming companies...
Nintendo knows we want something new, something different...
They are the only company that innovates gaming, and creates new experiences...
Double analog controllers are perfect... but they are old, and kinda boring.
And I bet Nintendo will outsell them, again, and they will attempt to copy Nintendo...again.

Really, why more power anyways? graphics are as good as they need to be,,, unless they go 3d

I'm pretty sure we're NOT in gen 4... I don't see why EA thinks it has a say in what is considered next gen. They aren't Platinum Games or Naughty Dog, do they even have an example of a visually appealing game?

Uh... Yes

Da faq is wrong with you if you think a niche studios whose games have underperformed has more to say than a mega publisher.

Anyone who uses that stupid poll of worst companies to justify EA hate opinion is non void. Most of those company is also in that poll were way worst than EA.

Also from a tech perspective Wii U was never next gen and anyone who believed that it would be a big part of these companies roadmap were being naive.

The majority of the games being worked on are targeting the Durango/Orbis spec and the Wii U will either get down ports or left out all together.

I know some guys hear can't take the Nintendo googles off but if you really believed that there Wii U would become the lead console for the next gen you were kidding yourself.

How are people who use the poll's opinion void? Isn't saying that there were worse companies on the poll an opinion? If they were worse, why didn't they rank lower?

Also from a tech perspective Wii U was never next gen and anyone who believed that it would be a big part of these companies roadmap were being naive.

It's likely many third parties pass over Nintendo because they are afraid to compete against it's first parties. If you have an alternate theory, I wouldn't mind hearing it.

The majority of the games being worked on are targeting the Durango/Orbis spec and the Wii U will either get down ports or left out all together.

How do you know this? I also don't believe that either systems specs have been confirmed.

I know some guys hear can't take the Nintendo googles off but if you really believed that there Wii U would become the lead console for the next gen you were kidding yourself.

In my experience, taking jabs at people you're trying to talk with is not very effective. Also, nobody said that Wii U would lead the next generation. What has been said is that anybody who doesn't believe that Wii U is part of the next generation is kidding themselves.

See, I like this guy.
Well said!

The PS3 & XBOX 360 were essentially PS2/XBOX games with a new lick of shiny HD visuals and superior sound while offering absolutely nothing new in terms of innovation based on the way you play games(until both companies jumped onto the motion controls bandwagon and spewed out their mini game collections due to the obvious major success of the Wii after the mid point of their life span.) Personally, for the most part I want new gameplay experiences, just something to make many of these genre's more exciting, fun, involving and immersive. Many people are fine remaining stagnent in an industry teathered to their Dual analog Xbox controller and getting the typical graphical upgrade, but not me....

it's just getting extremely boring and stale. It's the reason why i quit modern gaming during the mid point of the GCN/PS2/XBOX until the DS Lite and Wii(especially) were released which instantly sucked me back in all thanks to their ground breaking fresh and unique control schemes that completely changed the way we play games, while breathing new life into many genre's and utterly 1-uping them in the process. Now i absolutely love retro gaming, where traditional old school controls obviously shine, and i wouldnt change that...yet even the wii proved that in some cases motion titl controls and shaking can greatly enhance the experience like what was found in Wario land Shake it. Developers just need to have both motion and traditional based controls optional for many of these genre's, be it first or 3rd person ect ect, to please both sides.

Anyways, I remember playing a few or so games on my PS3 and XBOX 360 after being spoiled by the Wii's Next Gen controls(which included titles like Metroid Prime 3, RE4: Wii Edition, Elebits, Zack & Wiki ect ect which were all amazing experiences.) and having to shift back to a traditional dual analog based controller for these types of genres? Pure torture.... I remember firing up BioShock, Resident evil 5 and Dead Space for ex. And from a control standpoint they all felt completely LAST gen...It was such a nasty downgrade, to the point where i couldn't even bother. Here were a few great games at the core built around a clunky & unfun(just my opinion) control scheme that's been beaten to death by a dead horse. I just couldn't bother. The fun factor, intuitiveness and immersion dropped by a land slide. Still, it's nice to hear that Bioshock: infinite will be supporting the move controller so i'll definitly be checking that one out on the PS3.

What I'd like to see with RE: Revelations on the Wii U would be Wii remote Plus/Nunchuck support and '3D'

1)There were far worst companies on the consumerist poll than are way more poo than EA making games Origin.

2)See I always here this theroy that third parties are afraid to put their games on nintendo console's since they can't compete with nintendos first party. Yet they aren't even attacking the same market with Nintendo focusing on more of a all ages game while third parties offering more mature offerings.

If anything third parties would be more relctant to support microsoft and sony since they're first party games overlap and sell more than most of the third parties games.

3) System specs don't have to be known for the common sense that most of the industry has moved onto development for Durango and Orbis. A few companies have been working on Early Devs kits since mid 2011. Not only thatbut developers usually announce games for the following year and we know nothing about what's coming out inthe Fall of this year. That heavily hints at major NDAs being involved.

4)Dude I'm being honest. This is a nintendo based website so I wouldn't be suprised that people here have a nintendo bias. I would call out Gaf for having a sony bias and teamxbox one for favoring the box from redmond.

Sizzle.