Black man playing video game. Photo: Inti St Clair (Getty).
Game consoles sure have come a long way since blowing into cartridges or praying to the heavens that nobody brushed against your Nintendo to cause a reset and loss of your saved game progress. Believe me, I still have the scars. But that’s all fixed now! Today’s gaming consoles have become a one-stop shop for all of our entertainment needs. We can watch Blu-rays on them. We can stream all of our favorite apps right from the console. Heck, now we can even save our game progress in the Cloud. So surely, we should be content with how things have grown, right? Nahhh. As consumers, gamers need to be wooed. Not just by software, but hardware, too. Since another upgrade cycle seems likely, we’ve taken the liberty of coming up some key features that we’d love to see in the next gaming console iteration, at least for my money. So please, hardware developers, if you’re out there, read this first, execute it, then shut up and take our money.
The Next Gaming Consoles Need These 8 Incentives
While we’re on the subject of subtle gaming tweaks: 7 Franchise Reboots That Should Have Been Video Games Instead
Next Gaming Console Incentives
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1. Longevity
Upgrade cycles are scary for the casual gamer because of the expense it comes with, so more console longevity is very important to us and our wallets. We’re now in year four of the current generation of Xbox and Playstation, and we’ve already begun to see newer versions be released and premium consoles set for the near future. We’re just worried about where it goes from here. How will games perform in another four years? Are consoles becoming too much like PCs and cell phones with needing to be upgraded every few years? We hope not.
Senior Couple Playing Video Game. Photo: Peter Reali (Getty).
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2. VR Inclusion
VR is arguably the future of gaming. It just hasn’t found its legs yet. Why? Well, it could be because of the price tag, the fact that people don’t have the living space to immerse themselves into the game, or because there’s no “you gotta play this” game associated with it. My theoretical solution: pair it with a console and expand your audience. This would obviously rack up the price on the console in total, but I would argue that most gamers want to utilize VR; they just don’t play VR because they don’t know where to begin with it. So force them. If you box it, they will come.
What We Want in the Next Gaming Consoles. Photo: Benjamin Torode (Getty).
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3. More Hard Drive Storage At Launch
More more more. Video game file sizes are enormous. And with all of the sales and ways to get free games via subscriptions, your internal storage capacity has already filled up before you finish reading this sentence. Sure, we have external hard drives at our disposal, but are we really expected to buy bigger and bigger externals when our last 4 TB external filled up? Just give us a biggie inside the box, right at launch. And a side of curly fries, too!
Removal controller board of the hard disk drive on a white background. Photo: Fotokot197 (Getty).
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4. A Try Before You Buy Program
Games are becoming as plentiful as television shows to watch, and that can get expensive after awhile, especially if certain games don’t really pan out after purchase. So, how about a digital service for a rental, trial, or demo option for each game? Renting games was a big thing back in the days of Blockbuster, and you can still do it at the nearest Redbox. Why not charge a small fee for “rentals” right in the comfort of our living rooms like you’ve done for movies and TV? I’d buy that for a dollar! Or you know, at least rent it, then decide if I wanna buy it.
Photo: Chesnot (Getty).
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5. Cross-Platform Play
Wouldn’t it be great to play Madden against you friend who also has it on Playstation (because they refuse to defect from their system)? Since we can’t change our friend’s mind, maybe we can convince competing companies to settle differences and just let all of us gamers play together. The trend has already begun with Xbox, Windows and Nintendo, so come on people (cough, Playstation), can’t we all just get along?
Video Game Consoles Hardware Shoot. Photo: Future Publishing (Getty).
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6. Worthy Headsets
I love a free headset in the box. It’s very generous. However, let’s throw in a little TLC next time, shall we? Not only do the freebies break quite easily, but they’re design is inferior to even the most affordable headsets on the market. The freebies normally come with a cord *shudders*, come with an unwelcomed echo effect in your party chat, and just don’t measure up to what sound quality we need. I don’t know, how about try giving us TWO earphones? Would that be so crazy?
Breaking headset. Photo: Stolk (Getty).
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7. Mobility
Nintendo Switch is mixing the living room console with gaming on the go, and we love it. Mobile gaming is clearly still relevant. People play tons of games on their phones, Vitas or 3DSs while on the run. We just hope other companies follow what Nintendo has started here. Imagine taking your Playstation on the go via a handheld tablet with a connectable controller. Or using an attachable flip-up monitor option to connect to your slimmer new Xbox as it lives off battery power. Consoles are getting smaller and smaller nowadays, so why not offer more mobility to keep us playing more and more?
Playing Pokmon GO! Photo: Copyright Morten Falch Sortland (Getty).
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8. A Commitment To Backwards Compatibility
Every time a new console comes out, gamers are left wondering if the games they have now will be usable on a new console or not. Some people even trade up their old consoles to be able to afford the new ones, meaning their old games basically become coasters if they’re not compatible. Luckily, coasters are great, and we’re also seeing more dedication to backwards compatibility these days, but we just want a firm commitment going forward. Our game libraries are only getting bigger, so hopefully we can bring them along with us in the generations to come.
shredder. Photo: emreogan (Getty).
