The Last Generation?

 

The other day on Twitter, one of the gaming accounts that I follow tweeted that some guy from Ubisoft or wherever had said he didn’t think this coming generation would be the last.

 

My first thought was, ‘well, why would it?’

But then I got thinking about how it might be.

 

While the PS4 might be playing it safe to the point of being a PS3 with shinier graphics, the Xbox One is clearly built with the future in mind. The power of the cloud, regardless of how vague they have been about it, will stand the console in good stead to evolve over time.

Considering how much the Xbox 360 has changed since it first came out thanks to updates over Xbox Live – just imagine the possibilities on the new console. Game worlds can be expanded beyond what DLC is currently capable of and game mechanics and characteristics can be shaped far in excess of what a title update can do today.

 

The two things stopping this upcoming generation from being the last are that the consoles will never be upgradable like PCs and our innate desire as humans, for something new. While the look and feel of Xbox Live might change over time and the games can keep getting better, we’ll still inevitably get tired of the same old console under the tv, in much the same way as we grow bored of the phones in our pockets.

 

The 8^th console generation will undoubtedly last us another 10 years and it may be even longer, but you can be sure – as consumers – we’ll put a cap on it sooner or later and be crying out for the next big thing.