Titanfail: Where Are The Eighth Generation Must-Have Games?

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I can still remember the feeling like it was yesterday. I was sitting, watching my friend Nick play Bioshock. I hadn’t yet purchased an Xbox 360 at the time because I am poor, and because Kameo wasn’t exactly filling me the urge to rush to Gamestop. But as I sat there, watching my buddy traverse the stunning, dilapidated hallways of Rapture, I became overwhelmed with the sense that I needed to go get a 360 and needed to go get Bioshock, right then and there, regardless of whether it meant I couldn’t buy groceries for a week or two. The thing is, that is not happening with the new consoles. So this leads me to ask: where is the eight generation’s proverbial Bioshock? The game that will make it so I HAVE to own one of these systems?

Keep in mind, this is proverbial. I am not asking where the LITERAL new Bioshock is. I know one will be coming at some point, and I know it will drop my jaw. I mean, where are the games that are that good? The games that make nerds like me go and buy these consoles, even when we can’t afford them? I know what two arguments are going to come my way right now, and I am ready to address them both. First we have PS4 fans, pointing out Infamous: Second Son to me.

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He looks like a cross between an X-Men and the patented “bad boy” from every boy band ever.

Yes, the game looks great. It is actually quite stunning to look at in person, and I feel like videos and still pics do not do it justice. Thing is, it is just another Infamous. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very cool game to watch (and from what little I have played of it), but to me, it is not a system seller. Not a “killer app.” I could play the old Infamous games on a PS3 and yes, I would get a decidedly less polished looking game, I would still get the same overall experience. This is not to undermine the PS4. The system seems like the superior of the two, and will most likely be the next gen console I pick up first. But as of right now, I have yet to be met with the unwavering desire to do that. The fact that the PS4 is working on exclusive TV shows doesn’t interest me at all, either. I personally think all the new consoles trying to be multimedia everything to everyone is part of the problem. I like video games. Give me a f*cking game console. Is that too much to ask?

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I am sorry, but I can do shit like this in Saints Row 4 for much cheaper.

So now, here comes the Xbone (I never get tired of that) fans screaming to me about Titanfall. Oh, Titanfall is the best thing to ever happen to multiplayer. Titanfall is the best mech game of all time. The game is a finely tuned masterpiece and everyone needs to play it. Well, guess what? I am a single player guy. Why do you think I cited Bioshock as my perfect example? 20 hours of single player brilliance. I actually have a bit of a rage problem, and multiplayer makes me end up wanting to tear my hair out and murder people. To me, that is not fun. I don’t feel like someone who needs to frag people to necessarily feel self worth. Titanfall may look great and it may play like a dream, but it is not the title moving me to get an Xbone. Hell, I don’t care if the fake president plays it (and it quite funny in the process). By the way, can we nickname this dude Faux-Bama? Please??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsKtjwQaA5k

Please don’t even get me started on how dumb these kids are who fall for it are. Still funny, regardless.

The other problem is the XBone really, REALLY wants to be your everything, too. It wants you to yell at you when you want to watch TV, and it wants you to Netflix on it, and Youtube on it, and PornHub on it. Hell, it wants to watch you beat off. But again, guess what? I want a f*cking game console. Giving me a glorified TV that also happens to play games is not driving me to jump on the 8th generation bandwagon anytime soon. I have a cool TV. It is big and 3D. I have Google Chromecast. I don’t need anything changed or improved, thank you very much. Also, that idea of Quantum Break (is it a TV show or is it a game? Who cares, either way it is a fail) is just silly. Telltale games already make GREAT interactive fiction, and I can play that shit for five bucks on Steam. To me, Quantum Break is giving me flashbacks to FMV and how awful a trend that was. Again, games have come WAY too far to step back like this.

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Sorry, but Quantum Break looks like a bad show that would run on the SyFy channel.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are games coming out for the next gen consoles that I really want to play, but guess what? They are coming out for 7th generation consoles as well. From Destiny to Watch Dogs, there are must have games coming, but I will have them for the system I have now, and not have to shell out four hundred bucks just to be able to play a shinier version of the exact same game. That, to me, is kind of a joke. When consoles used to upgrade, they would pretty much render their old hardware obsolete, right away. Part of this was to FORCE the player into the next gen by not giving them a choice. It was mean, but it worked. But why would I go buy a new system when all the games that are gonna be badass in 2014, will also be on seventh gen consoles?

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This will be less shiny on my 360, but everything else will be spot-on. So why upgrade?

In all honesty, before it even happened, this was the generation launch I was least excited about. I really felt like we hit a ceiling last gen with just how good games could get, and I still stand behind that. Yeah, the new Witcher might be awesome, but it is another example of a game that will not compel me to buy a whole new system, when the one I have is still working just fine. Yes, Arkham Knight might be good enough to get me to buy an 8th gen system, but until I see gameplay footage, it is all just assumptions. So tell me, I know some of you have the systems, and some of you feel the same way I do, so let’s talk about it. What have been your experiences with the eight generation for you so far? What games do you think make it so we all NEED to own them, and for people like me who do not have them yet, what is the one game that may just make me change my mind? Take to the comments and let me know.

Also, go read my site, and don’t be mad at me that I baited you with the title of this article. I dig Titanfall. I just wanted to wake some of ya’ll up. Been so quiet around here lately…

Faux-Bama for the win.

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14 Comments

  1. They’ll be announced at this year’s E3.

    Honestly, it’s like most console/generation launches right now. Except for maybe one killer app, like Mario 64 or Halo, there is barely anything worthwhile in the first six months, and if anything, we can be happy that this time thanks to Multiplatform Releases we’ll still get many good games on Xbox One and PS4 instead of the crap they tried to sell us on the early PS2 months, or even back when the Xbox 360 came out.

    You ask for a new Bioshock? That came out 2 years after the 360 launched, so there. (i bought my 360 in the spring of 2006, and that’s not even because of a mind-blowingly good game [it was alright], but because that’s when there finally was a second game i was interested in that actually looked like a next-gen game [Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter])

    Yes, there is no good reason to buy a new console right now if the few games worth mentioning right now don’t interest you. No, this isn’t even close to being something new.

    I wonder why so many people pretend that this isn’t normal. Maybe because the diminishing returns we get with graphics? (Games on the new consoles obviously look better, but it’s nowhere near the difference the switch to HD graphics made, or the jump from PS1 to PS2)

  2. Exclusives still dictate my decision on what console to buy, hence why I bought the Wii U last August (there were several exclusives I wanted by that time).

    I like the Xbone for Killer Instinct (hopefully it’ll turn into a worthwhile fighter by the end of the year, when it has at least 12 characters).

    From the PS4, Second Son is the only one right now that has my attention because how it is a mixed of realism and stylization (what I like to see in videogames, like Batman).

    Also color is the best thing this new gen has shown so far, I suppose its because of being able to render better lighting.

      1. Better presentation will make a push, and in that sense, yeah better lighting will do that.

        My main point is still the exclusives because that what shows the capabilities of your console.

  3. I think I’d rather point out that the 360 was released in November 2005 while Bioshock didn’t come out until August 07. Patience is a virtue. Perhaps this premise would be better left until August 2015? Not saying that a “I don’t see any reason to buy this” article isn’t relevant, it just seems that your Bioshock comparison would be better used to say that good games come in time and there is no rush to get the consoles now.

    Edit: Seems like the same point has already been made.

    1. I think Gears of War is what made the jump last gen. The game was the blueprints of how most games will play, from its multiple elements in the environment running at once, a new engine with high fidelity graphics, dynamic cover system and animations, polish shooting mechanics for a 3rd person and the trailers showed how much we had advanced in regards to cinematic language. That game regardless of how its seen today I think defined the last generation or at least its promise.

  4. The problem as you alluded to is that the we have just had likely the last generation of devices one can truly consider to be game consoles. With the exception of the Wii U which has it’s own different well documented problems, the latest “next gen” consoles are a joke. They are over-priced neutered PC’s that are already obsolete. You can build a significantly better gaming pc for $500, pick a controller of you choice and hook it up to your TV. While the PS3 and Xbox 360 offered affordable HD and Online gaming for the first time to console gamers, the new consoles simply don’t offer anything substantial to justify an upgrade. They can’t even run most of their own launch games at 1080p and/or a reasonable framerate which makes them arguably marginally better than their predecessors.

  5. I got a PS4 as a Christmas present, and I have the same feeling. Second Son is great, but it is just another Infamous game. In fact my favorite game to come out this year, so far, is Dark Souls 2, a game that is only on 7th-gen consoles. One more thing that’s bothering me is the lack of 8th-gen, and 7th-gen for that matter, games with couch co-op.

  6. I’ll definitely buy wii U and PS4 but I’m still waiting for those console selling games. I’ll probably get a Wii U when Mario Kart & Smash Bros come out but my main reasons to buy it are the next monolith’s chronicles game and the next legend of zelda. PS4? I can’t wait to play Final Fantasy XV, actually I hope they release a PS4 FFXV bundle if so I won’t think it twice to get it. XBone is not an option for me cause I don’t like the big brother watching me all the time.

  7. We’re probably not going to see many interesting titles on the AAA side of things now. Just remakes, sequels to old franchises. It’s pretty disappointing. I think almost everything this gen is going to be multiplats and small-time indies. Stuff like Watch Dogs and Metal Gear will probably be almost as good on the 2005 hardware.

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