7 reasons we're totally ready for the next-generation to start

With E3 right around the corner, the gaming industry is abuzz with rumors and speculation on the next-generation of console gaming. Nintendo is already kicking things off this year with the Wii U, and it looks like Sony and Microsoft might follow suit within a year or two with their respective 4s and 720s.

Yesterday we expressed our concerns with 7 reasons we're not ready for the next-gen, but today we decided to pick up a half-full glass, and optimistically explain why we’re totally, absolutely, unabashedly ready for the next-generation of gaming.

While it’s true that games look better every year, we’re noticing a trend running parallel with these improvements. Early-generation issues like texture pops are suddenly starting to become more frequent, games are requiring huge installations, and more and more titles are coming on multiple disks. Games are getting better, but there’s no denying the developers are pushing more power out of the machines than they were meant to.

If we haven’t achieved the best of what this generation has to offer, we’re really close to it, and that’s a good sign that it might be time to move on. Otherwise we’ll be buying six-disk games with 50GB installs as the norm in 2014, and with the amount of hard drives we’ll need to buy to fit all of our games we’ll already be well on our way to buying a new system. On that same note…

Game installs are an unfortunate necessity of current-generation games, and we only expect to see it becoming more important as years go on. In order to make sure the lowest common denominator can handle this, we need new consoles, and we need them to come packed with big, bulky hard drives.

Hard drives are cheap, too! If next-gen systems come packed with 500GB drives, it'd give developers a little more wiggle room; they could create games that take full advantage of the system power, without needing to worry about small hard drive sizes on low-end consoles. We’re looking at you, Microsoft – stop it with the 4GB introductory system, you’re not fooling anyone.

Some hate motion gaming, but the truth of the matter is, it’s here to stay. Much of the frustrations with it, though, come from its inaccuracies - something that could be corrected by the next-gen. Kinect 2 could make the peripheral a better part of the gaming experience, and the Move 2 could include a slew of minor adjustments to make it easier to use. We saw this happen with the Wii Remote Plus, which improved dramatically over the original controller, and we would expect a similar enhancement with the next-gen.

Let’s have Kinect work better as a strictly voice-controlled addition, making it easy for gamers to shout out commands in squad-based games without worrying that a conversation on the other side of the room could trigger a game-ending maneuver, and let’s make it so the Move can be played closer to the TV.

Even after multiple upgrades, the Xbox 360 is still an incredibly unreliable machine, and though it’s less common, the PS3 has had its share of technical fouls. Blinking red and yellow lights have cast a harsh shadow on the current generation’s hardware, and we’re ready to start over with (hopefully) better equipment.

Microsoft’s billion-dollar blunder has likely taught the company not to cut corners when it comes to hardware, and Sony’s vulnerability hacking has led to an increase in security for both companies. While we’re sure there will be issues, we’re thinking that the big three have learned from their mistakes, and are ready to make consoles with longer lifespans – especially if they’re expecting another lengthy console generation.

We’re seeing fewer and fewer original IPs released every year. Instead we’re getting sequels, prequels, and remakes, as developers scramble to do anything besides take risks on new franchises. But new generations need new heroes, and developers are often much more open to trying new things when console generations begin.

Gears of War, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed all started their lives early in this generation, and plenty of other franchises were born in the generation before that. We’d love to see what other characters and environments would be born from the new generation of gaming. Who knows? Maybe the next great mascot is hiding behind a next-gen launch title already in the works.

This is actually one of the largest issues with the current era of gaming – and it’s also the most predictable. Generally, every console generation starts the same way: early games are better on PC because developers are still ironing out the kinks with the new consoles, mid-generation games sway towards equilibrium, and late games end up being better on consoles because, well, the developers are making the games specifically for the consoles. Making games for consoles means they’re limited to the six-year-old tech that those consoles are running.

As time goes on, it seems like developers are making games for consoles first and PCs second. This means that even with new, blazing-fast PC hardware on the market, developers are being forced to cripple their games to be compatible with aging systems. It keeps gaming from moving forward, and hinders the PC gaming market all over again. Generally this cycle ends after about five years, but with the current-generation lasting so long it’s becoming even more detrimental.

Waiting in line for a new system, buying new controllers, picking up new games – it’s easy to look back at these as early-generation frustrations, but that’s not how it feels at the time. Remember when you first had to go get a second Xbox controller for multiplayer Halo? Or when the first “must-buy” of the generation released and you bought it on launch night? It’s exciting, and even if the games’ quality isn’t as high as it should be, you’re usually able to strap on some launch goggles and have a good time.

We expect the next-gen will be that way too. Fancy new graphics will replace our already impressive visuals, and we’ll get to see what a new set of hardware can do to our favorite genres. New console launches are exciting, and we absolutely can’t wait.

We're really excited for the next generation of gaming to begin, but for as cool as it might be, there's also a chance that it's going to be scary and horrible - as we explained yesterday when we discussed the other end of the coin with 7 reasons we're not ready for the next-gen. Which side of the fence do you fall on?

And if you want more E3 news, check out our E3 page and our 51 most anticipated games of E3.