The Upgrade

The year is 2021. It is a time of great innovation and technological advancement. It is also a time of chaos and conspiracy.

Life is a relentless march ever unto the horizon, never pausing, never faltering, and too must we march in her wake lest we be trapped behind to be drowned in the storm of perfidious stagnancy that so many equate to death. Similarly, we possess technology and our pursuit of such with the same unquenchable thirst that drove our industries forward, renewed our sagging selves and sometimes went as far as to reinvent our very lives. So when affixed with such pretty and ultimately empty frills like those I just exampled, the concept of 'upgrades' and 'upgrading' sounds like a worthy cause, no? To wrestle atop the flailing beast that is life and- nope, sorry, I'm stopping with the gutter poetry. What I mean to address is the fact that, considering how important we are told it is to ever improve, isn't it then worthlessly contradictory how stubborn we become about moving forward? I feel myself a particularly vile perpetrator for this cycle, a cycle of saying "in with the new" whilst clutching the old with desperate abandon. And I bring up such, in this blog here today, because I've been waxing about this new console generation on our hands.

Does it feel hollow to you? This jump forward into the gaming future, or am I perhaps clouding my judgement (and very recollection) with rose-tinted glasses? I ask because it almost feels like this console generational leap has been one of the most underwhelming to date. Don't get me wrong, there have been those eye-wateringly beautiful results from the upgrade that have me spinning, (In concept, that is. I'll likely never get one of these consoles) such as those load times, but I'm not seeing the bold face of the industry rear itself, and it seems like something we used to see a lot. Typically when a console reaches it's twilight years, the industry becomes flooded with these titles that seem to burst at the seams, bulging under misfit skin and pushing the current hardware beyond it's frail limits. These would be the games that would really ignite those hopefuls, because they portended a future that would push ever further still, rewriting that horizon with effortless zeal.

Just thinking back to the last generational leap, the titles of those days seemed to struggle under the weight of their own potential. Think back to Grand Theft Auto V, Mass Effect 3 or Skyrim. (Although Skyrim was, admittedly, a couple of years before the upgrade, it shone nonetheless) And when that next generation landed it was full of prime examples why the new technology was needed and everything it was capable of. We got 'Dragon Age: Inquisition', a fantasy Bioware game that looked better than it had any right to do with a gorgeous engine; 'Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor', a straight-forward game that pushed one of the most exciting new game concepts in years; 'Wolfenstein: the New Order', a blindingly brilliant FPS to show that the genre still could hold some surprises up it's sleeve. These were games that the last generation could not achieve, and it somewhat feels like this new leap is lacking that deluge of incredible newer titles. Or at least it seems that way... 

To be honest with you, I've framed this blog in an intentionally hyperbolic manner in order to mirror some of the voices I've read online, although in truth I have a few common sense answers for myself in regards to this assumedly-lacking generational jump. Importantly, the lack of new games that fully take hold of the hardware is actually an intentional consequence of both Sony and Microsoft's active attempts to cater for their fanbase. (And not lose out on game sales during the transition) A lot of games are still being made with this gen and last gen in mind, thus even when the next gen versions are made the improvements are largely superficial. (Higher resolutions, faster framerates. etc.) Whereas the few games that have gone all-in for the new generation, have me personally excited beyond anything else. (The Demon Souls Remake still gives me chills to look at.)

But that doesn't mean this upgrade process still hasn't left a lot to be desired. In one sense, there's been a lot of talk about the way in which these new consoles would cleanly slide into our lives without any fuss and we'd transition over cleanly. (Sans several hundred buckaroos, of course) However that hasn't been the case due, primarily, to that supply problems I've discussed here and there. Lacking numbers of consoles hitting the market, (severely hurting some online player pools) scalpers scooping up the stock that does hit the stores, the pandemic making it impossible to pick up these consoles in person and then just the general perception that none of it is worth the fuss because most fresh games are here on the established consoles anyway. (Thank god for the crossover in that regard at least.) But at least for those that managed to get lucky they have the benefit of a clean road to upgrade. Heck, just about every developer who isn't 2K went the distance of offering free upgrades, spurred by the console developers who both individually promised to facilitate this. How accommodating and forward thinking! (Even if, in truth, they're likely just trying to ensure no one is deterred from making those all-important week one purchases on flagship titles due to lacking new consoles.)

Okay, enough beating around the bush; I wouldn't me mentioning the 'free upgrade' scheme if something hadn't gone belly-up with it. (Or at least, on one side of this fence.) You see, Microsoft were the first to announce their support for this kind of thing and they did it to great fanfare and praise for being consumer friendly. Sony sort of lagged behind on the same announcement, which was confusing at it seemed like a really customer-friendly policy that should have been lauded as the jewel of their conferences as their contemporary did. And now it's pretty clear why. Microsoft specifically built their new consoles to harmlessly transition into the new gen thanks in part to the cloud save tech they'd been using for all the Xbox One's life cycle. Sony, meanwhile, seems to have been cornered into getting developers to brute-force some inelegant solutions such as save-transferring. (something I know from my Minecraft days to be less than flawless.) It hasn't been the biggest inconvenience in the world, but it's just another example of how quickly the veneer of these new consoles have waned.

Another is in the specs. So the Xbox Series X is the most powerful console in the world, or whatever, and yet it's still averaging a messy 4k 30fps in games not specifically tuned for the 60 frames? Is this real life? And yes, I understand that 4k is largely overrated and not really the be-all-end-all. (Don't bother with trying to argue the penny-pinching logic with me, I'm probably 10 times stingier than you.) But my god, how can any modern console justify less than 60fps? For any excuse, even if that's high resolution. (Resolution which will be no-doubt offset by other cut corners and lowered settings in order to hit the benchmark) And the PS5 is apparently weaker than that? This is our brave new generation of consoles? Forgive me for feeling just that tad bit underwhelmed with the offerings, then.

Yet again, I'm likely just being a picky sod with my memory, as I have a tendency to be. Growing pains are a part of the process, and I have no doubt that in 8 years times when the next consoles are around (and there will be next consoles, don't listen to what the pipe-dreamers are saying about 'the end of the console age') I'm sure we'll all be having this same conversation and enjoying misremembered virtues from the 2021 console age. Want my proof? Those great games from the last generation, were all from the year following the console generation jump, most of them in the later half of the year. (Wolfenstein was mid-year) Showing, if anything, that these new trailblazers just take some time to be made, and I'd imagine current circumstances may have elongated that time just a smidge. So if you're looking at the new generation scratching your head and wondering if it's going to start getting good, have heart- or at least wait until this time next year to start getting really worried...