Top 11 most desired features of the next console generation

This past week, we saw the anniversaries of the Wii and DS, as well as the PlayStation 3. Today is the anniversary of the Xbox 360. The GameCube was released on November 18th, 2001, and the Xbox on November 15th. This is the time of year console manufacturers often choose to release their latest hardware, which means November is often the beginning of the newest console generation. So what better time to think about the next generation?

Whether you like this generation (so far) or not, it’s pretty much undeniable that it has brought plenty of new features, as well as some brand new problems. With this list, we’ll look at some of the things that could be fixed, refined, or even introduced with the next generation of consoles.

1. Backwards Compatibility

The first thing on this list looking forward is actually looking backward. Neat – this is something Nintendo isn’t that bad at. The Wii can play GameCube games flawlessly (thanks to the Wii being technologically similar to the GameCube). The Nintendo DS and DS Lite can play Game Boy Advance games. The DSi doesn’t play GBA games, and that’s a problem for some people, but hopefully Nintendo’s next generation handheld will return to backwards compatibility.

Really, this is more of a problem with Sony and Microsoft. The PSP has nothing to be backwards compatible with, but most PlayStation 3′s don’t play PlayStation 2 games, and I’ve found that mine doesn’t even play half of my PlayStation 1 games (e.g., once I reach a certain part of Chrono Cross, the game freezes). Original Xbox games needed patches in order to play on the Xbox 360, so that was never full backwards compatibility. Microsoft has stopped releasing these patches, so there are plenty of Xbox games left that will never work on an Xbox 360. I think if console manufacturers are going to advertise their consoles as backwards compatible, they should be fully (or at least reasonably) backwards compatible from the start. If I need to have my old consoles hooked up to my TV to play some of my last generation games, current gen backwards compatibility isn’t going to do me much good.

2. More Power! *grunt*

The Wii is cheap because it’s less powerful than its competitors. That’s fine. It’s nice to have a console I don’t have to save up for months to buy. It’s also nice to be able to buy a Wii and then save up enough for a second console, because two different consoles are better than one. However, I hope the Wii 2 is more powerful, or at least as powerful as a PS3 or 360. As technology becomes cheaper, this has a good chance of happening. But then there’s the other side of that coin….

3. No More Jumping the Gun

This generation feels like it started too early, and maybe it was a bit too ambitious. Consoles are either really expensive or made of low quality hardware. While better graphics and sound are nice things to have, they’ve been taken to a level we may not be ready ready for. PS3 and 360 games are difficult and expensive to develop. They’re so expensive that many developers are afraid to take risks because they have too much to lose, and many games are forced to be made as multiplatform games just to recoup development costs. Multiplatform games are nice in the short term, but the main thing that differentiates consoles from each other is their library of exclusives. Exclusive games are very important for competition, and I think anything we can do to bring them back would be a step worth taking.