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The Eighth Generation of Video Games: What It Has To Offer So Far




Although the Wii U was out in 2012 and is known to be an Eighth Generation console, the games of it were the same as the other Seventh Generation games, thus the Eighth Generation of video games had not yet truly begun. Now, that the two major Eighth Generation consoles have been released, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, it can now be said that the Eighth Generation of gaming has "officially" begun. Now that the new generation is here, we take a look at what this generation of gaming has to offer so far.


First of all, the most important part of any console other than it's games, the potential power. So lets take a look at the specifications of all three Eighth Generation consoles.




Specs

  Xbox One

PlayStation 4

       Wii U

OS Windows custom kernel and a hypervisor Orbis OS Wii U OS
Media Blu-ray, CD, DVD Blu-ray Disc, DVD Wii U Optical Disc
Storage 500GB Hard Disk Drive 500GB Hard Disk Drive (user upgrade-able) Internal flash memory, USB storage drives, SD/SDHC card
Online Xbox Live PSN Nintendo Network

Controller Xbox One controller, Xbox One Kinect, SmartGlass DualShock 4, PlayStation Move, PlayStation Vita Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, Wii Remote (Plus)
CPU Custom 1.75 GHz AMD 8 core APU (2 Quad-Core Jaguar modules) Semi-custom 8-core AMD x86-64 CPU 1.24 GHz Tri-Core IBM PowerPC "Espresso".
RAM 8 GB DDR3 8 GB DDR5 2 GB DDR3
             
Graphics 853 MHz AMD Radeon GCN architecture Semi-custom AMD Radeon GPU 550 MHz AMD Radeon "Latte" GPU
Sound 7.1 surround sound 7.1 surround sound 5.1 Linear PCM, Analog stereo
Backward compatibility No Cloud support planned Wii, Virtual Console
Motion Sensor Kinect camera PlayStation Camera Wii Remote
Display 4K, 1080p, 1080i,720p 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 4K 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Connectivity Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11n, Ethernet, 3 × USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4 in/out, S/PDIF out, IR-out, Kinect port 802.11 b/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth 2.1, USB 3.0, Ethernet 10/100/1000, HDMI Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0, 4 × USB 2.0, HDMI
Camera 1080p Kinect camera 720p PlayStation
Camera
1.3 Megapixels (On Wii U GamePad)



Out of the three consoles, Wii U has the lowest specifications, along with the lowest price. While the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are mostly the same, except some minor differences. The only notable differences, which aren't about specifications but features, would be in their Operating Systems and media features.

Now, lets talk about the most important part of any console, the video games.

Nintendo Wii U

The Wii U was Nintendo's first High Definition console, and the first entry in the Eighth Generation consoles. Nintendo claimed that the Wii U will be powerful and will compete with the other Eighth Generation consoles, unlike the lite Nintendo Wii which was more of a Sixth Generation console, while the 'true' Seven Generation consoles were the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. They aimed for "hardcore gamers" this time and were trying to change their "family console" image that it has gathered over time, mostly because of it's exclusive and most popular titles being the Mario and Zelda franchises, along with mostly best-selling Pokemon games. The new hardcore gamers' aim can even be seen with the launch titles including Assassin's Creed III, Batman: Arkham City, Darksiders II, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Games it either never had or didn't have the 'true' versions of, but watered-down ports. However, it still could not get the much of the market or popularity of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It also could not get many popular/major titles that were released in it's competitors.



After this, it appears that the aim of the console audience has shifted back to "whoever interested", as they have been release more of their exclusive titles compared to it's earlier titles, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Wario, Luigi, Zelda, and Super Smash Bros. and other family titles. If you look at the current titles, they also consist mostly of family titles rather than titles that can be considered "hardcore", save for the exclusive upcoming Bayonetta 2.


Xbox One & PlayStation 4
Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have just launched a few days ago with a decent number of launch titles, respectively.


Xbox One PlayStation 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts Call of Duty: Ghosts
Ryse: Son of Rome Trine 2: The Complete Story
Xbox Fitness Warframe
Zoo Tycoon Super Motherload
Zumba Fitness: World Party Sound Shapes
Skylanders: Swap Force Skylanders: Swap Force
Killer Instinct Resogun
NBA Live 14 NBA Live 14
LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes
Madden NFL 25 Madden NFL 25
NBA 2K14 NBA 2K14
Need for Speed: Rivals Need for Speed: Rivals
Powerstar Golf PlayRoom
LocoCycle Knack
Battlefield 4 Battlefield 4
Crimson Dragon Flower
Just Dance 2014 Just Dance 2014
FIFA 14 FIFA 14
Just Dance 2014 Killzone Shadow Fall
Dead Rising 3 Angry Birds Star Wars
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Fighter Within Flower
Forza Motorsport 5 Contrast
DC Universe Online
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
Blacklight: 
Retribution
Total Titles : 23 Total Titles : 26


These are just the 'Day 1' launch titles only, there are many more to come soon after!

Both consoles have a strong launch library, but they might not appeal to all kinds of audiences, but there are more to come so everyone will see games of their interests sooner or later. However, the sensor-related games seem to be the same as the previous generation. The Kinect games are, like always, not well received by gamers and critics, for instance the "Fighter Within" has been reported to have bad/unresponsive controls and not having much to offer. As with the PlayStation Camera titles, we are yet to see how they are going to be as none have launched so far. Both consoles are competing fiercely against each other, and so are their fanbases(but that's not important right now).

Although the upcoming games are interesting, we all know it comes down to the main console-exclusives. Those which make a person by a console itself for. Such as with Xbox the gamers are expecting titles like Halo and Gears of War, while with the PlayStation the gamers are expecting titles like God of War and Uncharted.

How the generation eventually turns out to be for the gaming industry and gamers alike, can only be seen in the future. However, we know one thing that the Wii U might get left behind as the games that take full advantage of the hardware of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 come out.

How do you see the future of gaming with the Eighth Generation? What do you like and/or dislike so far or expect to see from it? Share your thoughts with us!
author

Muhammad Junaid

Muhammad Junaid is the writer of Entertainment Ghost. He writes articles, reviews, previews and entertainment news about gaming, technology, the media and so on. You can follow him on Twitter @Mr_MJunaid and Facebook MJunaid


Published On Entertainment Ghost At Wednesday, November 27, 2013