A new generation in gaming! It’s an exciting time full of possibilities, but also some decisions to make, unless you’ve got tons of cash burning a hole in your pocket and you can buy everything. These are my thoughts on the next gen options available.
PC Gaming: NVIDIA’s RTX 3000 Series
As someone who primarily games on PC, I’m always interested in what’s next in PC hardware. I’ve currently got a beefy PC with an RTX 2080 TI, which has served me well up until now at a typical 3440x1440 ultrawide resolution. I like to run max settings as much as possible, so I was interested in seeing what the NVIDIA 3000 series would deliver, but the 3080, as impressive as it is, isn’t a massive upgrade over the 2080 TI. You have to go to 4K resolution to see the more typical generation over generation results of around 30-ish%.
To be honest, I would probably skip this generation if not for the fact I recently upgraded my display to LG’s 48” CX OLED. This is an HDMI 2.1 display that can run 4K 120HZ. The catch is you need an HDMI 2.1 GPU to do it and that means you’re looking at the RTX 3000 series to get the most out of this display. Is it worth it? I think so. The 3080 delivers solid performance gains at 4K and the 48” OLED provides you with a lot of monitor for your money. At $1500 MSRP, it’s still cheaper than any PC monitor that can deliver a 4K high refresh rate experience with full HDR capabilities. And as an OLED, you don’t have to deal with most of the compromises you do with a typical IPS/VA/TN PC monitor. The catch is the thing is massive and so you’ll need to sit back about 3 feet or so to comfortably use it.
Next Gen Consoles: PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X
I’m not much of a console gamer these days, but Sony’s first party studios put out some amazing exclusives. This newest console generation seems particularly unexciting at launch for both Sony and Microsoft, with a dearth of exclusives available at launch. The only remotely exciting game coming out exclusively to the PS5 is Demon’s Souls. I thought Miles Morales would be PS5 exclusive, but it is also coming to PS4. That seems to be the name of the game this time around. The most compelling reason to pick up a PS5 or Xbox Series X at launch is the ability to play current generation games at higher quality and frame rates.
That said, the PS5 is an impressive piece of hardware at a very affordable price, particularly at the $399 Digital Edition tier, which is the version I have pre-ordered. I never, ever use physical discs anyways, so all of the “downsides” don’t apply to me. I still wouldn’t recommend anyone go out and buy either console at launch unless they are primarily a console gamer and find themselves genuinely excited to play upgraded versions of their existing library.
Microsoft’s box has no appeal to me at all and Microsoft is OK with that. The company has continually blurred the lines between its Xbox and Windows platforms over the years as a deliberate strategy. They’ve already got me in their ecosystem as a PC gamer so I can play all of their exclusives on my PC. If you don’t have a beefy PC, however, the Series X (and PS5) are an incredible value. Microsoft has also been dropping serious money recently, picking up studios left and right to compete head on with Sony, even going as far as dropping an insane $7.5B on purchasing ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Begun, the console wars have.
What are your next gen plans right now? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
