« Final Showdown: New Age of Consoles, Pre-E3 2013 Edition »

Another year is another Electronic Entertainment Expo, the North American holy ground for presenting video games of the future. This year also featured Sony and Microsoft's major reveals of next generation hardware, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One respectively. While the early conference reveals gave us gamers alike a peek, E3 will be the first wave of where they will shine light and determine if either of them are worth it.

For fighting games and the communities supporting them, it's going to be a weird road but eventually there will be solidified footing on either the XB1, PS4 or even Nintendo's Wii U. At this point, there is certain vagueness to the situation but lets take a look at some points before the big show.

Consoles

The hardware information in regards to the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One have similarities. Both reportedly will use AMD eight-core processors, AMD graphics hardware and will both have 8GB of RAM. The difference is in the little details such as the PS4 being able to dedicate 7GB of RAM for games over the XB1's 5GB, letting the former provide much more content and resources when in play.

Technical numbers aside, there shouldn't be much significant differences among fighting games when in action. Since most fighting games nowadays are not console-exclusive based, developers will aim for similar high quality and performance. If a developer stumbles on a compatibility issue limited by hardware on one console, then there might be some sacrifices to obtain optimal performance. Recall the situation between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the original Street Fighter IV as the former rendered at a sub-720p resolution while the latter displayed a full 720p output with anti-aliasing. That kind of situation seems unlikely nowadays but if it does, there is always room for optimization.

For the Wii U, the hardware is much more akin to the current generation with the PS3 and 360. Early next generation fighting games might have similar results for every console but down the line, more processing power is needed for fighting games and the Wii U will probably stumble. Exclusive fighters are still possible, especially the upcoming Super Smash Bros. entry, but dealing with proprietary controller/sticks compared to the PS4 and XB1's USB support is unfortunate.

As said, there is concern over controller support. The XB1 will feature three USB 3.0 ports and the PS4 might have at least enough for 1v1 fighters. Peripheral companies such as Mad Catz and Hori will probably be working on making arcade sticks for both the XB1 and PS4. For us who own arcade sticks for the current generation, we have to expect the worst that they won't work on aforementioned next gen platforms. It doesn't mean modding such as adding a next gen wired controller to an existing stick or new custom PCBs is out of the picture.

All next generation consoles, including the Wii U, can output full 1080p HD resolutions. The PS4 and XB1 do have support for 4K resolution-enabled televisions. While there might not be a lagless 4K TV until later down the line, being able to run these consoles on our ASUS VH236H or other lagless monitors is really good at the moment. There are still folks who still run on older standard definition TVs though and the PS4 will give those players comfort since the console supports composite, s-video, and SCART.

The hugest concern that most gamers were wondering was in regards to issues of digital rights management and online connectivity requirements. The XB1 allows multiple accounts to play any games on the the set console unit and used games can be traded in or given to friends, but can be opt out by publishers. The XB1 also requires games to be connected to the internet within 24 hours if played online. The PS4 avoids the used game and internet connection requirement altogether. The world is much more connected to the internet than before but there are still shortcomings especially in a tournament venue setting where internet connections might be inconsistent or non-existent. Realistically though, if a tournament were to use XB1s, most would be used within that 24 hour period and only some used for the finals can likely be easily be activated; Other situations might be another story. While there are still more questions for the PS4 has to answer, the information already provided can be a deal breaker over the complexity Microsoft have given. Flexibility is the perfect word for this situation.

Games

We wont see any fighting games during the launch season for both the XB1 and the PS4 as of yet, we can imagine the possibilities of what can be featured if announced sooner or later.

Following the support for the PS4 during Sony's announcement keynote, Arc System Works are definite candidates for having products in the next generation. Being a third party company, there is also the possibility for XB1 support. It wouldn't be surprising to see Guilty Gear Xrd appear on any of the consoles or even be cross generation for that matter.

Namco will probably have something in store as well. With evidence of Tekken 6 arcade playable a year after the release of the PlayStation 3, Namco System 357 is based on the PlayStation 3, the company will likely take advantage of newer hardware. With little information released about Tekken X Street Fighter, it would make sense for Namco to migrate over. A new Tekken and/or Soul entry are expected but they would probably happen later on in the generation's life cycle. In collaboration with Nintendo is the upcoming Super Smash Bros. entry for the Wii U and 3DS but we will have to wait until E3 to encounter anything new.

Netherrealm Studios will probably engage themselves on a new Mortal Kombat or even a follow up to the recently released Injustice: Gods Among Us.

For Capcom, there isn't enough information to really consider what will happen at this time especially with ongoing interest with updated builds of Street Fighter IV. Aside from the proof of concept pre-rendered trailer, there isn't enough information in regards to a new Darkstalkers entry. Street Fighter V seems plausible but in the future as the generation ages.

There is not enough from SNK Playmore either. A new entry for The King Of Fighters is possible but it would be interesting to see SNKP engage in another Fatal Fury/Garou or Samurai Shodown entry.

In terms of gameplay, new entries of existing fighters will likely stick with the core mechanics they are known for with a new mechanic that keeps them distinctive. One aspect developers can improve on are tutorials. Tekken Tag Tournament 2's Fight Lab mode laid a foundation to what players should be learning including mechanics and offensive/defensive tools. Some recently released fighters provide some lenience to newer players but it isn't necessarily bad. Developers need to find ways to provide necessarily challenging gameplay while still having new folks enjoy what they are playing.

Community & Competition

The significance of next-gen consoles and fighting game competition fortunately might not take affect until later on in the generation. Since the Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 entries are still in the competitive limelight, same for other game series such as Tekken and Blazblue, we will still be using current generation hardware for a little longer. Updates of said games can prolong the usage of the PS3 and 360, especially the projected Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver. 2013 planned being an example.

The transitional period will be rather interesting. It will be a slow decrease of PS3s or 360s outweighed by the PS4 or the XB1 in locals, regionals, and nationals. Much like what is happening now, there needs to be fighting games that people will play and peripherals that people can use.

For online play to prevail in the next gen, developers have to pay closer attention when developing netcode. GGPO and Namco's latest netcode used in Soulcalibur V and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 are great examples other developers should look up to, whether it's rollback or input lag-based respectively. While it wont beat local play, the ever growing online play in gaming overall is prominent. Developers need to know how to optimize netcode for different environments, not just one nation where they are developing a game from.

PC, The Wildcard

The PC industry is something to extremely consider for the coming years. While the audience playing fighting games on the Windows platform are considered a relative minority, they are an indication of something prominent regardless; some players just opt out any console use and stick to PC.

Developers and publishers have to take advantage of this opportunity especially from what is happening with the GGPO client and the games emulated, Capcom and Netherrealm Studios releasing the Street Fighter IV games and Mortal Kombat respectively to PC and even people willing to download full modern arcade ROM dumps found on shadier corners of the internet. Even if piracy is still a variable in the PC gaming situation, there will still be people interested in getting official ports of fighting games especially if available in convenient departments like Steam.

Conclusion

Both general video gaming and fighting games are growing. Eventually, most of us will transition into the upcoming generation due to new games and the competition that it will bring. There will be concerns over next generation console preferences, what will be available on said platforms and the community output following their releases.

As of now, we can only imagine what will be the future of fighting games into the next generation of video game consoles. E3 will be the first phase into what will become.

I might have not covered some aspects some people are concerned about but you can always ask in the comments section and I will try to answer as best as I can.

Final Showdown is an editorial feature series by The Phantomnaut. Views of The Phantomnaut do not represent IPLAYWINNER as a whole.