Excitement for the new console generation has been muted. Is it the most obvious reason — These Trying Times — or the lack of compelling exclusives for the Sony PS5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X?

新一代控制台的激动已被忽略。 是最明显的原因-这些尝试时期-还是索尼PS5和Microsoft Xbox Series X缺乏引人注目的独家产品？

By Will Greenwald

由 威尔·格林沃尔德

2020 is a weird year. We’ve exhausted every euphemism to acknowledge the pandemic professionally and personally (“Hope you’re staying healthy” is the most common introduction in my inbox), adapted to new social norms in public, and faced extreme political and economic strife, all while trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy.

2020年是奇怪的一年。 我们已经用尽一切委婉的语气从专业和个人角度承认这一流行病(“希望您保持健康”是我的收件箱中最常见的介绍)，适应了公共场合的新社会规范，并一直面临着极端的政治和经济冲突试图保持某种常态。

But from a gaming perspective, this year wasn’t supposed to be normal, with next-gen consoles expected from both Sony and Microsoft. Unless long-committed plans get disrupted at the last minute, we’ll see the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 arrive by year’s end.

但是从游戏的角度来看，今年不应该是正常的，索尼和微软都希望使用下一代游戏机。 除非长期承诺的计划在最后一刻被打乱，否则我们将在年底前看到Xbox Series X和PlayStation 5 。

So, why doesn’t the anticipation feel bigger? Sure, there are fans awaiting pre-order opportunities and hardware enthusiasts excited about the new generation’s capabilities, and I’m really interested to see what the more powerful, SSD-equipped consoles will do. Still, the buildup to the two console launches feels pretty understated.

那么，为什么期望不会更大呢？ 当然，有很多粉丝在等待预订机会，而硬件爱好者则对新一代的功能感到兴奋，我真的很想知道功能更强大，配备SSD的游戏机会做什么。 尽管如此，这两个控制台启动的构建仍被低估了。

是病毒吗？ (Is It the Virus?)

The most obvious explanation is the pandemic. COVID-19 has messed up everyone’s 2020 plans and weighed down the current zeitgeist. The distancing and isolation, month after month, is draining, so it’s hard to get excited. It hasn’t yet affected the PS5 or XSX’s planned release dates, but many games have been pushed back (and pushed back, and pushed back).

最明显的解释是大流行。 COVID-19弄乱了每个人的2020年计划，并压低了目前的时代精神。 逐月的疏离和隔离正在耗尽，因此很难激动。 它尚未影响PS5或XSX的计划发行日期，但许多游戏已被推迟(并推迟和推迟)。

More directly, the pandemic canceled E3, along with virtually every other major trade show and fan convention of the year. The annual game and tech journalist pilgrimage to Los Angeles would have been where Sony and Microsoft unveiled their new consoles, fueling dozens of hands-on, first-impression stories. Even if the consoles were just hardware under glass, there would have been photos and speculation. That didn’t happen.

更直接的是，大流行取消了E3 ，几乎取消了本年度的所有其他主要贸易展览和风扇大会。 一年一度的游戏和技术记者到洛杉矶朝圣，原本是索尼和微软推出新游戏机的地方，并引发了许多动手的第一印象故事。 即使控制台只是玻璃下的硬件，也会有照片和猜测。 那没有发生。

Instead, Sony and Microsoft have been fencing with each other on carefully timed live streams and trickling out new PS5 and XSX details, respectively, over the last two months. A few games here, some hardware details there, the chassis design over there, and so on. Small splashes in the coverage pool, but not the attention E3 would garner with star-studded live events and the resulting coverage and social media chatter.

取而代之的是，在过去的两个月中，索尼和微软一直在精心安排定时的实时流媒体上进行交流 ，并分别提供新的PS5和XSX详细信息 。 这里有一些游戏，那里有一些硬件细节，那里的机箱设计等等。 覆盖范围内的飞溅很小，但E3不会因星光熠熠的现场活动以及由此产生的覆盖范围和社交媒体chat声而获得关注。

是我们和粉丝吗？ (Is It Us and the Fans?)

Part of the lack of hype is on us. And I say this while noting that it is not, in fact, game and tech journalists’ jobs to hype anything. We aren’t promoters, we’re journalists, and we strive to look at these products impartially. But even then, there’s a difference in energy between “I got my hands on the DualSense controller and saw the PS5 in action under controlled conditions” and “Sony streamed some new details today.”

缺乏炒作的部分原因在于我们。 我说这是要注意的是，事实上，游戏和科技记者的工作并不是炒作。 我们不是推动者，我们是记者，我们努力公正地看待这些产品。 但是即使如此，“我把手放在DualSense控制器上，看到PS5在受控条件下也可以工作”与“索尼今天播报了一些新细节”之间仍然存在能量上的差异。

The more direct attention we can give to something, and the more access we get to it, the more detailed and engaging our coverage. Being able to tell you how a controller feels or whether I noticed screen tearing during a demo is more directly valuable to you than simply going over the spec information that’s publicly available online.

我们对某事的关注越直接，对某事的访问越多，我们的报道就越详细和吸引人。 能够告诉您控制器的感觉，或者在演示过程中我是否注意到屏幕撕裂，对您而言比直接浏览在线公开的规格信息更直接。

There’s also the fact that the pandemic has canceled most fan events. PAX West and PAX Australia? Canceled. San Diego Comic-Con? Canceled. South by Southwest? Canceled. New York Comic Con is still on, at this point, but I’m not expecting it to come to the Javits Center this fall. That represents a lot of valuable PS5 and XSX hype on blogs, vlogs, and TikTok that no marketing team could replicate.

大流行已经取消了大多数粉丝事件。 PAX West和PAX Australia？ 取消。 圣地亚哥动漫展？ 已取消 。 西南偏南？ 已取消 。 目前，纽约动漫展仍在进行中，但我不希望它在今年秋天登陆Javits中心。 这代表了博客，视频博客和TikTok上许多有价值的PS5和XSX炒作，没有任何营销团队可以复制。

是技术吗？ (Is It the Technology?)

After Microsoft and Sony released almost every piece of information about their new consoles online (except for price and release dates), I’m not sure the pandemic is the sole reason there hasn’t been a lot of hype. Something’s still missing, and I think it’s the games.

在微软和索尼在线发布了有关其新游戏机的几乎所有信息(价格和发布日期除外)之后，我不确定这种大流行是没有太多宣传的唯一原因。 仍然缺少一些东西，我认为是游戏。

The first year or two of new consoles always feels a bit light, but there are usually one or two exclusive, system-selling games that make the new boxes attractive. Sony has been making a somewhat valiant effort on this front, with Gran Turismo 7 confirmed, along with a new Ratchet & Clank game, the Demon’s Souls remake, and a few other PS5 exclusives. The biggest names won’t come out until 2021, though, and the launch game lineup (exclusive or otherwise) is tiny.

新游戏机推出的第一到两年总是让人感觉有些轻松，但是通常会有一两个独家的系统销售游戏使新游戏机更具吸引力。 索尼在这方面做出了一些英勇的努力，确认了《 Gran Turismo 7》，新的《棘轮与叮当》游戏，《恶魔之魂》重制版以及其他PS5独家产品 。 不过，最大的名字要到2021年才会出现，而且发行游戏的阵容(排他性或其他形式)很小。

Meanwhile, Microsoft is hamstringing itself by trying to blur the line between console generations. It has been adamant that all major first-party games for the next couple of years will be compatible with both Xbox One and Xbox Series X. That means very little, if anything, in the way of exclusives. Even Halo Infinite, possibly the biggest first-party game still scheduled to come out this year, will work on the Xbox One. So will Cyberpunk 2077, Marvel’s Avengers, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (and they’ll be on the PS4 and PS5, too).

同时，微软试图通过模糊两代主机之间的界限来限制自己。 坚决要求，未来几年所有主要的第一方游戏都将与Xbox One和Xbox Series X兼容。这意味着，如果有的话，排他性方式就很少。 即使是Halo Infinite，也可能是今年计划推出的最大的第一方游戏，也可以在Xbox One上使用。 赛博朋克2077，漫威的复仇者联盟和刺客信条：瓦尔哈拉也会如此(它们也会出现在PS4和PS5上)。

On paper, the PS5 and XSX are clearly more powerful consoles than the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, but we’ve yet to see any really compelling use of that power in their upcoming games. A possible exception is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and its seemingly instant world-changing gameplay mechanic, but even that appears to be due more to the PS5’s SSD than to the console’s processing power. Nothing truly sells either new console on its new capabilities, and considering how launch years tend to be light, we probably won’t see anything intriguing until 2022.

从表面上看，PS5和XSX显然比PS4 Pro和Xbox One X具有更强大的游戏机，但是我们还没有看到在即将推出的游戏中真正令人信服地使用这种功能。 Ratchet＆Clank：Rift Apart及其看似立即改变世界的游戏机制可能是一个例外，但这似乎更多是由于PS5的SSD而不仅仅是控制台的处理能力。 在新功能上，没有任何一家能真正销售出任何一款新游戏机，而且考虑到发布年份会越来越轻，我们可能要到2022年才能看到吸引人的东西。

第一年的不安 (First-Year Jitters)

Maybe during a normal year, these hurdles wouldn’t seem too big for the new consoles, and they would have drummed up extra enthusiasm via in-person events and hands-on coverage. But the pandemic has locked off most of the hype-building tools Sony and Microsoft would have otherwise had at their disposal.

也许在正常的一年里，这些障碍对于新游戏机来说似乎并不大，他们会通过面对面的活动和动手报道来鼓舞他们的热情。 但是，这种流行病已经阻止了索尼和微软本来可以使用的大多数宣传工具。

I’m still looking forward to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and I can’t wait to see whether the claims about load times really hold up with their SSDs and faster hardware. Still, you can only get so excited about load times, and without some strong hooks to really build up attention and anticipation, these upcoming console releases feel a bit flat.

我仍然很期待PlayStation 5和Xbox Series X，我迫不及待地想知道关于加载时间的说法是否真的能支撑他们的SSD和更快的硬件。 不过，您只能对加载时间感到非常兴奋，并且如果没有一些强大的功能来真正引起人们的注意和期待，这些即将发布的控制台发行版将显得有些平淡。

Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.

最初发布在 https://www.pcmag.com 。