Consoles need some of this action too (Picture: Ina Fassbender/Reuters)

The line between PC and console gaming has blurred. These days, the sort of titles you can approach only with a mouse and a keyboard are fewer; now that big exclusives like Diablo III are marching over to home consoles, the gene-pool is merging.

If this trend was to continue, what else would we want making the jump over to Xbox One and PS4? The list certainly isn’t small, because there are a lot of exclusives the console crowd have long missed out on.

1. Total War

Searching for the king of real-time strategy battles? Go no further than this long-running franchise.




Slamming together warzones with literally hundreds of soldiers on each side and a turn-based campaign map (where you manage your empire or conquer new ones), Total War provides a simultaneous helping of tactics and nerve-wracking combat to great effect. You never forget your first, terrifying fight against a superior force.

While translating the controls onto handsets could be tricky, games such as Tom Clancy’s End War show that it’s possible. Furthermore, the effort would be worthwhile; there’s nothing quite like it on consoles right now.

2. Star Citizen/Elite: Dangerous

Some might cry foul at lumping these two games into one slot, what with their rivalry. However, in some ways they come in a happily married pair. Both revolve around space combat, exploration, trading and playing your way. Both have enormous galaxies to chart. Moreover, both would be a great addition to the next-gen line-up.

It’s true that this almost certainly won’t happen. Each title is technically demanding in a way that is, perhaps, beyond the ability of current consoles. If successful though, they feature the sort of mechanics dreams are made of.

MORE: Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition review

3. Rust

Disaster: you’ve been discovered camping out on another group’s patch. They then decide to rob, kill, chase you out of the neighbourhood or begin a spiralling gang war with your friends depending on how generous they’re feeling. Following this, you might band up with other victimised players to take revenge. Maybe you even knuckle under their authority and join the party. Such is the way of Rust, a survival game which brings out the worst in us.

If we can get DayZ on PS4, there’s no reason its spiritual sibling couldn’t also make the trip. With such an exciting raft of possibilities, this provides a flavour that is largely unknown beyond PC but very much coming into vogue. Even if it’s got some kinks to work out (as the above GIF testifies), this early-access project show lots of promise.

4. Starcraft II

How long has Starcraft been an e-sport? Voraciously consumed by viewers, matches between experts are a blur of strategy and desperate combat. To last this long it clearly has a lot going for it.

As mentioned with the Total War series, our perception of strategy games on consoles has changed over the years. Xcom: Enemy Unknown. Halo Wars. The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II. Civilisation Revolution. Release after release has shown it’s possible, and with that in mind the patriarch of the lot deserves a shot on PS4 and Xbox One.



5. Sims 4

It doesn’t matter whether the Sims carries the same cache it once did; there’s still an appeal in creating/nurturing/humiliating/destroying the lives of digital people (usually in the stupidest way possible).

With social functionality being such a big part of modern consoles, there’s even the possibility for your friends’ Sims to cross over with your own village.

MORE: Gaming rigs: Do we need Steam Machines in our living rooms?

6. Guild Wars 2

Yes, I’m banging on about this game again. No, I won’t stop. Because at the end of the day, I reckon this might be one of the best MMOs out there. So far as I’m concerned, there’s no better example to give PlayStation and Xbox.

Easy to get into, sporting a ludicrous amount of content (that’s always being added to with its ‘Living World’) and delightful environmental design, this is something special in a genre that’s oversaturated.