When I was a kid, playing my Atari 2600, I could never have imagined or comprehended what the 8-bit era would bring - let alone the complex, visual extravaganza that's thrown in our eyes today in a standard 3D video game.

Now PS4 and Xbox One are on the horizon! Huzzah! A new generation is born! When there is a generation change, it's a very special time for console and PC gamers alike. It's a big deal. All games will improve, move faster, and connect us to them better. This decade will absolutely be looked upon as the golden age of gaming.

AND if I may snob out a little - it's about time! My eyes have been crying pure bloody tears from staring at jaggies for years! I can no longer bear the thought of 2D lighting. 720p is low res. 1080p is starting to bother me a little already. Loading screens are retro. Physical media is nostalgic.

It's hard not to be excited, but what will the next generation of consoles really bring?

Scale

It's not the beefed up graphics that I'm most excted about (although I am VERY excited about that). It's how the extra power will open up design. And I think it's going to do that mostly in scale. Games are going to get massive and the virtual rooms we play in are going to get very WIDE indeed.

Imagine Uncharted with the textures and draw distance of ARMA3. Imagine Skyrim with the gloss and shimmer of Witcher 2. Imagine Witcher 3. We're going to see the claustrophobic boxy design of the last two generations open up to drool-worthy vistas and those long-distance adventure goals towering in the distance. Current-gen is screaming for more power to open up these worlds. And I think they really will become incomprehensibly large. We're finally going to be able to see through the last little bit of draw distance fog that's been niggling away just out of the squint zone.

Fleshing out worlds

With extra hardware power there'll be more room for worlds to come to life. Think about riding through a lush forest as a dynamically-changing storm rolls in, with wildlife running for cover in their own little AI routines around you. Not just transparent birds or the odd coyote attack; herds of animals and beasts doing their thing, while you're just passing through. We've already seen amazing crowd technology in the likes of Hitman Absolution. I want Jurassic Park stampedes ASAP.

I can't wait to see that side of games shown more love because it's the worlds that feel alive which make me feel like I'm truly living in them. The more that designers can help us forget we're in a game with world scale limitations, the more we'll connect to its inhabitants and stories. I don't want to notice a bird or a cow lurking in the distance - I want them to be commonplace, and forget that they were ever missing.

Less faff

We'll have less faffing about. I loathe faffing - I just want to press power, and pick up where I left off. There will be less loading of course - but I think less waiting for updates too. I feel like every time I turn on my PS3 I need to go do a series of poos while it updates, before I can actually play a game. The way an android phone looks after itself is perfect - no update notifications unless it changes access permissions.

I'm also pumped for the 'resume' and 'suspend' features. These consoles are going to boot up fast and let you multitask, hopefully without having to swap discs! Or even have discs. But, that is probably out of the question after Microsoft bungled their xbone E3 announcement (mostly due to a lack of communication which is something they are becoming famous for and continue to derp at regularly). Their disc-less ideas were actually very forward thinking, but not explained well at all. I hope they managed to reach a middle ground at some point. The future is digital - we've been there with Steam for a long time. Account based gaming just works, it's massively cheaper in the long run for consumers and can work for everyone - even those with limited internet. I think we're already long overdue to let go of discs.

Look at the big things

I think we'll see big things happen in these worlds. Designers won't be afraid to shake the ground under us and let the world come crumbling down. Level design will take drastic shifts in how we perceive the "level." Point A to point B is already so varied, especially with the likes of Uncharted throwing helicopters and crumbling buildings in front of us.

But this will become common place - buildings will collapse with us in them, cities will flood, planets will explode and we'll be in the middle of it - but not stuck in some semi-cut scene moment with limited control, while a character shields their eyes with a hand so the hardware can make things go boom faster than three frames per second (the hand over face thing happens in every game ever made since 2005).

Maybe pile

But what else? 3D gaming? I don't think so- I actually don't know anyone who really enjoys it or the hassle involved. Motion gaming? Here to stay, but it really depends on whether they manage to make the hardware work better. I just don't trust the motion gaming ads - I'll believe the "1:1 no lag!" hype when I see it. Next to the original Wii Sports, I can't think of a motion game that's made me truly sit up and go "WOW! I will have an amazing time with this!" But maybe that's just me.

There's a lot of talk about 'streaming this game to that device' and 'streaming this match live' too. I want this to happen! My experience with local WiFi streaming has been rubbish with this generation. But with new focus - maybe it'll get there. As for online streaming - I want to be able to stream an online match lag free or video conference with my teammates in Battlefield! But I think our broadband has a long way to go for this to be easy and bump free. I'm putting that one in the maybe pile too. Either way, the new sharing and recording features in next gen will inspire more online communities to show and grow (and probably flood the internet with a million tedious 'let's plays'). I predict 'vote up/down' filters will improve to help us navigate to the gold.

I'm just glad the days of people recording footage with their phone cameras and their reflection in the background will be over. I have done this before, and feel ashamed to this day.

Access your tablet from your games from your phones from inside your face

I'm not sold on the whole "tablet phone multi-screen motion touch integration" ideas that are being pushed for next gen - I just haven't seen it work well or be fun yet. I want to play the game, not stare at my phone or tablet on the bus with 3G internet dropping out every time a bird does a fart near a radio tower. And on the couch - there's only so many tablets I can balance on my controller while I'm syncing my fake phone app to my in game character's social media calendar.

Good times are ahead

All in all - good times are ahead. Really good times. Phenomenal, eye exploding, emotional, adventure times. No more slow walking. No more jaggies. Living, breathing, reactive worlds, sucking us in from the comfort of our hermit dens. My eyes are ready. Plug the tube into the back of my head, and lets go.