Are Consoles Dead?

[MessiaaH]

Are Consoles Dead?
Pundits are insisting that games consoles are headed for doom. IGN offers an opinion on the biggest question in gaming.

"The traditional games business is worth around $25 billion a year, so the obvious answer to the question of whether or not consoles are dead, is a resounding 'what the hell are you talking about?'

 Not only, but consoles are freakin' awesome. They are built to play games. Certainly, they are ugly brutes, hideous noisy boxes, but by all that is holy, they make life good. This is why talk of their 'death' is so upsetting.

 Nevertheless, talk we must....."

...Read More

[AvatarTT]

Pundits are insisting that games consoles are headed for doom.

haha...for some reason this made me laugh

[TriniXaeno]

I real laugh when I read that article. Is like the man had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Talking about the sky is falling.

Consoles may die sometime in the distant future (as all things) but its hardly worth worrying about at the moment.

I love how they keep trying to pin a strategy disclosed by some suit 3 - 5 years ago as no longer valid. Like if that is some "big reveal".

Companies change strategy month to month, year to year. So what if their 2009 game plan is no longer pertinent? You think they haven't moved on from there and tweaked their plans accordingly?

Silly.

I expect consoles will continue to evolve for many years long before any talk of extinction becomes relevant.

[W1nTry]

Interesting article, but I figure the console business has at least 1 more iteration before they even ill-conceivably give up and move to an alternative tech (aka mobile phones).

[TriniXaeno]

Mobile phones as consoles? Now there's a stretch

I was thinking it maybe the tablet space that would evolve and cannibalize the console market.

A sort of hint at that, is the wii u.

If in 5 years, you could fit the power of a full gaming pc into a tablet like form factor, you'd have no need for a console.

In 10, I could probably see that in as small as a cell phone.

By then, the ubiquity of the disc drive should be over, which is a major obstacle for miniaturization in the console space right now.

To remove that prematurely will also alienate a massive consumer base who aren't on broadband and the brick and mortar eco system that supports them.

But in 10 years time, I figure the broadband masses will be sufficient to make the move, if not, at least to make a non optical drive tabletesque "console replacement" viable.

Mentioned already that microsoft could quite likely toy with the idea by releasing a non optical version of a console for cheap.

That would be awesome.

[woodyear99]

Why die when you can have awesome cross platform gaming. This looks like a very promising aspect of windows phone. Gamers take note....

http://www.wpcentral.com/sonic-hedgehog-epi-ii-feature-synchronous-gaming-between-xbox-windows-phone?style_mobile=0

 Sonic the Hedgehog: Ep II to feature synchronous gaming between Xbox & Windows Phone

Back in 2010, we first reported that Microsoft was planning to bring the ability of "three screens and a cloud" to modern devices. That involved a demonstration of playing a game on the a Windows Phone 7 Series device, pausing it and then picking it up on the Xbox 360.Users salivated over such a feature, yet here we are in 2012 and it still does not exist between the Xbox 360, Windows Phone nor the PC. 

However... Sonic the Hedgehog: Episode II, due later this Spring, is evidently going to be the first title to support such a feature.The Official Xbox Magazine site (oxmonline.com) ran a story this evening featuring a "hands on" demo of the new Sonic game destined for Xbox 360, Playstation, iOS and Windows Phone (called erroneously "Windows Mobile 7", grrr...). At about the 4:20 mark, we can hear Ken Balough, Digital Grand Manager on Sonic Episode II, talk about this unprecedented new feature:"...and one of the cool things about it is that the Windows Mobile 7 (sic) and the Xbox are going to be able to work in tandem in ways that are completely new.

So when you pick up the Windows Mobile 7 and you'll be able to play Sonic Episode II, save it, stop, boot up your Xbox 360 and pick up right where you left off. And that's a really cool thing Microsoft has going between the devices and I'm a huge fan of it..."Call us crazy, but that sounds exactly like the feature first demonstrated two years ago that the world has been waiting for on their phones, perhaps the coup d'état between gaming and mobile that Microsoft desperately needs.

Could this Spring be the begriming of a whole new Xbox-Windows Phone interaction? We anxiously await. Check both videos after the break... 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note using Tapatalk

[TriniXaeno]

Very interesting development. I like it, I like it.

There are two problems with that future.

1) The market has a funny way of dealing with "also ran" products. They die. There is little room in the global economy for a less than stellar console/gaming platform. So either tablets / phones will continue to suck at anything but casual games and consoles will thrive or they will equal/surpass consoles and thereby sound the death bell for the traditional ps3/xbox/wii type console in the living room. (Talking like 5 - 10 years)

This isn't limited to video game consoles. Most tech products suffer a similar faith as history would show. Nothing wrong with that. Evolution is a part of life.

The traditional Pdas got wtfpwned by smartphones

Vhs and beta were pwned hard by dvd roms

Rim is currently on the receiving end of a beat out from ios/android

And so on and so forth

2) The iterations of games across so many platforms will be problematic. Unless their is some homogenous gaming network in the future, the major players will continue to go at each other's jugular to control and develop their platform.

Or alternatively, the software developers soften that blow and offer a "buy once, play anywhere" option like what Amazon did with the kindle and their books.

So for example, you can purchase street fighter 9 for us$49.99 and download it on any and all devices you own. Ipad5, ps5, windows 10, xbox1080, wp11, etc...


Now THAT would be cool (highly unlikely, but cool)

Valve sort of dabbled with that when they bundled the pc version of portal 2 if you purchased their ps3 version.

[phoenix31tt]

i actually think that is where MS is going... buy once play anywhere... one cloud, 3 windows remember.

but either way i'm sure it wont be the heavy titles like halo n w/e that will be cross device... it will be more the XBLA games, sonic, fruit ninja etc etc... dont expect to see gears of war 3 on your mobile device.

[woodyear99]

i actually think that is where MS is going... buy once play anywhere... one cloud, 3 windows remember.

but either way i'm sure it wont be the heavy titles like halo n w/e that will be cross device... it will be more the XBLA games, sonic, fruit ninja etc etc... dont expect to see gears of war 3 on your mobile device.

Still even if it is just XBLA games if they can carry the multiplayer experience over then it would be very popular.

[Arcmanov]

Lol @ 'Street Fighter 9'...

You buying that too, ent Wyatt? 



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk

[woodyear99]

He probably have it preordered :p

[TriniXaeno]

damn right ah buying it, lol

@ phoenix, its good that microsoft goes there...it may force other industry players to do likewise in order to remain competitive.

cross platform play is another holy grail that the future can unlock. ios has "cross form factor" play in their tablet and iphone/ipod already.

Microsoft could do similar across phones, tablets, xbox1080 and desktop PCs.

Sony and Nintendo can't compete with that.

Only Android could come out as a not so dark horse in that race.

Imagine if five years later you can run a Gear of War 3 type game on any android device. Stretching too far?

[Spazosaurus]

Have you seen Dead Space on android? I connected my phone to the TV via hdmi and the graphics and gameplay are indistinguishable from an xbox.

So technically, it is possible to have EVERY console game cross platform. It is up to console makers to sort out the logistics and make is happen.

[woodyear99]

Graphics are definitely impressive, bought this a while back...

[TriniXaeno]

Have you seen Dead Space on android? I connected my phone to the TV via hdmi and the graphics and gameplay are indistinguishable from an xbox.

dazwhawetalkinbout

....on second thought, comin from you, I hope that's not a thinly veiled jab at the consoles eh, lol

[Spazosaurus]

LOL. Nah real real talk. I was amazed!

[phoenix31tt]

exactly.. i aint taking that at face value...

you will have to show me that in person... cuz i really cant see that being technologically possible.. unless the console/xbox version of deadspace is extremely stripped down

... any console game that worth 60$ should be able to outdo the "mobile" port...
now if you tell me u run it on a tablet i will quicker swallow that...

[Spazosaurus]

I understand your skepticism, as I was at first but then when I actually tried it, very close between 360 and phone.

[W1nTry]

This is my 2c and part of why I mentioned the mobile phone as the 'alternative' platform (like everything take it with a pinch of salt).

The way I see it, with current tech nvidia is demoing a quad core Kal-el playing games that ran on the good old fateful Core 2. If you take into account the LARGE amount of games that CAN be played on that platform (factoring in video cards of the time). It's still a sizeable market of games.

Now consider the progression of tech. Each revision (at least at the gpu level) is 15-50% faster than the last (CPUs not so much but still noticeable at least on the intel front). Keep in mind these are ARM devices and only NOW we are seeing this MASSIVE push in that space. When AMD lit a fire under Intel @$$, look how fast cpus started to progress. The ARM market has several fires under each other @$$, I say don't discredit them, we gone from single <1GHz arm to Quad 2.5Ghz in what? 2 years? give it time not even 10 years I wager.

Also consider converged tech. WHY isn't it reasonable to think that a 'docking station' for your PHONE can't also house a considerably more powerful GPU? They make the phone the brain (cpu), they make a docking station that hold the powerhouse GPU (remember those EXTERNAL GPUs nvidia made? can't rem the interface to it now).

Consider the ecosystem that is in place and rapidly developing in enterprise markets? Virtual desktop infrastructure. I build my company a datacentre, I roll out thin clients. More secure, easier management (cost being the major factor against adoption atm) but its coming to come. Why do I need desktops? why not a phone? does my phone the Atrix 2 not ALREADY have a docking station? Has not motorola not already DEMOed a WORKING quad core Atrix that simultaneously runs Android and switches to Ubuntu the instant it plugs into the docking station? Science fiction? no fact!

How HARD would it be to use such a device, with a docking station, running ubuntu with a secure VDI client to connect to my workplace from ANYWHERE, securely, and access all my work resource and work from anywhere? Now couple that with a docking station with GPU capabilities and I have a working PC no? Add storage to the docking station and there my games reside?

Now let's further the argument. Ok suppose we don't go that route, so what? the majority of time ppl play games on handhelds in major metropolitan cities is in transit. So we have XBL like add-on games for $s more that ADD to the console versions. I am a battlefield 5 General, but i'm at WORK. On my lunch hour I can't reach home but my CLAN is online in a clan match. What do I do? I log in battlelog and see stats and maps in REAL time. I see reports in REAL TIME. I can send voice/txt messages to my CLAN in REAL TIME updating them on strategies, which locations to lock down, which to attack. I do what a real commander does, remotely send commands to the field with my intel. BF2 had a similar IN-game capability, why not move it to a mobile platform that I can CHARGE users for?

Does anyone remember the FFVII addon for the original PS? it was a memory card that has a little LCD for a mini-mog game. If you played the game u got unlockable items you COULD NOT get in game easily. So i'm play FFXX, I have an add-on on my phone that allows me to get weapon upgrades, secret items, etc etc. I sync to my PSV and BOOM all the items I got in the mini game whilst I taking a $hit now in inventory in my console game.

Come on guys, think outside the box cause I SURE the powers that be ARE.

[TriniXaeno]

good points

the future could be closer than we think.

I'd love to see the android platform itself develop to be a desktop replacement so you won't even need ubunto on that docking station