Consoles Are the New Coin-Op
polycounter lvl 17
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/3050-Consoles-Are-the-New-Coin-Op
Found this really interesting,
Found this really interesting,
Replies
At least he doesn't like the sound of his own voice.
Also, coin-ops didn't go away in the east.
Because mobile device lifespans are shorter than PC graphics cards. I just bought a new G2 Phone last fall and it's successor is already coming out in the next few weeks. Game developers will not be able to push their product out fast enough to respond to new hardware or the ever shrinking user base of the previous generation. With consoles, at least we've got a good 5yrs of solid user base to work with. They're not jumping around buying other consoles, because there aren't any.
From a purely consumerist standpoint it would be awesome, I agree. But for software developers it would be a nightmare.
Try to think about all the phones and what has happened in the last YEAR in the mobile market let alone the last 6 years, and it's only going to get faster.
The cost of a decent PC is now slightly above that of a console, and the average person doesn't need bleeding edge graphics to have fun on mobile. Could it be the beginning of the end? Or is this like the reset of the Matrix?
Indie devs are already in position to capitalize on the situation, it's the larger companies who would struggle. I could be wrong, but it's how it seems to me.
Here's a thought, portable devices have been around since the 70s, yet consoles still appeared, and grew. Look at the number of DS sales, yet stores had problems keeping the Wii in stock, despite them having very similar game types.
I for one don't feel that Angry Birds replaces my desire to play Call of Duty.
The unhappy throng exist in any fanbase beating their chests and the gnashing of their teeth...
But
I have never witnessed anything ( in any medium ) like the "thousands" of pages of incredulous dx11 fury going on in the crytek camps.
Hopefully for an appreciative fanbase that is catered to. There would be a better "difference" in the gimping dept..
Better that'
then having to follow the song and dance EA/crytek will be performing when the dx11 patch is delivered.
On the bright side... because of the gaf. I imagine that the goods will be spectacular fer it.
also...
In such a future as presented.
The phone would interface with the HiDef and then essentially "become" the console.
A far cry from the Arcade death birthing the rise of the console phoenix, analogy.
Call me stubborn, but I really don't like the way games are transitioning over to the mobile market the way that they are. I feel like the days of complete and total immersion in a game world, and forming a love for that game world, are numbered.
And like Arshlevon said a couple of times now, you can stream the games from that tiny screen onto your big ass tv, or projector in my case, in full resolution. What's not to love?
That's assuming I understand that tech demo, and the other comments so far, correctly, that is. I might be off by a country mile
It seems pretty plausible so long as industry gets on board. But the way our internet providers have been strangling network capacity and trying to put caps back in place to wring our wallets; I think we're in for a fight in that arena.
QFT
They're great for just that, but I really hope that isn't the future of gaming. The mobile market is crying for some awesome story driven games and platformers but its stuck in "angry birds" knock off land, which itself is a sad knock off of free web games on lame game sites. You really can't afford to do much else in that market, unless its part of some larger project that decides it can flush a few bucks down the drain on a mobile app.
True. But dwell on this for a moment. The day is coming soon where you will be able to do exactly what you're describing, without having a home console hooked up to your big tv. Your big tv will have an wireless network card built into it, and an internet browser pre-installed. In a few short years, browser-based gaming, as well as streaming services like On-Live, are going to make high-end graphics possible in-browser. You will be able to point your browser at a web address and play Gears of War.
The video in question isn't advocating the "take-over" of iPhone apps. It's saying that the available technology that fuels the casual market is making far more rapid progress than the traditional console model. Inside of a few years, the difference between the two will be negligible. At that point even large-scale game development will transition to being web-based and hardware agnostic.
The single-console future is coming, and that console is the internet.
It was good that the industry got a wake up call and started to focus on quality of content not quality of bullshots. But... we hit the limit with hardware and it lacks some core functionality that just isn't there.
Instead of new hardware they released the kinect... and now we sit and wait. They bought up all he spare pudding that the big N threw around a few years ago repacked it and low and behold, people are still crying for new hardware with more features.
Having a service like Steam pre-installed on my tv and being able to play games from any platform would be fantastic. Controller styles would no longer be exclusive to their respective consoles, which could allow for some awesome customization. And it would also eliminate the never ending and always annoying console flame wars between fanboys.
Proivded, of course, that investment is made into the infrastructure and net neutrality remains in force. If either of those two do not happen, you can kiss this idea goodbye. And, of course, the big money that would facilitate infrastructure investment would be in the shutting down of the Berners-Lee model, and granting ISPs the ability to regulate your content.
I don't believe that the future that Extra Credits is wholly accurate, speaking from what we can guess at for 2021. Yes, we're looking at a stripping down of the number of gadgets people own. But it's not going to be down to our "phone" or tablet. Phoning or messaging people is just going to be one of the functions of our personal computer, which is de-facto what those devices will turn into. Some people will still own large boxes, of course - it seems unlikely that small-form and tower/console sized computers will somehow become equal in power, and dedicated work stations have their advantages in focus. But for the average user, that small device that they own - you know, the one which wirelessly communicates with their display, keyboard, mouse, Brain-Machine Interface device... that will be their PC. And their phone, watch, games console, internet connection...
That will be the reality which the Extra Credits of 2021 will be saying will soon go the way of the home computers and consoles. They'll be talking about the new opportunities of those Brain-Machine interfaces, the VR, the WetWare. It's an exciting decade to be a tech-head.
Its just that the focus of the larger general audience is shifting. People no longer care about having a dedicated computing box, whether it be for e-Mail or Counterstrike. There will always be the hobbyists and tech enthusiasts who insist on having their home-built rigs. (like me) And there will always be a way for them to get their needed parts. But the general consumer is moving away from the idea of dedicated hardware for gaming. People are wanting to be able to access their entertainment fix from anywhere, on anything.