Consoles, as we know them, are dead.

[movingtables]

Just read an interesting article over at CVG regarding the future of console gaming. http://www.computerandvideogames.co...s-we-know-them-are-dead-but-core-games-arent/

" As dramatic as it sounds, everything we know about the way we buy and play games is set to change forever. Scratch that. It's *changed* - but we're missing the bigger picture, or refusing to acknowledge its significance. The symptoms of a collapsing industry have shifted from whispered outliers, to a chorus of lament. Bottom line: the days of £40+ boxed games, physical shops and expensive consoles are over. "

Having read the whole article im inclined to agree.
to me this is the end result of big companies like EA forcing out the competition. you either get a few massive titles or a load of throw away indie titles instead of having a a healthy influx of above average and great games.
the article concluded this:

Video games have died - and come back stronger - at least once already. In 1983, the video game market was worth $3.2bn, but fell a staggering 97% to $100m by 1985.

Sadly i feel the next generation will be 1985

 

[agnes]

Disagree. I have yet to read, but yes, PC gaming is on the up. But I can guarantee you, once the new consoles are released, things will be on the up again.

People write this stuff every time there is a gap in games. At the moment, people are getting tired of squeals and not enough 'original' ideas are surfacing.

 

[wannabedamned]

The main problem with consoles and PCs today is it seems to be 50% trash, 30% Rehashed money spinners and 20% Decent games.

I'll stick with it, as when the decent titles hit they're great.

Coming from the Dreamcast thread, Its just amazing how the percentages shifted, the dreamcast had an influx of hits from birth to death across the genres. Cant say the same for this gen

 

[Shamikebab]

I don't think the ratio has changed at all, you're just older now and you become more fussy.

 

[agnes]

I don't think the ratio has changed at all, you're just older now and you become more fussy.

I do, there are a lot more games now, and sadly, a lot more, as said above are rehashes. I dare you to look at the next 6 months of big released and see the ratio of new to sequels lol. It's insane!

 

[sketchytom]

best set of games this gen has to be gear of war for me

most games are copys of copys of copys

 

[Rroff]

Have to say I consider consoles antiquated... my galaxy note can play games like max payne @ 1280x800 with decent quality settings fine, connect to a monitor or TV fine, can even work with a controller and games can be distributed via play store decently to... google could really corner the market if they think ahead here and press the right buttons - with a few simple moves IMO (i.e. getting rockstar/remedy and some other studios onside and pump some cash into them as well as the distribution system and how well games play on next generation phones hardware/software support) they could pretty much kill console gaming overnight.

 

[mame]

I think we will get the next PS and Xbox then by about 2020-ish when they are about as old as the current gen, your sky/virgin box will be all you need to play games and not many people will be interested in hardware. Each increment in technology is less important than the last

 

[skullblits]

Id rather have a PC. Much better games for a PC

But i cant aford them. and they keep breaking on me grrr

 

[Shamikebab]

Have to say I consider consoles antiquated... my galaxy note can play games like max payne @ 1280x800 with decent quality settings fine

Your £400 phone can play an 11 year old game? Well done

 

[antijoke]

Have to say I consider consoles antiquated... my galaxy note can play games like max payne @ 1280x800 with decent quality settings fine, connect to a monitor or TV fine, can even work with a controller and games can be distributed via play store decently to... google could really corner the market if they think ahead here and press the right buttons - with a few simple moves IMO (i.e. getting rockstar/remedy and some other studios onside and pump some cash into them as well as the distribution system and how well games play on next generation phones hardware/software support) they could pretty much kill console gaming overnight.

Let me know when Forza 4 hits your Note.

 

[Kreeeee]

Your £400 phone can play an 11 year old game? Well done

That was going to be my smug response!

 

[ps3ud0]

Have to say I consider consoles antiquated... my galaxy note can play games like max payne @ 1280x800 with decent quality settings fine, connect to a monitor or TV fine, can even work with a controller and games can be distributed via play store decently to... google could really corner the market if they think ahead here and press the right buttons - with a few simple moves IMO (i.e. getting rockstar/remedy and some other studios onside and pump some cash into them as well as the distribution system and how well games play on next generation phones hardware/software support) they could pretty much kill console gaming overnight.

WOW. Just WOW. Posts like these are why we have the ignore button, how misinformed/illogical is your conclusion? Hell even the below makes more sense...

Idea
?
Profit

Cant wait until I see original Asteroids in 4k resolution - the effects will be mind blowing

ps3ud0

 

[Rroff]

Your £400 phone can play an 11 year old game? Well done

Let me know when Forza 4 hits your Note.

It can play an 11 year old game... in almost PC quality (texture resolution is reduced to conserve the download size) very smoothly with capacity to spare... the hardware is almost there its not inconceivable that the next generation of smartphones could play the latest games in full quality... there are already recent racing games on there that aren't far behind their PC counter parts.

WOW. Just WOW. Posts like these are why we have the ignore button, how misinformed/illogical is your conclusion? Hell even the below makes more sense...

Idea
?
Profit

Cant wait until I see original Asteroids in 4k resolution - the effects will be mind blowing

ps3ud0

Not quite sure what your aiming at but why would you buy a console if your phone could replace all the functionality of a console but without the size and with the benefit of several other advantages? i.e. people could potentially have adhoc multiplayer games in a social context (not a repacement for online play) anywhere any time as a group without having to drag their consoles around each others houses, etc.

 

[ps3ud0]

It can play an 11 year old game... in almost PC quality (texture resolution is reduced to conserve the download size) very smoothly with capacity to spare... the hardware is almost there its not inconceivable that the next generation of smartphones could play the latest games in full quality... there are already recent racing games on there that aren't far behind their PC counter parts.



Not quite sure what your aiming at but why would you buy a console if your phone could replace all the functionality of a console but without the size and with the benefit of several other advantages? i.e. people could potentially have adhoc multiplayer games in a social context (not a repacement for online play) anywhere any time as a group without having to drag their consoles around each others houses, etc.

Honestly I think your argument is poorly made and very sweeping to the extent where your conclusion is pretty much worthless. The comparisons youve made and the extrapolations you infer within those timelines is extraordinary

Ive highlighted your post to demonstrate how poor it is, cant wait to see how Crysis plays on my next gen mobile!

ps3ud0

 

[sarge78]

This recent interview with Tim Sweeney (CEO of Epic) is quite interesting.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/173072/Epics_Sweeney_Platform_convergence_freemium_the_inevitable_future.php

The most profitable game we've ever made, in terms of man years invested versus revenue, is actually Infinity Blade. It's more profitable than Gears of War.

 

[Shamikebab]

It can play an 11 year old game... in almost PC quality (texture resolution is reduced to conserve the download size) very smoothly with capacity to spare... the hardware is almost there its not inconceivable that the next generation of smartphones could play the latest games in full quality... there are already recent racing games on there that aren't far behind their PC counter parts.

11 years is a long time. Mobile phones will never be able to match the latest consoles/pc's at full quality (the reasons being obvious) They've obviously improved drastically in a fairly short period of time, but there is a huge siza/power wall they are going to hit. One people don't want heavy, large phones. Two battery technology is not advancing at the same rate everything else is.

 

[Rroff]

No offence guys but your showing a massive ignorance of the technology... the ARM Mali 400 GPU is pretty capable far beyond 11 year old games, just no ones really ported over anything yet as its only very recently that phones have had the hardware capabilities to play these kinda games but just how well it handles an 11 year old game does give some indication as to its capabilities and the replacement next generation GPUs are an order of magnitude better than this round - the Mali-T604 is 5x faster than the GPU in the note and the 658 is mid-level desktop GPU performance (in its highest performance configuration).

Battery life still needs some work... but when used in a directly console replacement situation you wouldn't have to be using battery! as it is I can play over an hour of max payne or GTA3 on my note with only about 1/3rd battery used - 15 minutes of playing max payne earlier only took me from full charge to 90% capacity.

 

[Shamikebab]

We're really not. Here are the specs for Max Payne:

Windows (minimum)

Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2
450 MHz Intel or AMD CPU
96 MB RAM
16 MB Direct3D compatible GPU
DirectSound compatible SPU
DirectX 8.0

Windows (recommended)

700 MHz Intel or AMD CPU
128 MB RAM
32 MB Direct3D compatible GPU

Now compare that to GPU's that have 3/4Gb of memory. If it was close as you seem to be suggesting then we'd be seeing far, far better games on mobiles. (for the record I own an Android phone and an ipad so I'm perfectly well aware of what's on there)

That's not even getting into the biggest issue which is the controls.

 

[Rroff]

We're really not. Here are the specs for Max Payne:

Windows (minimum)

Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2
450 MHz Intel or AMD CPU
96 MB RAM
16 MB Direct3D compatible GPU
DirectSound compatible SPU
DirectX 8.0

Windows (recommended)

700 MHz Intel or AMD CPU
128 MB RAM
32 MB Direct3D compatible GPU

Now compare that to GPU's that have 3/4Gb of memory. If it was close as you seem to be suggesting then we'd be seeing far, far better games on mobiles. (for the record I own an Android phone and an ipad so I'm perfectly well aware of what's on there)

That's not even getting into the biggest issue which is the controls.

Why are you focusing on max payne? its just an example that anyone with a decent technology knowledge can look at, see how well it runs and extrapolate what the hardware is capable of and get a feel for the rate of progress.

The reason we aren't seeing far better games on mobiles is less to do with the technology and hardware capabilities and more to do with it being an emergent market, not a huge audience at the moment for these kind of products and a lot of developers not being familiar with or interested in producing products for the platform - given a bit of a push by google tho this can all change.

As for controls? well they aren't ideal on current smartphones tho they are playable... but did you miss the part where I said you can connect up a controller? infact aside from the fact no current games support it as an input method current flavors of android will happily work with a keyboard and mouse in the OS even and it wouldn't be that big a stretch to get that input support into future games.

To revist your post - bare in mind that the note is quite comfortably playing games that have hardware requirements roughly equivalent to the original xbox despite being a little bit less powerful than the xbox on paper...