Consoles, as we know them, are dead.

sarge78 said:
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
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It is important to be clear that he was not stating it made the most money. I would imagine the actual revenue it generated is fairly small compared to one of epics big console titles.

the statement should not be surprising, phone games are less complex = much lower development costs. For a massively successful game like infinity blade, its no surprise that it is very profitable. Not many mobile games are as successful as infinity blade though.
 
Rroff said:
No offence guys but your showing a massive ignorance of the technology... <snip>
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I think you're ignoring the fact that as smartphones improve, fullblown consoles will also improve ahead of them, as previously stated for obvious reasons.

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...
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Texture reduced to conserve the download size and capacity to spare seem to be opposites here and reduces your argument somewhat, especially given that download capacity shouldn't be an issue nowadays.

You do have a point in that mobile hardware is certainly very capable of playing games at high quality, just not in the same scale of a larger device. You also mention about getting around the controller issue by connecting a controller - doesn't the mobile device cease to be mobile in this case though?

Rroff said:
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..
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It's a massive market with a massive audience and has been around for years - several generations of iDevice and so many multi-million app downloads should be enough to indicate that.
 
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Rroff said:
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 extrapolat what the hardware is capable of and get a feel for the rate of progress.
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Well you said consoles are antiquated and used your phone running Max Payne as an example :confused:

Take GTA3, if phones are so powerful then why didn't they port GTA4? Or even San Andreas? GTA3 sucks in comparison to modern games.

Mobile games are great while you're on the train but no-one is seriously going to chose them over any of the consoles for their gaming.
 
cb_linus said:
I think you're ignoring the fact that as smartphones improve, fullblown consoles will also improve ahead of them, as previously stated for obvious reasons.



Texture reduced to conserve the download size and capacity to spare seem to be opposites here and reduces your argument somewhat, especially given that download capacity shouldn't be an issue nowadays.

You do have a point in that mobile hardware is certainly very capable of playing games at high quality, just not in the same scale of a larger device. You also mention about getting around the controller issue by connecting a controller - doesn't the mobile device cease to be mobile in this case though?
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You make some good points but keep in mind that this is a fairly fledgling platform the capabilities and so on would expand rapidly with more of a drive behind it - mobile tech is currently moving at a faster pace than console tech and the software tech isn't really shifting that quickly at the moment.

Connecting a controller wouldn't stop you disconnecting it for more mobile/regular use and a bluetooth controller wouldn't be that big, you'd end up connecting it up to use it on a TV, for power, etc. anyway when used in a console replacement situation.


EDIT: To address your added point - its only recently that porting games like GTA3/max payne became possible from both hardware and software perspectives before this generation of smartphones even my fairly advanced for its time Xperia X1 didn't stand a chance of playing something like GTA3 with any reasonable realtime performance.
 
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Shamikebab said:
Take GTA3, if phones are so powerful then why didn't they port GTA4? Or even San Andreas? GTA3 sucks in comparison to modern games.
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Its a lot easier when getting a feel for a new platform to port an older less complicated game, I'm sure newer stuff will be coming once the developers have a good feel for what is and isn't possible.
 
If the Vita which is a purpose built handheld gaming device cannot match the current consoles in terms of visual quality then I'm afraid a mobile phone which is designed to be the jack of all trades has no chance. Touchscreens are horrible for playing any game which needs more than a swipe or a stab, and the second you hook it up to a TV and start using a gamepad with it you may as well just have a handheld console or a home console anyway.
 
I can see better games coming to mobile devices, considering the Quad cores being put in them, But keep in mind the powerful GPUs required to dish out graphics. Even on a "dated" console like the 360. Mobile devices just wont have that.

Consoles are safe from being taken over by mobile devices.

Infinity Blade looks okay, ANd its made epic some money. But its word play. What they've essentially said effort in Vs Money spent = Massive profit. Gow required more effort, more money and so less of a profit in comparison.
 
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Rroff said:
You make some good points but keep in mind that this is a fairly fledgling platform the capabilities and so on would expand rapidly with more of a drive behind it - mobile tech is currently moving at a faster pace than console tech and the software tech isn't really shifting that quickly at the moment.
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It's definately catching up but I think still in a scaled down way (e.g. Vita is a scaled down version of the PS3 in some respects as mentioned) though I'll happily eat my share of humble pie (as long as I get some choice in flavour) when / if consoles as we know them do ever disappear ;p
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
If the Vita which is a purpose built handheld gaming device cannot match the current consoles in terms of visual quality then I'm afraid a mobile phone which is designed to be the jack of all trades has no chance.
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A high end 28nm phone/tablet SoCs will almost match current consoles for power at the end of the year. (The boggo OMAP 5 SoC has a faster GPU than a Vita)

EdwardTeach said:
It is important to be clear that he was not stating it made the most money. I would imagine the actual revenue it generated is fairly small compared to one of epics big console titles.

the statement should not be surprising, phone games are less complex = much lower development costs. For a massively successful game like infinity blade, its no surprise that it is very profitable. Not many mobile games are as successful as infinity blade though.
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True, the convergence part of the interview is probably more interesting.

These platforms are rapidly converging with a set of common capabilities. We found it's much easier to scale down from high end to low end devices than in this generation. We expect to be able to build games that can scale from a smartphone to a high end PC and have unprecedented amount of content portability for the future
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I think most of what decline there is in the games industry is self inflicted. It's due to release dates all being late November now.

I was reading how games retailers are really struggling at the moment due to the real lack of titles so far this year.
 
sarge78 said:
A high end 28nm phone/tablet SoCs will almost match current consoles for power at the end of the year. (The boggo OMAP 5 SoC has a faster GPU than a Vita)
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I still don't see mobile devices replacing home consoles, with the more powerful hardware comes the need to power that hardware, will we need bigger/bulkier batteries in our devices?

Not only that but I think there's another issue, controlling a complex game on a touch screen is a bloody nightmare, Max Payne is horrible to play, even on the larger screen of an iPad, so is GTA III. Hooking up a control pad is one option, but if I wanted to play with a controller I would be using the console version in the first place, even more so if I had to plug my device into the mains to ensure the battery didn't drain too much, and then plugging it into a TV so I'm not stuck in front of a 5-6" screen? May as well just use a console.

I just don't see home consoles going anywhere soon.
 
I've read the article and take away the attention grabbing headline and a lot of it makes sense (and is happening now). Basically cloud gaming, free to play, subscription based games in place of annual releases and low risk creative indie games. I'd argue that cloud gaming is some way off yet, especially due to decent broadband penetration. Plus we're in a world recession so people will be spending less on games. The next gen consoles are on their way and no doubt they'll want to try and get about 8 years out of them. I don't see consoles disappearing anytime soon.
 
1) I'm currently playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It's absolutely brilliant. Is it the last great game I'll play? I doubt it.
2) I very much doubt playing Max Payne on a mobile phone is much fun. It's a novelty. It's like the obligation the Linux crowd have to port Doom to anything and everything.
 
wannabedamned said:
I can see better games coming to mobile devices, considering the Quad cores being put in them, But keep in mind the powerful GPUs required to dish out graphics. Even on a "dated" console like the 360. Mobile devices just wont have that.

Consoles are safe from being taken over by mobile devices.
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Maybe there safe from being caught up technology wise by mobile smart phones but Tablets are catching rapidly. Each new generation of Tegra and PowerVR seems to double the performance of the previous generation.

K1LLSW1TCH said:
I still don't see mobile devices replacing home consoles, with the more powerful hardware comes the need to power that hardware, will we need bigger/bulkier batteries in our devices?
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Why can't a Apple Ipad or an Asus Transformer compete against the console? Sure the Xbox's and the PS3's won't all disappear overnight but in 2 or 3 years time we will be talking about buying games for a spectrum of devices and not just a few established devices (360, PS3 and there replacements). It's already happening, the sales of console games have fallen of a cliff whereas tablet and mobile games sales are rocketing, yes you can blame the economy for the woes of the 'console' market but I don't think you can discount the competition their facing from tablets and phones.
 
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agnes said:
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!
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This has always been the case.

This is nothing like as bad as it was it in the time of the SNES and Mega Drive where your choice of game was:

Side scrolling shooter.
Beat em up.
Side scrolling beat em up.
Side scrolling platformer.
JRPG.

We've never had it so good.
 
Vonhelmet said:
2) I very much doubt playing Max Payne on a mobile phone is much fun. It's a novelty. It's like the obligation the Linux crowd have to port Doom to anything and everything.
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They seem to be ramping up porting rockstar/remedy games over at the moment and properly porting them, they are pretty much the first lot of properly ported 3D titles from the PC, not like the ports of Quake, etc. which are 3rd party recompiles of the sourcecode with no consideration towards making them playable on a mobile. GTA3 and Max Payne are playable on touchscreen, far from ideal, but playable. Max Payne has aim assist, etc. implemented so if you hook up a controller it plays exactly like it does on the console.
 
Shamikebab said:
I don't think the ratio has changed at all, you're just older now and you become more fussy.
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This is so true. I could play anything as a child. I played and thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, since I've become older I find myself only enjoying quality games.

Strange huh?
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
I still don't see mobile devices replacing home consoles, with the more powerful hardware comes the need to power that hardware, will we need bigger/bulkier batteries in our devices?

Not only that but I think there's another issue, controlling a complex game on a touch screen is a bloody nightmare, Max Payne is horrible to play, even on the larger screen of an iPad, so is GTA III. Hooking up a control pad is one option, but if I wanted to play with a controller I would be using the console version in the first place, even more so if I had to plug my device into the mains to ensure the battery didn't drain too much, and then plugging it into a TV so I'm not stuck in front of a 5-6" screen? May as well just use a console.

I just don't see home consoles going anywhere soon.
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Mobile devices will better dedicated Handhelds shortly however. Unless, dedicated handhelds are sold as phones.
 
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