I saw the PS4 announcement yesterday and frankly I had totally forgotten how long that the PS3 and XBOX 360 have been around. Maybe I'm just growing out of my gaming phase but it actually startled me at just how little innovation there seems to be in the console industry lately. Maybe I'm missing something, but everything I hear coming out about the PS4 is really just an extension of what is already being done.
I like the cloud aspect, but when is someone really going to disrupt the console industry? I like the move towards streaming games and having older titles 'in the cloud' to download as you want but I personally think it makes even more sense to simply extend that to newer titles and cut out the retailing middle man altogether. Maybe the issue is that kids can't buy as many of the games, but hell kids these days have cell phones at 10 so I can't see that being as huge a problem anymore.
My only other thought is that now the hardware is secondary to being able to deliver amazing content from multiple developers. The one thing I did notice was the breadth of different studios mentioned that before were exclusive only to Microsoft or simply hadn't provided games to Sony consoles before. That might be the real competitive advantage moving forward for a console maker as it is exceedingly hard to define yourself on graphics along because the hardware is becoming so ubiquitous; much like many other industries are realizing.
I guess I'm really more surprised that nothing seemed to shock me about the announcement. Maybe there just isn't that much more to innovate with when you just have a controller, box and a game. They've expanded the social aspect of gaming, being able to share things and interact but although that is a wonderful addition it doesn't strike me as 'next gen' so much as it does an incremental upgrade. What am I missing here? What's the future of the console gaming industry?
Until they get VR, there will be no massive gamechanger.
I realize that it's not really popular to talk about, but sometimes it's nice to order a pizza, get a case of beer and murder some zombies. My gaming time cut way back, I'd be surprised if it's a few hours a month now, and that's the biggest reason I can't be bothered to go pick up a new console.
Like you, I've significantly cut back on my gaming time as I've gotten older. Did play a lot of FIFA, Madden, and CoD in college, though.
I'm waiting for Gabe Newell (the Half-Life guy) to come along and annihilate the piddly-ass shit that Sony (and more likely than not, Microsoft) have cobbled together for their next-gen consoles:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/8/3744314/gabe-newell-valve-console-living-room-steam-box
Steam is more forward-thinking than anything I saw in Sony's presentation, and I'm pretty sure that came out in the first half of last decade.
The thing that reportedly is going to cost up to $1000? With no exclusive games? I can't see it competing with Sony or Microsoft. That's assuming it ever sees the light of day, which it probably won't.
There isn't a whole lot the console industry can do in terms of next gen hardware. They've been trying to move towards being an all in one entertainment center for the living room but it's getting harder to do that with the rise of tablets/phones.
I think there may eventually be a shift to partner console gaming and mobile devices together ala PS4 & PSV. But realistically it all comes down to content and price points from the publishers....or we hit up VR.
I 100% agree with atomic that the Gabe Newell will be responsible for the next paradigm shift in gaming.
Also, these console makers need to find a way to reduce the cost of producing a game. So many studios have gone out of business due to the increased development costs that gamers are left with proven commodities such as Madden and CoD. Reduced costs => more studios => more innovation => better games.
I'd also love to see consoles stay away from the gimmicks (social media, kinect) and get back to basics.
Also, saw this on reddit. Thought it was interesting:
http://i.imgur.com/ChsSwUE.png
It's difficult to see the future of the console industry right now because consoles continuously evolve during their life cycle. If you look at the games that were available at launch for the Xbox360 compared to the games available now, the difference is night and day. Developers continuously experiment with the hardware to see how far they can push the graphics. Also when the 360 came out, things like apps, digital stores, cloud storage, and Kinect were all unavailable. Although they are standard now, these add-ons came about through years of R&D. New innovations will come to consoles years down the line so one cannot say who is better when you only look at press events.
The future of the console industry will depend on which console will sell the most this holiday season+the next 3 years. Whoever has the significant upperhand will most likely dictate the future of gaming consoles. If nobody has the upperhand, then we will yet again have consoles that try to incorporate non-gaming features to be the lame almighty all-in-one box. Other consoles are also supposed to hit the market soon: Oton, Ouya, next-gen Xbox, and the SteamBox. Although in my mind it will be a fight between the next Xbox and the PS4, the "big jump" that you are looking for is not yet here.
That said, virtual reality may be the big jump. The Oculus Rift has recently been shown as an interesting piece of hardware, and it would be interesting to see if someone will acquire the company.
In North America and Western Europe? Sure.
Sony looked at getting rid of the disc drive all together. But in a large part of the world the internet isn't fast enough or reliable enough. It'll happen eventually but it's too early now.
This as well.
Hmmm... see to my mind, you could simply release the same consoles with different specs dependent upon region. Especially in north america, you could simply include a terabyte drive or two rather than a disc drive and give users the option of totally un tethering themselves from discs altogether. That would probably be more attractive later on as part of a refresh mid cycle once costs have scaled down I would guess?
[quote=Addinator]I personally think it makes even more sense to simply extend that to newer titles and cut out the retailing middle man altogether.[quote=Addinator]
They are currently doing this but games will likely be ~50GB in size for the new consoles. Downloading them would take a really long time even with high speed internet. I would rather just run by the store and pick up a disc.
I saw a stat that said something like 67% of all people with an XBox 360 use it more for streaming than games.
That's the wave of the future and I think what you'll see from the XBox '720' is not one console, but 3-4 options of consoles ranging from the 8GB ram model for intense gamers and 1GB model for those who want access to streaming (MSFT already has big contracts with Netflix and Hulu for streaming). Everyone jerks off about Apple TV, and Roku, and now Steam Box, but MSFT has been in the streaming/all-in-one entertainment buisness for a few years now and control a lot of marketshare in this undefined market..I think you'll see that increase in the next few years.
Someone on Twitter summed up my opinion pretty well: "Saw things I liked in the Sony conference, but I def miss the days when consoles played games and let me just have fun."
Seriously, all the focus on social media and friending and linking with devices like the Vita, etc. is cool, I'll admit. But at the same time, I really wish we returned to the good old days of plugging in a box and playing (SNES and Genesis, baby
I think the success of the Wii slapped both Xbox and PS. Made them realize that people like being around people, and most people would rather play a low tech game, in a room with their friends, than a high tech game alone in their basement. After that we saw a lot of titles come out that had co-op and split screen availible to it.
... what? Maybe in terms of revenues, since families and kids seem to favour the Wii (haven't looked at numbers specifically). But I'm still waiting for one decent gamer who agrees the Wii is anything but a joke.
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