In a day an age where you can Practically buy a new Computer that kicks any Console on the market for the same price, it's time to just say it as it is that Console Gaming is going the way of the Dinosaurs. Console Gaming was fun and there where a lot of controllers broken over the countless hours of pain staking game busting action had on the consoles. Here is a memento to those revolutionary days where Gaming strived at every opportunity to move from Arcade floor to home giving an equivalent and satisfying gaming experience. With Pcs leaving the NES days going into the N64 days The Console's Days are numbered just like the Arcades of old and it is time to start savoring the gems cause excluding the exceptions to the rules no one with any true ties to gaming can possibly expect consoles to carry on.
So here we leave tribute to this awesome but horribly dieing style of gaming:
I started with sega and carried on with nintendo and sony till i disconnected my controller from the Xbox 360. I'm proud to say I've played and beat some of the best games and had the best experience one can have on the consoles.I just hope someone picks up the slack cause this is hard to watch Console gaming go this way after having so many fond memories on the platforms.I've played as many as I could with as many games I could get my hands on. So Today I bid far well to Console gaming for outside of maybe a few Nintendo Exclusives I'll never dabble in the piss poor experience that has become console gaming. And Leave this last thing as to why Console gaming hit the gutter,; Simply Microsoft should have never entered the Console Market and stuck to their already thriving PC market, they never had to enter the Console Market and they poisoned the well that was Console Gaming.
The Golden Age of Consoles ENDED years AGO.
I will Argue that after the PS2 Era (which i believe is the holy grail era and console) the WHOLE Console Market went to Shit. Really though Microsoft didn't really Poison the console market they just found a way to Monetize it and everyone decide to do it as well. Microsoft Jumping into the Console market was a way of making extra cash, The Original Xbox couldn't even Compete with the PS2 and it was released after it, Microsoft really took the Crown with the Xbox 360, then they lost it to Sony with the PS4.
I think deep down the future will just go down to PC gaming and Hand-Held gaming (As dumb as this sounds) people are starting to realize that there is nothing ground-breaking with these consoles anymore, and with handheld, There are Emulators already ported to Android, just the power for future consoles is not there yet, The PS2 Emulator i don't see that coming to Android Until another couple of years and thats been on PC for a few years now, and with PS3 shit about a Decade. and THAT is not on PC yet. also with Nintendo they are living off of the 3DS's so really i don't see hand-helds ever going away. overall i do feel PC and Mobile will takeover in a few years. but like you i'm done with the consoles already as my primary platform. don't feel like paying for online and don't feel like paying for outdated graphics.
Yeah the last real consoles were years ago with the Xbox and PS2. Everything since has been media boxes.
Yeah the last real consoles were years ago with the Xbox and PS2. Everything since has been media boxes.
I believe this is the last generation of consoles as there is not a big leap in performance from their predecessors and with all of the new technologies like Virtual Reality and 4K resolutions becoming a standard in a few years, and PC making more money than all consoles combine, they will be left in the dust. Imagine playing a game that runs on 720p on a 4K TV? It would look terrible.
The Dark Ages of gaming will be gone but will be replaced with the Renaissance of PC gaming. I don't even own a PC yet and I know this will happen.
I spent many hours skilfully mashing buttons on Super Smash Bros on the N64 pwning all dem n00bs, back when you had to be together to play and did not speak like that cause you had to say it to their face... yeah right who didn't trash talk before also? I would definitely have to say that that was definitely one of the most fun games.
I dont think living room gaming will go anywhere but I do think having a dedicated box you buy from MS and/or Sony will be gone next gen. I do think console gaming will be condensed down to a wireless controller and a xbox/PS app you launch from your TV or even something like the amazon FireTV stick.
My eyes bleed from seeing 720p on my 1440p monitor. Id hate to see what they would do seeing 720p on a 4k one.
The one thing that's funny with people how pc gaming isn't good is because they dont want to deal with the installs and what to click on. They would rather have a Macbook or something that just plain up works and call it a day. Arrogance is what makes console kiddies and sooner or later they will wake up to the glorious pc gaming as it thrives with better exclusives than Sony and Nintendo IMO.
I think that Microsoft is realizing this with their "supposably" Xbox One exclusives. I am slowly waiting the day for Forza to come to PC and when it does, it will be a masterpiece for semi-sim racing gamers. It is sad though that Turn 10 isn't going to port Forza 5 on pc and call it "first Dx 12 game" but hey, they are loosing out on so much money.
As a gamer though that skipped the 360/PS3 era I still don't see the need for a console. Soon we will have games for the pc that are couch friendly and Steam with it's Big Picture Mode is simply fantastic. Whoever designed the keyboard interface for the controller should get a huge pay raise but being that Valve is pushing for a console experience on the PC raises some red flags for me. We could eventually loose modulability to the PC. I enjoy tinkering with my PC and adding in new hardware to make it fly. I don't want it to where we can only swap out a hard drive and call it a day.
Welp, i guess my Rant:30 is over lol.
If the idea of consoles are still around after this generation then I imagine it may very well be a streamed service. This has numerous advantages.
There are alot of ways they could monetize it too, they could make you buy into it, i.e. pay a fixed fee like $100-200 to buy into the system, then a monthly fee of say $15-20 (with a $20 fee to upgrade to the premium version i.e. no adverts). Then every two years they release a better version of the 'virtual console', you have to pay like $50 to upgrade or something and you can run upto 1 version behind but the games do not look/play well.
With a system like this they can always keep there games trailing behind the PCs by like 2-4 years.
Personally I don't see the idea of Consoles Going away.
also to counter-argument your points I don't think it will be a streamed device unless it is incapable of gaming due to having low-end hardware. Valve is really setting their hopes on SteamOS and with Steam Machines on the Rise. in my opinion, What I would see as "The Future" of Console Gaming / PC gaming would be to have a Console/PC at home. to game whilst at home. and have a Handheld Device Similar to a Shield or PSVita to stream your games to while you are away. really it's not a bad idea. Nvidia has seem to gotten it right with the Nvidia Game-Stream you can basically PC Game anywhere if you are on Wi-Fi or on 4G Data. the only con about this is that Nvidia game-stream is locked-down to Nvidia cards while Valve (Which I don't understand what is taking them so long to bring Valve Streaming to Android) it can work with AMD or Nvidia Cards or iGPUs.
There are several reasons for going to streaming:
- Avoid costly console development cycles (designing the box), eliminating lots of cost.
- Provide more frequent improvements in the experience for the consumer as a value-add.
- Transition to a service model meaning more money than just selling boxes.
- Improvements in DRM, the customers never even have access to the game files and console software/os.
There are several reasons why these consoles may be the last:
- They are already lightyears behind PCs.
- They are expensive to develop, and the respective console divisions make little to no money at the best of times, often loosing large sums.
- The idea of what a console is, is changing, they are mediaboxes now, its going to be about distribution of all visual media now.
- Computer gaming is entering a golden age.
- How well they do because of these remains to be seen in the future
IMHO I think the main things driving the push in this direction will be profit, eliminating that development cost a major factor, and I can see alot of people paying that $15 a month charge (as opposed to a large upfront charge) especially if there is some limited video streaming in there as well (mainly childrens stuff), that is $180 a year (I am sure they could squeeze and additional $20 out in micro charges) which is a lot of money over say 20-50million customers, that is 4-10Bn a year.
That buy-in fee of $100-150 could probably cover the per-user hardware cost with that sort of scale, meaning everything after the monthly per-user hardware depreciation cost and the monthly per-user cost of running the system, out of that $15 would be profit. And you would still charge a $50-60 'boost' fee every two years or so to get that better graphics.
Hell there would be alot of options for these plans, resoloutions, extra frame rates, all these sorts of things they could monetize! They would be mad not to take advantage of this opportunity.
Consoles will not go away until Parents are no longer involved in the purchase of their children's entertainment or System Requirements is no longer a concern. Yes, consoles are evolving closer to an online/streaming configuration, but until Everyone has access to decent speeds (IE: In the US, we'd need a national broadband specification declared), then the manufacturers of our soul's desire cannot afford to make the gamble that they won't lose part of their potential customer base.
PC gaming isn't just about knowing how to install a game or what buttons to click. When you buy/build a PC for gaming, then you make a conscious decision to take on the responsibility to do your own (unless you pay someone else) troubleshooting. In exception to possibly the GFX (and mods, but that's another topic), developers have the comfort in knowing that they only have to program their game for a Known set of specs (per platform) and that Really makes the debugging process that much easier. Having to test for so many different PC builds and configurations is what causes them so many headaches in the tech support department.
Sure, you can liken Consoles to say Apple (IE: what you're likely calling "lazy" gamers), but what's the point of the box? You spent money to enjoy the content and have the comfort of knowing that Most of the experience has been ironed out or will be addressed by the developer in a unified patch.
I've played consoles since the Atari and PCs/Macs since DOS and B/W (pre-green screens) devices, so to read this thread's topic is to sense that you've moved on to a PC only gaming experience. That's good for you, that's what you like, but leave those who choose otherwise to their own affairs. Don't sit their trying to nail someone's coffin shut before they've had the chance to live their life and lay in it at a time of their choosing.
You still have to have a "Box" to stream to that will have a set of system requirements for the streaming. So what's the difference between that and a console?
The difference for the consumer is that instead of buying a Console Box you use your smart TV and stream using an APP or a HTML5.0 Webpage, or if you don't have a smart TV you buy a $20 Sony/Microsoft Branded HDMI streaming stick, and a $30 controller.
You then pay a small account creation fee (like $100-150), and a monthly service subscription like $15 base. This is in comparison too, for example paying $300-500 for a box and then paying for the network access fee. The upfront cost is much lower because the far less horsepower is needed per user due to how it is scaled across so many users. So you have a substantially lower upfront cost, say $100-200 but incur a $180/200 a year service charge instead of the much smaller fee you pay with Xbox-live and PSN subscriptions.
Its basically a different business model, consoles as a service rather and a consumer product.
TLDR:
- Smart TV or Streaming stick($20) + Controller $30
- $100-150 Account Creation Fee
- $15 a month subscription charge
- Upgrade cycle every 2-4 years (small upgrade fee)
- Infinite backwards-compatibility
VS
- $300-500 upfront cost
- Annual PSN Xbox network subscription
- Upgrade cycle every 7+ years.
- Limited backwards-compatability
Who knows, my generation will soon be having the children and we know far more about computers and technology in general, parents buy those boxes for their children because it is simple, it is easy. They would have no clue about a gaming computer or a steam box or anything like that.
They recognize the brands, they see everyone else has them, they buy them from big chain-stores, and they know they can plug them in and they will work out of the box, and they don't need to do anything more with it. And there is only one of each type of those boxes. And even then alot of people just buy the cheapest.
And its a nice walled garden for them, with nice little parental controls, and they can watch their things like the 'netflix' or the 'youtube' on it, or their cable tv. Its their very own media centre.
I really wonder how they managed to convince people that the consoles are 4K ready, you cant run 4K games with that kind of hardware.
When they say 4k ready they are talking about movies and that it can upscale to 4k.