"The longer we wait for the next generation of consoles, the higher the likelihood that they could fall behind tablets in terms of being the first thing people reach for when the time comes to play games."
- Crytek founder and CEO Cevat Yerli warns console makers about the hidden danger in waiting too long to usher in the next generation.
I had heard the obvious arguments from retailers and game makers that a new generation will bring more money to our industry, and we're all aware of the market share being sucked up by smartphones and tablets lately. But it hadn't occurred to me until now that there might be a real danger of console players being lost to tablets forever if they're not enticed by new technology in the very near future.
Is this a real threat? And if so, are we inevitably heading down a path where traditional console boxes will become extinct? Are the new consoles just slowing down the inevitable?
I doubt any console gamers are going stop using consoles until tablets come with physical controls and the larger game development studios through their weight behind it.
I think the fact that there are no new consoles is probably the best thing for gaming right now. Slowing the race to photo-realism forces developers to focus on other elements like direction and design.
Frank: I suspect that Chris isn't talking in terms of dollars but rather the overall health of the form. If so, I'm not sure I'd agree with that argument, but I do believe that the industry isn't an end in itself.
How many companies have self-destructed by focusing on intricate, polished, or unique game designs? How many have self-destructed chasing top-end graphics or engine technology? Without hard data I'm not willing to make a guess either way. (I know which I want as a player, though.)
Haha, no. Team Bondi was totally chasing graphical realism and not much else (except maybe a monomaniacal design director?). LA Noire was mocap demo with some car driving in the middle.
Anyway, the goal was not actually to build a list from memory, here. That would be impossible.
The demise of Team Bondi is highly controversial. They were hit by a "high burden/low quality of life/high turnover" spiral during the production of LA Noire and that was definitely a problem. Other sources indicate that the top management was the problem. But even though, they managed to make an award winning top seller and the studio was still "surviving" after that.
So what definitely put them out of business remains uncertain. My guess is that Team Bondi failed at securing another project. The controversy at the time didn't help. With no source of income, a bad reputation and no project in hand, they preferred to move on.
The issues are somewhat intermingled. Devs tend to be encouraged into a myopic use of the technology, where increased power is allocated to better graphics, rather than more elaborate simulations, more dynamic environments, etc.
Console hardware is both responding to and encouraging this - it has always been lopsided to favor fast, detailed graphics and cut down the other specs. Going through this cycle a few times got us to the current near-photorealism.
Of course, the larger trend in IT is to build a high-concurrency, ambient, cloud-everything environment. I think we're bound to get swept up in that, and it lends itself to way different styles of game, including ones with little to no graphical components.
The threat is that a tablet is coming that can be plugged into the tv, powered by a wall outlet, has a quality optional controller available, and has enough horses to at least equal the wii. The beauty of that set up is that it is tiny & you can sell the hardware for a plethora of reasons, not just 'netflix & gaming'.
Although I've not heard it rumoured, I'd love a set up wherein you could turn your iPad into a wiiu type controller with some kind of add on, and and use a souped up appletv box as a streaming device...or maybe the long rumoured Apple TV itself as somekind of gaming system paired with a wiiu-styled ipad controller. Now that would be game changing.
The Ouya is also bound to your TV, losing the portability that a tablet offers, and is the equivalent of hooking your PC up to the TV and having a customised controller connected to it. Consoles have co-existed with PCs up to this point, so I don't think it's going to be as big a threat as people think. I am open to being proved wrong though.
I have been hearing things here and there about how consoles may become irrelevant. However, there is nothing pointing to what exactly is going to replace them. Consoles offer a gaming experience only matched by PC's and those players are required to maintain their machines - Not something you are going to see mainstream fans of sports games and the COD franchise doing anytime soon.
Everyone likes to stir the pot by talking about how consoles are disappearing but no one has answered my question. If they are going away - what is going to replace them? Isn't it likely we would have of heard of whatever this thing is by now?
New Wii is on the way, New Xbox is on the way and though we know the least about it a new PlayStation is most likely on the way.
Tablets? Not likely. Apple has a strangle hold on that market and their focus is not on games in the slightest. Yeah they pulled those patents but thats more of a way from them to control the flood gates on what developers are doing with iOS devices. It is going to take a while for the tech of tablets catch up and provide a similar type of experience to that of an Assasin's Creed, a Bioshock, or Uncharted. By the time it tablets do manage to fit all that processing and memory into their tiny bodies consoles will have evolved even further.
I disagree with the statement about not seeing a large leap in tech with the new gen. What we are looking at this generation is the ability to push even more polygons, create deeper AI routines, and build more impressive particles and physics. These things are huge - more populated virtual environments, with more realistic looking inhabitants behaving in more unique and organic ways...
Anyways if not tablets then what replaces consoles? Online streaming services like Onlive and Gakai. Not likely. I love Onlive and I pay a monthly service but the library is still weak and keep up with every new title being released and Gakia has an even smaller library...Now that Sony has bought Gakai we should probably expect to see more of a hybrid world where console live alongside this stuff instead of being made obsolete by it.
Browser based gaming is cool but it's still a ways off from becoming super tangible to the public as an alternate gaming experience. Even though games like Bastion are running in the browser the world where html gaming usurps consoles is unlikely.
If consoles are going away by the next generation - what's going to replace them?
There is a possibility that you haven't considered: That nothing replaces them. That people simply stop that form of gaming. Of course that won't exactly happen, but we can look to Japan as a kind of fast forwarded paradigm - Console sales really dropped off this gen compared to last, while mobile (read -HANDHELD) gaming picked up the slack. What drove this?
Well, apart from no developers supporting the number 1 console, and massive expensive development support for a DOA console (and raised console prices), there was a distinct disenfranchisement from gamers.
Day to day gamers - the likes who bought into PS1 and PS2, got bored of ever more complicated and convoluted RPGs and hack'n'slash games that seemed to be the only things the studios were interested in making - this actually started to bite towards the end of the last generation. I can see the same thing happening in the West concerning FPSs. Gamers who liked to play a little bit now and then on 'mildly' core games - (a bit of PES here, a bit of Jak and Daxter there) have been progressivley marginalised by a risk averse and core obssesed 3rd party console industry - now they are regarded as casual gamers where during the PS1 and PS2 days they made up the backbone of the industry - now you're either a COD maniac or you're not worth developing for.
I'd like to take this back to your tech leap argument: When you consider the actual tech leaps this generation, there's been precious little moving forward in gameplay - certainly not like the heady days of PS1 and N64. Where's the likes of Parappa the Rapper? Blast Core? Jumping Flash? There's forwards movement, but how often are we seeing whole new genre's? Devs are afraid to experiment on a mainstream scale because of the economics - and the economics have shifted precisely because of the high asset development costs enabled, nay, demanded by the rocketing render capacity of modern processors. And as for that old staple - AI improvement - well I personally see little real improvement relative to Perfect Dark - certainly not 1000 fold gains. Developments in online play are progressive - but that often depends on how you feel about being thrashed and violated by a racist 12 year old - fun for juveniles (apparently) not fun for that progressively disenfranchised gamer I was describing. Recently I've been seeing people mistaking innovations in distribution for innovations in gameplay - read my lips - it is not making games more creative! Or fun.
We've been seeing exponentially diminishing return of enjoyment on power for a while now - such is the danger of approaching reality. Given that exceeding Moore's law two generations in a row has left the industry's heavyweights in a deep dank financial hole that precludes massive leaps - and that certain computational aspects have reached the end of the line (how much more powerful are the best current CPUs than a 3-core 3.2GHz Power PC running a light OS and bespoke code? - certainly not 30X as the last 2 generations have made us expect) how can we expect anything to be remedied by more power? Are 'casual' gamers going to buy GTA 6 at $100 if it's needed to support a $500 million budget? That's what playing with power will demand.
Some interesting notions Merc, thanks. I understand about big business's chasing the money but there are still plenty of large or middle sized developers not catering to the COD audience and doing just fine.
Even if only one console manufacturer remains just to pump out COD games that allows the platform to exist for other types of games and different types of players. People had been trying to say PC gaming was dead for a long time but eventually developers like Bethesda and CD Project Red were able to step back up to the plate - as well as very passionate smaller developers making all sorts of games...like MineCraft. The big 3 have to be looking at phenomenons like Mojang and Steam and then realizing the benefit to opening up their platforms a little more.
As long as people love games, love making games, and love playing games...consoles are not going anywhere - and if they do I think the general premise will remain the same even if a dedicated box no longer exists - turn something on then start playing games.
What bothers me is truely original games that defy genere staples are limited to the likes of psn or xblm whereas disc based gaming is : action,shooter,rpg or sports you might have new stories wearing old clothes same old generes.
When making games don't give players a shotgun blast of gameplay trying to hit as many people with varied gameplay as this dilutes every expierence but offer instead a resistance 1 or 2 style of customization-r3 dropped the d-pad from the customization making it worthless.
As for next gen choose well because sony having bought genkai we could see a roku 2 sized puck with sony streaming our games netflix style. If disc based gaming were to make 720 and ps4 it would likely see a digital version as well.
Look no further than new smb2 on e-shop with twice the club nintendo rewards as a sign of the times and that's nintendo who's always a day late and conservitive usuially a full generation behind sony and ms.
Apple and even google could make their own hardware inroads standardizing things like dvd or bd players.
Who will be the next sega (leaving hardware behind) nintendo coming off wii has much to prove and far to plunge with wii u while sony must right their ship or scuttle it and ms could screw halo up which is why xbox is here at all plus with the least system selling games i mean outside halo and gears what stands out that sony doesn't also have while sony has 10x the system specific games.
Let's not forget how hard going from the last gen to the current gen was and how much more expensive it was well the next gen is a 25% increase over the current gen and with the world in the worst state i've seen will a $79 base price for physical or keeping the digital price the same as physical help anyone.
I'm quite happy with ps3 and 360 even if all you did was give the next gen 8x the memory and left gpu's and cpu's alone it would give everyone more memory which would push better more detailed games because there will never be enough memory if graphics get better then you'll want 15x or greater memory as the fidelity increase will require more memory for the same thing.
If everything ends up looking like gears i'll be saddened as borderlands as gears wouldn't be special but as a cartoon it has more personality and didn't get lost in the croud.
Ue 4 if everything goes as real as possible and everything especially shooters loose that organic quality everything might as well be grey n black looking like a bad gears.
I'd rather see varied graphics anything from wind waker to borderlands to valkyria chronicles,eternal sonata or kz3,mario galaxy,blue dragon,halo or gears but if everyone goes as real as photoreal design style and art direction will be lost and perhaps inspruation with it.
Losing players to tablets? Well considering the games made for consoles and tablets are completely different, no. Losing players to the PC space, however, that I see as a possibility. One I take no issue with.
One look at the next Modern Warfare with photo-realistic graphics on the new XBox/Playstation will have everyone wanting a new console, simple as that. That won't stop the march of the tablet/mobile devices as gaming devices though, it will just compliment it. Remember that now if you go to amazon you see lots and lots of blu ray players...all of those along with some other separate technologies will all end up in these new consoles, so even delaying until the end of 2013 won't make any difference, because they will just become the main devices for the living room. They will be though the last of their types, before it all get's integrated into the TV's.
It has already happened to me. iOS easily gets 95% of my gaming attention these days - and not just because it is "dirt cheap" - I actually think the $0.99 price point is a terrible thing - but there are hundred fold more interesting and unique titles being released on a regular basis. Besides that, as a culture we're becoming far more tuned into mobile devices than we are with the traditional television set. Tablet gaming has me so enthralled that I can't even watch a TV show anymore and pay attention. I couldn't even finish ME3 (and that was one of my favorite series ever) because I just had to make another turn in Hero Academy.
True, I cannot play something requiring precision controls (like Tetris for example - awful on mobile), but that will come. A PS3 controller can already pair with a Mac - why not an iPad? (that's not a question, just a point).
Go into a bar. Are there more people a)talking to each other b) watching tv c)fiddling on their phones?
Every time I see a remark like this, it just boggles my mind. How could the CEO of a company like this ACTUALLY think that tablets could replace consoles in such a short time?!?! Does this guy actually PLAY games? If he did he would know that the user interface on touch devices is horrendous. Anything that isn't a turn based puzzle game is basically unplayable. This is the real reason that all the apps are 0.99 - because you would never play them if you were at your house and had a console available. They aren't worth money because they're only useful in very specific situations (like, maybe on your lunch break or something). Some people say, "Well, they make controller peripherals." This makes no sense to me - I'm going to carry around a controller? I don't know. I think the only people who will switch to touch devices for games are people who were never all that interested in games in the first place, and they aren't a sound group to base your business model on anyway, because they were always going to move on to the latest novelty eventually.
exactly, tablets are limited due to a fat finger interface. only certain types of games are fun on tablets, many other games dont lend themselves to having a freaking hand.arm, and fat finger in the way smudging up the screen the whole game.
Tablets will make their mark, but they will be a niche.
I think most people who have hd cable or fios are going to get consoles whether the want them or not. I think this next generation of hd boxes will be a game console. Why do we pay for a hd def box that does nothing? next gen will be the hd box and the new game console, and cable/fios along with sony/micro are going to subsidize so if you get it with your cable/fios subscription it will cost you 99 bucks or something. It wont make much sense not to have it.
Personally I think that is the hold up, getting all the tech in order, and all the partnerships established.
consoles are going to be the next set top box. Just watch and see.
Yup, tell that to the fight my console and phone had.
I dropped my phone on my PS3 and the PS3 survived, I dropped my phone on my PS3 and it did not survive.
PS3 1 / Phone 0
Latter I dropped my laptop on my PS3 and it survived, the reverse did not bode well for the laptop.
PS3 2 / Phone 0 / PC 0
Latter I dropped my desktop on all of them and no one survived.
PS3 2 / Phone 0 / PC 1
I would say that all will survive and all will change.
I also remeber a time where the PC gaming was doomed , it ranged from 1985 to 2010 give or take some years...
Stop trying to predict the future in absolutes...
Really one look at photorealistic cod and "everyone" will want a new box?!!! Remember if I CAN'T PLAY IT what's the POINT?!! If on nextbox and ps4 i can design my own control scheme attach it to ALL DUAL ANALOG games through my gamertag profile so ALL games would play as i NEEDED without screwing up racing or other game i can play using default controls.
Still talking cod i hope it's not bigger totaly real graphics with tiny maps and let's see up to 64 plyr games on console.
While modnation and lbp aren't cod let's see player created mods in all games that it would apply.
If next gen is simply better graphics louder sound rinse n repeat gameplay-or the lack thereof well the time you could go from nes-snes just for graphics is over the current gen is very robust and uncharted 2 or 3 /kz2,3 should be enough to settle that.
It's troubling then that since the arivial of dual analog only gamester and thrustmaster have improved upon the basic options given to gamers. First was the phoenix revolution and then the 3-1 dual trigger which is the best overall controler design avaible. How is it that even on 360 and ps3 we still use ps one options there was no renisonse in controler options just give them 1-4 schemes let them pick the best one and enjoy.
The ONLY WAY i can play even lego batman 2 is with my custom designed controls and modded 360 pads / playstation 3-1 dual trigger pads WITHOUT them games for the most part are UNPLAYABLE and this extends to vita dual analog and 3ds circle pad pro.
I agree with him. I believe phones and tablets will become a alternative console. Especially phones. There are android phones available right now that you can connect to a TV via hdmi. They also have options and apps to connect a Bluetooth controller such as the PS3 controller. It wont be long till our phones will wirelessly transmit video to our TV. When that happens I am looking forward to what developers will take advantage of. Like what was pointed out already you could use the phone itself as a controller or set it aside and use a Bluetooth controller. Maybe even prob it up on a dock and use it as a Kinect.
I disagree with the fact that player will abandon the consoles if the next generation comes to late.
The problem is that player currently play less. There are no longer many games that worth money. With their too much classic gameplay (not only the mechanics but the way the player feels the game) or bad balance (battelfield 3 dig the difference between new and old player by absolutely wanting to reward the player for obtaining a new weapon). CoD could have brought new things, more tactic less skilled but they stagnate and "real gamers" are bored of the way the other players plays and the low diversity the gameplay can bring.
Games that worth money for one player (each player has it style and somes do not like sports, other the shooters) are rare and gamers spend their spare time to do something else.
That's also why the digital market rose so much for the last month, "if you want something interesting, turn to indie". Unfortunately the fact the player can't sell their games means that they can't buy a new one because they no longer have money that maked the last generation of money so prosperous.
But nintendo's idea of "next generation" could send them into parrellel orbit of sega's death sprial. First out-first out of date rinse repeat and done with hardware. Depending on wii u' true power and reception by 2015 nintendo might be reading a wii u sucessor to compete with the real next gen of ps4/720 which is where nintendo would become sega but more like ubisoft or ea sized.
I just bought sound shapes and it perfectly illistrates what i said about if you want new ,innovative games check psn or xblm though between the disc based games your likely to find more experimential games on playstation vs sure things on xbox-action,shooters and sports but all easily neatly defineable within existing geners.
Xbox had new innovative games trouble was they were back on the launchbox with greats like : blue dragon,naruto and lost odysee. MOSThad japanese original language tracks either on disc or as dlc....but then all was lost as halo,cod and ac took over with saints row the 3rd as the closest disc based innovation askewing gta's tone for a not serious tone to great effect.
If next gen costs 25% more to make the new shiny and everyone starts at 0% userbase without backwards compatibility which would also allow braging rights as the biggest game collection playable under 1 box rather than thanks for your money all your existing software is junk and have fun starting over.
Speaking of digital content what happens to my digital games on my ps3/360 hdd's or even more to the point what about evil dlc games like bionic comando where i must be online to play an offline game. This needs to be adressed as even map packs will go dark as servers are shut down and where will that leave trophies and achievements if those servers can't be contacted anymore?!!
Unless we want an angry mob of gamers and holdouts who just bought into whichever system offering rewards and who just started on the digital games fronteer things must beclear cut
Remeber the famous GDC RANT where wii was nothing more than TWO GCN'S DUCK TAPED TOGETHER well i find it likely wii u is rinse repeat and all about the tabletpad like wii was all about the waggle.
Without metroid ,mario and zelda to follow i wouldn't waste my time with nintendo as playstation and xbox have it covered though between xbox and playstation sony has that innovative itch and would be the closest to nintendo with lbp and uncharted or perhaps loco roco and sound shapes.
Always be suspicious of "always."
I find that statement highly suspect.
I agree with the point, however. ;P
Give it 1 more generation, AirPlay and there will be no need for new consoles
Anyway, the goal was not actually to build a list from memory, here. That would be impossible.
So what definitely put them out of business remains uncertain. My guess is that Team Bondi failed at securing another project. The controversy at the time didn't help. With no source of income, a bad reputation and no project in hand, they preferred to move on.
Console hardware is both responding to and encouraging this - it has always been lopsided to favor fast, detailed graphics and cut down the other specs. Going through this cycle a few times got us to the current near-photorealism.
Of course, the larger trend in IT is to build a high-concurrency, ambient, cloud-everything environment. I think we're bound to get swept up in that, and it lends itself to way different styles of game, including ones with little to no graphical components.
Although I've not heard it rumoured, I'd love a set up wherein you could turn your iPad into a wiiu type controller with some kind of add on, and and use a souped up appletv box as a streaming device...or maybe the long rumoured Apple TV itself as somekind of gaming system paired with a wiiu-styled ipad controller. Now that would be game changing.
Everyone likes to stir the pot by talking about how consoles are disappearing but no one has answered my question. If they are going away - what is going to replace them? Isn't it likely we would have of heard of whatever this thing is by now?
New Wii is on the way, New Xbox is on the way and though we know the least about it a new PlayStation is most likely on the way.
Tablets? Not likely. Apple has a strangle hold on that market and their focus is not on games in the slightest. Yeah they pulled those patents but thats more of a way from them to control the flood gates on what developers are doing with iOS devices. It is going to take a while for the tech of tablets catch up and provide a similar type of experience to that of an Assasin's Creed, a Bioshock, or Uncharted. By the time it tablets do manage to fit all that processing and memory into their tiny bodies consoles will have evolved even further.
I disagree with the statement about not seeing a large leap in tech with the new gen. What we are looking at this generation is the ability to push even more polygons, create deeper AI routines, and build more impressive particles and physics. These things are huge - more populated virtual environments, with more realistic looking inhabitants behaving in more unique and organic ways...
Anyways if not tablets then what replaces consoles? Online streaming services like Onlive and Gakai. Not likely. I love Onlive and I pay a monthly service but the library is still weak and keep up with every new title being released and Gakia has an even smaller library...Now that Sony has bought Gakai we should probably expect to see more of a hybrid world where console live alongside this stuff instead of being made obsolete by it.
Browser based gaming is cool but it's still a ways off from becoming super tangible to the public as an alternate gaming experience. Even though games like Bastion are running in the browser the world where html gaming usurps consoles is unlikely.
If consoles are going away by the next generation - what's going to replace them?
Well, apart from no developers supporting the number 1 console, and massive expensive development support for a DOA console (and raised console prices), there was a distinct disenfranchisement from gamers.
Day to day gamers - the likes who bought into PS1 and PS2, got bored of ever more complicated and convoluted RPGs and hack'n'slash games that seemed to be the only things the studios were interested in making - this actually started to bite towards the end of the last generation. I can see the same thing happening in the West concerning FPSs. Gamers who liked to play a little bit now and then on 'mildly' core games - (a bit of PES here, a bit of Jak and Daxter there) have been progressivley marginalised by a risk averse and core obssesed 3rd party console industry - now they are regarded as casual gamers where during the PS1 and PS2 days they made up the backbone of the industry - now you're either a COD maniac or you're not worth developing for.
I'd like to take this back to your tech leap argument: When you consider the actual tech leaps this generation, there's been precious little moving forward in gameplay - certainly not like the heady days of PS1 and N64. Where's the likes of Parappa the Rapper? Blast Core? Jumping Flash? There's forwards movement, but how often are we seeing whole new genre's? Devs are afraid to experiment on a mainstream scale because of the economics - and the economics have shifted precisely because of the high asset development costs enabled, nay, demanded by the rocketing render capacity of modern processors. And as for that old staple - AI improvement - well I personally see little real improvement relative to Perfect Dark - certainly not 1000 fold gains. Developments in online play are progressive - but that often depends on how you feel about being thrashed and violated by a racist 12 year old - fun for juveniles (apparently) not fun for that progressively disenfranchised gamer I was describing. Recently I've been seeing people mistaking innovations in distribution for innovations in gameplay - read my lips - it is not making games more creative! Or fun.
We've been seeing exponentially diminishing return of enjoyment on power for a while now - such is the danger of approaching reality. Given that exceeding Moore's law two generations in a row has left the industry's heavyweights in a deep dank financial hole that precludes massive leaps - and that certain computational aspects have reached the end of the line (how much more powerful are the best current CPUs than a 3-core 3.2GHz Power PC running a light OS and bespoke code? - certainly not 30X as the last 2 generations have made us expect) how can we expect anything to be remedied by more power? Are 'casual' gamers going to buy GTA 6 at $100 if it's needed to support a $500 million budget? That's what playing with power will demand.
Even if only one console manufacturer remains just to pump out COD games that allows the platform to exist for other types of games and different types of players. People had been trying to say PC gaming was dead for a long time but eventually developers like Bethesda and CD Project Red were able to step back up to the plate - as well as very passionate smaller developers making all sorts of games...like MineCraft. The big 3 have to be looking at phenomenons like Mojang and Steam and then realizing the benefit to opening up their platforms a little more.
As long as people love games, love making games, and love playing games...consoles are not going anywhere - and if they do I think the general premise will remain the same even if a dedicated box no longer exists - turn something on then start playing games.
When making games don't give players a shotgun blast of gameplay trying to hit as many people with varied gameplay as this dilutes every expierence but offer instead a resistance 1 or 2 style of customization-r3 dropped the d-pad from the customization making it worthless.
As for next gen choose well because sony having bought genkai we could see a roku 2 sized puck with sony streaming our games netflix style. If disc based gaming were to make 720 and ps4 it would likely see a digital version as well.
Look no further than new smb2 on e-shop with twice the club nintendo rewards as a sign of the times and that's nintendo who's always a day late and conservitive usuially a full generation behind sony and ms.
Apple and even google could make their own hardware inroads standardizing things like dvd or bd players.
Who will be the next sega (leaving hardware behind) nintendo coming off wii has much to prove and far to plunge with wii u while sony must right their ship or scuttle it and ms could screw halo up which is why xbox is here at all plus with the least system selling games i mean outside halo and gears what stands out that sony doesn't also have while sony has 10x the system specific games.
Let's not forget how hard going from the last gen to the current gen was and how much more expensive it was well the next gen is a 25% increase over the current gen and with the world in the worst state i've seen will a $79 base price for physical or keeping the digital price the same as physical help anyone.
I'm quite happy with ps3 and 360 even if all you did was give the next gen 8x the memory and left gpu's and cpu's alone it would give everyone more memory which would push better more detailed games because there will never be enough memory if graphics get better then you'll want 15x or greater memory as the fidelity increase will require more memory for the same thing.
If everything ends up looking like gears i'll be saddened as borderlands as gears wouldn't be special but as a cartoon it has more personality and didn't get lost in the croud.
Ue 4 if everything goes as real as possible and everything especially shooters loose that organic quality everything might as well be grey n black looking like a bad gears.
I'd rather see varied graphics anything from wind waker to borderlands to valkyria chronicles,eternal sonata or kz3,mario galaxy,blue dragon,halo or gears but if everyone goes as real as photoreal design style and art direction will be lost and perhaps inspruation with it.
The lure of tablets is dirt cheap games
True, I cannot play something requiring precision controls (like Tetris for example - awful on mobile), but that will come. A PS3 controller can already pair with a Mac - why not an iPad? (that's not a question, just a point).
Go into a bar. Are there more people a)talking to each other b) watching tv c)fiddling on their phones?
Tablets will make their mark, but they will be a niche.
Personally I think that is the hold up, getting all the tech in order, and all the partnerships established.
consoles are going to be the next set top box. Just watch and see.
I dropped my phone on my PS3 and the PS3 survived, I dropped my phone on my PS3 and it did not survive.
PS3 1 / Phone 0
Latter I dropped my laptop on my PS3 and it survived, the reverse did not bode well for the laptop.
PS3 2 / Phone 0 / PC 0
Latter I dropped my desktop on all of them and no one survived.
PS3 2 / Phone 0 / PC 1
I would say that all will survive and all will change.
I also remeber a time where the PC gaming was doomed , it ranged from 1985 to 2010 give or take some years...
Stop trying to predict the future in absolutes...
Still talking cod i hope it's not bigger totaly real graphics with tiny maps and let's see up to 64 plyr games on console.
While modnation and lbp aren't cod let's see player created mods in all games that it would apply.
If next gen is simply better graphics louder sound rinse n repeat gameplay-or the lack thereof well the time you could go from nes-snes just for graphics is over the current gen is very robust and uncharted 2 or 3 /kz2,3 should be enough to settle that.
It's troubling then that since the arivial of dual analog only gamester and thrustmaster have improved upon the basic options given to gamers. First was the phoenix revolution and then the 3-1 dual trigger which is the best overall controler design avaible. How is it that even on 360 and ps3 we still use ps one options there was no renisonse in controler options just give them 1-4 schemes let them pick the best one and enjoy.
The ONLY WAY i can play even lego batman 2 is with my custom designed controls and modded 360 pads / playstation 3-1 dual trigger pads WITHOUT them games for the most part are UNPLAYABLE and this extends to vita dual analog and 3ds circle pad pro.
The problem is that player currently play less. There are no longer many games that worth money. With their too much classic gameplay (not only the mechanics but the way the player feels the game) or bad balance (battelfield 3 dig the difference between new and old player by absolutely wanting to reward the player for obtaining a new weapon). CoD could have brought new things, more tactic less skilled but they stagnate and "real gamers" are bored of the way the other players plays and the low diversity the gameplay can bring.
Games that worth money for one player (each player has it style and somes do not like sports, other the shooters) are rare and gamers spend their spare time to do something else.
That's also why the digital market rose so much for the last month, "if you want something interesting, turn to indie". Unfortunately the fact the player can't sell their games means that they can't buy a new one because they no longer have money that maked the last generation of money so prosperous.
I just bought sound shapes and it perfectly illistrates what i said about if you want new ,innovative games check psn or xblm though between the disc based games your likely to find more experimential games on playstation vs sure things on xbox-action,shooters and sports but all easily neatly defineable within existing geners.
Xbox had new innovative games trouble was they were back on the launchbox with greats like : blue dragon,naruto and lost odysee. MOSThad japanese original language tracks either on disc or as dlc....but then all was lost as halo,cod and ac took over with saints row the 3rd as the closest disc based innovation askewing gta's tone for a not serious tone to great effect.
If next gen costs 25% more to make the new shiny and everyone starts at 0% userbase without backwards compatibility which would also allow braging rights as the biggest game collection playable under 1 box rather than thanks for your money all your existing software is junk and have fun starting over.
Speaking of digital content what happens to my digital games on my ps3/360 hdd's or even more to the point what about evil dlc games like bionic comando where i must be online to play an offline game. This needs to be adressed as even map packs will go dark as servers are shut down and where will that leave trophies and achievements if those servers can't be contacted anymore?!!
Unless we want an angry mob of gamers and holdouts who just bought into whichever system offering rewards and who just started on the digital games fronteer things must beclear cut
Without metroid ,mario and zelda to follow i wouldn't waste my time with nintendo as playstation and xbox have it covered though between xbox and playstation sony has that innovative itch and would be the closest to nintendo with lbp and uncharted or perhaps loco roco and sound shapes.