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Square Enix's Wada: Dedicated Gaming Hardware's Days Numbered
by Chris Remo [PC, Console/PC]
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December 16, 2009
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The increasing gravitation towards network-driven and social gaming may eventually make the notion of dedicated gaming hardware obsolete, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada hypothesized in a recent interview.
Speaking to trade publication Develop, Wada said that the potential market penetration in the growing area of web-based and social games is so large that game makers can't afford to ignore it.
"Let's say in ten years time what we traditionally call 'console games' simply won't exist," Wada suggested. "In the past the platform was hardware, but that switched to the network. So a time will come when the hardware isn't even needed any more."
"The exact timing at which it will go away is hard to determine, but somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers' strategy shifted," Wada said, referring to the increased focus on online initiatives by console makers, particularly Microsoft.
"The true strength of the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live," he added. Wada referred to the increasing convergence of Xbox Live and its younger cousin Games for Windows Live as an example of the kind of centralized network-driven system that may point the way to the future.
But it's the purely internet-based social and browser games that have the most potential to reach previously unknown audience sizes, Wada pointed out.
"Browser games mean all the data can be kept in the server," he said. "With that, any kind of terminal becomes a potential platform in which games can be played. That's exponential growth in the potential growth of gaming. The potential size of the market is enormous."
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and so many more.
Would we even recognize them in this smaller bite size format or would it be -that's a insert favorite game here.
Someday i'd love to see all great AA/system selling titles playable on a "universal console" which would not be made as they are today but by many manufacturers,like a tv,dvd or blu ray player is now.
How many wasted billions were spent so gamers-hardcore enough to want halo,killzone and metroid could play them all. Each system has x many exclusives and if you want all the great games you're forced to buy 2 or now 3 systems,have friends time to pony up for 3 controllers for 3 systems..waste.
If games were like dvd i'd go get my box and play mario,lbp and viva pinyata all on the same box enabling me to funnel thousands back for more games instead of redundant hardware.
It's not often that a system so totally eclipses it's competition that you only need 1 system.
Let's see :NES,PS ONE were the 2 times that i can think of though ps-2 did really well both gcn and xbox 1 had some great titles.
I'd include wii except 75% of wii games suck and are shovelware.
I have the worthwhile games like :okami,zelda,metroid,mario,kart,excitetruck,bots,overkill,zack n wiki,resort,de blob,a boy n his blob,the conduit-you get the idea.
Even with digital distribution and saved data being stored online, you still need HARDWARE to play stuff!?
I can only assume what he is trying to say is that all hardware is getting good enough now that it can all run games, and with networking its very simple to have a centralized save file that lets you play a game from any device. I'm all for that, all for multi platform, and being rid of exclusives.
But if what he is saying is true, wouldn't people have ditched consoles for PC gaming? seems that people are going the other way...
The xbox vs ps3, the ps3 is the more multipurpose one, and the xbox is pretty much a dedicated gaming device, yet which is more successful?
I wish/hope it is true, but right now, I just don't see it.
There will always be competition, and with that, always exclusives, and thus, always different hardware.
He didn't mention OnLive. But, I don't believe it will work under real world conditions. I also question their ability to build--and maintain--proper infrastructure to support it.
We'll see.
He's right about the power of browser games to reach new audiences. But, I don't see that stopping game hardware in the near future.