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Death of the Console?

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  • Death of the Console?

    Wired Magazine has declared the end of the console. Interesting read:



    Thoughts?

  • #2
    I think this is a topic that should be discussed. It’s one of those “What now” topics. We are not sure what exactly is going to happen. At least that how I feel, are we going to be left with a market of casual games, are casual games “Free to Play”, can the “Big Three” make a comeback?, what will be their next move? So there are a million of questions to be answered.

    The Wii U is set to be released in a few weeks, and it seems that Nintendo is using the obsolete model of business. In fact you can say they are late to the game. The sense the introduction of the Wii U at E3 2011 Nintendo has been focusing on the “core gamer” a market that has been targeted by both Sony and Microsoft sense the release of their home consoles . Now this “core gamer” audience may not enough, and perhaps have been diluted and influenced by “free to play” and “inexpensive games”. All Nintendo has to fall back to is the casual market that it has created with the first generation Wii, a casual market that might not exist at all.’ If Nintendo doesn't release something that will be a game changer in the next few months, I think it would be safe to call the Wii U the DreamCast2.

    For the students too young to remember the dreamcast Click Here


    I think this was something no one saw coming. I still remember articles that questioned as Apple a threat to Nintendo and the portable gaming market, it wasnt too long ago. Everyone was sort of ignored it. Now serves like Steam have popped up everywhere. EA came up with Origin, Onlive has existed for a while, there were rumors Netflix and GameStop were thinking of joining the mix. I think they can still exist in this market, if they approached if they provide the type of service that Onlive provides; where the everything is a licence and instead of having the console process the video game content, let it be processed in the “cloud”. I think one of the advantages that the tablet / mobile market had on it is the speed that hardware and processing power grew each year, giving it the power to handle more sophisticated graphics and engines. I think this will also be a disadvantage that the “console” market can exploit. Take what happened to me for example. I just bought a iPad 3, now a iPad4 is on the market and my machine is out dated (in less than a month! I thought I had 6 more months of being up to date). I am ANGRY (as a angry bird), I now own a outdated device I just bought, it’s support life has perhaps have been cut by a year (things like updates, and patches.) I feel somewhere down the line people are going to get fatigued with the release of new hardware every year! I think this can be an advantage to the “console” market if they stream content that has been processed by super servers or in the “cloud”. Think this will allow them to adapt to anything without the need to update hardware for decades at a time. Interfaces can be updated, ad space can be sold, anything can be played (Skyrim at the highest setting...), there would not be a limit at least at the consumer end. All the provider would have to worry about is the maintenance to the server/processors, and grabbing as many licences as possible (with exclusivity if possible), at a reasonable price.


    I guess being reasonably affordable to the consumer is the name of the game. They cant be charging $60 + a game, not in this market. I think they need to appeal to the market in affordability, then once capturing that market make it unappealing for the consumer to leave. (Kind of like what Facebook has done. They captured an entire audience, and made it next to impossible to leave the social space due to inconvenience. It has become a part of our lives). Provide up to date services that can be updated via “ the cloud” without the use of hardware, affordability, and provide a selection of content.
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    • #3
      I've never been a big console guy, but I am a Nintendo fan-boy.

      For me, I like family games and the Wii has been perfect for us... and most of our time has been spent playing Mario games, Zelda games... and lately, SKYLANDERS.



      Skylanders is a freakishly popular game for all the major systems (the big three) as well as handheld (3DS).

      Activision released a piddly little "tap" game for iOS that used the codes that came with the characters to unlock them in the game.



      Well sometime in the last little while, Activision announced that it was going to release two more games for iOS: a freemium city builder called "Skylanders Lost Islands" and a turn-based board/battle game called "Skylanders Battlegrounds"...

      ... well word is that Activision will also release a bluetooth portal with a Battlegrounds that will use all of the existing figurines to extend gameplay.



      I wonder how many folks with iOS devices will pick this up for their kids for the iPad (and iPod Touch if its set up for that).

      I think that the Pokémon-ish "Gotta Catch 'Em All" nature of Skylanders was ingenious, but this move to bypassing handhelds and consoles and going to iOS is another stroke of genius.

      Note: I have all 32 Skylanders for the first game and am sitting out the second game (Giants) for now.
      ‎"Give me $50 worth. Just drive."

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      • #4
        Originally posted by ProfClayton View Post
        I've never been a big console guy, but I am a Nintendo fan-boy.

        This.... I didn't buy a ps3 or xbox 360. However I did grab a wii.

        I hope they have massive shortages so I can't buy one. Otherwise I'm going to buy it and regret it like I did the wii. I grew up with Nintendo. And even though their latest offering isn't technically impressive. They still have those classic franchises that they could probably botch and I would still buy. This stuff is like cigarettes for children. They got me when I was young and now I can't stop.

        Anyways, Nintendo is a toy company. Maybe their approach is somewhat gimmicky. Like a gi joe toy that has spring loaded weapons or chopping action, kids will still buy that. As a toy it will have to thrive by hiding its weakness like the wii. The touch screen isn't multi touch. The microphone built into the controller can't be used for in game chat. The screen isn't HD. The wii u is going to be burning some of its horsepower on displaying graphics to 2 screens. The cpu isn't as fast as the xbox 360 or ps3. (the gpu is a little faster) No HDD. Console can potentially handle 2 hand held screen controllers but there are no games that support that and the controller will not be sold separately. Strangely enough nintendo claims it will be selling the console at a loss. Which is surprising. It isn't exactly a leap in technology.

        The one thing that bothers me is the history of their last console. Wave Race, F-zero, Star Fox, pikmin*. Those are games that weren't on the wii. Nintendo is stretched a bit too thin to support all of their franchises. And they have to support those franchises across 2 systems. The wii u and the 3ds. Can the 3rd party fill the void? It is all about the games after all. If I buy a wii u, I can see my console collecting dust while I wait for the next nintendo game to be released.
        箴 言 18:12
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