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Death of Consoles?


Tr3vor

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I was watcing one of IGN's daily fix videos, and some creator of Metal Gear Solid is saying that consoles are dieing out. From what I see, consoles arnt going anywhere. everyone is still buying them, buying software for them, and (some people) buying a second console, for reasons like some Halo 3 xbox or something. I don't know what he's smoking, but it must be good...

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The gaming market has taken a hit just as the rest of the economy but it has really hit small game developers more than it has the large game producers and the console makers. The console industry seems to be as strong as ever. I don't see any reason to believe it is dying out. Anyone that believes that isn't looking at the numbers.

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Game consoles are going nowhere, the media is changing though, I figure in another two or three generations, DD will be the only option on the mainstream consoles (though I also see subconsoles coming out for people like me that want physical media still)

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I'd venture to say that there's more challenging the console market now than there was in 1983. With the 360 reliability problems and the bad economy we've just had, really, I think there's less a reason to buy a console now than there was back then.

 

People are still buying them, though, and buying them pretty fast.

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That guy (Metal Gear guy) saying that is plain silly. Maybe it will be called something else....(A console by any other name....)

 

What does he figure they will be playing on? Drag their PC to the television and plug in? Be satisfied with iPhone games?

 

You're right about media going to die, however. The holy grail of the console maker will be no used game sales and no production/distribution costs for the games. Not only that, they'll be happy to charge you monthly for the "privilege" of connecting to their network where you may pay again for the game and pay again (and again) for "additional" content that formerly was included in games. Why would consoles die when they're heading in this $$$$$$ direction - a tightly-controlled closed system monopoly that you pay all the way for. Try transferring your DSi-ware to a DSi-XL.

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The only consoles dying out are Xbox 360's with the RROD! :P

 

But seriously, I think that's the first time I've heard someone say that CONSOLES were dying out rather than PC gaming.

 

Neither of them are going anywhere. I think people just say that kind of stuff to stir up readers.

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This is a very old story, and it never makes any sense. Consoles are dying? Oh, so that must mean video games as a whole are becoming less popular. What, no? The industry gets more revenue and more consumers every year, and has for the past 15-30 years? Oh, maybe it means that only console games are dying? Well, actually, they're much healthier than the sales figures for PC gaming products. Maybe it just means that consoles will be replaced by devices like the iPhone. Well... these are probably the same people who think the iPad is going to be everyone's primary computer in 10 years.

 

Why did someone suggest that? Well, I could be generous and say they're ignorantly recycling a story from the early 80s and 90s, when people thought PCs were the inevitable replacements for consoles. If I were less generous and more conspiratorial, I might say it's a FUD move on the part of a media who is losing more consumer attention to video games every year.

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I was watcing one of IGN's daily fix videos, and some creator of Metal Gear Solid is saying that consoles are dieing out. From what I see, consoles arnt going anywhere. everyone is still buying them, buying software for them, and (some people) buying a second console, for reasons like some Halo 3 xbox or something. I don't know what he's smoking, but it must be good...

 

Actually, I wonder about that.

 

Consoles are starting to look less and less like a console these days. Give it another couple of generations and I wonder if we'll still be able to consider it a "console". About the only thing it'll have that'll still resemble a console is the locked in definite hardware setup - but really, when you see the way both Nintendo and Sony are doing these little incremental changes to their handhelds...

 

*edit*

 

Well, I could be generous and say they're ignorantly recycling a story from the early 80s and 90s, when people thought PCs were the inevitable replacements for consoles. If I were less generous and more conspiratorial, I might say it's a FUD move on the part of a media who is losing more consumer attention to video games every year.

 

The way it's presented, yes, I'd call it FUD as well. High end gaming machines in the home will likely be here to stay. But they aren't going to remain the way we use to know them all the way up to last gen. It's going to focus on that social networking crap and online stuff. I can easily see the day in a few generations time when consoles will be download-only (From launch rather than half way through a cycle like Sony tried to do with the Go. :P) and with the way things are going, I fully expect those consoles to require a constant internet connection like what Ubisoft has been pulling with their PC games lately. :)

 

I will refuse to acknowledge anything of the sort as a console, so if my grim prediction comes to pass I will consider consoles dead. :sad:

Edited by Mord
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"They" want absolute control over content and delivery so I have to agree a little bit with what he says. They really want to put a drastic end to piracy or at least be able to control it. That can never really happen I dont think.

 

I have to say that when Kojima-san (Metal Gear mastermind) talks I will at least listen to what he has to say.

Even though he's a developer and in cahoots with giant software\hardware publishers, he still thinks and speaks sometimes without outside influence.

 

He's not too far off. I dont want to see it happen but I could kind of see something like it in the future. :(

 

The firmware updates and all the different CFW's on the PSP and the constant new hardware models on the DS has completely gone through the roof.

Its insane.

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Keep an eye on OnLive. While it isn't clear yet whether this thing will succeed (or even function adequately... the jury is still out), this is certainly one technology that has the potential to kill the console as we know it.

 

--Zero

 

 

I was thinking to myself as I watched the demo on the main page of OnLive's site that this peice of shit reminds me of WebTV! I look to the "about us" page and what do I see? It's the same joker that made WebTV that is now trying to pimp it again but with a few new bells and this time calling it OnLive. :lol: Sorry WebTV didn't work the first time and it's not gonna work now. :roll:

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Keep an eye on OnLive. While it isn't clear yet whether this thing will succeed (or even function adequately... the jury is still out), this is certainly one technology that has the potential to kill the console as we know it.

 

--Zero

 

 

I was thinking to myself as I watched the demo on the main page of OnLive's site that this peice of shit reminds me of WebTV! I look to the "about us" page and what do I see? It's the same joker that made WebTV that is now trying to pimp it again but with a few new bells and this time calling it OnLive. :lol: Sorry WebTV didn't work the first time and it's not gonna work now. :roll:

 

OnLive = IsDead

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  • 2 weeks later...

With all the crap going on with PC games,like that registering crap that STEAM does,which other makers will eventually all do,I'd say PC gaming is on its way out,or losing popularity at an alarming rate.That's what the folks at the various game stores have been telling me also.PC gaming has given me hundreds if not thousands of hrs of great memories or PC gaming fun.PC gaming has become too much of a burden for myself,for reasons above and others.I personally see consoles taking off and outselling PC games by a mile.Its so much easier to just get the console version of any PC game,and no REGISTERING BULLCRAP.Just put it in,and its ready to play,no configuring,no error messages like not enough ram,video ram,blah,blah,blah,like you get with PC gaming.Plus today's consoles,can do everything a PC can,but with no hassle,or A HELL OF A LOT LESS anyway.So i think I'll be getting a console to play the various 1st person shooters i so much am into.So yeah,i see PC gaming coming to a halt pretty soon.I love PC gaming,i still play my old PC games,but today's PC gaming,no thanks. :sad: I may be wrong about some of these points,I'm no gaming expert,but that's what i see right now.

Edited by Rik
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  • 8 years later...

Thread bump, because the upcoming Google "Stadia" has all the old issues that OnLive did.

 

Thread is almost 10 years old. Just shows how long people keep predicting the death of consoles and being wrong time and again. First PS3/Xbox 360 was going to be the last console generation. Then PS4/Xbox One was. Now PS5/next Xbox are on the Horizon and we are going to start to hear a new round of this.

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Yep, on both sides of the argument -- including all the old complaints about how "it will never work!" I want to believe that internet speeds are faster and coverage is better than it was ten years ago. There are always going to be people in rural areas or are stuck with bad internet monopolies, or bandwidth caps. I know for a fact that "AAA" games are larger and more technically complex than they were in the PS3/XB360 days. If nothing else, they have higher resolutions and greater expectations for multiplayer access.

 

I just think it's interesting how cyclical this seems to be. Remember when GameStop pulled OnLive vouchers out of physical boxes of Deus Ex Human Revolution? Now we have Sony, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, and likely Amazon making noise about streaming again. The internet hot takes write themselves, because none of this is new.

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This is a very old story, and it never makes any sense. Consoles are dying? Oh, so that must mean video games as a whole are becoming less popular. What, no? The industry gets more revenue and more consumers every year, and has for the past 15-30 years? Oh, maybe it means that only console games are dying? Well, actually, they're much healthier than the sales figures for PC gaming products. Maybe it just means that consoles will be replaced by devices like the iPhone. Well... these are probably the same people who think the iPad is going to be everyone's primary computer in 10 years.

 

Why did someone suggest that? Well, I could be generous and say they're ignorantly recycling a story from the early 80s and 90s, when people thought PCs were the inevitable replacements for consoles. If I were less generous and more conspiratorial, I might say it's a FUD move on the part of a media who is losing more consumer attention to video games every year.

I'm trying to find a good cartoon or gif about how you're a total prophet, but everything runs afoul of our "no religion" rules. So I guess I'll just say it with words -- check this out from long ago, true as it ever was.

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kind of a personal anecdote, the Switch has had a snowball effect in our house-

 

October 2018 - son gets one for his birthday. dad plays it a bit.

November 2018 - dad now has a Switch. wife plays on his Switch a bit.

January 2019 - wife now has a Switch.

 

lol- i think consoles are going to be around for a while. ;)

Edited by digdugnate
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kind of a personal anecdote, the Switch has had a snowball effect in our house-

 

October 2018 - son gets one for his birthday. dad plays it a bit.

November 2018 - dad now has a Switch. wife plays on his Switch a bit.

January 2019 - wife now has a Switch.

 

lol- i think consoles are going to be around for a while. ;)

 

substitute "case of crippling diarrhea" for "Switch" for inappropriate epidemiology humor

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Thread is almost 10 years old. Just shows how long people keep predicting the death of consoles and being wrong time and again. First PS3/Xbox 360 was going to be the last console generation. Then PS4/Xbox One was. Now PS5/next Xbox are on the Horizon and we are going to start to hear a new round of this.

 

My own prediction in this thread about when the consoles will be dead isn't when we no longer have dedicated gaming boxes, but when they stop acting like consoles, and start acting, essentially, like low end PCs. In this case, while they're still not "dead" yet, the industry isn't nearly as healthy as you'd like to say.

 

The PS4/Xbone generation was going to try to block used sales, require online connections, focus heavily on digital only content, etc. Microsoft announced their plans and thankfully was booed off the stage for the most part. Sony at the last minute after seeing that reaction privately axed their plans to do the same. The only reason the PS4/Xbone era is relatively still close to the PS3/360 era is because of this backing down and forcing Microsoft (in the face of millions of lost preorders) to do the same.

 

And that only really saved the used market and -mostly- undid the online requirement. Many games continued to require online checks to enable purchased DLC for instance.

 

Games all require installation nowadays, it's no longer optional. The state games are being released in are starting to commonly be beta versions that are patched repeatedly or with the rest of the game officially offered as a "season pass" with extra DLC added on top of that. I doubt there's going to be as big an outrage about physical releases being axed when they are at this point simply because they've spent the last 10 years making physical releases as bad as possible. It's to the point where they can add a small black and white manual to the game and that's now enough to call it a collectors edition.

 

I don't think this is the last gen just yet, but it feels a lot more like a PC than a console at this point already.

 

As for Nintendo, the Switch is popular yes. But it's already no longer a console in the strictest terms. It's a high powered handheld that has the ability to be docked to your TV. And that's fine. At least it means the handheld industry is probably safe from this BS for a while longer. - not that it's immune to it by any means. ;)

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My own prediction in this thread about when the consoles will be dead isn't when we no longer have dedicated gaming boxes, but when they stop acting like consoles, and start acting, essentially, like low end PCs. In this case, while they're still not "dead" yet, the industry isn't nearly as healthy as you'd like to say.

 

The PS4/Xbone generation was going to try to block used sales, require online connections, focus heavily on digital only content, etc. Microsoft announced their plans and thankfully was booed off the stage for the most part. Sony at the last minute after seeing that reaction privately axed their plans to do the same. The only reason the PS4/Xbone era is relatively still close to the PS3/360 era is because of this backing down and forcing Microsoft (in the face of millions of lost preorders) to do the same.

 

And that only really saved the used market and -mostly- undid the online requirement. Many games continued to require online checks to enable purchased DLC for instance.

 

Games all require installation nowadays, it's no longer optional. The state games are being released in are starting to commonly be beta versions that are patched repeatedly or with the rest of the game officially offered as a "season pass" with extra DLC added on top of that. I doubt there's going to be as big an outrage about physical releases being axed when they are at this point simply because they've spent the last 10 years making physical releases as bad as possible. It's to the point where they can add a small black and white manual to the game and that's now enough to call it a collectors edition.

 

I don't think this is the last gen just yet, but it feels a lot more like a PC than a console at this point already.

It is still significantly less hassle playing games on a console than on a PC. I do both.

PC games also suffer from beta quality and patching as would streaming games.

 

Consoles are in a sweet spot of power and convenience that isn't likely to be disrupted anytime soon. Mobile doesn't have the luxury of using high-power chips that require large heatsinks/fans consoles will always have an advantage there. But they are far more plug and play than PCs, and efforts to make PC more console like like Steam Boxes haven't really taken off

 

As for Nintendo, the Switch is popular yes. But it's already no longer a console in the strictest terms. It's a high powered handheld that has the ability to be docked to your TV. And that's fine. At least it means the handheld industry is probably safe from this BS for a while longer. - not that it's immune to it by any means. ;)

Yes, but the entire class of portable gaming device was supposed to be dead too due to tablets and smartphones. For awhile it looked like it might happen. But the truth is smartphones/tablets are terrible for many kinds of games, and people like to buy new gadgets. Face it, after upgrading your smart-phone a few times to slightly faster but otherwise very similar model, the thrill wears off. I think that made the concept of portable game machines appealing again. Kind of like in the 80s when we were sure that the home computer was going to kill off the console, only the have the NES spring up after a couple years.

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