Kojima Predicts the End of the Console

nathanielinbrazil writes "Konami founder and developer Hideo Kojima predicts gaming console is a dying breed. Anticipates gaming on demand via Internet. 'It's a bold prediction,' Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kawano told reporters nervously. 'We hope he continues to develop for platforms, but we deeply respect his sense of taking on a challenge.' Kojima launches his follow-up game Heavy Metal Solid Gear: Peace Walker in late April designed for the PSP."

Re:Doubtful

[LatencyKills]

I like computer gaming for the depth - Total War, Master of Orion, etc. Console gaming fulfills the high adrenaline stuff - God of War, Uncharted. Of course, computers get some of that too, but not all of it. But all of this is really off topic. What I believe he's trying to say (having not read a single line of TFA) is that there is strength in a subscription-based gaming service. It's an interesting concept. If you pay $2 an hour to play Bioshock 2, and I finish it in 6 hours, that's only 12 dollars. But I have a friend who is on like his fourth play through - he'd be up near $50. It seems to me then that a subscription service penalizes heavy gamers but would be great for mid-casual gamers like me. It would also save me the heartache of paying $60 for C&C4, when at whatever hourly rate they wanted to charge I could find out that it's awful in an hour or less. Ultimately I think there's room for both services, if for no other reason than the ability to play games in places where there is no significant connectivity.

Mutually Exclusive? I think not

[tsj5j]

Consoles are merely a platform whereas the internet is a medium. I can easily imagine a future (or even partially present) where internet speeds make it viable for optical media to be obsolete, and hence allowing for games to easily and confidently implement online multiplayer components without alienating their player base that suffers from poor connections. (though it might be a sad one with DRM).

Depends what type of gaming

[rolfwind]

For casual gaming, yes and this has already happened to a degree with smartphones.

But for hardcore or graphics intensive games, I don't see anything beyond PCs or consoles. Heck, the trend is so much towards consoles, this generation we have 3 of them with respectable size audiences. Six, if you count the DS, PSP, and PS2 (because it's still selling). Back in the original NES days, there was one winner and the rest were afterthoughts.

Years ago, things like the Wii Controller would only differentiate the systems if it came standard with the console, but really dedicated hardware like the Balance Board would never have taken off (power glove, super scope, etc anyone?) and after the initial game very few others would follow because the install base just wasn't there. Now even more dedicated hardware than the console/controller itself is taking off.

I just don't see platform agnostic gaming being feasible in the near-future. It's usually the attention to detail and tailored package that makes the experience and sale.

It'll happen at some point

[aztektum]

With services being integrated into TVs and being able to get home theaters streaming from a file server, I don't doubt a dedicated console will disappear from living rooms. The games will still be there, but they will be loaded on your server/computer and allow you stream them to whatever room you're in. Sort of like a localized OnLive.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will try to keep you locked into their platform, but that will only last a generation or so longer. I can see Steam becoming even bigger and integrating the streaming play, locking others in a different room out while you're logged into your account (unless they have an account of their own).

Re:Heavy Metal Solid Gear?

[lowlymarine]

That's far from the only error in the summary. My suspicion is that it was written just to infuriate those of us who have OCD about proper grammar and sentence structure. EG:

Konami founder and developer Hideo Kojima predicts gaming console is a dying breed. Anticipates gaming on demand via Internet.

The flow of that is positively dreadful.

Re:Doubtful

[DeadDecoy]

I'd hate to have that for any bioware or strategy game due to the sheer amount of gameplay involved. I imagine quite a few people here would be poor if they had to pay an hourly fee to play Civilization; Small games can last up to 6 hours :P. If we moved to a subscription based architecture, developers would probably change their design strategy to generate short bursts of content, which will ultimately lead to smaller, more shallow games. No offense to Telltale games, but the episodic content of Monkey Island and Sam & Max feels like a shadow of their predecessors' former glory. I wouldn't mind seeing what the industry does with subscription based content, but I wouldn't want to see it move as a whole to this form of distribution, at least for some developers.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb here

[HAKdragon]

What does Megaman have to do with Kojima?

Reverse

[wisnoskij]

Was it not just a week or 2 ago that someone else said that the end of computer gaming was coming soon, and consoles would reign supreme?

Re:Doubtful

[Hatta]

I used to love PC gaming, but the enjoyment just isn't there anymore. Mainly it is the hardware / driver / tweaking issues and ridiculous DRM that killed it for me.

Clearly you don't remember fiddling with config.sys for those last few K needed for the game you just bought. And then flipping through the manual looking for word 6 of paragraph 2 on page 12 so you could actually play it. If PC gaming can survive that, it'll survive this no problem.

Re:Doubtful

[jedidiah]

He probably does.

That sort of stuff is positively benign and quaint compared to the nonsense they pull today.

Re:Doubtful

[jshackney]

Next time, try reading the article. He's talking about platform independence, not subscriptions.

"In the near future, we'll have games that don't depend on any platform. Gamers should be able to take the experience with them in their living rooms, on the go, when they travel wherever they are and whenever they want to play. It should be the same software and the same experience."

This is the only part of the article that is relevant to the article's title. The rest is about Kojima's new game. Imagine that, a headline that sucks you in only to find out there's little to no content.

I kinda agree with Kojima. It would be nice if games were platform independent. I stopped computer gaming long, long ago when escalating hardware requirements left me in the dust. It's cheaper just to buy a console every few years than it is to upgrade my PC with every new software release. I used to be heavy into flight simulation--the cost of entry is high. Too high.

Re:HTPC gaming at a party

[idontgno]

You have pretty limited experience with on-line games, don't you?

The "human interaction" is richly-textured and explores the full breadth of human ass-hattery, just like in person. Except it might depend on a modicum of skill with the push-to-talk button. And has less chance to degenerate into physical violence and law enforcement attention.

Re:Reverse

[Blakey Rat]

So weird! It's almost as if different people could have different opinions-- but that can't be right!