Wired Proclaims the Death of the Game Console 368
A reader points out an article at Wired arguing that game consoles and the business model that sustained them are now "obsolete." Quoting:
"Years from now, 225 million devices will almost certainly be seen as the point at which the console business peaked. Gamers are going elsewhere for their fix. The console's time at the top of the heap is drawing to an end, and these machines won't survive without radical change. ... Consoles used to do everything best, but those strengths are now being wiped away. Unlike PC games, which may require finicky custom settings, consoles 'just work,' fans have long pointed out. Well, so does the iPad. Consoles are cheaper than PCs? Not when you factor in the growing disparity in game prices. Consoles have all the good content? Well, if you want Nintendo- or Sony-exclusive games, you'll need to buy their hardware. But for many gamers, Angry Birds is becoming more attractive than Mario.
Re:Game Controls (Score:5, Informative)
Nobody wants or cares about the ability to plunk down $500 on 3 more fps.
Of course they do - the person who bought the hardware to get a better gaming experience. I've spent a lot of money on my gaming rig, and believe me the gaming experience is WAY above anything a console can deliver. While your console is struggling along at 1024x720@30fps, I'm playing the same game at 6014x1200@{whatever the pegged fps is} with much more detail, more effects, and higher quality sound. You might as well argue that everyone should just buy the cheapest, shittiest car they can find because it'll crawl up to the speed limit, so why do you need anything better?
They'd rather everyone was the same anyways.
Slow loading times haven't been a problem since playstation 1 days.
Please tell me you're joking. Have you compared the speed of a PC loading a game from an SSD RAID / RAM disk, to a PS3/Xbox grinding away with an old optical disk, and so little RAM it can't cache anything worth a damn? I DO also own an PS3, I hadn't used it for anything much except playing BlueRay disks for over 2 years (it's now been replaced by a dedicated BR player) The last time I tried a game in it, I honestly thought it had frozen each time it tried to load a new level. On my gaming rig, there's no waiting - ever. Last game I can compare between PC and console was Skyrim. On the console there were huge delays while loading - on PC, there was nowhere near enough time to read anything on the "did you know" type screen before the level loaded. If you haven't noticed the HUGE difference here, you obviously haven;'t played a game on a proper gaming PC in a few years.
Games are only expensive if you buy the expensive ones, and most of those titles cost the same on PC.
So you mean if you buy any current games they're expensive on console? That's about right. PC games are cheaper on Steam. Check it yourself.
Console updates happen by pressing "ok". Easy enough for kids, no headaches for adults.
Last time I tried, this is how it went:
Insert game - "Your system needs a software update, please exit the game and update..."
Exit game, scroll across to the "System" tab, navigate up (for some reason the software update is above all the other options), choose "Software update"
"Checking..." (finally) "A software update was found, would you like to install?"
Press Yes, "Please accept these new terms and conditions", click through
"Would you like the system to shut down after updating", press Yes.
(update takes 20 minutes)
On PC? Updates happen in the background, automatically install as the machine is shut down.
Which is easier?
Good customization and mods come back as new titles. The rest is largely garbage, and the difference is negligible. Meanwhile, most people just don't care.
Please provide any evidence of this. Or is it just something you made up while writing this reply? Maybe you're just not aeware of the modding communities for a lot of current games. Or you have no choice because you're stuck with a 7 year old piece of locked down tech that's incapable of handling this content.
Nobody wants to play with keyboard, mice, 10,000 buttons and macros. They want to lay on the living room floor or sit on the couch with a controller.
Sorry, how old are you? 12? Keyboards don't have "10,000 buttons". People (well, adults) don't necessarily want to lay on the floor to play games. Personally I like playing my games at v.high resolution, every visual effect enabled, surround sound, instant load times and no screaming little XBox brats in my ears. It's worth the cost. The fact you keep stating absolutes ("Nobody does this, nobody does that") suggests you're a child living in his own little bubble, peobably without the means to have a choice of gaming platform. You're therefore arguing from a position of ignorance.
The fact is that the keyboard+mouse is the better control system for FPS'. H