One Console Future

[voltz]

Well there's your 1 platform right there! We wouldn't need a console format to compete with that because the market is self preserving enough as it is.

[NeoZeedeater]

The problem with this model though is that hardware manufacturers have no incentive to subsidize the price. Sony and MS sell their hardware at a loss because they're going to make it up on software. If you're Samsung and you get NO CUT of the licensing fees to make PS5 games, you aren't going to sell your version of the PS5 for 300 less than it costs you to make it. Consoles would go from 400 - 500 dollar investments at launch to 800 - 1,000. Do you think anyone's going to be upgrading that in 5 years when they paid a grand for it? And if you say well we will just make the parts upgradeable so then can do it slowly over time then you miss the whole point of it being a console and not a PC.

I don't know about you but I personally think gaming is too expensive as it is already. A one console future isn't going to make things cheaper.

Frog already said most of what I would have but think of the combined launch hardware prices of the 360, PS3, and Wii. There's no benefit for the consumer to have those pieces of hardware separately. 360 and PS3 games are hard to tell apart and the Wii is last gen hardware. It's not like in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras where each console displayed graphics and sound uniquely. I doubt having a standard console would be initially any more expensive than that. And even if it was, time and competition from several manufacturers would lower prices fairly quickly.

And price wars aside, one of the biggest advantages is that hardware companies can't censor content. Can you imagine if your DVD or MP3 player did that? That's what console gaming has been like from the NES onwards. The first-party model holds back artistic expression and people think it's normal.

[gamevet]

The PC is as mainstream as you can get. Facebook games and online poker and all that garbage make PC gaming just as popular as console gaming, if not more.

Yeah, but the big publishers are shying away from that audience, because it's composed of users with low-end hardware that aren't willing to invest $60 for a game. World of Warcraft has been the dominant game for the platform, while the consoles have taken over the FPS market that was once a dominant force on PC. It will be interesting to see how well the PC version of Crysis 2 sells, vs. the inferior console game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/14/cr...s-fragged-too/

Perhaps this can be considered a lesson for game developers eager to deliver tomorrow's game technology today: Crysis hit the PC market with an exoskeleton-enhanced thud. The critically praised -- but processing intensive -- title sold a disappointing 86,633 units in the States following its Nov. 13 release.

[Frogacuda]

We will not have a 1 console future.
1. The market has proven it can support 2 consoles, and more recently 3.
2. The market is larger now than ever, and will continue to grow. If the current players combine, new companies will take the opportunity to launch a competing console.
3. Hardware development costs are only as expensive as the companies want to make them. A console can be designed out of 95+% off the shelf parts, you don't need to develop your own chips/boards/whatnot if you don't want to.
4. I don't believe Nintendo will ever give up the console business and supply software for another platform, at least not anytime soon. It will always be Nintendo and another console.

The thread title is misleading. This is more about a move to a third-party hardware model than it is a world with only one console. Realistically, there will be competition, but without the first-parties, the market will likely decide on a standard on its own, as with the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD thing, because multiple redundant pieces of hardware don't benefit consumers.

[Drewbacca]

But I find it interesting that the data in that article doesn't even show app traffic as a relevant, yet claims it will kill the internet. I mean yeah, a lot of people use the app version of Engadget or IMDB, but it doesn't seem significant enough that anyone will talk numbers.

I don't know. The one thing I can see wrong with this analysis is the fact that people know to download an Engadget app because they experienced it from the web browser first. Web is truly an open market so people who want the truly latest will have to still adopt it. That is the one issue I see with it. But the numbers and trend of that graph is clear. Browser traffic is becoming marginalized. And to pertain to this thread in particular - Google is looking to diversify its model.

All Apple did was change the iOS development policy, which they revised back months ago. Stay current with this news if you're going to talk about it.

It's been months I don't remember the exact way. Regardless, Apple locked Adobe out and now Adobe is threatening/posturing a lawsuit in retaliation.

We will not have a 1 console future.
1. The market has proven it can support 2 consoles, and more recently 3.
2. The market is larger now than ever, and will continue to grow. If the current players combine, new companies will take the opportunity to launch a competing console.
3. Hardware development costs are only as expensive as the companies want to make them. A console can be designed out of 95+% off the shelf parts, you don't need to develop your own chips/boards/whatnot if you don't want to.
4. I don't believe Nintendo will ever give up the console business and supply software for another platform, at least not anytime soon. It will always be Nintendo and another console.

Also anybody who thinks Sony and Microsoft and whoever else will just give up their market share and get along are lying to themselves. Didn't someone just post about Microsoft making 1.2 billion last year on subscription fee's and royalties on downloads alone?

The PC is as mainstream as you can get. Facebook games and online poker and all that garbage make PC gaming just as popular as console gaming, if not more.

Isn't this because of the move to XML, Java and C+? Maybe Facebook is the next platform! I will LOL at Yoshi if that ever became reality. Complete corruption of his baby.