On message boards, naysayers have been claiming for years that PC gaming is "doomed." But John Welch, CEO and co-founder of Diner Dash house PlayFirst says it's the other way around.
"...I think the console is going to be over as we knew it previously. They're expensive to make, there is no real need for them," he told Venture Beat.
As the head of a business based on mass market online PC gaming, he's convinced that the hardcore console gamer is increasingly a niche audience.
Ironically, he pointed to the massive success of the Nintendo Wii as proof that console gaming is on its last leg.
"I think the biggest proof point in the death of consoles in my thesis is the Wii," he said. "The most successful, most difficult to acquire console in this generation is at least a generation old in hardware.
"The advances are in software and peripherals. Why do you need a box for that? If the real expansion is occurring because of what Nintendo has done, why do we even need a console?"
He said that technology on par with the Wii's could be implemented in "your average set top box."
Welch continued, "How much would it cost to integrate Wii-like technology into a set top box, if anything even needs to be specialized? What we really need are more standards around the input devices."
Welch's comments are in line with those of fellow online exec Alex St. John, the head of WildTangent.
"The console era is fading rapidly because graphics are no longer the differentiator: people are looking for other things like community or new types of input," St. John recently told Edge.
I'm a console convert. Used to swear by my PC - never touched a console at all. Then I was bought an Xbox and now have my 360 and have never looked back. So much more convenient, so much cheaper, no worries about compatibility and upgrading. And with Half-Life and (future) Crysis games moving over the the consoles too, why should I bother with hunching myself over a desk to play games? I'm damn sure I'm not the only one either. It's the way it's going, I'm afraid, so my advice to this chap would be to take his head out of the sand and start cleaning up his desk.
He has a point but its backwards. Hes talking about integrating console functionality into set top boxes. But I think the next generation of consoles will have more set top box functionality intergrated into them. Watching your favourite tv shows through the Xbox720 will be available at the touch of a button and there will be console only tv channels to watch certain live shows.
So its the stand alone set top box that will be made redundant.
Seems like this guy is talking a load of biased crap. I've got a pc and 2 consoles (Wii and Ps3) and I've found the Ps3 to be way more cost effecient than the pc not having to worry about upgrading or software/hardware problems is great. Admitadly I'll get Farcry 2 on pc, purely based on graphics but saying console gaming is on it's last leg seems over the top.
if anything the PC has evolved into consoles as the 360 runs a version of windows and contains similar tech to a PC, the ps3 runs linux and also contains similar tech to a PC. most PC devs work on consoles as a priority and i cant see consoles going away, maybe just evolving into set top boxes as mentioned earlier.
all i want is a console that can act as a PVR and digital tuner out of the box, stream films a la bt vision, and an integrated web browser. not much to ask i know but i would also need an HDTV.
The only day that the console will die is when the following happens.
1. PC gaming has a standard spec for games 2. All graphics cards and CPU’s have a standard and supported by games makers 3. You don’t have to upgrade your PC every year to play games 4. Millions of people stop buying consoles
I think he might want to look at the most played monthly figures for the consoles. If he can explain what he just said to the CoD4, GTA4, Halo 3, etc players he might just have a point.
Yet another example of some kn*b-end using sales figures as his only source. Total time played or fail, nooblet.
I own a 360 and a PS3, as well as a powerhouse gaming rig, but the absolute most fun I have playing consoles, is on my friends Wii.
What makes consoles fun, is not the power they have. Case in point - I don't own a single game for my PS3, I just use it to play BluRay discs.
His point isn't really that consoles are dying, but that dedicated gaming consoles are. That the casual gamers might move to "set top box that they need anyway", and without the casual gamers, the consoles will suffer. The big MMORPGs are on the PC as well, not on consoles.
The PS3 is trying to be more than just for gaming, with their TV-thingy that lets you record from your TV-signal. The main reason the PS3 has such a large "install base" is because of the BluRay support. There aren't *really* any must-have games on the PS3 that are worth the price of the PS3. Most of the sellers are also available on the much cheaper 360 - where the games are cheaper too!
I think, however badly it may suit the fanbois, that he has a valid point. Consoles sell when they're cheap and/or versatile. Not because they're powerful.
Once I've dusted my wii off it's up for sale - it's only been turned on once in the last 8 months and that was for bbc iplayer (which i couldn't use without paying for the internet browser).
PC's aren't cost effective - I bought a top of the line PC (which I customised) for £900 back in 2002 - 1 year after my ps2. I haven't been able to play games on it for years except football manager because it's spec is now too low - since then I've replaced a broken ps2, bough a psp and ps3 and a wii coming to about £850 and I still have years left out of them.
I can't even upgrade my pc anymore as all the slots have been changed. I'm just happy I can still use most of the software I need on it.
Consoles are bringing in more things like PVR but personally I'm happy with them being seperate - at least if one goes wrong it'll cost you a lot less to replace.
There was a poll done a while back which pointed out that something like 40% of Wiis hadn't been switched on for a month or two. Just because the Wii has sold a zillion units and 50 million casual games doesn't mean that they get played very often. It's definitely a console for people who only feel like playing every now and then. That's the market it has.
But you tell that to the hundreds of thousands of players hitting BF:BC and CoD4 and Halo 3, totalling millions of man-hours every month. They might number less total sales, but they play more often, more regularly and for longer than any casual owner ever will.
Sure, you might sell more copies of Fluffy Bunnies in Super Twinkly Land on Wii, but I guarantee you that Psycho Bloody Deathbringers on PS3/360 will total more time played in a week than the other would in a lifetime. It's all about whether you want a cheap throwaway product for quick cash, or something that people are actually going to keep playing for the life of the disc.
if anything the PC has evolved into consoles as the 360 runs a version of windows and contains similar tech to a PC, the ps3 runs linux and also contains similar tech to a PC. most PC devs work on consoles as a priority and i cant see consoles going away, maybe just evolving into set top boxes as mentioned earlier.
all i want is a console that can act as a PVR and digital tuner out of the box, stream films a la bt vision, and an integrated web browser. not much to ask i know but i would also need an HDTV.
Are you stupid? Dont you mean Consoles has evolved in to PC's? and why do you need an HDTV? you see that monitor your using to type this? That is technically HD Ready! all you need is a convertor from ur xbox360/PS3 to VGA/DVI cable and your running in full HD? You can buy these off ebay for about £5! So dont fall for the comet store guy selling you a £500+ HD Ready TV!
if anything the PC has evolved into consoles as the 360 runs a version of windows and contains similar tech to a PC, the ps3 runs linux and also contains similar tech to a PC. most PC devs work on consoles as a priority and i cant see consoles going away, maybe just evolving into set top boxes as mentioned earlier.
all i want is a console that can act as a PVR and digital tuner out of the box, stream films a la bt vision, and an integrated web browser. not much to ask i know but i would also need an HDTV.
Are you stupid? Dont you mean Consoles has evolved in to PC's? and why do you need an HDTV? you see that monitor your using to type this? That is technically HD Ready! all you need is a convertor from ur xbox360/PS3 to VGA/DVI cable and your running in full HD? You can buy these off ebay for about £5! So dont fall for the comet store guy selling you a £500+ HD Ready TV!
no i dont mean that at all and i cant play games at work. also, my monitor at home is a 22 inch widescreen on which i use my PC and 360 but i wouldnt dream of using it to watch or record TV it just isnt big enough. the PC is evolving into the living room.
Listen to what he is saying instead of being blinded by your M$ eye-glasses :
Look what M$ is doing with the 360 = Budget price-point and casual games being heavily promoted as core games in Lips and Scene It!
They've been blinded by the benjamins and there is no turning back. The evil company has seen what success the Wii has achieved and there is only one direction the next filthy xbocks is going in
They've already started switching track with 360, the price point and new focus on casual games is trying desperately to put it into direct competition with the Nintendo casual preserve
Contrary to popular belief my first love was the P.C so whilst I'm playing proper games on that and the PS4 in the future you sheep can enjoy your dance and fitness sims, that's if you are still alive by then and haven't been beaten to death outside because you look so different
Listen to what he is saying instead of being blinded by your M$ eye-glasses :
Look what M$ is doing with the 360 = Budget price-point and casual games being heavily promoted as core games in Lips and Scene It!
They've been blinded by the benjamins and there is no turning back. The evil company has seen what success the Wii has achieved and there is only one direction the next filthy xbocks is going in
They've already started switching track with 360, the price point and new focus on casual games is trying desperately to put it into direct competition with the Nintendo casual preserve
Contrary to popular belief my first love was the P.C so whilst I'm playing proper games on that and the PS4 in the future you sheep can enjoy your dance and fitness sims, that's if you are still alive by then and haven't been beaten to death outside because you look so different
There was a poll done a while back which pointed out that something like 40% of Wiis hadn't been switched on for a month or two. Just because the Wii has sold a zillion units and 50 million casual games doesn't mean that they get played very often. It's definitely a console for people who only feel like playing every now and then. That's the market it has.
I'm a hardcore gamer I still play my wii. often. my best friend is a casual gamer who plays her wii often(daily in fact)
But you tell that to the hundreds of thousands of players hitting BF:BC and CoD4 and Halo 3, totalling millions of man-hours every month. They might number less total sales, but they play more often, more regularly and for longer than any casual owner ever will.
Listen to what he is saying instead of being blinded by your M$ eye-glasses :
Look what M$ is doing with the 360 = Budget price-point and casual games being heavily promoted as core games in Lips and Scene It!
They've been blinded by the benjamins and there is no turning back. The evil company has seen what success the Wii has achieved and there is only one direction the next filthy xbocks is going in
They've already started switching track with 360, the price point and new focus on casual games is trying desperately to put it into direct competition with the Nintendo casual preserve
Contrary to popular belief my first love was the P.C so whilst I'm playing proper games on that and the PS4 in the future you sheep can enjoy your dance and fitness sims, that's if you are still alive by then and haven't been beaten to death outside because you look so different
How is this even vaguely relevant to this news story? Is the PS4 not going to be a console?
The only part of this news article I agree with is "what we really need are more standards around the input devices." I'd much rather consoles be an open platform, like DVDs are. They all play the same game discs, but the internals are different, depending on the specific company making them. So you'll get cheap LG consoles, and uber expensive, top of the line Sony consoles. Both play the same games, but aesthetics, reliability, and internals will vary greatly.
Ironically, this is exactly the format PCs have...
A couple of posts not dedicated to needless system bashing? joyous day!
Sorry, I'll remedy that then.
A hardcore gamer is someone that owns a PS3. Only unintelligent, casual gamers like the Xbutt360 and it's violent library of shooters and drug taking.
Hardcore gamers prefer systems with few games to muddy the water with. In fact, it's a sign of a quality system when you only have one - or even better, none - games to taint the system with.
"I think the biggest proof point in the death of consoles in my thesis is the Wii," he said. "The most successful, most difficult to acquire console in this generation is at least a generation old in hardware.
I don't get this, he's saying that consoles are dying yet admits the success of the wii at the same time
If he's trying to say that consoles won't be powerful that's just rubbish because i, like alot of other console gamers (360/PS3), like amazing graphics, physics, AI, HDD space etc. and thats what i want from the next generation, improvements.If SONY and Microsoft announce that they're gonna do a Nintendo and bring out old tech with a new control I'd be gutted.
From an entirely personal perspective I will never use PC's as gaming machines because i don't have the knowledge on how to upgrade them (and don't care enough to learn,why bother when i know i can buy a console and live in the knowledge that every game i buy for it WILL work for a respectable number of years without me doing anything), you have to sit at a desk (I think it's uncomfortable), they're unreliable and also i love splitscreen gaming which doesn't sound like a good idea on a monitor... sat on a desk!
Note: these views are entirely from a personal perspective and i am not saying that the wii or PC's are s**t because that would be lying now wouldn't it? so please, no replies calling me a fanboy and also i know my spelling and grammar isn't the greatest before anyone mentions it!
As the head of a business based on mass market online PC gaming, he's convinced that the hardcore console gamer is increasingly a niche audience.
"...I think the console is going to be over as we knew it previously. They're expensive to make, there is no real need for them," he told Venture Beat.
Whatever mate. He's obviously not biased in any way...
It obviously made sense to him at some stage, most probably when he was alcohol/drug addled to the max. As noted before the statements in this article are just one big contradiction after another. With about 40 million (guesstimate) this gen consoles sold worldwide so far I don't see where he gets this conclusion from. Now if Ninty, Sony and MSoft had only sold a couple of million (although there was a time when those were very succesful figures)of consoles each then yes maybe I would agree. Where do these idiots come from and who in god's name interviews them. .
i remember some developers saying that their pc ports of games on 360 ps3 werent selling as well as asspected due to high costs to run them on a pc that everyone can afford.i mean your talking at least 1000 for a half decent pc capable of upgrading graphics to ps3 360 level but without the graphics card.so pc gaming aint cheap at all,plus you get a load of waiting around s**t start up shut down pc,boring stuff,wasting your gaming time.and at dis moment in time it wud quite expensive to hav wii like specs ina set top box,let alone the controls of wii which in its slef would cause a law suit if done wrong,sure the wii mote on its on costs 54eruo.nunchuck 24.99eruo,thats 78.99eruo without wii hardware.also i no wii comes with mote but you would need 2.and if dis guy done his homework he wud realise dat wii has more power dan last gen(the specs were upped from gamecube making it twice as powerful)even if not as powerful as360 ps3,id even say it wud b expensive to get ps2 hardware specs set top box specs,id say his comment was made through insecureity about the dim futher of pc gaming,i mean more games sell on consoles,i think pc gaming is a dying breed.
If people in this thread would stop tripping over themselves with the insecure Wii bashing, they would realise that as long as Nintendo exist it's very unlikely they will stop making consoles.
TV's are bloody bigger, better resolution, consoles only point of view that beats the PC is that they are made to play multi player on, would game devs remember that, or keep wasting money trying to sell games on PS3 and 360, with crappy PC online only multiplayer.
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WOW, long post, soz!
