3 ms·

What are these guys expecting? The Wii came out 5 years ago. Where's the followup? The Wii 2 isn't coming out this xmas, so we're looking at 6 year cycles on wh

What are these guys expecting? The Wii came out 5 years ago. Where's the followup? The Wii 2 isn't coming out this xmas, so we're looking at 6 year cycles on what's essentially disposable consumer electronics. I'd love to see the industry shift to 3 year cycles with backwards compatibility. The status quo is begging to be disrupted. I just played 30 minutes of BF3 yesterday and its a world of difference on whats going on in the console world, and my rig isn't some impressive gaming rig. The current Wii not only doesn't come close to my PC, its weaker than my phone. Yes, gaming shouldn't be all about the graphics, but giving developers some leeway and a decent GPU now and again should be part of every console company's plan. Gabe Newell thinks Apple is going to launch a console. Dunno if that's true, but I'll bet you they aren't looking at 5 or 6 year cycles like MS and Nintendo. Just doing what these guys do with a 2 or 3 year cycle is going to each their lunch.

wgx 15y ago
"Gabe Newell thinks Apple is going to launch a console." He could be right - but rather than a console, just an 'iOS device' that plugs into your TV and runs app store stuff. Music, movies, games, etc. If they nail the control surface then it could be a big deal.
- tomcreighton 15y ago
  If that's not where AppleTV is going I'd be really surprised.
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  The iPad 2 and iPhone 4S can mirror their display to the Apple TV over Wi-Fi. Provided the response time is somewhere in the range of "useful" (for reference, OnLive works within ~12ms over the Internet IIRC) and they market it properly, they'd own the home market. And even if raw streaming is too slow; the Apple TV packs an A4 SoC. Not as powerful as a Xbox 360, but at $99 it's also way cheaper. Run the game locally, use your iPod Touch as a controller.
vilya 15y ago
Gazing into my crystal ball, I think the next generation of consoles may well be the last. Cloud gaming services like OnLive, which offer games on demand to whatever device you happen to be using, are going to be the ones eating everyone else's lunch. There may still be a (much smaller) market for a dedicated set-top device which connects to these services, but it'll be commoditised. The only way I could see Apple getting involved in this is if they add gaming services to the Apple TV. Which could actually be quite a good fit, now that I think of it.
- ebrenes 15y ago
  That will happen when web apps will completely replace device-specific apps, and by that I mean that it's one of those predictions I don't think will completely pan out. OnLive will face several challenges that will make a console-solution innately better due to the unavoidable issue of latency. As a gamer what might seem like insignificant amounts of lag can ruin gameplay. If not are the user's actions subjected to lag, but also their display and other calculations this can really be a deal-breaker for many customers. I'm sure there are games for which OnLive is perfectly suited, and in those categories OnLive and its successors will dominate. But I also believe there are categories of gaming for which consoles and dedicated devices will continue to dominate. Much like PC gaming hasn't been wiped off the face of the earth.

wgx 15y ago

"Gabe Newell thinks Apple is going to launch a console." He could be right - but rather than a console, just an 'iOS device' that plugs into your TV and runs app store stuff. Music, movies, games, etc. If they nail the control surface then it could be a big deal.

tomcreighton 15y ago
If that's not where AppleTV is going I'd be really surprised.
ConstantineXVI 15y ago
The iPad 2 and iPhone 4S can mirror their display to the Apple TV over Wi-Fi. Provided the response time is somewhere in the range of "useful" (for reference, OnLive works within ~12ms over the Internet IIRC) and they market it properly, they'd own the home market. And even if raw streaming is too slow; the Apple TV packs an A4 SoC. Not as powerful as a Xbox 360, but at $99 it's also way cheaper. Run the game locally, use your iPod Touch as a controller.

vilya 15y ago

Gazing into my crystal ball, I think the next generation of consoles may well be the last. Cloud gaming services like OnLive, which offer games on demand to whatever device you happen to be using, are going to be the ones eating everyone else's lunch. There may still be a (much smaller) market for a dedicated set-top device which connects to these services, but it'll be commoditised. The only way I could see Apple getting involved in this is if they add gaming services to the Apple TV. Which could actually be quite a good fit, now that I think of it.

ebrenes 15y ago
That will happen when web apps will completely replace device-specific apps, and by that I mean that it's one of those predictions I don't think will completely pan out. OnLive will face several challenges that will make a console-solution innately better due to the unavoidable issue of latency. As a gamer what might seem like insignificant amounts of lag can ruin gameplay. If not are the user's actions subjected to lag, but also their display and other calculations this can really be a deal-breaker for many customers. I'm sure there are games for which OnLive is perfectly suited, and in those categories OnLive and its successors will dominate. But I also believe there are categories of gaming for which consoles and dedicated devices will continue to dominate. Much like PC gaming hasn't been wiped off the face of the earth.