4 ms·

My point with the Ouya remark is that the Ouya is an ARM machine, which runs ARM software. Nobody makes ARM games except mobile developers. The Wii, PS3 and 360

by cheald 13y ago

My point with the Ouya remark is that the Ouya is an ARM machine, which runs ARM software. Nobody makes ARM games except mobile developers. The Wii, PS3 and 360 were PPC architectures; the PS4 and Xbone are x86-64 architectures (the Wii U, interestingly, is still PPC, but there seems to be far less of an emphasis for the Wii on capturing third-party AAA titles than there are for other platforms.). The raw power is a secondary concern to the fact that the utter lack of developers making non-mobile ARM games. An A7 system would probably easily capitalize on iOS games, and could have some PS3/360 games ported to it, but the library runs a little thin past that. Apple would have to get developers to port their titles to an underpowered system using a different instruction set that doesn't have a proven sales model for their class of product and which would involve entering into contracts with a company that is famously hostile to developers. Regarding undermining the console business model, consoles live and die on their triple-A titles. Your GTAs, Halos, Marios, and Call of Duties are what sell consoles, not cheap hardware. Footnote: Regarding the gigaflops numbers, I got them from here - I admittedly didn't do the math. I kind of suspect it's a combined CPU + GPU number in light of your numbers: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/156273-xbox-720-vs-ps4-vs-pc-how-the-hardware-specs-compare/2 http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/156273-xbox-720-vs-ps4-vs-...

Steko 13y ago
I think the main difference between our views is that you're assuming our hypothetical idevice wins or loses based on whether it gets game developers while I'm assuming it won't even be marketed as a game machine but the developers will move there because that's where the most customers will be. A dedicated $400-$500 gaming machines can die from a lack of third party games. A $130 converged set top box that people buy for netflix doesn't. People love to watch netflix on their PS3 but at the end of the day nobody drops $300 on a PS3 to watch netflix. Plenty of people buy Apple boxes just so they can watch netflix. That's the difference the price point makes. When there were 30 million 3DS's and 100 million ipod touches people stopped making games for the 3DS. ... "Nobody makes ARM games except mobile developers." What developer isn't in mobile today? This is like saying no one knows how to code for ARM except for everyone. "consoles live and die on their triple-A titles. Your GTAs, Halos, Marios, and Call of Duties are what sell consoles, not cheap hardware." I would say that is misreading the biggest lesson of the current generation which saw the Wii dominate it's first 3-4 years based on (1) the cheap hardware and (2) Wii Sports, a new title. To some extent AAA titles will go where the users are.

by cheald 13y ago

Steko 13y ago

I think the main difference between our views is that you're assuming our hypothetical idevice wins or loses based on whether it gets game developers while I'm assuming it won't even be marketed as a game machine but the developers will move there because that's where the most customers will be. A dedicated $400-$500 gaming machines can die from a lack of third party games. A $130 converged set top box that people buy for netflix doesn't. People love to watch netflix on their PS3 but at the end of the day nobody drops $300 on a PS3 to watch netflix. Plenty of people buy Apple boxes just so they can watch netflix. That's the difference the price point makes. When there were 30 million 3DS's and 100 million ipod touches people stopped making games for the 3DS. ... "Nobody makes ARM games except mobile developers." What developer isn't in mobile today? This is like saying no one knows how to code for ARM except for everyone. "consoles live and die on their triple-A titles. Your GTAs, Halos, Marios, and Call of Duties are what sell consoles, not cheap hardware." I would say that is misreading the biggest lesson of the current generation which saw the Wii dominate it's first 3-4 years based on (1) the cheap hardware and (2) Wii Sports, a new title. To some extent AAA titles will go where the users are.