Console Vs. PC MMORPG Argument Irrelevant?

Thanks to Gamebunny for their MMO game developers round-table, talking with some of the creators of games such as Anarchy Online and Rubies Of Eventide about subjects including the swift rise of the console MMORPG, which provides an interesting response from Daniel McMillan of Frontier 1859: "Any MMO developer would want to reach the largest potential audience. This whole console vs. PC thing is passe. If the consoles get large enough to hold MMO content - they will be more like PCs anyway." He continues: "If anything, I see bundled MMO service networks that are modeled like Direct TV - where you pay a monthly subscription and get at least 5 MMOs. In that case, it won't matter if you play them from a PDA or a console."

Comments

My anti console argument

[Kethinov]

These points were taken from my anti console rant. Note, when it was written console internet was still in its infancy. Some of the rant's points my be slightly obsolete, but the whole thing is still valid. Here's some highlights

consoles are, in the long run, more expensive than computers. In order to be able to play every single good console game in existence, you'd need to stick with the updates of two to four major makers. Buying that many consoles a year ultimately costs more money than buying a computer.

Computers are upgradable, consoles are not. Computers have internet connections extending replay value, console multiplayer capacity is limited to just a few people. And to top it all off, computers have many more games available to them. Furthermore, computer internet connections have nearly infinitely more uses than just gaming.

The rant goes on to explain that console makers should manufacture their own emulators/roms and sell them instead of proprietary hardware. It also explains how a company would in fact make more money off of that business model. Note: even though console internet has been more successful, it's still not cheaper than buying a computer, and computers have more uses anyway. If console makers did start making their own emulators/roms...

As a result of this, people who only bought consoles to play the latest and greatest games now begin buying computers, further standardizing their use, and computer users who never bought the uber expensive consoles are now buying console games for their computers. The companies now have a larger customer base with an ultimately better product.

Re:My anti console argument

[Ondo]

Your rant is wrong all over, but fundamentally falls apart on one point.

Emulators are slower than native code. By a lot. There isn't a PC available that can emulate the PS2, GameCube, or Xbox. (Yes, the Xbox has a mostly PC architecture. Still can't emulate it because the graphics card and the main system use the same RAM, unlike PCs.)

To quote from the article:

people would begin to realize that all consoles are are dumbed down computers that have to be replaced every six months.

If you tried to write an emulator, you'd realize that consoles are custom-engineered cutting-edge hardware specifically designed to run games, and that a general-purpose computer with roughly equivalent functionality is going to cost far more, and that an emulator requires not just roughly equivalent functionality, but far superior functionality.

(Incidentally, consoles get updated roughly every five years, not every six months.)

Re:My anti console argument

[Ondo]

Think outside the box for once in your life! Let me make it more clear.

Recognize reality.

Let's say a Nintendo 64 is running a 400mhz processor with a GeForce 2 equivelent.

There's no reason why a 1ghz processor GeForce 4 computer couldn't compile and run the Nintendo 64 bios/OS

There are far, far more differences between the N64 and a PC then there are between different generations of PC. Even an Xbox, which is the closest console to a PC, shares memory between the graphics card and the CPU, which lets it do things far faster then a PC which would have to send the data from one set of RAM to the other.

It's just software!

No it's not. It's software and hardware working in combination. Yes, anything that runs on a GameCube could be run on a PC, but performance would suffer a great deal, which isn't acceptable.

Re:News Flash: Day Extended by 72 Hours

[Ondo]

"If anything, I see bundled MMO service networks that are modeled like Direct TV - where you pay a monthly subscription and get at least 5 MMOs."

Evidently, Mr. McMillan is under the impression that each day contains 96 hours instead of the normal 24, because that is what would be required for anyone to balance successfully the play of five MMOGs.

As opposed to all those people who successfully balance watching every channel on Direct TV in just 24 hours a day.

The fact that people can't play all of them is part of what could make it possible to offer multiple ones for one low price. You may get far more subscribers, but each one only uses up about as many resources as a subscriber to an individual game would, so the price could be roughly the same as the price for an individual game.