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Game Sales Figures To Improve Throughout Decade
IGN is reporting that according to a recent report, gaming sales figures will contribute significantly to entertainment industry figures through 2009. From the article: "The report cautions that these projections are highly dependent on the success of the next-generation gaming consoles to be introduced by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. The embedded online capabilities expected in the next-generation consoles as well as the global growth in broadband capabilities should also provide a significant boost to online gaming, according to the PWC report."
I thought Interest in Comsole Gaming Is Declining. So interest is declining but those who keep playing will be buying more?
In other news, here's some numbers I pulled out of my ass... Oooh, don't they smell nice?
Seriously, is there any possible way that someone can predict what game sales will be like NEXT YEAR, let alone 10 years from now? Maybe, possibly, after the launch of the next-gen systems, you can start to project future sales by assuming that demand will level off then start to drop over the life of the system. Maybe. But to pretend like you can accurately predict sales trends for gaming into completely different eras of technology?? Well, I hope that they enjoyed their brick of hashish at least.
Based on your comments, I would guess you're ignoring Nintendo. You're hamstringing yourself by doing so. The Revolution controller will create entire new genres of games that we've never played before, and add new twists to existing genres. It will likely lead to RTS's being viable on a console for the first time ever.
Obviously, Nintendo is not the market leader and doesn't really want to be. The success of the Revolution will not stop the crash if the PS3 and 360 both tank. Which could very well happen, because I completely agree with you that there has never been a less compelling next generation. That's just the business side. For gamers, the future isn't that dim. There are a lot of neat things emerging on the DS, and I expect the same to happen with the Revolution. Sure, Madden '06 isn't worth buying, but if you want to play football just load up 2K5. That's what I do.
The XBox and PS lines are going to suffer from the same thing that's killing PC gaming: genre fatigue. The latest iterations in established genres are going to become less and less compelling. That doesn't mean gaming is dying. It just means you need to try out something new.
Bite the hand.
You're completely missing the point of the Revolution controller. If it really was just a "lightstick thingy," you'd be completely justified, of course. There's only one kind of game you can really make with that, and it *would* be dumb to try to make, say, a platformer use a lightgun for control. What it is, though, is more along the lines of a very, very precise pointing device - analogous to a mouse, as a lot of the media mentioned after trying their Metroid FPS demo - but with additional degrees of freedom (what with the rotation along 3 axes and movement in 3 dimensions). For the first time, there's a console with 3D graphics capabilities that also gives the player intuitive full range 3D motion. That's nothing to thumb your nose at.
--- Bwah?
The pedantic response here is that if you really were up to something new as much as the next guy, you would be up to the revolution's controller. But what it really sounds like is that you are the kind who spouts off wanting new genres but only to sound like you're hardcore. "Yeah man, I play so much I'm bored to death with FPS's...oooh look, Halo 2!"
And really, are people going to competitively play FPS games by pointing a stick at a screen and shooting?
Maybe, maybe not. While the controller will allow for such, it wasn't necessarily made for it. Who knows, it may be better at FPSs then current controllers. If it isn't, then plug in a regular controller; they'll still work.
It'll more likely be used for some dorky version of "bubble bobble" where bubbles fall from the top of the screen and you pop them with the pointer.
I see that you are like Charles Duell. He was the commissioner of the patent office who said "Everything that can be invented has been invented," found here. IOW, you are saying that since you cannot see a use for something, obviously it has no use. If you can't see into the future all you have shown is that you cannot see into the future. Everyone thought gaming was dead in the early '80s and then Nintendo revitalized it with, of all things, the D-Pad. Nintendo has a long history of changing the way games are played, and I have no doubts that if this next generation of consoles fails that Nintendo won't. What are my reasons? They are the only company doing something different. Soon, I will upgrade my PC. Does that suddenly mean games are going to be so much cooler? Of course not. If a game sucked before, it will still suck; turning up the resolution isn't going to change a thing.
While I will still play FPSs, RTSs, RPGs, etc., I am looking forward to what can be done with the Revolution's controller. If nothing else, it will present a new way to play old genres. I suspect, however, that it will introduce at least one new genre. And mark my words, if it is successful to any degree, MS and Sony will have one on their next-next-generation consoles.
Anyway, doesn't this already exist? In gameplay to some degree, at least. It's called a stylus for the DS...
Not hardly. The sylus lets you go left and right and up and down, and to do so rather quickly. The revolution's controller let's you go left and right, in and out, up and down, pitch, yaw, and roll, and all fairly quickly. I can see gaming on the revolution being very fast paced if need be. Maybe even more of a twitch-fest than PC gaming is now. The only problem I see is someone might accidentally hit someone else while swinging it around.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
"The report cautions that these projections are highly dependent on the success of the next-generation gaming consoles to be introduced by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo." So they are saying that sales over the next couple of years will improve if sales over the next couple of years go well. If sales aren't very good, then sales just might not improve very much.