Slashdot Mirror
Games Industry Off Its Game
A Washington Post article explores the problems facing the games industry in this year of console generation turnover and lackluster PC game sales. From the article: "There are other potential problems. The new-generation consoles look best when plugged into high-definition TV sets -- and it is not clear how many people will buy a new television just for the latest version of the Madden football game. And the cost of the new gaming systems continues to rise. Perhaps no question haunts the industry more at the moment than the mystery of when Sony's PlayStation 3 will come out and how much it will cost."
Damn you! I wanted the first Revolution post :(
... sofa. It certainly bypasses the problems in the article.
But yes, Revolution - doesn't require HDTV, will be cheaper, will try to bring new gameplay systems to the
XBox360 and PS3 are great for the (admittedly large number of) people with a HDTV and who are happy to connect the console to that HDTV (younger men, mainly). Of course games will still look good on a normal TV, especially if the extra power not being used on HD rendering is used to improve anti-aliasing instead.
Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, deemed the industry's troubles to be "cyclical and entirely predictable." What's important is that gaming is growing in popularity, and consumers will continue spending as the industry works out its kinks, he said.
"The early adopters all know what's going on," he said. "They all expect the PlayStation 3 this year. That always tends to slow down purchases for the current platform, no matter how good the current games are. They're sitting on their dollars more than they will be a year or two from now."
"And the cost of the new gaming systems continues to rise."
PS3's price continues to rise. A $300 Xbox360 is less (adjusted for inflation) than PS1 PS2 Xbox1 NES SNES and the N64.
Also hard to say the Industry is in trouble when they set records in sales and profit last year (console, not PC).
This statement has it all wrong: "The new-generation consoles look best when plugged into high-definition TV sets -- and it is not clear how many people will buy a new television just for the latest version of the Madden football game." HD TV owners (like myself) will only buy HD capable content. So, it is about reaching the current market with the most disposible income and least amount of impulse control (like myself).
All game developers released a sigh of releif when the new Phantom console was officially postponed. They were all shaking in their boots wondering how to cope with this new console that will destroy all other consoles. It's not fair to have this over their heads for all this time ond now only to postpone and have them all worrying for years to come. :)
Stay tuned for new sig...
and it is not clear how many people will buy a new television just for the latest version of the Madden football game.
From all accounts, the new Madden game sucks.
But it is just possible that one or two people might buy a new TV for some other reason, like... oh, I don't know... watching television, perhaps? Those people will probably want a console that looks good on their new set.
DOA4 is almost enough to make me want a 360 for my HD system... almost. A couple more good games, and I'll seriously consider it. Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see what Sony comes up with.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
... they're all playing World of Warcraft.
All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.
From the article:
"Sony President Ken Kutaragi has said that he expects the device to be "expensive." While game consoles have typically enjoyed a five-year lifespan, Sony has said it is shooting for 10 years this time out."
Are they kidding? They expect it to last ten years, fine, but are they trying to say that they will keep making new games for this platform? I remember the Super Nintendo, and that system rocked, yo. Pilot Wings, F-Zero, Final Fantasy VI were all gems, and had replay value. But after a while, new games stopped appearing, and I was seeing everyone purchase N64s, and playing Goldeneye with all thier friends. And all I had to offer was Mario Kart for thier multiplayer cravings.
Then the Playstation hit the scene, and my SNES got placed on the closet shelf of Eternity. When Microsoft comes out with the Xbox 720, will Sony stick with thier three year old platform? When Nintendo offers thier newest platform that jacks directly into your cyber-brain, with Sony continue to hock Silent Hill 12?
Game Platforms are supposed to have a longer life span then computers by definition. All they are are game systems. They don't do spreadsheets, they don't balance your taxes, they don't have hard drives...
Oh, wait, they do now. Well, strike that...start over...
With Game Platforms becoming more like home computers, thier Start-To-Trash date will grow shorter and shorter. Ten years is a pipe dream. It's 2006. Let's see, ten years ago...
Yeah, I think I'm going to go boot up my old 486 and log into World of Warcraft. I'll let you know how it goes in a week when the program finally loads.
To sum up, a ten year old gaming platform would be like still playing Final Fatasy Mystic Quest, and saying how graphicly stunning it is. Not Gonna Happen.
There are no gods but ourselves.
Pure speculation, but very interesting.
On a side note, I saw that the Revolution development kits cost $2000 which is just a fraction of what most kits (PS2, etc) cost, especially the cost of "Next Gen" systems (PS3, XBox 360). They say this would reduce the financial risk of trying to make a game for the revolution (which makes sense). I just wish they'd open it up (somehow) so end users could program it (I'd LOVE to do that, even if it must be done in a locked-down-sandbox with an interpreted language). They could sell the best user created programs on their online service.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Maybe not to previous levels, but see:
Painkiller
Far Cry
Doom 3
Half-Life 2
Rome: Total War
Age of Empires 3
F.E.A.R.
And those are just the games I've purchased in the last 18 months. I'm not really worried about the PC games industry. It was due for a little downsizing, and it happened. There are essentially 3 game types that just play better on the PC: FPS, RTS, and MMORPG. (There used to also be flight sims, but that genre seems to have atrophied). I just can't see any of those genres working as well on consoles as on PC.
Let's also not forget that the installed base of PCs is in the 500 million range worldwide and growing. That's quite a potential market.
Component was out before the HD-TV set ever was. Remember those front-projector TVs you'd see in bars? They used component, Red, Green, Blue. Only thing that's changed is there is more than one type of signal that goes down the wires, now. Your Wega only handles the standard RGB signal that's sent over those wires, whereas high-def TVs will be able to pick up and use those other signals that give razor-sharp definition.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
"I just wish they'd open it up (somehow) so end users could program it (I'd LOVE to do that, even if it must be done in a locked-down-sandbox with an interpreted language). They could sell the best user created programs on their online service."
They will, I guarantee it. I have been personally told *twice* by Nintendo reps. that open development truly means even single person, 1st time game developers. Now, most likely this will be a scaled down dev kit but it will be there.
What I'd like to see is a cool free tile based 2D dev kit opened up for it, that would be my ultimate wet dream for a console. A steady stream of new and innovative 2D games.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Nintedo could hold little development competitions (Sony did that once with the Yahorzee, I remember playing the games on a PlayStation Underground CD) which fosters talent, good will, etc.
I don't understand why these companies don't do this. Why not do it for the older consoles? Now that the PS3 is out (hypothetical), release a dev-kit for $100 that lets you make PS2 games (I know you can do it with the Linux kit, but they need better libraries instead of "here is the chip manual, figure it out" which is where I understand the Linux kit puts you).
And if they don't sell the console at a loss (or sell a "developer" version for an extra $50 or something) then they will only make money off the people who buy the console to develop for it.
All I'm left with right now is waiting for Parallax's Propeller chip (read about it here) which looks like a great little console on a chip to me.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I owned a Net Yaroze (decent but too dificult for what it can do), and also have worked with the PS2 Linux Kit (utter crap). I have also worked with the Gamecube dev kits and can say of all the consoles it is one of the best.
While I can't say I have any great inside info on how in depth the dev kit will be, I do know that Nintendo is committed to letting small/indie developers have at the Revolution for very low cost. Even the smaller professional developers are swooning for the Revolution due to costs and timeframes of the competitors being way out of their league.
We'll have to wait to see how full-fledged it will be and whatnot, but Nintendo has repeatedly stated its stance on this issue and it is a smart move no matter how they pull it off. Like I said I'd be happy to have a free simplistic dev kit, and even at just $2000 it is a steal for the full dev kits.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea