Sony And Microsoft Ready For The Death Of Consoles

[Just Jeans]

So says (http://www.edge-online.com/news/yoichi-wada-sony-and-microsoft-ready-for-the-death-of-consoles) Square-Enix's Yoichi Wada.

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has said that Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the death of the console era.

“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” the executive told MCV.

“In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network… A time will come when the hardware isn’t even needed anymore,” he added, noting that Sony and Microsoft are ready for a new era dominated by server-based offerings, game streaming and digital distribution.

“Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers’ strategy shifted,” he said.

So if I'm reading this right, essentially, Sony and Microsoft expect that people will no longer want to buy physical copies of games, and everything will be download only?

Fuck that, man. I like having a row of hard copy games next to my TV stand. Plus, do they think people are going to want to spend the time required downloading a 25GB game to their hard drive? Or do they expect all games will be what we see going for $5 a pop on PSN and Xbox Live?

[Brett H.]

By the time all this download shit will come to fruition, the corporations will have control of the internet and people will be limited in how much they can download. It's already happening in a lot of places (including Canada) and if the bandwidth limit is something like 1 GB (which is what it is in some places), they're insane to think we're gonna spend 25 x our internet bill, plus the price of a game to get a fuckin' downloaded copy of a game. This download-only shit is never gonna happen.

[The Taff]

If they go to software downloads instead of physical copies, it will ruin them. I don't say that as speculation, I say that as fact. The larger gaming population is neither willing nor able to jump on board with that. How many people out there don't have internet? How many people like to trade in their games?

Microsoft and Sony are doing it for that very reason. Game trade ins and piracy. Publishers would utterly KILL to have Gamestop and their ilk put out of business. They look at these stores as a multibillion dollar fucking parasite on their sales. The problem is if they go through with it, it will bite them hard in the ass. Having the option for digital downloads of games is a good thing. Jamming it down people's throats will obliterate their sales and may even give rise to a new game console from a 4th party willing to allow physical copies.

Would it be the death of consoles if they do that? Nope. It would potentially be the death of Microsoft and Sony as game companies, though.

[The Dream Master]

I tend to agree with Nate and Brett here. A similar trend is arising with film distribution as well, but, as I understand it, it's not exactly feasible now. I can see there being major advances in ten year's time (after all, we went from dial-up to high speed internet in about an 8 year period out here in the sticks), but I've heard the bandwidth required for high-quality, full-length movies (and games) would require an insane amount of bandwidth. That's where the problem with bandwidth capping comes in, because I'd imagine even one game or movie would put you over the limit.

Personally, I like physical copies. Even if I had the ability to watch or play every conceivable game at my fingertips, it wouldn't be the same as actually owning them.

[SlasherFreak]

Personally, I like physical copies. Even if I had the ability to watch or play every conceivable game at my fingertips, it wouldn't be the same as actually owning them.

I can attest to this. It's been so long, I don't even know what happened to my NES, SNES and Sega Genesis. But I have the emulators for all the systems and pretty much every game for them ever made in rom format. I just hook up my laptop to my tv and play them with my USB gamepad.

But I still wish I had the actual systems and the games. It just feels different now...

[Just Jeans]

It just feels different now...

I think one of the big differences is that emulators -- I'm thinking ZNES and Snes9x -- don't play these games 100% perfect. Close, but no cigar. There are a lot of games that have chip issues, sound issues, sprite issues, et cetera. There's also the issue of patched games being extremely buggy, particularly games that were never released in the US that have had fan-written Engish translations added.

Also, a Logitek controller just isn't the same as an SNES controller.

[The Taff]

From what I've observed, emulation of previous generation games is a profitable approach to downloadable content. Nintendo has made a killing off of making their previous games downloadable. Sony and Microsoft probably make plenty off of the same thing, as well as Arcade titles like Fat Princess and Braid.

But as for big retail releases like your Call of Duties, Uncharteds, Halos, Tom Clancy games, etc, people want a phjysical copy of the game. If they try to cycle physical copies for big releases, they will be met with heavy resistance, backlash and outrage.

[Just Jeans]

Nintendo has made a killing off of making their previous games downloadable.

I've played a couple of downloaded games on the Wii, and they play great. Perfectly identical to the carts, as far as I can tell. It's odd playing an SNES game with a GameCube controller, but you get used to it.

It's PC emulation that's a mixed bag. And it doesn't seem like any of the well known emulators are in development anymore (it could be argued that this has to do with the Wii and Nintendo's decision to sell classic games, but support for ZNES and Snes9x died well before the Wii released).

Sony and Microsoft probably make plenty off of the same thing...

It's a pity that PSX emulation is only worth a damn if your PS3 has hardware emulation. Software emulation is useless. I tried to play Final Fantasy VII on my PS3 a couple of weeks ago, and the final boss fight made the system chug. A PSX game bogged it down to about three frames per second. Madness. And then, during the final cut scene, the game froze solid and I had to hard reboot the system.

Tried to play Silent Hill. There's an odd sound glitch that makes the game unplayable if you don't turn off the sound.

Resident Evil 2 has horrible issues with streaming dialog. During an early conversation between Claire and the gun shop owner, bits of Leon's dialog from later in the game kept randomly streaming into the conversation. Then the game locked up.

A friend of mine has a PS3 with the emotion engine, and so he gets hardware emulation for his PSX games. He has no problem at all.

[Jason's Storm]

I don't think Nintendo would completely do with out hardware, as its their bread and butter. They haven't always been number one with their systems, but they have always made money.

~JS

[The Taff]

It's a pity that PSX emulation is only worth a damn if your PS3 has hardware emulation. Software emulation is useless. I tried to play Final Fantasy VII on my PS3 a couple of weeks ago, and the final boss fight made the system chug. A PSX game bogged it down to about three frames per second. Madness. And then, during the final cut scene, the game froze solid and I had to hard reboot the system.

Tried to play Silent Hill. There's an odd sound glitch that makes the game unplayable if you don't turn off the sound.

Resident Evil 2 has horrible issues with streaming dialog. During an early conversation between Claire and the gun shop owner, bits of Leon's dialog from later in the game kept randomly streaming into the conversation. Then the game locked up.

A friend of mine has a PS3 with the emotion engine, and so he gets hardware emulation for his PSX games. He has no problem at all.

I was talking about the rereleased PS1 games on the Playstation Store, in a similar vein to what the Wii is doing with their downloadable titles. I know Beth has downloaded Crash and Spyro onto our PS3. I also heard the FF7 is available off there (but I doubt you want to pay for a game you already own, Jeans.)

I know of the Silent Hill sound glitch. I had gotten the game for Beth's last birthday and was witness to the mind bending sound that threaten to shred my sanity myself.

[skuppy]

If they go completely online, I think my video game buying days of that generation would cease. To this day, I still buy video games for my NES. Being still stuck with dial up internet, I can't even log onto Xbox live, so if a gaming company went completely online, I wouldn't be able to play.

I always read these articles of music/movies/video games going completely online, but I really doubt it'll ever happen, at least in my lifetime. They've been saying this about music for the past 10 years, but I can still buy CDs at the store. Hell, vinyls are becoming increasingly popular again too. It's nice to have both options available for the consumer. If they want to continue making money, they will supply both options, otherwise they will limit themselves severely.

[SlasherFreak]

I never really had too many problem with nes, snes and nes roms and emulators, for the most part.

Now with emulating the new generation games...I've had some problems. And plus I can still just buy those games...

I love all my old generation roms though, good time killers.

[Voorheeszilla]

I doubt they'll ever stop selling consoles. I have a feeling the number of people who prefer consoles will greatly outweigh those who would rather download.

[Just Jeans]

I was talking about the rereleased PS1 games on the Playstation Store...

The download versions have the same compatibility issues as the disc-based versions, because all they've done is package them in a digital format. I purchased Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from the PlayStation Store, and I've had the same issues with that game that a friend who owns the disc encounters, and I've seen people online complaining about the PSN version of Silent Hill presenting the sound glitch.

As far as I can tell, they do absolutely nothing to the digital distribution versions to make them more compatible with the PS3's software emulation. Unless you have the Emotion Engine powering your PS1 emulation -- whether disc-based or downloaded over PSN -- there are going to be a lot of compatibility issues.

Nintendo either uses hardware acceleration to emulate their older titles, or their emulation software is much better than Sony's. Considering how easy it was for third party people to create almost perfect software emulators for the NES, SNES and N64, I imagine Nintendo would have no trouble doing the same.

[Darth Sinister]

don't think Nintendo would completely do with out hardware, as its their bread and butter. They haven't always been number one with their systems, but they have always made money.

Right. They're not as suicidal like people think because of the N64.

[Biosynthnut v.2]

It's stuff that people need... And I agree the bandwidth thing is going to be a problem also. They say the samething about Bluray vs Downloads of movies.. Which I don't get why you would include Netflix or Pandora in a player.....let alone netflix or what ever on a game console...

Don't see this happening anytime soon..but as tech moves, this will happen.