Gaming consoles, a New World Order?
(Note: it is quite a funny coincidence that both Freddy and I decided to write about the future of consoles within a 1 day interval… Since we share some concepts yet have a different approach, I decided it was a good idea to publish both articles. see Freddy’s article here
This article was also written before gamescom, and surely my comments would have been less harsh about sony losing the war on mobile gaming if I had seen gamescom announcements before. Most of the comments stay valid, however.)
In the past 5 years, Sony and Nintendo have lost the battle on mobile gaming. The PSP and the NDS have been replaced by phones and tablets, while the PS Vita is having a hard time to convince players (2 million units sold, to compare to about 10 millions iPads sold in 2012, and that’s not even counting the hundreds of millions of android owners). The 3DS, with about 20 million units, is in a much better shape since it dropped its price, but will most likely not do as well as the NDS.
Casual gamers have progressively moved to tablets and phones for their gaming needs “on the go”, but so far Sony and Microsoft remain the kings in our living rooms. Nevertheless, 2012 has been a strange year for gaming so far. Current generation consoles are getting old and players don’t know what to expect from the 3 “Big”. The Wii U has so far been a disappointment, and Nintendo is in the red. Meanwhile, while everybody was expecting some form of announcement from Microsoft and Sony about their next gen consoles, nothing happened at E3, and some analysts claim we might not see an Xbox 720 or a PS4 before 2014.
In the meantime, it feels like new competition could indirectly come from Google. Android is lowering the software costs of building a new system from scratch, and it’s in that context that the Ouya, an android-based TV console was just funded on kickstarter, with more than 8 million dollars in funding (close to 10 times the expected result) and more than 60’000 preorders (in absolute, that is a relatively small number, but for a crowd funded project, this is pretty impressive.)
Recently, I also reviewed the Droid X360, a Chinese portable console running on Android. Although that portable console is not a Vita killer, the interesting point is that despite a few flaws, it is an interesting device. 5 years ago, a “Chinese clone” of the PSP wold have been something like the polystation: a device with only one black and white game running on it. But with android, it is now possible for unknown Chinese manufacturers to come up with a device that embeds a good browser, a very decent amount of games (from the google play store), and good multimedia support. It turns out that with a few hardware tweaks, the Droid X360 could have been a strong competitor to the Vita (with less “high quality” games but more apps and better media support).
The Ouya itself will probably not compete in terms of numbers with the Xbox 360 or the PS3. Similarly, the Droid X360 is a niche console for people with a weird fetish such as me. The upcoming iReadyGo will probably not do any better overall.
But if you look at the big picture, you will start to see a pattern: Google is progressively gaining huge market shares in gaming, not only on mobile, but in your living room as well. Whatever innovation the Ouya might come up with will most likely benefit Android in the long run: more game developers will get some interest in the Ouya, then realize that they can port their Ouya game to android tablets fairly easily. And if a Chinese manufacturer can get a reasonable portable console out for 100$, is it a weird idea to think that the team behind Ouya could also give a try at mobile gaming in the years to come (a bit like the openPandora, but crowd funded in order to keep the prices low)?
Streaming game services such as Onlive also enter the equation. In countries like Japan, the network is good enough that streaming games to your tablet is a valid solution for high end gaming. Initiatives such as Google Fiber also make this a huge possibility in the US. The result is that you don’t need an expensive “next gen” console in your living room to play the latest games. Of course, Sony and Microsoft will manage to secure some exclusive content and games, but how long will that last?
We’re at a step where I don’t even see what next gen consoles could bring to the table that would blow our mind into thinking “wow, I’ve got to buy this”. There are 400 million Android owners on the planet, and the number keeps growing. Surely, game developers are starting to take these numbers into account. the Playstation and Xbox brands will probably remain a significant share of their sales, but it could be that they become less and less the platforms of choice for developers, even for AAA titles. Don’t get me wrong, I love the build quality and the power of Sony’s consoles, I just think it might not be where gaming innovation will happen in the years to come.
How about you? What’s the most important device in your living room right now? Is it a tablet? A PC? A console? And what’s your next purchase, will you trust Sony/Microsoft for your next console, or are you going to try something else?
I’ve kicked back against the Xbox for so long, just never liked it, mainly the controller and the fact you have to pay to go online (such an archeic model), plus nearly every Multi platform game for it looks much better on high end PC or PS3 where applicable. But (yes I am coming to a point, stay with me) as time has gone one if Sony or Nintendo don’t come up with the goods I wouldn’t be worried about moving across to a 720(or whatever it will be) if the price is right and they tweak the aforementioned issues.
I have my PS3 for when I want some down and dirty high octane gaming, esp. 3D gaming on my 51″ plasma is just amazing, a Wii for when I want a bit of cartoony, non taxing gaming and an Onlive Micro Console (got 2 of them free at Eurogamer 2011) which I use every so often, has some good titles and with 60Mbps down / 15Mbps up Internet this works pretty flawlessly but I think they need to stop adding support for more platforms and fix the ones they have. Not that they are broken but there is plenty of room for improvement!
I think it’s good there is a strong sense of competition that hopefully Sony, MIcrosoft & Nintendo cannot ignore anymore and will step up to the challenges to produce the best consoles, games and all at the right price with the right features.
Agreed. I haven’t bought my gaming systems in the last 10 years, since I am cheap as f!@#. My girl has actually gifted them to me on my bdays. I got the xbox in like 2005(?). The PS3 xmas 2011, and the vita my bday this past march. Until I got the ps3, I was all XBOX Whoooooo!!! Once I got it, well I haven’t really used my xbox much. The graphics are not as good as the ps3’s. I also do feel it is BS that you need to pay EXTRA to use the one feature that makes the xbox still worthwhile, xbox live. Most of the new games I’ve bought have been ps3 games, even though they do have xbox ports. The only xbox games i’ve bought, or intend to buy, are xbox exclusives, and then I won’t buy them unless they are secondhand. With the new notion that they have of keeping secondhand purchases from happening, by including codes for the original buyer, I’ve even stopped buying used games at times. At $60 a pop, then you get the game used for $30 but you have to pay $5-$10 for the code, is BS. They are shooting themselves in the foot. I know some gamers will be ok with paying $60, so for them it’s like they won’t be losing the original buyers anyways, and the secondhand buyers, well they never get the profits out of a secondhand buy anyways as well. So no loss for them, but they do lose the potential of DLCs and other game content that the secondhand buyer may want to get. E.g. I got fallout new vegas used. I still wanted the 3 dlc stuff so I bought them. The original buyer may have bought them too when he had it and I got them too. Games are just too expensive, and while I can afford them, I’m too cheap to see myself paying so much for some games whose replay value is only good for a few weeks or months at best. Some games are definitely worth the $60, but some are really not.
I would rather pay $7 a month and be able to have people in a party outside of a game. Then to only have chat with people you are playing against.
Xbox live fees are worth it IMHO…
Shame Onlive just laid off its entire staff.. :c
I thought they left 20% or so of select management, engineers etc. as the company was bought and needs to still operate, has been working ok still for me since rumours/official announcements started. Hope it sticks around as it is a good platform, especially if you want a full game timed demo to see if you like a game, even if you then buy it for a console/PC for even better quality/experience.
Hey there, I totally don’t agree with you on the mobile gaming part tablets and phones would never replace handhelds, who would prefer playing angry birds or fruit ninja over metal gear, uncharted or god of war!?
have you seen the leaked xbox 720 document (a few months ago)?
you could have added parts to your blog post. but thanks anyways.
That wasnt for the 720, that was specs for a tablet made for the 360, dubbed smart glass.
In this house there’s PS3, 360, Wii, SNES, NES and PSPs.
There’s some cool Android games but they’ll never replace games I’ve played on the home consoles.
Its not that we would rather play angry birds over metal gear! Its that i cant pull out a vita in the office and start playing it…….but with a phone no one ever pays attention…..
My advice get experia play 🙂
I’ve got a PS2 , wii , nds lite , psp go , an acer pc , a macbook pro and an iphone .
And i have used the iphone to play games more time than all the consoles .
To be honest, calling people on Android “gamers” is, without being an overdramatic ***, quite offending. Angry Birds and the such are nothing but “another variation of the same type of game”.
I’m not trying to be an elitist, tourneyfag or some other kind of “I’m superior, you’re inferior” type of person. But anyone who calls himself a gamer probably played something like Angry Birds, long before it was released.
To be honest, I’m curious what would happen if we give each of those “Android Gamers” some time to play Super Mario bros (Or a Castlevania game for the hardcore ones)
How many would survive until the final boss?
Speaking of beating to the final boss, I haven’t beat Secret of Evermore on SNES yet. I’m stuck, I gave up on it a few months ago. >_< I gotta get back to playing it sometime.
Most android games are ***.. but even some of them can be worthwhile… look up aliens vs president … Bush vs xenomorphs will make your friends laugh.. then you can turn it off and play something like words with friends… not exactly a gamer game, but I get to play something with my wife that wouldn’t know how to make mario do a backflip.
The problem with Android is that is that it is plagued by piracy. Some vendors have actually withdrawn a pay version in favour.
I think this can be overcome by microtransactions, or pay-for-online-mode like what mmorpgs offer
Yeah, it works all TOO well.. I’ve spent more on montazuma blitz than I ever would have to purchase the game… The game was free, but it feels like your getting a “premium” just to be able to compete in the leader boards.
I see a lot of micro-transactions in Android video games.
Have you ever heard of GameCIH? It’s a type of application that lets you set variables for different things in the game. Sort of like a trainer for PC games.
Well this application lets you change the variables of things you can buy, such as coins. Sure you can earn coins by playing the game, but some games let you purchase currency to advance faster.
I know not many know of GameCIH and it’s for rooted users only, but that can deter developers from having pay to win type of games.
Just a thought, and yes I am ashamed to have used the program, lol, mostly for games I feel it is unjust to charge for simple things.
This application was actually in the Android Market for a every long time, until I can only presume was removed due to the developers complaining, which is rightfully so.
Droid x360 is rooted, ill have to give it a try. You are rght, i havnt heard of it so thanks for the info!
WOLOLO do you think there will be a point where we will be able to play our iphone an ipad apps on the PsVita in the near future
For me sony has really *** me off with there lying. After the remote play bs on the vita I don’t think ill ever buy another sony product. They do the same mess with all there products in some way. There’s nothing worse than dropping 500 on a system/accs and getting home just to find out its only 75 percent of the hype. I still got a copy of gt4 that I’ve never got to play. I don’t know what direction ill go but if xperia play games work on onya ill prob go that route
Spot on… I’m almost bored with games… been doing it too long and but put too much time into it during that period… now I just collect software… I don’t want to admit it, but I think I’m an app person now… you know; “Hey, look what I can get this GAME system to do… its not suppose to do this.. cool huh?” With android devices, there isn’t very many restrictions so all these work arounds for homebrew arn’t nessecary. Don’t get me wrong, I get that ceartain ooomph when your showing someone what your system does when they have the same thing siting at home and cant even get it to play a video… wii for example. I like the process of figuring out how to get there, but having an open base and a “secured” base allows both…. but sometimes I feel like just getting straight to the punch. IF the ouya does well a big player MAY pick up the ball and throw down a high tech version with some first party AAA titles that technically would run on ANY android device, but just wouldn’t be strong enough to do so on anything other than their console along with all the benefits of that android has to offer…. In MY opinion thats where sega should jump back in the game… I miss them :->
Sega making a come back is a no brainer id be there
I am personally all for the console team, I’d hate to see years of progress for great games going down the tubes for stupid games like angry birds and where’s my water. I have an Android a Sidekick 4G but I’d MUCH rather fire up my vita and play some gravity rush then use it as some poor excuse for a knock off game player. For home consoles I can see the PC encroaching in on the console’s territory being that most games get a PC port and at the variable change in graphic and speed quality you usually get to mod and tweak it. But even after all that I think the gaming community will survive with those other powerful titles in development or just speculative in the ether will trump any little games for the android system. Just my two cents 🙂
PC = Diffrent hardware for every user, hard to develop for across the grid. Im thinking console will incorperate mods more… Sony has been trying with the play create share franchises. Pc use to be my favorite platform, but the hardware advantage fell off around 2000.
****WARNING: GIGANTIC RANT AHEAD. SCROLL ON IF TL;DR****
The way i see it it’s like this: Older generations, ones even past my own, it took a lot to ‘sell us’ their game. Fancy manuals, artistic cardboard boxes, words upon words to explain why they were good. And you know what? Back in those days, the games were good. Not to say the current games aren’t. But think about it like this..As current generations become previous generations, our QoS becomes lower and lower. What used to take people like me tons and tons of work to sell a game, now just takes a hyped up reviewer on a free website to sell the game. They send him a 60$ game, maybe a bit more to help hype it a bit more, and they make tons of money off people who fall for the hype. And no boxes, manuals, or pretty artwork required. Look at current-gen games. Alllll the games that get tons of TV time, get hyped up in reviews and what not, so damn many of them are mediocre at best. Games that nobody knows about, games that are underground, that don’t get tons of advertisement, etc. They’re better than half the *** that comes out today. Because in our current world, hype drives a sale. They make pretty scenarios in-game, cut up select parts, paste them together in a trailer to look good, and you’ve got people eating out of your hand. Look at dead island. Perfect example of hype well done. Perfect example of hype being the reason of the sales, not a good game. I remember when final fantasy 13 came out. Everryyyyone was hyped about the graphics. Everyone. OMG GRAFIX. Back in my day? We had sprites. And those sprites were the most awesome things ever. Holy sh**, did that sprite of Kefka just laugh? Awesome. We’ve become spoiled, and because of that, we just gladly accept whatever garbage the big companies push out. So very little innovation in developers nowadays. The last games i can remember that stood out in a big way to me were resonance of fate, persona 4, and xenoblade chronicles. How many of those do you think got TV spots? How many of those did people know about before word of mouth? They’re utterly fantastic games, and yet because of the hype machine not working in their favor, so many people haven’t played them. People need to wake up to companies man. You pay 60$ for the cost of technology. Nothing more. So because the technology was expensive, not the game was good, you’re spending 60$ for a CD. Back in the day of, like, NES and what not, the reason for the costs were the cartridge, the manuals, the box, etc etc. Now you get three peices of paper poorly strapped together for a manual. A crappy paper-thin art for a plastic, very cheap box. And a DVD. Which are incredibly cheap. Even more so when you consider business to business sales. I hate our current generation. They care more about graphics and what the TV tells them than their own experiences. The more time marches on, the more and more tears stream down my face as i see gaming moving on from what it used to be, to what horrible abomination greed and disgusting corporations are making it into. I don’t want f***ing angry birds. I don’t want call of duty:copy paste edition. I don’t want stupid things that are made to waste your time, not entertain you. Gaming used to be about getting sucked into a game, and thinking about how amazing it was for days after you’ve beaten it, going to your friend and talking about epic scenarios, or ways you beat the boss with just 1HP left. I don’t know. You can tell people these things, but it doesn’t matter. People don’t change. Greed doesn’t disappear. People don’t wake up, or even care to look past what they have. They accept garbage as something they’ve lived with all their lives, never seeking anything more because they’re complacent. But anyway, I’ve made an entire page’s worth of text here, so props to anyone who makes it through it all, and for the TL;DRs, i don’t blame you.
And all in one long paragraph.
Go you. 😀
I agree…. I did read it all :-> I would like to give SOME credit to SOME of the newer games like call of duty and Gravity rush though. Call of duty mutiplayer was pretty inovative FOR the war genere at mw… but now as you have said, ctrl-v does get pressed alot. Gravity Rush is a completly new style ( unless you compare it to pilot wings ) but I hate that sony is pushing downloadble versions… I want something physical I can sell if I want, and I like instruction manuals… REAL ones…. If it wasn’t for shelving, vita games could be sold in sdcard packs with security locks. I think the real problem is the plateau gaming has reached alongside hollywood… what else can be done with a controller or even wii style motion controllers? Not very much, so due to technological limits for interactive entertainment, companys have concentrated on increasing profits… truth is though, they are in trouble… sony and nintendo anyway, havn’t checked microsoft stock, but they have other things going on for them. Red lines for the producer usually isn’t good for consumers… Remember arcades? I think the next level that people actually get excited about will be something along those lines, but will not be in homes for awhile… untill then I think it is all about making a game base and allowing the users to make what they want… COD with the exact play mechanics would stir some excitement if you knew the campain mode wouldn’t end…. This hasn’t been done to the extent I would like to see on consoles and as I said controller input limits to what you can do in a game, so after an initial release of an AMAZING game that can have endless mods a sequel (to make money) would be hard to market. I’m thinking when the reigns get tight enough we might see that in the console generation. <— not this gen… all gens so far untill true inovation comes.
Never forget the day, that i’ve beaten the Mana-Dragon on the SNES with a good Friend. Or Grandia on the PSX….so many Memories that i’ll never forget.
Here’s how I see it, gaming devices are trying hard to be nothing like tablets because they’re allergic to money, and tablets adopting gaming at such a rate that the competition will soon be ‘sega-fied’. Gaming platforms need to be more like tablets because tablets are becoming more like gaming consoles and for some reason they can’t take a hint and step it up.
Id say that nintendo is adopting that idea with the wii u
All I can say is meh.
Great post! But I must mention that I think you got polystation confused with popstation. The poly station was a famiclone shaped like a psone and the pop station is the black and white psp clone.
You are right, my mistake!
I always spend my time on a laptop or tablet
Wanting to play all the classic games you grew up with on a portable device is NOT a weird fetish! Being forced to buy the games you paid good money for in the 90s again is ridiculous. Open-source Android gives us the chance to play our classics on a portable without having to pay for them again.
Without a doubt, my Xbox 360 is the most important console in my gaming life, after that would be my PC but my hardware specs aren’t fantastic. I also own a Wii and PS3 but I haven’t touched them in years. It’s been a little while since I have touched my PSP and I only use my Vita as a portable web browser most of the time. I never play mobile games, I absolutely hate Apple and don’t own any of their iCrap devices. I have an Android phone but I am not bothered to download any apps to it because I would never play them.
Yeahh, I wan’t a portable OUYA !!!!!!
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