Basically, the guy realized that PS360 more and more has all the cons of PC gaming and none of the pros. Even better is that much of the people in the comments actually AGREE with this, and the few that mention the Wii or Nintendo state how the seem to be one of the few that have actually made a “console”, not a “watered-down-PC-in-a-box”.
He stopped too soon. What if you changed who the consumer is, then the pros and cons change. Instead of using himself, what if he used a child? Children are not given personal computers or, to be more precise, if they have computers they are locked out of doing things on them (thanks to Microsoft’s stupid operating system). My nephews have PCs, but they can’t play games on them because their parents placed a password that doesn’t allow them to install anything. Their only recourse is to play browser games.
Take Minecraft. It is a great game on the PC with tons of mods and stuff. The Xbox 360 version is crappy in every way. Who would bother playing this PC game on their console? Children. My nephews have more control over their Xbox 360 than they do over their PCs. This is also why handhelds do better with children in the United States than home consoles (a kid can control his handheld, but a kid cannot control the living room TV).
The Wii is not ‘casual gaming’. That would be the Xbox 360 and PS3. Their entire reason to exist is to ‘casualize’ PC gaming. The casual players aren’t the Wii players, they are the Xbox 360/ PS3 players. They are the people who are playing PC games on crap computer-in-boxes hooked up to TVs.
The game console originated as playing arcade games at home. Atari invented commercialized gaming. Atari later popularized game consoles. The invention of the personal computer came from what Atari was doing. Steve Wozniak, video game addict (who designed the Apple II to play video games) and Steve Jobs, an Atari employee, wanted to take this technology and make the personal computer.
In publishers’ eyes, the PS360 is nothing more than DRM machines. They feel entitled to 0% piracy rate. But there has never been a product ever invented on Earth that has had a 0% piracy rate. In all my years of gaming, I’ve never heard of a game company that went out of business because their game got pirated too much. However, I have heard of game companies who went out of business because no one wanted to pirate their games.
In this story, the PlayStation boss for Europe says the walled garden model is breaking down due to the rise of tablets, smart TVs, and computers everywhere. Since the PlayStation is a crappy PC in a box connected to the TV, what happens when a crappy PC is already inside the TV? What happens if crappy PCs are everywhere? This computing trend threatens to swallow the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Why buy that product to play video games when the TV or smartphone (connected to a TV) can play games too? “But PlayStation and Xbox games will look prettier.” It is classic disruption as Microsoft and Sony retreat upmarket and cede the ‘lesser games’ to these new crappy computers.
Nintendo isn’t anywhere in the area of competition that the tablets, Smart TVs, and all offer. Nintendo consoles are not dumbed down PCs connected to boxes. Nintendo gaming is not PC gaming for casuals. Iwata is so sure Apple isn’t a threat that he openly uses Apple products during interviews.
What is the difference between arcade gaming and PC gaming? PC gaming uses a generalized hardware found in personal computers for gaming. Arcade gaming uses a specific hardware designed for that game. Game consoles existed before controllers because controllers were not necessary, the game console could play only one game. But when game consoles allowed you to change games, it allowed you to change controllers. If you’re playing all your console games with one controller, you’re doing it wrong. Unique controllers need to match the unique software. Joystick for Pac-Man. Paddles for PONG. Trackpad for Missle Command. Light Gun for Duck Hunt. Motion controller for Wii Sports. The list goes on. (For PC gaming, the only ‘controller’ would be a flight joystick and that is to be used along with the keyboard to recreate a ‘flight controller’ experience.)
A renaissance is awaiting for the game console. But it will not be done by emulating the PC.
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