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Wild Tangent: "Consoles are dead"
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 19th May 2008
Alex St. John, the creator of DirectX, has vehemently defended PC gaming.
Speaking in an ION keynote, the creator of the original DirectX technology and CEO of Wildtangent said that the future of consoles is uncertain according to Gamasutra.
“Nobody needs a console when a game's value and DRM is defined by community or an input device. Consoles just serve to keep you from playing a game you didn't pay for,” said St. John in what Gamesutra described as just "one of several brazen claims."
“What's Sony and Microsoft's motivation to make another console? It's been so rocky, and it's not about the pretty graphics anymore,” continued St. John, playing no doubt on the news that Sony is losing $260 on every PlayStation 3 sold.
St. John went on to talk about how graphics have become the main commodity of games and how the platform is no longer important for a game as long as the input device is good. Obviously, St. John prefers the feel of keyboard than a game pad, though he did discuss the Wii briefly as well.
“The Wii is the exception that proves the rule — it's not about the graphics, it's about the input device."
Do you think that consoles are dying a horrible death too, or has St. John lost the plot? Let us know what you think in the forums.
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Comments (26)
When consoles are constantly shipping, and practically all generations ship in the double millions of units, where's he realistically coming from?
If your console arm is loosing money hand over fist then what is the motivation to make more? Blu-ray in the case of Sony and market awareness for MS.
Much shorter development time with only one architecture to worry about and infinite upgradeability, customization options. I think he's right, although we may not recognise them as pc's :D
Well, I seem to recall consoles needing both patches and firmware updates to even work with GTA IV, this year's platform-selling juggernaut. I seem to recall that same game being leaked on torrents before release and played by crafty Xbox 360 owners.
As the consoles gain more and more functionality and complexity, they'll end up being so close to a PC developers might as well drop the hardware limitations they are constrained by and go for a platform that is much more flexible and where games are easier to update.. The PC. Preferably using Steam.
While I don't personally think consoles are dead, I do agree with his reason (DRM) for them being so strong right now.
Piracy is so difficult to stop because all of the teenagers in the world are collectively a lot smarter than all of the games developers in the world.
That's a bit like the old adage that engineers spend all their time developing better and better foolproof systems, and the universe spends all it's time making better and better fools...
Consoles will carry on until it's no longer economically viable to design & build just games machines. PCs will carry on regardless, because they do other things as well.
When the consoles become no more than standardised PCs (as multipurpose as PCs), then will they really be consoles any more?
Of course, PCs will undoubtedly have the potential for far better graphics and processing power than any console, as a console is a 'fixed' and static bit of kit whereas PCs are (usually, he says) upgradable.
But there's pros and cons for either side but one of the biggest, I think, would be the ease/speed/time in terms of development:
- On the one hand PCs are far superior in power and scalability, but are a pain for developing in that you don't have the ease fo a singular, uniform system to write code for -- every PC is different, with different drivers, hardware, OS versions, etc.
- A console on the other hand, *is* uniform -- the hardware and drivers are internal and not exposed to the outside world, so a developer can easily assume that what is written will run the same on all consoles (i.e., PS3 code on PS3s -- please, don't try and be stupid and think i mean PS3 game running on an Xbox...)
As for piracy, etc -- well, that's on both consoles and PCs so i dont think that is a deciding factor. You can fairly easily pirate software for the consoles just as you can for the PCs.
1. it reduces piracy because the games use proprietary systems
2. it allows stuff to be developed for a standard set of hardware.
3. it makes them easier to use
However, since consoles are becoming more and more advanced, and turning into dumbed down PCs, its makes more and more sense to just figure out a way of fixing the two things that plague pcs - piracy and hardware variations. hardware variations are more difficult, obviously, but big companies like ASUS and Apple are standardising hardware in their own way. In fact, I'd say we're likely to see console/PC hybrids in the near future - ie, PCs with standard hardware, and games devs developing for that standard. Maybe we'll even see a new, console like version of linux with some kind of steam like client built in to it. With the success that ASUS are having with the Eee PC, I can really see them bringing out a whole slew of Eee products, like desktops, media centers, and maybe even a little PC games machine.
As an aside, that may be the worst corporate headshot ever.
This guy is just blowing smoke because he doesn't want the system that he codes for to die. He'd have to go get another job.
Apart from Mr Tad
As for the death of consoles, he really needs to put down the crack pipe. Maybe in a few more years as console piracy becomes more prevelant and the current gen consoles begin to look more and more dated compared to PC tech, the PC will be again ascendent, but neither is going away.
Why dont Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo do a new 3DO project together, shared costs in the development of the console, they could still create there own remotes (Nintendo always innovates on this front) and then the costs would be shared. Upgradeable graphics would be a good idea, but Nintendo shows that you dont have to have kick ass graphics to make a good game, its all about gameplay & replayability.
I have played PC games for the last 5 years, i used to own a consoles before that, but i think once you emerge yourself in a game you dont really care too much is the graphics are kick ass or not, i have been playing COD UO on the PC again lately its graphics are 4 years old, but the gameplay is still as brilliant as it was when i first played it...
QFT