With the exception of the Sony foot-in-mouth event that was 2006, we have rarely had the delight to marvel at completely assinine comments of industry executives this year. Lucky for us, PC gaming conglomerate Trion stepped to the plate and belched this gem at a recent HP/Nvidia press event:
The first snipes came from a panel of industry leaders that included Games for Windows boss Rich Wickham and other gaming bods. "I believe the days of the console are numbered," said Trion World Network founder Lars Butler. "There is one more generation of gaming consoles and that is it," he claimed.
The broadband game publisher boss says that the gaming potential of PCs could render games consoles obsolete.
Some people deserve to get chairs thrown at them at these events. This guy is serious! Let's see the games they've participated in, shall we? "Heroes, Might and Magic, Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, James Bond, Tiger Woods, Star Wars, Prince of Persia, Dungeons and Dragons, Ultima and Myst." Oh, what's this? No Mario? FAILED!
Hey look, another guest appearance by Captain Obvious: Moms will not be buying their kids $250 fully-featured Windows PCs off the shelf and plugging them into their TVs by 2010. Give me a friggin break. That doesn't even cover a video card. Consoles like the Wii and the 10 Xboxes that will follow have their place in the market.
My prediction? We're won't be seeing consoles and PCs converge any time soon for the obvious reasons: (1) cost (2) noob consumer usability (3) half the people that buy video games still won't have TVs that can physically take a PC signal by the next generation (4) it's too important to too many companies own the media hub of the living room, and most importantly (5) cost. We'll all be in rockers sipping avocado juice in the mental ward before this happens -- I give it at least one full generation of dead people before it becomes a remote mainstream possibility.
Can anyone defend his viewpoint with any trends actually happening on earth?
Contest:
11:45 AM on 04.05.2007
| 
I agree with your assessment. Next generation we'll see the convergence of the set-top box, PC, and game console by at least one of the current companies.
M$ is trying really hard to do it this time, and I believe they'll be the first. Particularly because of this who IPTV thing they're working on.
Not that Sony couldn't play that game too with the PS3. But, they need to concentrate on things that will keep the PS3 in everybody's minds... like... games?
But I do have to agree with you, Niero. The average PC user is doing well to be able to turn the damn box on, let alone play games on it, unless you count solitaire. The fact that a decent video card in and of itself costs almost as much as a console is reason enough for the PC to be hard-pressed to attract gamers. Throw in the rest of the crap that goes into a computer, and it's no wonder that consoles have remained on top of the gaming world.
Where did Trion get its figures from? The Enron accounting department?
I'm also sick to death of hearing about the inherent superiority of the mouse & keyboard, which is bullshit. The keyboard frankly sucks, I'd rather use a thumbstick and joypad buttons. The mouse is great for some genres where you need the fine precision, like FPS'es and RTS'es. Then again, I would hate Gears of War with a mouse, because you know there'd be some sniping genius at the other end of the map getting headshots off everybody. Sometimes limiting aiming speed is a good thing.
Not to mention the PC doesn't even do some genres, like fighting games. And most of the big franchises, like Nintendo's mascots and Microsoft's Halo and Sony's God of War, don't ever see the light of day on the PC platform, and if they do, it takes a few years. The PC hasn't even gotten Halo 2 yet, and when it does you know it won't get co-op. At this rate, I hope PC users enjoy Halo 3 sometime in 2010.
PC games may not be going anywhere, but neither are consoles. I'd bet in the following generations, it'll be consoles giving PCs a run for their money.
Yeah, this guys a nutball, but I mostly enjoyed your belligerent tone in this one.
isn't he in a metallica coverband or something?
You've got to be joking me.
Who the hell wrote THIS?
Most, if not ALL video cards have composite/S-video outputs.
I don't know about you, but myself, while I own two current gen consoles-a 360 and a Wii, both of them just are sitting there collecting dust for multiple months already. There are about ~15 titles I am looking forward on the PC this year, and a combined total of ~4 titles on those two consoles. So for me, it is the console gaming that is dead.
Consoles are also moving into much more than gaming. Sony and MS are obviously pushing for making consoles media and internet centers. They're open for a lot of non-gaming apps and is someone seriously seeing that stopping? I don't. You can even develop for the 360 for free now, and probably for the PS3 too with Linux and whatnot.
Obviously consoles are learning from PCs, and I think PCs are also learning from consoles. Wether it is successful or not, Games for Windows aims at making the gaming experience more console-like. PCs are also becoming media stations connected to every machine in your house. If someone really meant business with PC gaming, there's a number of other things to learn from consoles as well.
I'm with the people who think there will be convergence. Consoles will disappear in the sense they will be more than game consoles. As for PCs, there will always be a need for a general-purpose computer that you can use freely and not only in the ways Sony or MS tells you, but what role it will play in gaming remains to be seen.
1. price, as you said video cards and all that. My gaming pc cost me $3000(of course its pretty much the best parts around)
2. accessibility, noobs cant just pick up a pc game, there is the installization(which i have seen people get frustrated with), patches, updates, most games for the pc are not easy pick up and play games. Besides some people cant afford to get powned at counter strike
3. Software, while the pc has far more great games than people know(i know this and in my opinion has more than consoles), we are seeing companies either porting or jumping ship to consoles because that is where the money is at right now. Hell MS the kingpin of pc software and etc decided to make a console
4. hardware, we are seeing the new consoles come really close to what the gaming pc does as far goes gaming. Now i agree that in five years the pc's newer and improved graphics will blow away the consoles, but you can only look so much better.
5. Pop culture, now many people hae nintendo drilled in their minds since 20 years ago, and sony from about ten years ago. People have memories and attachments to console companies, as opposed to pc gaming you see far more mention of console gaming than pc gaming(even though the pc gamer is far more hardcore)
6. appeal, more people know the name zelda or halo or GTA than lets say counter strike or UT(unreal tournament). So games on a console will more often than not peak the interest of the average consume
7. 1D way of thinking, lets face it people, consoles all in all were made for the sole purpose of playing games.
I might add to this later when im not playing UT(ironic huh)
-6 months ago, intel was introducing the dual core processor. Now, 8 core xeon machines are available for around $5000
-Predictions are that by 2013 (start of the next console war possibly?) a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computational capability of the human brain.
-The PS3 launched in November with a production cost of $800+, It will be less than a year from now when you will be able to purchase a PC for under $1000 that exceeds the capability of the PS3.
-Fact of the matter is, that as technology advances at such a riveting pace, consoles will not be able to hold their own in the future, and as the population becomes more tech savvy, swapping in a new video card is going to be nothing.
I'm just saying hold on, cause its gonna be one crazy decade...
So until I see games I actually want to play on a PC, game consoles aren't going to die.
there will not be a supercomputer built that exceeds the human brain for at least another 50-100 years(let alone 6). Now i know you will mention how far technology has come in 50 years. But the truth is the human brain @ %15 functionality is around 1,000,000 times more powerful than the most powerful supercomputer.