actually you have it backwards.

Industry insiders all tell me the same thing, consoles are finished. It is the console that costs too much to develop with no guarantee of a return on that investment. XBOX360 a large success still lost money on the box development. PS3 lost gobs of money and will never get it back.

The future isnt some box in your living room. It will be a wireless receiver that connects you to a wide range of entertainment options. cable television, mmorpgs, multiplayer action games, phone service, and more

You will access all of these entertainment options through your home PC or a tv with a keyboard like remote. The pc wont be anything like it is now either. The days of having a physical hard drive are over. Your music, files, etc will be stored on some server in a place you'll never see.

It comes down to two main reasons...piracy and cost/purchase of the box. If people dont buy that box, they cant access Halo 9. If people dont have the right box, they cant buy Gears of War 34. And if they can buy the game, there is a chance none of their friends will have to buy it (piracy)

In short, a wireless system allows for maximum sales for the industry with practically zero chance for piracy. And when the industry upgrades to a new more powerful system, it doesnt have to wait for 100 million people to buy the box before it can start making a profit on games.

there wont be an xbos720 or a ps4. consoles days are done

 >sure if people could "pirate" subscription based mmorpg's they would do so.

You should think that would be impossible physically, but... there are nerds out there succeeding in creating alternative platforms for MMO's like UO, WoW, Anarchy Online and lately I saw a new SWG being made.  Illegal yes, but it does happen. Also this site does not like the mention of such, but then denying the reality never benefitted anyone.

The question is more why, why are these amateur serverside versions made? 

Am going to laugh my ass off when M$ rolls out a gen wii type console and just cater to the casual kiddies crowds.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

The cost for the hardcore is going up and the casuals is going down. When they all switch over to the no subscription Micro Transaction business model obviously the hardcore will want everything and they'll be putting out lots of money where as the casual wont care and get to play for free.

        Actually Im not sure on this one.....The casual are often the ones buying the stuff because they dont have the tiem the hardcores do to get their own stuff.......It seems that most often the ones I read that are buying gold/powerleveling services are the people who have alot of money in RL and little time......They are the ones trying to keep up with the hardcores......Most of the hardcores I know get their own stuff and know where to go and whom to kill to get it.

Originally posted by Mitara

 >sure if people could "pirate" subscription based mmorpg's they would do so.

You should think that would be impossible physically, but... there are nerds out there succeeding in creating alternative platforms for MMO's like UO, WoW, Anarchy Online and lately I saw a new SWG being made.  Illegal yes, but it does happen. Also this site does not like the mention of such, but then denying the reality never benefitted anyone.

The question is more why, why are these amateur serverside versions made? 

People make them for a few reasons.  One is to avoid rulesets they don't like: so you can have the MMO without the grind, give everyone max level characters and gear and just fight, or give people a faster grind and easier gold, etc.  In the case of SWG, the idea is to rollback the CU/NGE changes through a private server.

Originally posted by OMRomero

Gameplay is the key to any game. How else can you explain the success of games such as Counter-Strike, Quake III, and Diablo II for such an extended period. Graphics are an overhyped accessory to gameplay.  The majority of PC gamers do not own a $3,000 rig and constantly update it. Any smart developer would realize this and develop games that could run on a wide range of setups.

And as far as consoles go, give me a mouse and keyboard and i'll never touch a PC for gaming again.

This sums it up perfectly for me.

On the topic of gameplay vs graphics, a nice article I came across recently (don't know when it was actully written) that talks about games that were released in 1998:

pc.ign.com/articles/066/066665p1.html

I still go back and play those, especially Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2, and Starcraft. And that's just 1998! I still play the aforementioned Quake III, and Diablo II. Even at their time none of those games were amazing graphically yet I'm sure they'll last longer than any game coming out recently / in the near future. But I know game developers nowadays are more for dumbing down the game to sell to the masses to make the money. I completely understand it from a business perspective, but it's still sad from a gamer perspective.

That said, Indie games are definitely starting to look better. Mount & Blade has awesome Real Time combat and is thankfully modable to add in all the other missing elements of gameplay. Age of Decadence is looking amazing. Avernum / Geneforge are nice. Dwarf Fortress has amazing gameplay. Hell, I've found reading how some people managed to get their fortress destroyed more fun than alot of games lately. Where else do you get see something like, "Lorbam Wailwind cancels Sparring in Barracks: Too Insane".

Originally posted by admriker4

actually you have it backwards.

Industry insiders all tell me the same thing, consoles are finished. It is the console that costs too much to develop with no guarantee of a return on that investment. XBOX360 a large success still lost money on the box development. PS3 lost gobs of money and will never get it back.

The future isnt some box in your living room. It will be a wireless receiver that connects you to a wide range of entertainment options. cable television, mmorpgs, multiplayer action games, phone service, and more

You will access all of these entertainment options through your home PC or a tv with a keyboard like remote. The pc wont be anything like it is now either. The days of having a physical hard drive are over. Your music, files, etc will be stored on some server in a place you'll never see.

It comes down to two main reasons...piracy and cost/purchase of the box. If people dont buy that box, they cant access Halo 9. If people dont have the right box, they cant buy Gears of War 34. And if they can buy the game, there is a chance none of their friends will have to buy it (piracy)

In short, a wireless system allows for maximum sales for the industry with practically zero chance for piracy. And when the industry upgrades to a new more powerful system, it doesnt have to wait for 100 million people to buy the box before it can start making a profit on games.

there wont be an xbos720 or a ps4. consoles days are done

I think this is correct. In the near future, all you will need is a machine that hooks up to the internet, and all the gaming will be done virtually. You won't need to upgrade your graphics card, add more ram, etc. That will all be taken care of on the server side. You'll just hook up to the internet, and play whatever game you want to.

There won't be platforms, like PC, Xbox, PS3, etc. There will just be games, and you can play them as long as you can access the internet.

We already see a crude version of this now. I have Direct TV  and it has a game channel. You play the games on the TV with the satellite connection. Obviously hte TV has no computing power at all, adn everything is done server side. The monitor is just a display system.

This technology will continue to mature, until it's applicable to current AAA games.

Originally posted by UNATCOII

I'm a hardware geek, but even I had to put a stop in upgrading every 2 years. When game devs and Microsoft; Nvidia; Creative and Intel started bank rolling games, it got crazy with the system requirements -- games like F.E.A.R. and BF2142 at the time of their release demanded more than a better proc and GPU and EAX enabled soundcards, they needed more memory; larger pagefiles and even better I/O to perform without stuttering.

One thing is for sure, if the economy isn't better in a year, devs don't have to worry about gamers upgrading their rigs -- there won't be enough money to even buy their games!

I see the video game industry the same as I view the beer industry. Good or bad times it will do well. People drink when they are happy and when they are sad. Some of the sadder moments in my life Ive been able to escape to games. So I don't think that will be a problem for them.

I believe WAR was close to WoW. Wasn't 100mil but it was up there. I think AAA mmos will continue to be around that cost and maybe more if they are more ambitious.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

Originally posted by admriker4

actually you have it backwards.

Industry insiders all tell me the same thing, consoles are finished. It is the console that costs too much to develop with no guarantee of a return on that investment. XBOX360 a large success still lost money on the box development. PS3 lost gobs of money and will never get it back.

The future isnt some box in your living room. It will be a wireless receiver that connects you to a wide range of entertainment options. cable television, mmorpgs, multiplayer action games, phone service, and more

You will access all of these entertainment options through your home PC or a tv with a keyboard like remote. The pc wont be anything like it is now either. The days of having a physical hard drive are over. Your music, files, etc will be stored on some server in a place you'll never see.

It comes down to two main reasons...piracy and cost/purchase of the box. If people dont buy that box, they cant access Halo 9. If people dont have the right box, they cant buy Gears of War 34. And if they can buy the game, there is a chance none of their friends will have to buy it (piracy)

In short, a wireless system allows for maximum sales for the industry with practically zero chance for piracy. And when the industry upgrades to a new more powerful system, it doesnt have to wait for 100 million people to buy the box before it can start making a profit on games.

there wont be an xbos720 or a ps4. consoles days are done

 

I think this is correct. In the near future, all you will need is a machine that hooks up to the internet, and all the gaming will be done virtually. You won't need to upgrade your graphics card, add more ram, etc. That will all be taken care of on the server side. You'll just hook up to the internet, and play whatever game you want to.

There won't be platforms, like PC, Xbox, PS3, etc. There will just be games, and you can play them as long as you can access the internet.

We already see a crude version of this now. I have Direct TV  and it has a game channel. You play the games on the TV with the satellite connection. Obviously hte TV has no computing power at all, adn everything is done server side. The monitor is just a display system.

This technology will continue to mature, until it's applicable to current AAA games.

But wait. Why would sony or nintendo let this happen? MS could do it becuase well they have the PC market but nintendo and sony don't. Also would devolpers have to pay royaties to the companies that host these so people can play their games? Would they be filled with so many ADs that there is no immerison? I think consoles and PCs as we know them will be around for a long time.

Originally posted by UNATCOII

 

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Originally posted by Novaseeker

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Originally posted by Vestas 
That said, there are some trends people need to be aware of.  You can get a VERY good gaming PC for about $600 (see www.Tomshardware.com for low cost gaming rig specs).  You can get respectable gaming laptops (laptops are beating desktops in sales) for $1350 from expensive stores like Best Buy, even cheaper if you shop around.  And the prices are falling fast.

---

 
Yes, but the average person doesn't want to buy a PC from someplace special, shop around, compare specs, custom build and the like.  The average person buys an off the shelf PC at Best Buy that he can use for email and pictures and MP3s.  He isn't a computerphile.  Consoles make it easy on the consumer -- one thing, buy the box, that's it.  It appeals to people who play games but are not tech geeks.

---

 

Building computers today grandma can do it. It wasn't like in the day of my first computer -- that it had to be literally soldered together to work.

Now, the hardest thing to do is to install all of the software, as plug n play has automated much of tweaking even needed to build a computer. What used to take hours of time even from a networking engineer (like solving IRC conflicts; setting up a network by hand), now mom can do with an installation disk and a v-e-r-y easy to read brochure, that has like at most 10 steps to complete.

Takes me no more than an hour to build a brand new system (a couple more hours to make a extreme OCing rig with polishing the proc and heatsink, and installing aftermarket coolers for air cooled rigs; and the same for watercoolers -- Peltiers take longer, as there's a lot of sealing to do and for it to cure, let alone figuring the best way to eliminate the heat it can generate as a byproduct).

But for the average gamer, takes nothing more than knowing your needs and going to sites like Newegg and buying the pieces and putting them together. Everything now just snaps into place -- it's a tech job, not a mechanic one.

You exxagarate the ease of the process.  1/2 of the time one of the parts you buy is defective, and its a real challenge to figure out which one it is. Then there's always issue with getting them set up properly, and more than one occasion I've had to help a corpmate with troubleshooting why their homemade system isn't working properly.

Finally, no warranties available outside of what the components provide, no technical support, and in the end, you can't build a decent gaming laptop yourself..... the final deciding factor in my case.

Originally posted by Arndur

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

Originally posted by admriker4

actually you have it backwards.

Industry insiders all tell me the same thing, consoles are finished. It is the console that costs too much to develop with no guarantee of a return on that investment. XBOX360 a large success still lost money on the box development. PS3 lost gobs of money and will never get it back.

The future isnt some box in your living room. It will be a wireless receiver that connects you to a wide range of entertainment options. cable television, mmorpgs, multiplayer action games, phone service, and more

You will access all of these entertainment options through your home PC or a tv with a keyboard like remote. The pc wont be anything like it is now either. The days of having a physical hard drive are over. Your music, files, etc will be stored on some server in a place you'll never see.

It comes down to two main reasons...piracy and cost/purchase of the box. If people dont buy that box, they cant access Halo 9. If people dont have the right box, they cant buy Gears of War 34. And if they can buy the game, there is a chance none of their friends will have to buy it (piracy)

In short, a wireless system allows for maximum sales for the industry with practically zero chance for piracy. And when the industry upgrades to a new more powerful system, it doesnt have to wait for 100 million people to buy the box before it can start making a profit on games.

there wont be an xbos720 or a ps4. consoles days are done

 

I think this is correct. In the near future, all you will need is a machine that hooks up to the internet, and all the gaming will be done virtually. You won't need to upgrade your graphics card, add more ram, etc. That will all be taken care of on the server side. You'll just hook up to the internet, and play whatever game you want to.

There won't be platforms, like PC, Xbox, PS3, etc. There will just be games, and you can play them as long as you can access the internet.

We already see a crude version of this now. I have Direct TV  and it has a game channel. You play the games on the TV with the satellite connection. Obviously hte TV has no computing power at all, adn everything is done server side. The monitor is just a display system.

This technology will continue to mature, until it's applicable to current AAA games.

 

But wait. Why would sony or nintendo let this happen? MS could do it becuase well they have the PC market but nintendo and sony don't. Also would devolpers have to pay royaties to the companies that host these so people can play their games? Would they be filled with so many ADs that there is no immerison? I think consoles and PCs as we know them will be around for a long time.

How would they stop it from happening?

Log on to gamesitex.com and you can play Sonic 108, Battlefield 2199, Farcry 5, World of Starcraft, Mortal Online,  etc. Just pay the fee to play the game, and have a good internet connection, that's it. No major hardware needed, other than a system that let's you browse the internet.

What are sony and nintendo going to do, come to your house and cut your internet connection so you can't play?

Developers would be quite happy with this model, even if they have to pay fees to host the games. There is almost ZERO piracy. You don't download the game at all, so you can't transfer it to anyone. You just log on and play. No DRM needed, no CD key to crack, nothing.

interisting never thought of it that way.

I don’t care how you label your MMO, “next gen” to me means the feature set is superior, not the graphics. I want substance, and hardware requirements are an entirely separate matter.

It’s up to the developer to decide how many players they want, higher the requirement, the fewer that will play. It’s their choice and their failure if they decide to alienate the player base.

I made the decision over 10 years ago that if I was going to be spending money on video games, it would have to be either consoles or PC... not both.  Despite the higher cost at the time, I chose PC and I couldn't be more confident that I made the right decision.  As hard as they try, consoles never have, and never will take the upper hand for graphics and functionality.  Consoles were practical back when they were in the $200 range and PC's were in the $2000-$3000 range but that's just not the case any more.  Anyone buying a $3000+ rig these days from alienware or projectwarmachine is just a sucker and has no concept of cost/benefit analysis.  For the price of one of those fancy top-of-the-line xbox 360's, (roughly $500) you can build a gaming computer with better graphics, interface, functions, speed, and upgradability than a console.  You can even HDMI output to your favorite HD tv if you'd like.  And... how many console components are user servicable?  I don't know who could possibly be whining about the cost of maintaining a PC... well, except for someone with a McJob earning a McWage at the McPoverty level.

They're trying to add internet connectivity and multimedia capabilities to consoles, but really... plug in a keyboard and all you've got is a handicapped PC.

As for the cost of MMOs, cross platform games aren't that far off and they'll reach the broadest market possible.  They'll have high end graphics for the PC crowd, and dumbed down graphics for the consoles, and they'll communicate with eachother.  All entertainment electronics are merging together.... video, music, internet, tv, radio, communications, and yes, gaming.

I spent 700 dollars on my Dell computer that came with a one year warranty with the option to extend it. I can run any game. You don' have to spend thousands of dollars just to run AoC or Crysis.

IMO, PC gaming is closing to an end. It may take another decade or two but its on its way. Its very rare nowadays to see a PC only title. Once consoles get an OS that allows email and internet browsers PCs will be in deep trouble.

ihmtepp how can u say zero piracy ??? around 30 % of xbox 360 users are playing pirated games on their console by modifying chip.whatever system they put in  hackers will find a way through .secondly computers are more reliable .they dont  get faulty much.and look at consles .oh my console lens has got down .what will i do ?? give f******** microsoft $100 for a new lens.grow  up child!!!!

The death of PC has been heralded many times, yet it still stands here.

We need PCs for school and work, therefore everyone has one. The same can not be said about consoles.

Consoles will die before the PC does, simply because a console cannot replace a PC, while the PC in fact CAN replace a console.

Originally posted by catsaad

ihmtepp how can u say zero piracy ??? around 30 % of xbox 360 users are playing pirated games on their console by modifying chip.whatever system they put in  hackers will find a way through .secondly computers are more reliable .they dont  get faulty much.and look at consles .oh my console lens has got down .what will i do ?? give f******** microsoft $100 for a new lens.grow  up child!!!!

 

Reread the post. What good would a chip do? You don'[t have the program on your computer, you are just using your web browser to access the program running on a server.

You don't download anything, there's nothing to hack.

You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on a PC.  Go to www.newegg.com with $700 and you can run every game out with no problems.  Is that really so much to ask for?  It's not much more expensive than the consoles available these days.  Anybody with a decent job can afford to spend $700 once every few years.  Anyway, I've seen the PC gaming scene growing over the years.  It's almost able to compete with consoles, but that wasn't the case years ago.  I believe PC gaming has increased and is increasing as we speak, not dying.

Edit:  I think games should stop focusing on graphics and go back to gameplay.