Video game consoles are ‘fundamentally doomed,’ Ultima creator says

[DKT27]

Microsoft just sold nearly one million Xbox 360 consoles last week alone, but we’re nearing the end of the road for video game consoles according to one industry visionary. Richard Garriott, known for having created the fantasy role-playing franchise Ultima and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Tabula Rasa, says converged devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets will soon render dedicated game consoles obsolete. Read on for more.

“I think we might get one more generation, might, but I think fundamentally they’re doomed,” Garriott told IndustryGamers in an interview. “I think fundamentally the power that you can carry with you in a portable is really swamping what we’ve thought of as a console.”

Smartphones and tablets have plenty of ground to cover before they can even come close to approaching the capabilities of the current generation of consoles, and we may see next-generation consoles launch as soon as next year. BGR exclusively reported in June that Microsoft plans to unveil its next-generation Xbox console at E3 next year, and Sony may also unveil its PlayStation 4 in 2012 according to recent reports.

Several industry leaders disagree with Garriott’s assessment. In a recent interview with BGR that will be published in the coming weeks, Saber Interactive co-Founder and CEO Matthew Karch suggested smartphones and tablets may never catch up to consoles in terms of capabilities and user experience. Consoles already have such a tremendous technology lead and the physical limitations of mobile devices will be a huge barrier until broadband data speeds and reliability reach a point where the bulk of game processing can be handled remotely.

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[toyo]

It will be a pretty long time (maybe short when it comes to computing? :P) before little handheld devices can run the same complex 3D apps like PCs and consoles. But I hope to see the day when everybody has the PC/phone/tablet/game console with them on a pocket, and just connects it to what screen is closer if a better experience is desired...

[JusperX]

There's no way something like this is gonna happen.

Not everyone has the money to build a gaming rig and the patience to keep up with software/drivers releases.

Consoles are the easy way, power on, insert disc, play (and once in a while the console requires a software update and you just choose yes).

PCs are more complicated.. Install patches, update drivers, check settings that system can handle, run necessary software etc..

Yes, PCs are way more powerful that consoles since '07 or 08, but consoles are more convenient.

[tangkungan]

^^ for someone with well-detailed system specs on their signatures, I simply find it hard that PCs are more complicated.. lolx.. peace bro.. =)

[JusperX]

They're not hard for me/you, but not everyone's like us. ;)

[Stricken]

Would just like to voice my opinion.

Later on, they will definitely be doomed. But for now they are great as when we compare gaming consoles to a PC everyone seems to miss the fact that on games such as Call Of Duty and many more, You can play with 4 Players with one console only which is quite unique as PC's require a lot more effort which i believe involves getting 4 PC's and connecting them into the same network then getting patches/game versions to match and make sure no firewall is blocking the connection, either way.. Consoles are very easy for people who just wana get into the games without as much hassle

Now as you have noticed.. There is only one mouse and keyboard on a PC (or controller) so that would kinda be crappy if you game on PC and some mates came round without laptops or whatever lol.. This is why consoles awesome as only one console is needed for split-screen / 4 player and I guess that's one reason to buy them along with the fact that the game was designed to run fine with the hardware while on PC you have a lot of varying hardware.

Please correct me on any details as I am only trying to be informative and ehh, idk haha. :)

[toyo]

Consoles are good for kids, but if you're a grown-up and have some money&PC knowledge, go for the real thing, be a man and face/repair/fix any issues that might appear.

[alaindc]

i won't ever play on a smartphone, or even a tablet, since i prefer bigger screen, and just holding a tablet in my hand for too long would cause me pain. I can tolerate gamepad, because they are bigger, larger, and i don't have to close my hand that much.

Also, the problem with PC gaming, for me, is...the price of the hardware (and upgrade often needed), and the mouse/keyboard combo.

i prefer gamepad.

Maybe smartphone and tablet can win the portable gaming market, but console are still the easier hardware for gaming at home, and will be, for a long time...

[JusperX]

@alaindc

Upgrading is no longer an issue.

Since most (if not all) games are portred from consoles, with a PC build on '08 you can run everything at 1080p maxed out with 2 to 4xAA.

I for example built it back in '08, and since then I only bought another 4850 to have more frames (even though due to poor porting a lot of games have issues with CrossFireX).

I was even running Battlefield 3 at 1080p and everything set on High (with noAA) and I had over 30fps.

[DKT27]

@JusperX: Lots of games are extremely poorly ported. They are made for age old consoles and poorly ported for PCs. I'll be more than happy to see console die simply because of this reason. I didn't notice this fact until someone acknowledged me about it ( :) ). Since, then I've seen lot of games that are poorly ported.

Having said, a simple, good graphics card with mediocre CPU is enough for having a good gaming experience on PC. :)

One liking gamepad can get one for PC, like I've bought XBOX 360 controller for mine.

[JusperX]

@DKT27

Yeah, and they don't even try to fix them (Shift2 for example, I don't think the CF issues were resolved).

I personally wouldn't like to see consoles die, as I own them, plus they have awesome exclusives that are worth playing, even if you're a PC gamer.

Sadly, with some games being CPU bound (like F1 2011, NFS The Run etv), you need a very good CPU. I was running F1 2011 with 25fps due to CPU limitation, whereas with DiRT3 (which is GPU bound and uses the same engine as F1 2011) I had over 75fps.

Same here, I've a wired 360 controller which I use for both my PC and console. :)

[DKT27]

Nice. I can see you're quite a gamer. :D

I have a powerful CPU, i5-750 and one of the least powerful graphics card of the decade, AMD HD 5450. Shift 2 was horrible (except it's force feedback, that was kickass). I'm playing NFS Run right now, and the FPS limit is 32FPS, I get around 23FPS (without any slow downs as the game's designed that way), so I don't know if it's really CPU based, but does work ok.

What I really loved about Dirt 3 was it's graphics was easily adjusted as I wanted, high, medium, low, really low. That helped me have good FPS.

[RadioActive]

At first I disagreed but then I remembered this video showcasing Tegra 2 tablet hooked to a big LCD/LED, looked amazing.

[tangkungan]

I don't think consoles are going the way of the dinosaurs anytime soon.. not even in the next 10 more years.. Don't get me wrong, I prefer the modularity of the PC to any console on any given day, but let's be realistic.. even the first cars, which were created around the 1800+, are still the same cars that we have now, only which obviously the latest models offer, luxury, comfort, safety and better design.. If say we compare the "flying cars" in the Jetson's cartoons, to our "grounded cars" than that is obviously a different kind of animal altogether..

consoles and PCs cater to different markets, and as such, we simply just can't compare apples to oranges, even though they're still the under the same category, as a fruit. each fulfills the specific purpose it was designed for.. other people prefer to only have a particular system from another.. some even love to hoard all available systems, not because he/she is an avid gamer, but rather simply because he has the ways and means to own such systems.. so to each his own..

at the end of the day, if people will be given the chance to move forward with better technological choices, people will do so without hesitation, coz man is always in constant pursuit of his happeniness..

/* damn, why am I so serious? might have woke up at the wrong side of the bed.. lolx */

[Bolt_Gundam510]

consols will be around for at least a good while, even with all the tablets, smart phones devices consols will keep ruleing till the tablets etc can catch up to them.

[Tweety.Abd]

I played games on consoles once or twice, but I didn't like it much. I love playing games on PC (Desktop) and I believe it's the best place to play games on. And the issue of upgradeability isn't much of a problem now, if you have GTX 560 Ti or even Radeon 4600+ series, you'll be able to play games, maxed out for many years to come.

[JusperX]

I don't think for many years, but as long as this console generations sticks around, yes, you can.

ps : unfortunately, the games that consoles have, aren't ever gonna be released for the pc, that's the main reason I've bought 'em

[DKT27]

I play Wii games on PC with Dolphin Emulator, that, if you have a good graphics card, at 1080 HD (native resolution). :troll:

[mara-]

Nice. I can see you're quite a gamer. :D

I have a powerful CPU, i5-750 and one of the least powerful graphics card of the decade, AMD HD 5450. Shift 2 was horrible (except it's force feedback, that was kickass). I'm playing NFS Run right now, and the FPS limit is 32FPS, I get around 23FPS (without any slow downs as the game's designed that way), so I don't know if it's really CPU based, but does work ok.

What I really loved about Dirt 3 was it's graphics was easily adjusted as I wanted, high, medium, low, really low. That helped me have good FPS.

Shif 2 horrible? Come one DKT, just because it was to hard for you it does not mean it's horrible. :P Seriously, when I got myself xbox controller, game was piece of cake. It was only hard to play on keyboard.

Cheers ;)

[DKT27]

It was horrible, hard wise. :P Nah, it had it set of problems that I faced. I did see the total wrong side of NFS series when I played Shift 2. I almost lost a feel into NFS after playing Shift 2 due to it's gameplay. And yes, there were some issues on PC version that wasn't on console (that's what I read...).

[mara-]

For me it was totally different experience. I didn't face any issues. Game play was also fine for me. I'll download The Run soon, and see how's that one.

Cheers ;)

[DKT27]

Run is good. People are giving it mixed reviews but game's perfectly fine for me. Beware though, the FPS is max at 30FPS, people are foolishly complaining about the FPS without noticing the fact that the game is made that way and if you remove the FPS OSD, one wouldn't even know that the game is running at that rate.

You know what, I'm going through remembering all the NFS games and it seems they have a problem. Every game I remember about has two thing in common, traffic and obstructional objects. One doesn't have to "Race". One has to beat those objects. The devs seem to enjoy people crashing and trying again and again just to feel this thing is great, I call it bs. NFS devs should play games like Dirt 3 and Trackmania to learn how to make racing experience enjoyable without a person crashing into things. Kills the fun IMO. And every NFS game from the Underground era has this thing going on. Good thing about Run is, I'm halfway through and only now the crashing into the cars or going off the track has started.

In Run, some cars do oversteer, but that feels natural, unlike TestDrive Unlimited 2 and Driver: San Fransisco, which were terrible in making those cars oversteer. Hell, I've lost races due to poor control of those games. Run, on the other hand has okish to good control. It knows the difference between Drifting and Oversteering. :)

I know, a bit off topic. :P

[JusperX]

@DKT27

I'm playing Wii games on my Wii. :uhoh:

For NFS The Run you need a decent CPU as it's ported from the PS3 which relies on it's Cell more than it's GF7800.

As for the frame lock, same reason, console port, but a patch is going to be released (sometime) and they're gonna remove it.

@mara

I was playing with a 360 controller too, but there's a lag when steering (some milliseconds), and it was annoying.

ps : if you're the mara I know, many thanks for your fixes! ^_^

[mara-]

Yes, I'm that one. And some people must be real had core gamers to notice milliseconds. I don't play much games, and I can't notice such thing. I simply play and enjoy.

Cheers ;)

[DKT27]

I believe they had fixed the controller lag in Shift 2's first patch update.

@JusperX: Will see if they really fix it. As I really feel the game to be fine at 30FPS. Thing about this is that people have edited the config files, disable VSync but weren't able to remove it.

Again, the porting, this is why I want PCs to get more priority.