Industry Figures Discuss End of Consoles in PlayStation 2 Eulogy
The PS3 didn't do as well as the PS2. What does this mean?
Developers and industry figures have used the end of the PlayStation 2's production cycle as a means to declare the end of console gaming altogether.
A report on the Guardian's website suggests that Sony's next console will use off-the-shelf components, including AMD's "Accelerated Processing Units" which "combine quad-core CPUs and graphics processors into one chip for smoother performance".
But it also suggests that it will be Sony's last console, based on comparisons made between the PS2 and PS3, along with the usual discussion regarding the threat of mobile and smartphone devices.
Tomb Raider and Hitman developer Anna Marsh is quoted as saying, "at the height of the PlayStation 2's success, the word effectively came to mean video games for a lot of people. The industry has become so fractured, I'm not sure we'll see another console that gets that sort of penetration into the public consciousness."
Running with the line, "Some think the PS4 and Xbox 720 will be the last console generation, with machines designed as customisable units," the Guardian then quotes Future Publishing editorial director Tim Clark. "I envisage them as scalable off-the-peg PC hardware. You will be able to upgrade them very easily with plug-and-play graphics cards, CPUs and so on, but you would have the simple interface of traditional consoles.
"Certainly the idea of console cycles that last seven years seems like a busted flush now."
Knee-jerk reactions in the face of a growing mobile threat, or wise soothsaying? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place.
A report on the Guardian's website suggests that Sony's next console will use off-the-shelf components, including AMD's "Accelerated Processing Units" which "combine quad-core CPUs and graphics processors into one chip for smoother performance".
But it also suggests that it will be Sony's last console, based on comparisons made between the PS2 and PS3, along with the usual discussion regarding the threat of mobile and smartphone devices.
Tomb Raider and Hitman developer Anna Marsh is quoted as saying, "at the height of the PlayStation 2's success, the word effectively came to mean video games for a lot of people. The industry has become so fractured, I'm not sure we'll see another console that gets that sort of penetration into the public consciousness."
Running with the line, "Some think the PS4 and Xbox 720 will be the last console generation, with machines designed as customisable units," the Guardian then quotes Future Publishing editorial director Tim Clark. "I envisage them as scalable off-the-peg PC hardware. You will be able to upgrade them very easily with plug-and-play graphics cards, CPUs and so on, but you would have the simple interface of traditional consoles.
"Certainly the idea of console cycles that last seven years seems like a busted flush now."
Knee-jerk reactions in the face of a growing mobile threat, or wise soothsaying? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place.
Companies:
Sony
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Comments
DrkStr 7 Jan 2013 13:05
1/2
Finger in the air myopia!
realvictory 7 Jan 2013 13:22
2/2
Even if there is a similarity between electronics hardware, other hardware such as input methods I think will still differ, or consoles would be redundant, since we already have PC's (which don't take a genius to use, every home has one nowadays).
Over the entire history of video games, the players who care about hardware specification above actual games I predict to be a minority anyway. So overall, I doubt people's idea of games consoles will really change.
Over the entire history of video games, the players who care about hardware specification above actual games I predict to be a minority anyway. So overall, I doubt people's idea of games consoles will really change.