Square Enix's President – and one of the most powerful men in the Japanese gaming industry – has seen into the future. And one thing he doesn't see is that console under your telly.
That's right. When none other than SqEnix boss Yoichi Wada wades into the debate about the future of consoles, traditional retail versus digital distribution and 'gaming in the cloud' it is time for Sony And Microsoft to listen in. And listen in good!
Wada has said that Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the end of the console era.
Bye Xbox
"In ten years' time a lot of what we call 'console games' won't exist," the SqEnix boss told trade mag MCV.
"In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network… A time will come when the hardware isn't even needed anymore," he added, noting that Sony and Microsoft are ready for a new era dominated by server-based offerings, game streaming and digital distribution.
"Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers' strategy shifted," he said.
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tech89
November 30th 2009
4. @mobius
Nothing ever comes free (or without consequence) especially gaming from sony and microsft.
If microsft/sony/nintendo want to do all the processing their side of the network, then that's going to cost alot in terms of power usage & therefore cost, which has to be recovered from... guess what... the consumer.
I still see console in 10 years time, they'll incorporate more entertainment features. In 10 years time they should have had plenty of time to dance around the table of negotiations for content deals to allow iplayer, and other video and music sources to be accessed.
Ideas: allow content to be shared from portable devices like itouch to consoles. Exclusive content deals maybe. Itegrated Digital Television with recording capability? Saves on buying a recorder and some shelf space below the telly, 2 devices in one. In 10 years time, you should be able to charge your controllers via wireless technology (it's being done with laptops by dell at the moment). Access to internet through browser. Parental control capabilities (seeing as alot of kids are now playing consoles, which is of concern to parents). Developing applications for the consoles (like apple apps - simple fun) - also with apps for e.g. xbox, you could have one that tags your location and pulls a list of places to eat out - if your eating in, then take out. Storing photos and videos in the 'cloud' computing world, maybe. Microsoft's new system where cameras track your movements and you become in the game as such should be implemented in the console. 3D capabilities for when in 10 years time 3D televisions might be affordable for us. What about a projector? (they'e fitting some now in cameras and mobile phones) it would be great for films, position it in the side of the console maybe. Changeable colors maybe? Black and white gets a bit tired after a while. HD capabilities as standard in 10 years time.
All I reckon is that Cloud gaming will not happen for consoles:
1) cloud gaming would mean putting the game processing in the manufacturers hands, which means they would need to buy significant amounts of hardware for equivalent of the millions of users there are.
2) They would need to use a significant amount of electricity to power the servers and cooling equipment.
1+2 = A lot of money to pay for it all, which would inevitably trickle from the consumer, so why would you want cloud gaming?
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mobius
November 28th 2009
3. @dreamhunk but that's not cloud gaming as all the processing is still done (at least extensively) on your local hardware. The graphics use your graphics card, the scripting is client side and it requires a significant download to local to run the app. The only "different" thing between this and any other multiplayer game is that it's free and runs in the browser. And browser does not equal cloud computing.
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dreamhunk
November 27th 2009
2. you can now play the last qauke game on a web browaer.
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mobius
November 27th 2009
1. I think it will be a combination. Sure network bandwidth etc will get better in 10 years but then so will hardware and I don't see in the near future that bandwidth for the mass market will have "caught up" with relatively cheap locally installed hardware.
Maybe family (Wii) type gaming could be moved to cloud but for hardcore gaming people will want the best and that's still going to mean near bleeding edge technology and that's local not cloud (or more likely local with cloud).
Plus the strategy seems to be moving towards full media centres with gaming built in, so a "games console" in itself may not exist, but I think it'll simply evolve/merge into media centres (xbox 360 and PS3 are practically there already). I think there will always be a "box" of sorts and this will be the home media centre, yes it will make heavy use of cloud technology but I very much doubt all the processing will be done offsite. The latest and greatest can't be delivered to everyone from servers in comparison to buying hardware individually.
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