The next major video game platform may be no platform at all.
For the past three decades, the pattern has been the same: every few years, the major game-console makers – these days Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – come out with newer, slicker players.
Now OnLive, a Silicon Valley start-up, is about to begin large-scale testing of a system that, if it delivers on its promises, may break the cycle and usher in a new era in a video game market estimated at US$21.3 billion ($31.4 billion) in the United States and more than twice that worldwide.
The idea is to run games in “the cloud” – distant servers connected via the internet – and stream them to your television or computer with as much speed and power as if they were running locally.
The service, which has been demonstrated publicly but so far only tested internally, is about to open up for a wider public trial next month, and scheduled to officially start this year.
This isn’t about downloading games; it’s about playing them on computers that might be 1000km away, counting on the internet to deliver an experience indistinguishable from an Xbox or PlayStation.
The minds behind the ever-popular and still growing Lord of The Rings MMORPG, have confirmed that they are discussing and starting the process a MMO for consoles. This would be an awesome idea because there are plenty of gamers out there who want to get into a MMO, but don’t have the CPU requirements or are not going to buy PC games when they have $2500 tvs and surround sound set-ups.
We’ve hired over 60 people since the beginning of the year,”… The people that invested in us, Time Warner… one of the media giants, getting into the MMO fold, and that’s obviously a big deal… They also have a huge distribution network… that may bear fruit for us.
Expect much more on this once some details are confirmed. Turbine is an awesome developer and there constant free upgrades to LOTR make them a frontrunner in gamer/developer relations. We are much looking forward to more news on this.
And the ballsiest statement of the month award goes to Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley. In an interview with GameDaily, Smedley had this to say when asked if the PS3 would get an MMO game to rival World of Warcraft:
“I absolutely do [think we'll see that], and in fact I think by having a stable platform where every customer has an online capable box is a huge, huge potential advantage in building an MMO because you’ve already got an online userbase. It’s a massive advantage over the PC and we don’t have to worry about graphics cards or things like that. It’s going to be very big. Console online gaming in general I think is going to be one of the next huge phases of growth in the online gaming space.”
Ummm, I just don’t think it’s going to happen. Console gamers aren’t going to buy the game and then pay a $15 a month subscription fee to play online. Console gamers want to play Halo or Call of Duty and shoot people in the head, not for guilds and party up to take down a goblin horde. Just my 2 cents… I don’t think it’ll ever happen.
Looks like Epic has decided which direction to go with their development. Tim Sweeney, the big daddy at Epic, dropped some knowledge on TG Daily.
The Unreal engine is really tied to a console cycle. We will continue to improve Unreal Engine 3 and add significant new features through the end of this console cycle. So, it is normal to expect that we will add new stuff in 2011 and 2012. We’re shipping Gears of War now; we’re just showing the next bunch of major tech upgrades such as soft-body physics, destructible environments and crowds. There is a long life ahead for Unreal Engine 3. Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation, Microsoft’s successor for the Xbox 360, Sony’s successor for the Playstation 3 – and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also. PCs will follow after that.
Looks like Sweeney doesn’t care too much about that PC Gaming Alliance they helped form. Consoles are where it’s at, if we’re to believe the development cycle for the Unreal Engine.
Sony has announced that once current stock of 20GB and 60GB PS3’s are gone, they won’t be coming back to Japan. The only model that will remain is the sans backwards compatible 40GB SKU.
The company said that it now intends to concentrate on the 40GB model in the region as it “vigorously promotes” the home console during 2008.
Usually with Sony, whatever happens in Japan gets reflected in the rest of the world. Don’t be surprised to hear about this in the US and Europe sometime this year. Looks like backwards compatibility has gone the way of the dodo.
We don’t usually post comics here, but today’s Penny Arcade hits the nail on the head when it comes to PC upgrades. To play a lot of the titles this Holiday season, you’re going to need one killer rig.
It’s a bit over the top, but this is one of the reasons I slowed my uptake of PC games and moved to consoles. I just don’t have the time, funds, or desire to keep upgrading my PC.
Hop on over the Penny Arcade to see a bigger version of the comic (in case your puny eyes can’t read it here).
Why waste precious space in your entertainment center with two consoles when you can combine them into one? That’s exactly what FC Twin did with an NES and SNES combo system.
In one box, you get to rock out with your…. um… thing out, while playing your favorite NES or SNES cartridges. Get ready to blow in game cartridges again my friends. I’m personally very skeptical of the system here. It looks like someone just soldered some stuff together and called it a day. That’s not to say it won’t work and it’s not an amazingly cool idea.
Just image what this could lead to? Who wants to get going on a single box that houses a Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360? You could probably heat a small apartment with one of those with all three consoles running at once.
It’s been 7 months now since the Wii launched in the USA, and you still can’t walk into a store and get one. No console ever has gone this long in this scenario.
So what’s the deal? Is the demand really that high? Or is Nintendo still not pushing enough consoles to the marketplace? I’m thinking it’s somewhere in between. Whatever the case, Nintendo needs to ramp up production to fill the supply chains. If the demand really is still that high, they need to provide for everyone who wants one. People aren’t going to wait forever.
Gametrailers has released a video montage of what they think are the top 10 consoles of all time. Do you agree? Let us know, you we’ll have an opinion.
It’s been 7 months now since the Wii launched in the USA, and you still can’t walk into a store and get one. No console ever has gone this long in this scenario.
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