Um… no. Look, AI. It’s sort of cute when you, Gruber, and other pro-Apple outlets try to claim that Apple is somehow chewing into the console games market, but… the fact is, they aren’t. The iPod Touch (and iPhone to a lesser extent) are certainly excelling at the entry-level, casual games market. After all, for people who just want to play something simple on the subway ride to work or while waiting in line somewhere, why spend $250 on a 3DS? Apple’s done a great job of getting into that market.
But there are very few people out there who are going to spend $500+ on an iPad and $40 on an HDMI adapter when they can get an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for half that. Just isn’t going to happen. If anything, the iPad will slightly cannibalize the gaming segment of the iPod Touch user base.
I love AI, Daring Fireball, and my Apple products, but Apple-oriented sites really have to rethink how they look at the gaming market. Angry Birds and Real Racing HD are not the ruin of, or even legitimate competition for, Assassin’s Creed, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, Battlefield, anything named Mario, Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, or any other long-running console franchise I can list here. Just is not. There’s a huge blind spot among Apple punditry when it comes to gaming.
iPad 2 - console quality gaming where the games sell for under $10
Console games - console quality gaming the games sell for $30+
It doesn't take long for the iPad 2 to be cheaper. Buy about 10 games for each and you're already ahead with the iPad.
Plus you can take the iPad with you anywhere while a console system requires a TV to use.
Plus you can use the iPad for a million other things.
Certainly Nintendo has a valuable asset with their Mario franchise, but don't think independent console developers owned by the console makers aren't going to bring out high quality titles for the iPad 2. There are simply too many of them being sold to be ignored. There are roughly 50 million xbox 360s, 50 million PS3s and 80 million Wi's. These are consoles that have been on the market for close to 5 years. Some projections have Apple selling close to 50 million iPads this year, which would put them approaching 200 million iOS devices sold by the end of the year, if not more.
Also, I'm not sure why you think titles like Angry Birds should be dismissed. This is a huge hit with Nindendo's target casual gamers market. Nintendo's profits dropped by half last year. iOS devices are most certainly a major factor in that. The problems Nintendo faces competing are only going to get worse going forward.
Also, some stats on Angry Birds
Quote:
Angry Birds has 40 million active users per month. They play 200 million minutes of the game daily.
The iPad is a great device. It is not a replacement for, or legitimate competitor to, gaming consoles. That?s up to the AppleTV, not the iPad. And so far, Apple has shown no interest in entering that market.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
interesting chart - the iPad2 very likely outsold all gaming systems combined that week. Did Apple ever release sales numbers?
Another difference is Apple doesn't sell their hardware at a loss. I'm not sure of the consoles are still sold that way but I bought the original PS3 as a way to save money on a blu ray player since they were selling them at a loss. I don't even use it to play games.
We've heard the same argument before. The iPhone and iPod touch will never infringe upon the territory of PSP and Nintendo DS because they are not for hardcore gaming. The truth is serious and hardcore gamers are minority.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
With gaming consoles its not about the hardware its about the games sold. Thats where the money is and the xbox 360 helps sell alot of games.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
As an example, the comparatively frail and weak Homo sapiens sapiens have outlasted the hardcore Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. (At least it’s not a car example)
As an example, the comparatively frail and weak Homo sapiens sapiens have outlasted the hardcore Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. (At least it?s not a car example)
Yes I would say they all died from having the SLI umbilical cord cut.
Yes I would say they all died from having the SLI umbilical cord cut.
I?m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
System Requirements:
Processor: 68020@16 MHz
Operating System: Mac OS 7.0.1 or greater (OS 9.x or higher not supported)
I'm still waiting on my iPad2, but this driving game seems pretty cool. I'll be checking it out soon enough.
The only minor complaint I have for Apple is why are all of their accessories in white only? My iPad will be black. If I'm paying 40 dollars for a HDMI output connector, then at least give me the choice of black.
Even Steve Jobs was using a black cable connected to the iPad2 during the keynote. Apple needs to get away from it's white fetish. I have a black macbook which i think is great, but even the power cable that came with that is white. Enough with the white already Apple, bring back the black. At the very least, give me a choice to choose between white or black.
I?m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
I miss Myst. I played the whole series, until whichever one was PC only.
Do they still make any games like that? Elaborate world building with really difficult puzzles?
I'm still waiting on my iPad2, but this driving game seems pretty cool. I'll be checking it out soon enough.
The only minor complaint I have for Apple is why are all of their accessories in white only? My iPad will be black. If I'm paying 40 dollars for a HDMI output connector, then at least give me the choice of black.
Even Steve Jobs was using a black cable connected to the iPad2 during the keynote. Apple needs to get away from it's white fetish. I have a black macbook which i think is great, but even the power cable that came with that is white. Enough with the white already Apple, bring back the black. At the very least, give me a choice to choose between white or black.
Unless you want a white iPad with 3G, then the plastic cap for the cellular antennas are black. Personally, I couldn?t care less about the color of some piece of plastic or rubber so long as it serves its purpose, but it does seem odd that they aren?t coordinating their color options a little better.
With the headphones there is an iconic aspect involved, but with their PSUs I just don?t see that as a driving force.
Unless you want a white iPad with 3G, then the plastic cap for the cellular antennas are black. Personally, I couldn’t care less about the color of some piece of plastic or rubber so long as it serves its purpose, but it does seem odd that they aren’t coordinating their color options a little better.
With the headphones there is an iconic aspect involved, but with their PSUs I just don’t see that as a driving force.
It's not that big of a deal for me either, just a minor complaint based on my own personal preferences. I guess it could be worse if all of their accessories and PSU's came in shock pink only or some other hideous color. For some reason white just reminds me of kitchen appliances. I'm even willing to pay a premium for black, because that's exactly what I had to do when I originally bought the black macbook.
this back and forth about how iPad2 compares to consoles for hard core games misses the real point.
as a hand held controller for full HDTV games, the Pad opens up dramatic new possibilities. at a minimum, it can display all the extra game info that otherwise clutters the screen or needs a pause. as the Real Racing game does. but it might do far more than that. it might actually become another part of the game. for example, becoming an entire cockpit control display for airplane or spaceship* games while the TV shows nothing but the outside view. you get the idea ... and that is only the beginning of the possibilities. how about multiplayer with each seeing different important game stuff on their own iPad but the same on the big screen. etc. such as team sports games.
what this essentially represnts is yet another new form of gaming UI. the Wii did this four years ago with motion UI controllers, and now MS and Sony have taken it further. (the hard core gamers sneered at that too.) right now the hard wired HDMI connection is a nuisance, but that will be solved in a year or two somehow.
bottom line is: if it's fun, it will be a big hit (no matter what "real gamers" say).
*remember, all the bridge controls of the Starship Enterprise were touchscreens.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
I’m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
System Requirements:
Processor: 68020@16 MHz
Operating System: Mac OS 7.0.1 or greater (OS 9.x or higher not supported)
Hard Drive Space: 3 MB
RAM: 4 MB
CD-ROM: 1x
Graphics: 256 Colors
Oh man, you just dug up a bag of hurt for me ..... still pissed to this day that I never got to see what was on disc 4 & 5 .... couldn't find any "cheats" and got to feeling so guilty about "wasting countless hours" just playing a "stupid computer game" that I gave up and "went back to taking care of business".
I'll never forget the feeling I got when I opened a door (by accident) and a photo realistic little girl "answered the door". Honestly, it made my heart jump ... scared the crap out of me. Amongst all of the basic, but still well done, graphics appears, like magic, this image that was almost lifelike. It might have been at that very moment that I got hooked on Mac. I was blown away. I'm still laughing about it as I type this post .... 15 to 20 years later. Thanks Sol.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
I would suggest you read the post I was replying to.
But alright, guys. Okay. The iPad is going to replace consoles. Microsoft won?t bother pursuing the one profitable venture they didn?t build via monopoly. Sony will just bow out of a market that arguably sustained their company for nearly a decade. Nintendo will go back to making playing cards. Their lunch has already been eaten by Apple, they just don?t know it yet.
Sheesh.
There?s a difference between defending a product you like and understanding its limitations. The iPad is not a console replacement.
It would be more elegant, but we need to consider the max bit rate and latency that would occur from pushing this content over your home?s WiFi, through a router and into an AppleTV to process. Even over 802.11n I worry about this being an issue.
That said, I think there is plenty of room for incorporating the iOS-based iDevices used in a home with an AppleTV over WiFi and hope that Apple will be surprising us with an AppleTV SDK and App Store this year.
Perhaps it?s still too soon to have an HD racing game with 4 drivers all using their iOS-based iDevices to drive while the main screen is transmitting 4 different section, one for each driver?s car, but thinking smaller, displaying stats of ?a? race and an overhead view of the track on the HDTV would likely allow for 1080p content with only the simplistic data of position on track and stats being relayed to the AppleTV to project in real time.
There are plenty of other games that would be better suited for a ?family? environment and be very simple to make. Scrabble? has already done this with the iPad. You can use a single iPad for the game board and iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads as the 4 tile boards. You flick the letters to the main board and then arrange them. It even remembers what side of the board you are on after you rotate the screen once on your turn. This and many other games seems like it would be trivial to adapt to this model.
You need a P2P link like WifiDirect where the Apple TV directly connects to the iPad (bypassing the AP), which I guess it does for airplay. The bit rate might be there but the encoding and decoding will be the most tricky part with latency in hand.
I would suggest you read the post I was replying to.
But alright, guys. Okay. The iPad is going to replace consoles. Microsoft won?t bother pursuing the one profitable venture they didn?t build via monopoly. Sony will just bow out of a market that arguably sustained their company for nearly a decade. Nintendo will go back to making playing cards. Their lunch has already been eaten by Apple, they just don?t know it yet.
Sheesh.
There?s a difference between defending a product you like and understanding its limitations. The iPad is not a console replacement.
Sheesh, is an understatement. You take intelligent comments about a projected future of gaming with plenty of evidence to back up those claims, which you completely ignore in your initial replies and finally rebuttal with the melodramatic crap you posted above.
PS: 1) MS was profitable in SW long before they had a monopoly. It was the profit that allowed them to obtain and maintain that monopoly. 2) While a billion or two in gross profit might seem huge for you or me in a half-decade span, for MS it?s not anything special.
Comments
Um… no. Look, AI. It’s sort of cute when you, Gruber, and other pro-Apple outlets try to claim that Apple is somehow chewing into the console games market, but… the fact is, they aren’t. The iPod Touch (and iPhone to a lesser extent) are certainly excelling at the entry-level, casual games market. After all, for people who just want to play something simple on the subway ride to work or while waiting in line somewhere, why spend $250 on a 3DS? Apple’s done a great job of getting into that market.
But there are very few people out there who are going to spend $500+ on an iPad and $40 on an HDMI adapter when they can get an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for half that. Just isn’t going to happen. If anything, the iPad will slightly cannibalize the gaming segment of the iPod Touch user base.
I love AI, Daring Fireball, and my Apple products, but Apple-oriented sites really have to rethink how they look at the gaming market. Angry Birds and Real Racing HD are not the ruin of, or even legitimate competition for, Assassin’s Creed, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, Battlefield, anything named Mario, Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, or any other long-running console franchise I can list here. Just is not. There’s a huge blind spot among Apple punditry when it comes to gaming.
iPad 2 - console quality gaming where the games sell for under $10
Console games - console quality gaming the games sell for $30+
It doesn't take long for the iPad 2 to be cheaper. Buy about 10 games for each and you're already ahead with the iPad.
Plus you can take the iPad with you anywhere while a console system requires a TV to use.
Plus you can use the iPad for a million other things.
Certainly Nintendo has a valuable asset with their Mario franchise, but don't think independent console developers owned by the console makers aren't going to bring out high quality titles for the iPad 2. There are simply too many of them being sold to be ignored. There are roughly 50 million xbox 360s, 50 million PS3s and 80 million Wi's. These are consoles that have been on the market for close to 5 years. Some projections have Apple selling close to 50 million iPads this year, which would put them approaching 200 million iOS devices sold by the end of the year, if not more.
Also, I'm not sure why you think titles like Angry Birds should be dismissed. This is a huge hit with Nindendo's target casual gamers market. Nintendo's profits dropped by half last year. iOS devices are most certainly a major factor in that. The problems Nintendo faces competing are only going to get worse going forward.
Also, some stats on Angry Birds
Angry Birds has 40 million active users per month. They play 200 million minutes of the game daily.
Wii: 86 million sold to date
PS3: 48 million sold to date
360: 50 million sold to date
iPad: 15 million sold to date
The iPad is a great device. It is not a replacement for, or legitimate competitor to, gaming consoles. That?s up to the AppleTV, not the iPad. And so far, Apple has shown no interest in entering that market.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
Outselling "everyone" apart from the Wii and the PS3.
http://www.vgchartz.com/
interesting chart - the iPad2 very likely outsold all gaming systems combined that week. Did Apple ever release sales numbers?
Another difference is Apple doesn't sell their hardware at a loss. I'm not sure of the consoles are still sold that way but I bought the original PS3 as a way to save money on a blu ray player since they were selling them at a loss. I don't even use it to play games.
We've heard the same argument before. The iPhone and iPod touch will never infringe upon the territory of PSP and Nintendo DS because they are not for hardcore gaming. The truth is serious and hardcore gamers are minority.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
With gaming consoles its not about the hardware its about the games sold. Thats where the money is and the xbox 360 helps sell alot of games.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
As an example, the comparatively frail and weak Homo sapiens sapiens have outlasted the hardcore Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. (At least it’s not a car example)
As an example, the comparatively frail and weak Homo sapiens sapiens have outlasted the hardcore Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. (At least it?s not a car example)
Yes I would say they all died from having the SLI umbilical cord cut.
Yes I would say they all died from having the SLI umbilical cord cut.
I?m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
With gaming consoles its not about the hardware its about the games sold. Thats where the money is and the xbox 360 helps sell alot of games.
and iOS helps sell a lot of games. See my stats on Angry Birds. 40 million daily users. And the installed base of iOS devices is exploding.
The only minor complaint I have for Apple is why are all of their accessories in white only? My iPad will be black. If I'm paying 40 dollars for a HDMI output connector, then at least give me the choice of black.
Even Steve Jobs was using a black cable connected to the iPad2 during the keynote. Apple needs to get away from it's white fetish. I have a black macbook which i think is great, but even the power cable that came with that is white. Enough with the white already Apple, bring back the black. At the very least, give me a choice to choose between white or black.
I?m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
I miss Myst. I played the whole series, until whichever one was PC only.
Do they still make any games like that? Elaborate world building with really difficult puzzles?
I'm still waiting on my iPad2, but this driving game seems pretty cool. I'll be checking it out soon enough.
The only minor complaint I have for Apple is why are all of their accessories in white only? My iPad will be black. If I'm paying 40 dollars for a HDMI output connector, then at least give me the choice of black.
Even Steve Jobs was using a black cable connected to the iPad2 during the keynote. Apple needs to get away from it's white fetish. I have a black macbook which i think is great, but even the power cable that came with that is white. Enough with the white already Apple, bring back the black. At the very least, give me a choice to choose between white or black.
Unless you want a white iPad with 3G, then the plastic cap for the cellular antennas are black. Personally, I couldn?t care less about the color of some piece of plastic or rubber so long as it serves its purpose, but it does seem odd that they aren?t coordinating their color options a little better.
With the headphones there is an iconic aspect involved, but with their PSUs I just don?t see that as a driving force.
I miss Myst. I played the whole series, until whichever one was PC only.
Do they still make any games like that? Elaborate world building with really difficult puzzles?
LOL I didn?t know they made more than one until you mentioned series. I am officially a hardcore lamer.
Unless you want a white iPad with 3G, then the plastic cap for the cellular antennas are black. Personally, I couldn’t care less about the color of some piece of plastic or rubber so long as it serves its purpose, but it does seem odd that they aren’t coordinating their color options a little better.
With the headphones there is an iconic aspect involved, but with their PSUs I just don’t see that as a driving force.
It's not that big of a deal for me either, just a minor complaint based on my own personal preferences. I guess it could be worse if all of their accessories and PSU's came in shock pink only or some other hideous color. For some reason white just reminds me of kitchen appliances. I'm even willing to pay a premium for black, because that's exactly what I had to do when I originally bought the black macbook.
as a hand held controller for full HDTV games, the Pad opens up dramatic new possibilities. at a minimum, it can display all the extra game info that otherwise clutters the screen or needs a pause. as the Real Racing game does. but it might do far more than that. it might actually become another part of the game. for example, becoming an entire cockpit control display for airplane or spaceship* games while the TV shows nothing but the outside view. you get the idea ... and that is only the beginning of the possibilities. how about multiplayer with each seeing different important game stuff on their own iPad but the same on the big screen. etc. such as team sports games.
what this essentially represnts is yet another new form of gaming UI. the Wii did this four years ago with motion UI controllers, and now MS and Sony have taken it further. (the hard core gamers sneered at that too.) right now the hard wired HDMI connection is a nuisance, but that will be solved in a year or two somehow.
bottom line is: if it's fun, it will be a big hit (no matter what "real gamers" say).
*remember, all the bridge controls of the Starship Enterprise were touchscreens.
The "hardcore" PC gamer is pretty much a dying breed. I remember reading this week on other sites how the pc gaming community was pissed because Crysis 2 was nothing more than a ported console game. Having been a hardcore gamer myself it get pretty hard to justify having to buy a 600.00 gpu every year to keep up with the latest 60.00 game.
As soon as more games like Dead Space, Real Racing 2 and Infinity Blade come to the iPad I think it could really take off. Specs wise the iPad is reading for some advanced gaming we just need a bigger selection.
I gave up on PC gaming too for the same reason.
I’m so far from being a PC gamer that I had to google the initialism SLI. The last time I played some sort of graphics heavy PC game was Myst back in 1994. I think it came on 5 CD-ROM discs and was played on a 33MHz Performa with 16MB RAM and a 2x speed CD-ROM drive.
Oh man, you just dug up a bag of hurt for me ..... still pissed to this day that I never got to see what was on disc 4 & 5 .... couldn't find any "cheats" and got to feeling so guilty about "wasting countless hours" just playing a "stupid computer game" that I gave up and "went back to taking care of business".
I'll never forget the feeling I got when I opened a door (by accident) and a photo realistic little girl "answered the door". Honestly, it made my heart jump ... scared the crap out of me. Amongst all of the basic, but still well done, graphics appears, like magic, this image that was almost lifelike. It might have been at that very moment that I got hooked on Mac. I was blown away. I'm still laughing about it as I type this post .... 15 to 20 years later. Thanks Sol.
great, systems on the market for going on 5 years have outsold a device that's been on the market just under 12 months. Those numbers change quickly, see my post above.
I would suggest you read the post I was replying to.
But alright, guys. Okay. The iPad is going to replace consoles. Microsoft won?t bother pursuing the one profitable venture they didn?t build via monopoly. Sony will just bow out of a market that arguably sustained their company for nearly a decade. Nintendo will go back to making playing cards. Their lunch has already been eaten by Apple, they just don?t know it yet.
Sheesh.
There?s a difference between defending a product you like and understanding its limitations. The iPad is not a console replacement.
It would be more elegant, but we need to consider the max bit rate and latency that would occur from pushing this content over your home?s WiFi, through a router and into an AppleTV to process. Even over 802.11n I worry about this being an issue.
That said, I think there is plenty of room for incorporating the iOS-based iDevices used in a home with an AppleTV over WiFi and hope that Apple will be surprising us with an AppleTV SDK and App Store this year.
Perhaps it?s still too soon to have an HD racing game with 4 drivers all using their iOS-based iDevices to drive while the main screen is transmitting 4 different section, one for each driver?s car, but thinking smaller, displaying stats of ?a? race and an overhead view of the track on the HDTV would likely allow for 1080p content with only the simplistic data of position on track and stats being relayed to the AppleTV to project in real time.
There are plenty of other games that would be better suited for a ?family? environment and be very simple to make. Scrabble? has already done this with the iPad. You can use a single iPad for the game board and iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads as the 4 tile boards. You flick the letters to the main board and then arrange them. It even remembers what side of the board you are on after you rotate the screen once on your turn. This and many other games seems like it would be trivial to adapt to this model.
You need a P2P link like WifiDirect where the Apple TV directly connects to the iPad (bypassing the AP), which I guess it does for airplay. The bit rate might be there but the encoding and decoding will be the most tricky part with latency in hand.
I would suggest you read the post I was replying to.
But alright, guys. Okay. The iPad is going to replace consoles. Microsoft won?t bother pursuing the one profitable venture they didn?t build via monopoly. Sony will just bow out of a market that arguably sustained their company for nearly a decade. Nintendo will go back to making playing cards. Their lunch has already been eaten by Apple, they just don?t know it yet.
Sheesh.
There?s a difference between defending a product you like and understanding its limitations. The iPad is not a console replacement.
Sheesh, is an understatement. You take intelligent comments about a projected future of gaming with plenty of evidence to back up those claims, which you completely ignore in your initial replies and finally rebuttal with the melodramatic crap you posted above.
PS: 1) MS was profitable in SW long before they had a monopoly. It was the profit that allowed them to obtain and maintain that monopoly. 2) While a billion or two in gross profit might seem huge for you or me in a half-decade span, for MS it?s not anything special.