Future Mac Gaming?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7052420.stm
Rival gaming systems should make way for a single open platform, a senior executive at Electronic Arts has said.
Gerhard Florin said incompatible consoles made life harder for developers and consumers.
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," said EA's head of international publishing.
He said the web and set-top boxes would grow in importance to the industry.
"We're platform agnostic and we definitely don't want to have one platform which is a walled garden," said Mr Florin.
EA currently produces games for more than 14 different gaming systems, including consoles, portable devices and PCs.
"I am not sure how long we will have dedicated consoles - but we could be talking up to 15 years," Mr Florin added.
He predicted that server-based games streamed to PCs or set-top boxes, would become increasingly important.
"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on."
Set-top boxes are becoming increasingly more powerful as they include technology to deal with High Definition TV streams and access to the internet.
Basic games
Both Sky and BT offer personal video recorders that play basic games.
In the 1980s Microsoft led an initiative to create a common home computer platform, called MSX, and supported by Sony and Philips among others.
It became a popular games platform in Japan but died out due to the growth of consoles and the rise of PCs.
Games consultant Nick Parker said the long term future of gaming would most likely not lie with dedicated consoles.
But he said competition among manufacturers had driven innovation.
"Competition was required to ensure the pace of technology was maintained."
He added: "Going forward that is irrelevant. <b>Gaming will just require potentially a £49.99 box from Tesco made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection and a games engine inside. </b>
"It's basically a boiled-down PC."
But he predicted that walled gardens would still surround platforms and that an open system would not emerge.
Microsoft and Sony have positioned their consoles as all-in-one entertainment devices in recent years but both firms have struggled with non-gaming content.
Outside of the US, Microsoft has yet to strike deals with firms for meaningful video content while Sony has turned to companies like Sky after being unable to agree licensing terms with its own in-house content providers, such as Sony Pictures and MGM.
Absorb consoles
<b>Mr Parker said he believed they were in danger of being overtaken by other companies, such as Apple, and PC technology. </b>
"There are a lot of companies coming into the market."
With space in the living room limited, set-top boxes could yet absorb console functionality.
Mr Parker said: "Games will be provided over the net. There might not be a need for a PS4 or dedicated consoles."
With Microsoft's track record in licensing its technology to other hardware manufacturers and Sony hoping to recoup the cost of developing the Cell processor, both firms could move toward a business plan of offering their services and hardware to other manufacturers.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could instead be walled garden content providers and licensors, said Mr Parker.
"There could be a Nintendo channel, a PlayStation channel and an Xbox channel on your set-top box," he added.
I found this article interesting for three reasons. The first is that that boiled down PC could very easily be an Apple system a la AppleTV. It might seem strange at first for Apple to get into gaming, but actually it's the logical next step. If you talked about Apple getting into portable music in 1999 you would have been laughed off of the board. Their presence in that market is taken for granted now. The story of Microsoft and the Xbox is similar. Both companies are now stalwarts of their respective fields.
The second is that the analyst specifically mentions Apple as one of the firms that the others could potentially be overtaken by. Seeing as Apple has little presence in traditional PC gaming, let alone any new type, the inclusion of Apple's name in this article by the analyst is very interesting.
The third is that the company talking about this is EA. I don't know if any of you have been following software gaming developments, but EA has been on a buying spree for the last several years. They are growing in size and influence; so much so that some gamers are deeming them the Microsoft of gaming. I think it is possible that this increased influence could give them the ability to foster a new framework for gaming. Add to this Jobs' recent talk about getting serious with gaming and EA beginning to release Mac games, and I think you have the right atmosphere for big changes.
First post! So be kind...
Rival gaming systems should make way for a single open platform, a senior executive at Electronic Arts has said.
Gerhard Florin said incompatible consoles made life harder for developers and consumers.
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," said EA's head of international publishing.
He said the web and set-top boxes would grow in importance to the industry.
"We're platform agnostic and we definitely don't want to have one platform which is a walled garden," said Mr Florin.
EA currently produces games for more than 14 different gaming systems, including consoles, portable devices and PCs.
"I am not sure how long we will have dedicated consoles - but we could be talking up to 15 years," Mr Florin added.
He predicted that server-based games streamed to PCs or set-top boxes, would become increasingly important.
"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on."
Set-top boxes are becoming increasingly more powerful as they include technology to deal with High Definition TV streams and access to the internet.
Basic games
Both Sky and BT offer personal video recorders that play basic games.
In the 1980s Microsoft led an initiative to create a common home computer platform, called MSX, and supported by Sony and Philips among others.
It became a popular games platform in Japan but died out due to the growth of consoles and the rise of PCs.
Games consultant Nick Parker said the long term future of gaming would most likely not lie with dedicated consoles.
But he said competition among manufacturers had driven innovation.
"Competition was required to ensure the pace of technology was maintained."
He added: "Going forward that is irrelevant. <b>Gaming will just require potentially a £49.99 box from Tesco made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection and a games engine inside. </b>
"It's basically a boiled-down PC."
But he predicted that walled gardens would still surround platforms and that an open system would not emerge.
Microsoft and Sony have positioned their consoles as all-in-one entertainment devices in recent years but both firms have struggled with non-gaming content.
Outside of the US, Microsoft has yet to strike deals with firms for meaningful video content while Sony has turned to companies like Sky after being unable to agree licensing terms with its own in-house content providers, such as Sony Pictures and MGM.
Absorb consoles
<b>Mr Parker said he believed they were in danger of being overtaken by other companies, such as Apple, and PC technology. </b>
"There are a lot of companies coming into the market."
With space in the living room limited, set-top boxes could yet absorb console functionality.
Mr Parker said: "Games will be provided over the net. There might not be a need for a PS4 or dedicated consoles."
With Microsoft's track record in licensing its technology to other hardware manufacturers and Sony hoping to recoup the cost of developing the Cell processor, both firms could move toward a business plan of offering their services and hardware to other manufacturers.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could instead be walled garden content providers and licensors, said Mr Parker.
"There could be a Nintendo channel, a PlayStation channel and an Xbox channel on your set-top box," he added.
I found this article interesting for three reasons. The first is that that boiled down PC could very easily be an Apple system a la AppleTV. It might seem strange at first for Apple to get into gaming, but actually it's the logical next step. If you talked about Apple getting into portable music in 1999 you would have been laughed off of the board. Their presence in that market is taken for granted now. The story of Microsoft and the Xbox is similar. Both companies are now stalwarts of their respective fields.
The second is that the analyst specifically mentions Apple as one of the firms that the others could potentially be overtaken by. Seeing as Apple has little presence in traditional PC gaming, let alone any new type, the inclusion of Apple's name in this article by the analyst is very interesting.
The third is that the company talking about this is EA. I don't know if any of you have been following software gaming developments, but EA has been on a buying spree for the last several years. They are growing in size and influence; so much so that some gamers are deeming them the Microsoft of gaming. I think it is possible that this increased influence could give them the ability to foster a new framework for gaming. Add to this Jobs' recent talk about getting serious with gaming and EA beginning to release Mac games, and I think you have the right atmosphere for big changes.
First post! So be kind...
Comments
what is it Steve quoted "If you wanna make software, make your own hardware" well then EA off you go make your own hardware, I dare you.
At some point everyone will have the bandwidth and hardware to receive a HD stream, and those things will be dirt cheap.
The very latest games will demand expensive hardware (like they do now) but an average gamer will only be gaming for an hour or two per day, so the awesome computing power in consoles or PC's in an individual home would be sitting there going to waste most of the time.
So why not have server farms run games and stream the game video over to the gamer? The gamer will have small hardware cost (some optional controllers) but will get cutting edge graphics if they have a good enough net connection and the server farm is reasonably close. Overall, sounds great at least for casual and low-speed gaming. Zero hassle, compatibility problems, etc.
The main thing we don't have is the connectivity. Because of that, I don't see anything happening in server-based streamed games for the next five to ten years. After that, who knows.
I found this article interesting for three reasons. The first is that that boiled down PC could very easily be an Apple system a la AppleTV. It might seem strange at first for Apple to get into gaming, but actually it's the logical next step. If you talked about Apple getting into portable music in 1999 you would have been laughed off of the board. Their presence in that market is taken for granted now. The story of Microsoft and the Xbox is similar. Both companies are now stalwarts of their respective fields.
The second is that the analyst specifically mentions Apple as one of the firms that the others could potentially be overtaken by. Seeing as Apple has little presence in traditional PC gaming, let alone any new type, the inclusion of Apple's name in this article by the analyst is very interesting.
The third is that the company talking about this is EA. I don't know if any of you have been following software gaming developments, but EA has been on a buying spree for the last several years. They are growing in size and influence; so much so that some gamers are deeming them the Microsoft of gaming. I think it is possible that this increased influence could give them the ability to foster a new framework for gaming. Add to this Jobs' recent talk about getting serious with gaming and EA beginning to release Mac games, and I think you have the right atmosphere for big changes.
First post! So be kind...
I commend you to the house.
*Raises glass.
In addition. I think we should keep an eye on the statistics as to the size of the 'casual' gaming market. It's growing very quickly. The amount of games on the internet, mobile devices, the success of the Wii show that the cliche of the 'first person shooter'/sli gaming alien ware pc rig market will be dwarfed in the years ahead if it's not already.
Give that scenario of server based/set top future? Apple's 'hobby' Apple TV is intriguingly poised.
Apple can enter the gaming market by proxy. Be default even.
*nods. Yes. Gaming as part of iLife. Or gaming as part of the iTunes store. I think we've seen the seeds sown in terms of the iPod/Touch and iPhone/Apple TV....EA announcement and accessability via the iTunes store.
It's a boiling pot.
Sooner or later, something has to give. Apple will get into gaming. I'd like to think Apple were pulling the strings...rather than asleep at the wheel...
Lemon Bon Bon.
I think there should be some kind of open platform for game development. If PC, XBox, PS3 and Wii gamers can all connect and game over the web, why can't they play against users on a different platform. The server side programming would need to be fairly sophisticated to handle the information coming from different machines,
Not any more sophisticated than Battle.net putting a x86 Windows player and a PPC Mac player in the same match. This is not a technical problem.
but if the web based gaming environments were based around a common server side platform, then I don't why this isn't very feasible. That way people can keep their choice of console or PC. I think it would be great if PC gamers could kick the crap out of all the cocky XBox gamers online!
... and that's one of the reasons why it won't be done.
there is always bottleneck in every gaming console. if they looking for open gaming hardware; so they seeking something imaginary that is not available. this is smiliar to mathmatics when teacher ask you about answer of one divided by zero and you answer it is not defined. and then teacher argue you that there are an answer. you never expect everyone is able to buy top end computer. I believe games producer should be resnable about what are they seeking.
Incomprehensible.