Console gaming, stop clinging to the old and adapt.

All blu ray players play all blu ray movies. Its not like a Panasonic player can only play The Dark Knight, but a Samsung can not. The Dark Knight sold millions of copies...but imagine how few it would have sold if only Panasonic players could play it.It would be great if game consoles were universal....no more bickering over console wars....just concentrate on games.

The concept is pretty next gen and as we know, next gen matters the most here on System Wars. In return, I suggest we ridicule all opposers of the idea so that Wii owners feel that there is some sense of continuity.

I think more and more developers will make smaller and smaller games on PSN, XBL and Wiiware to try and make them more unique. Why have already seen that this generation with games like Braid (for a long time on 360), Shadow Complex etc etc and the Pixeljunk games and Flower like games on PSN.

First party exclusives will never go away because there is no reason to. The developers with the biggest problems this generation are the third party developers like EA and 2Kgames that have spend far too much money on the wrong things. This isn't some new fenomena though, this has always been the case in any business.

Only a small percentage of all games need to sell 5-10mil to be profitable.

[QUOTE="ActicEdge"]

I very much am caught up in the idea that the hardware is important lol. I think that the amount of immediate consumers you have that will be willing to pay will decrease if they cannot physically go and buy the median in a store. Especially for games. I don't think that companies can realistically say screw it to the hardware, find a somehow less expensive way of getting the games to the user (we'll see if onlive works), make all the money their games need cost wise through a subscription that people are going to be willing to pay (its going to be more than $50 for what you propose) and find game giving as a really easy thing to do or give. I think too much of the fanbase and reason gaming is growing is alienated by having to pay a subscription, kids can no longer do this, its going to be far harder to convince parents to pay monthly fees etc. I think there still needs to be some type of hardware but rather, it needs to be priced and created with the affordibility of the average person in mind. The PS3, 360 and even Wii aren't that to some degree. I think that people are going to rather wait 4 years for haardware to reach an affordable price than pay a never lowering subscription fee. That's just me though.

SUD123456

They said the exact same thing about music. A bunch of people will say no way, yet when faced with reality very few of them will exit the market. And the next gen of gamers which are growing up today and will be the hardcore gamers next gen won't know the difference or care.

The overall economics are easy; easier than the technology. Manufacturing out, Packaging out. Distribution out. Retailer out. The billions of $ wasted on hardware out. It is not hard to envision where the overall value chain costs less in the new model than it does in the current model. This is the case for basically every technology driven product/service, so why would gaming be different?

The subscription type fee would be to access the system/service/portal housing the games. There is no reason why you could not have multiple competing services acting as the hubs. Steam vs XBL 2.0 vs Onlive. Competition amongst the portals would drive innovation, like who is going to be your cell plan provider.

Software game companies could still charge one time fees or subscription fees for their products through the portals.

Everything in life is a monthly charge. Parents are conditioned for monthly charges. House, electricity, gas, cable, phone, internet. We live in a society conditioned for monthly payments. For many families this would be 'easier' than one time up front costs...which is precisely why everything is a monthly payment already.

Realistically, I can't argue with you as this isn't my area of expertise. I can make the genral statement that people pay monthly bills for gas and heat and light because its necessary, convincing monthly fees to play games will be infinitely harder. I don't think life necessities are realistically comparable to games. I also think part of why we pay monthly is because you do infact pay for what you use, your bill is dependant on how much energy you expend.

Anyway I agree with you in that it is certainly an easier market money wise. I'm not entirely against it either. I just find it difficult to swallow (though am not saying its impossible) that gaming is the kind of thing that when it goes digital will be as acessible for everyone. I think the lack of being able to physically go and buy the product will put people off. But I am not exactly sure what it is you are insiting, the destruction of consoles which is replaced by???? Please explain, I'm genuinely curious.

Sony, MS, Nintendo should make short, less bugget "prologue" games first. If they sell well then they can have confidence to make a big bugget of that game exclusively. If it doesn't sell well. Then they didn't loose as much. Instead of making a game Big or Bust game.New games.

If a third party is making a big bugget game then yes I agree it should go all platforms. But they can try a short game like in writing and movies a "short" movie or story. Just as a game. I would like that more. Video game short.

[QUOTE="stereointegrity"]

[QUOTE="TheDuffman26"]Waiting for Fermi...TheDuffman26

Lol so you are waiting months for a GPU that will most likely offer 20% improvement over ATI? Fermi is pointless, it's been delayed so much that there is no point buying it, since ATI will release 6000 series in Q4 and that will offer double performence than the 5000 series and will crush Fermi.