Jumplion:

TheNecroswanson:
Gaming won't die. The dick cheese juggernauts like Microsoft and Sony will probably find they can no longer fund their insanely expensive games, and some day duck out. But that will bring back the small, creative, and GOOD companies. I man think about it, all those little companies died out/bought out as Sony and Microsoft hit the scene. They'll be gone, and the good companies will repopulate.

I could see MS dropping out, though I'm not sure about Sony. Though I think the better one to drop out would be MS ;P if it wasn't for Sony we wouldn't get advancements in technology for each console created (PS1; more space to work on (CD), PS2; DVD player, PSP; multimedia centre that's not a phone, PS3; making Blu-ray into a dominant format) and if it wasn't for Nintendo we wouldn't get some innovation in the technology. Sony and Nintendo fit in like bread and butter, and (IMHO) MS is the awkward cardboard in the sandwhich.

yeah microsoft pretty much ripoff every other companies ideas. neither of the xbox's have had any innovative ideas, and they rushed the 360 out to gain early sales, however they used old technology so theyll need to make a new console in 2 years minimum to keep up with the ps3. the ps3 may not be the best seller right now, but cos it has a 10 year lifespan compared to 360 and wii's 5 year life span, then in htat respec i think its possible for the ps3 to win both the 7th and 8th generation console wars, because it will last through both

Exosus:
Umm not to be a douche, but I have never heard of that. I HAVE, that said, heard the same said about PC gaming ad nauseum . . .

Yeah, it think I'm going to jump on the douche bandwagon and state that no one with any real knowledge is saying that console gaming is in any way dying. Right now it is a multi-billion dollar industry, it is more approachable than PC gaming from both a game mechanic and price angle, and frankly seems quite endless in its progression...

Saying that Jack Doucheson is going to "ban videogames" is kinda silly. Didn't he get disbarred already?

Game industry personalities have been saying that either the console or PC will fail 'in the next few years' since 2000 at least.

The thing is that both formats have different (sometimes complementary) markets. They are only competing markets when it concerns multi-platform releases that hit both formats.

Consoles are around for gamers that want to (ironically) plug-n-play.
PC games are around for those who want to try out the newest game mechanics, and don't mind tedium or price as much.

The big shift is going to concern the coming change in content delivery (full downloadable games). I foresee some interesting things happening then.

I think its been said before but i personally think that consoles are gonna stay but almost every game on all consoles will be the same-ish. However the PC as said by y8c616 can be updated and they seem to have deeper/more complex games due to a larger amount of controls available.

Im also going to mention I was under the impression PC gaming would be more likely to die. I consider the statement that PC gaming will "automatically" continue on quite arrogant and short sighted. PC gaming is a feature the system it is on was not built for. Its nothing more than an "extra".

But that aside, Id think varying PC specs that arent always compatible, and piracy would make it the one more likely to die. And considering Ive seen it mentioned many a time (far, far more than the question this topic poses) that video games earn more than the movie industry, I cant see how its been concluded console gaming is on its last legs.

They have to stop making new generation consoles. Really whats the point?

Better graphics!

More Processor power!

Better graphics? Who's your target audience, mutants with 40/20 vision?

More Processor power? Most games didn't even use the full capabilities of the last generation. What would you think you would be needing it for anyway? Oh, the graphics.

I guess you could call the standardization of internet connections a relevant improvement. I personally see it as a liability, it gives rise to lazy bastard syndrome. (also known as releasing an unfinished game and forcing you to download a patch to fix the bugs at some unspecified later date.)

My point is basically the industry needs to slow down, and stop trying to improve the systems in ways that are totally irrelevant from a practical stand point.

Codgo:
Console gaming it never going away, but we may see some consoles vanishing or new ones coming along. Look what happened to Sega.

I find consoles are going to suffer more and more in quality because many console gamers seem to be more concerned with visuals rather than the quality of story, content etc. They are worse than PC users, so many consoles titles these days are so soulless and mediocre.

The games also never seem to get a community going after release, GTAIV online has already been abandoned and gamers have moved on the next big thing to come out. The gamers just throw a title away, i used to see it everyday at my old job. They buy a game, play it and trade it in a week later. There is too much of a throw away culture with console gamers.

I was under the impression that Pc gamers only cared about graphics since all I ever hear from them is "1900x1600 pixels! 52inch monitor! Anti-Aliasing! Keybaord+Mouse!"

I assure you that not all console gamers are what you just mentioned as I'm sure not all PC gamers are what I mentioned (unfortunately I only have 2 friends that don't care about graphics, then again I only have 2 friends >_>; ). My theory is that in today's tech-savvy society, kids are growing up in this world and want the latest and greatest that isn't to expensive. Many kids I know have no clue how a PC even works they just assume it's something cool and prefer a nice console for their happyness, after all what do you think someone's going to ask their mother for? A super expensive (at first glance, you know the Alienware crap) PC that is pretty anti-social (again at first glance) compared to what you can do with consoles or, well, a console (any of the three) that parents can have more control over because there are many parents concerned over the internet and such.

As the kids get older though, more of them will be more tech-savvy and convert to the PC which i'm pretty sure has the majority of adult gamers. I'm pretty sure that when I get older I will eventually convert to PC gaming but I'll still love console gaming no matter what other people say (I'll probably have a laptop for college and make it have atleast average specs for games).

I think that if there wasn't any console gaming, PC gaming wouldn't have caught on nearly as fast as it does now.

Codgo:

Jumplion:
"1900x1600 pixels! 52inch monitor! Anti-Aliasing! Keybaord+Mouse!"

I wanna be friends with that guy, he must be mega rich.

OH NO! But apparantly you can do all of that AND MORE with 350 euros or less!!!@!@!#$@!#$

Omg, sweet.

pc will stay. console gaming will eventually die, OR somthing way better than both things will come (read, fully simulated 3d games, with all dimensions, including pain, smelkl, feeling and what the bloody fuck more there is )

but if one of them has to go, then console is outta here

Console gaming has been doomed ever since the PS1 and N64. As consoles come out, they are usually obsolete within a few months, or, in the case of the 360 and Wii, obsolete before they are even launched. The PS3 went obsolete somewhere around 2 months after launch. Seriously, just rig up a Geforce 8800 GTX and it will run circles around a PS3 running at 1080p. Even the 8800 is obsolete now. PS3's "futureproof"-ness was debunked almost the instant it was released.

There's really not much of a way to improve consoles except prettier graphics, or if they manage to work out Wii's motion-sensing technology and make it fun AND give it good graphics. Graphical updates only last so long. Console gaming either has to innovate or risk fading out like the Colecovision.

Also, to clarify, the argument "But PC's are more expensive!" is completely false unless you're 12 years old and have no idea what you're talking about. With the $600 you were going to blow on a PS3, you could build a PC rig that is more versatile and graphically superior.

This is stupid. First PC gaming is going to die and now consoles? Why does everyone think their particular vice of choice is going to die out horribly all the time?

kanyatta:
Console gaming has been doomed ever since the PS1 and N64. As consoles come out, they are usually obsolete within a few months, or, in the case of the 360 and Wii, obsolete before they are even launched. The PS3 went obsolete somewhere around 2 months after launch. Seriously, just rig up a Geforce 8800 GTX and it will run circles around a PS3 running at 1080p. Even the 8800 is obsolete now. PS3's "futureproof"-ness was debunked almost the instant it was released.

There's really not much of a way to improve consoles except prettier graphics, or if they manage to work out Wii's motion-sensing technology and make it fun AND give it good graphics. Graphical updates only last so long. Console gaming either has to innovate or risk fading out like the Colecovision.

And the PS2 has lasted...how long? Hell, before that how long as the PS1 last?

It's not about wether the consoles technology will still be relavent (though that is a good chunk of it) it's about wether the developers can still use the technology and still give them more options to work with which is the case of the PS3.

y8c616:

Jumplion:

TheNecroswanson:
Gaming won't die. The dick cheese juggernauts like Microsoft and Sony will probably find they can no longer fund their insanely expensive games, and some day duck out. But that will bring back the small, creative, and GOOD companies. I man think about it, all those little companies died out/bought out as Sony and Microsoft hit the scene. They'll be gone, and the good companies will repopulate.

I could see MS dropping out, though I'm not sure about Sony. Though I think the better one to drop out would be MS ;P if it wasn't for Sony we wouldn't get advancements in technology for each console created (PS1; more space to work on (CD), PS2; DVD player, PSP; multimedia centre that's not a phone, PS3; making Blu-ray into a dominant format) and if it wasn't for Nintendo we wouldn't get some innovation in the technology. Sony and Nintendo fit in like bread and butter, and (IMHO) MS is the awkward cardboard in the sandwhich.

yeah microsoft pretty much ripoff every other companies ideas. neither of the xbox's have had any innovative ideas, and they rushed the 360 out to gain early sales, however they used old technology so theyll need to make a new console in 2 years minimum to keep up with the ps3. the ps3 may not be the best seller right now, but cos it has a 10 year lifespan compared to 360 and wii's 5 year life span, then in htat respec i think its possible for the ps3 to win both the 7th and 8th generation console wars, because it will last through both

Ever heard of this little thing called Xbox Live? You know, the first online system for consoles that actually worked? Or the fact that the Xbox was the first console with an in-built hard-drive.

Anyway, let's not turn this into a 360vsPS3 thread. Will console gaming die in the future? Who knows. No industry is future-proof. If consoles and games keep getting more expensive (both to develop, and to buy) then we could see a downturn in sales, leading to various companies having to bow out of the race. Then again, perhaps developers and publishers will start to keep costs under control, and we'll see gaming become an even more profitable industry than it already is. Who knows, who knows...

*Starts humming Cae Sara Sara*

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:
Anyway, let's not turn this into a 360vsPS3 thread. Will console gaming die in the future? Who knows. No industry is future-proof. If consoles and games keep getting more expensive (both to develop, and to buy) then we could see a downturn in sales, leading to various companies having to bow out of the race. Then again, perhaps developers and publishers will start to keep costs under control, and we'll see gaming become an even more profitable industry than it already is. Who knows, who knows...

*Starts humming Cae Sara Sara*

We can only hope...

Is creating "Is X doomed" threads the new thing.
Hmm...maybe I should create an "Is religion doomed" thread :P

Console gaming is a hudge buisnes and just because there are small problems and glitchs with things doesn't mean that it's going to die. Nothing is perfect and everything can be improved hense why you get differnt generations of consoles. Console gaming wont stop just becasue of minor issues.

foogan:
Console gaming is a hudge buisnes and just because there are small problems and glitchs with things doesn't mean that it's going to die. Nothing is perfect and everything can be improved hense why you get differnt generations of consoles. Console gaming wont stop just becasue of minor issues.

Indeed.
Also anything that earns alot of money is not doomed.

The DreamCast was a technically far superior machine to the PS1 and only slightly behind the PS2, also it did focus on 3D games - sans chuchurocket I can't think of a sinle non-3D game!

Soul Calibre 2 and DOA looked miles better - as did Res:Evil Code Veronica which was even out before the PS2 counterpart. The system also used GD Roms Rther than CD Roms - standing for Gigabyte Disc. These were special CD's with greater capacity. The main resaon the PS1 was more popular, at least anecdotally going by my friends and the punters in the video/game rental store, was that it was easy to pirate PS1 games whereas any game that fully used the GD-rom on the DC needed to be stripped which made it harder and therefore they went with a PS1.

I'm sure the millions of Sony Marketing dollars also had an impact on the easily lead masses. It was the first system with dedicated online play via it's inbuilt modem but wasn't the first disc based as someone else stated - also wasn't out before the PS1 - they might have been thinking of the Saturn.

Which may have also lead to the DC's demise, a poor run of games and meh tech spec's meant not much interest in it's successor I guess.

Anyway - on topic - I thinking consoles will develop more into cut-down PC's - take a look at the PS3 with it's "install another OS" feature.

Sampler:
The DreamCast was a technically far superior machine to the PS1 and only slightly behind the PS2, also it did focus on 3D games - sans chuchurocket I can't think of a sinle non-3D game!

I believe you got your console generations confused. The Dreamcast was brought out while the PS1 was still around, but the competition of the system was aimed at PS2.

The Saturn was the competition for the PS1.

To me the reason the Dreamcast died was the lack of games. Even if the majority of PS2 games may have sucked, the shotgun effort of the library hit nearly every consumer made it the clear winner.

I'd have liked it if Sega hadn't put a copy of Windows CE on every GD either. I doubt that the licensing of your OS from a competitor makes business sense.

Well, I do believe that console gaming WILL disappear. But not in the near future.

The console is on the winning side currently, it is great to play with a controller, but as you know, there are controllers made for PC. Thus, it ain't a great thing anymore.

BUT, some people still think that it is troublesome to update your PC with the latest hardware, when you can buy a XBox and play games for a few years, then buy the next console, and then the next, while they could buy a new PC when they felt like it.

So, console gaming is doomed, unless they come up with something that PC cant do.

yeah it's doomed. after a failed attempt to transform pc's into consoles, microsoft shot itself in the head with a .50 desert eagle while sony and nintendo are in an epic fight that took place on desolated field.
the fight took a couple of years and a couple of new console releases but it was nothing but sequels and bad nintendo rip offs by sony. while nintendo was still dominating the handheld market sony tied an tried but failed en invevatably got sliced to bits by nintendo. but most sources where drained during the battle and there was only enough to maintain the best in handheld market. and thus console gaming died.
the pc gaming world stood their own because it did not interfered with the mindless squables of the console gaming word because it had enough on it's own but in this future Nvidia and AMD/ATI had joined forces with intel to make the ultimate gaming PC it stands hidden in the golden land and is known as the tri force...

khululy:
yeah it's doomed. after a failed attempt to transform pc's into consoles, microsoft shot itself in the head with a .50 desert eagle while sony and nintendo are in an epic fight that took place on desolated field.
the fight took a couple of years and a couple of new console releases but it was nothing but sequels and bad nintendo rip offs by sony. while nintendo was still dominating the handheld market sony tied an tried but failed en invevatably got sliced to bits by nintendo. but most sources where drained during the battle and there was only enough to maintain the best in handheld market. and thus console gaming died.
the pc gaming world stood their own because it did not interfered with the mindless squables of the console gaming word because it had enough on it's own but in this future Nvidia and AMD/ATI had joined forces with intel to make the ultimate gaming PC it stands hidden in the golden land and is known as the tri force...

I would agree that the pc is the best thing for gaming on full stop. You get more controll out of it. Allthough. There are alot of people like yours truely who has constant problems with there pc and allways crashes or messes about. Nintendo I would say are deffantly leading this genaration of gaming but the xbox 360 i would say is better than the ps3. The 360 has an amazing online comuinty and you can get more out of the console. The ps3 is a good machine and is closely behind the 360 but it still needs a bit more tweeking. I qtuoe from somthing I read in the paper "The ps3 needs 5more years before it can reach it's full potential" sorry lads but 5years is to long to waite.

Console:

[noun] a small table fixed to a wall or designed to stand against a wall
Synonyms: table

[noun] a scientific instrument consisting of displays and an input device that an operator can use to monitor and control a system (especially a computer system)

[noun] an ornamental scroll-shaped bracket (especially one used to support a wall fixture); "the bust of Napoleon stood on a console"

[noun] housing for electronic instruments, as radio or television
Synonyms: cabinet

[verb] give moral or emotional strength to
Synonyms: comfort, soothe, solace

anyway A pc is just as much a console as all the other things in my opinion...and it won't die.. it has been there for 30 years what makes anyone think it will go away... it may change form. but video gaming in whatever form is here to stay.... period

The pc is a console yes but you have to remember it isn't there just for gaming. Also with a pc you can get problems like I mentiond before such as virus, and not being able to afford upgrades for it. I have a constant resetting problem with my pc and have replaced everything in it. I can't play any games on it and it does anoy me, I just have to hope I can afford some new RAM at the end of this mounth.

Xvito:
Is creating "Is X doomed" threads the new thing.
Hmm...maybe I should create an "Is religion doomed" thread :P

Actually the whole "Is X doomed" thing is doomed!

The way I see it,

Since Sony usually delivers a good series of games, at least 1 year and a half after their console lauch. Microsoft used the moment to take as much money they can.
Now that the ps3 is starting to have some exclusives and some franchise coming, fanboys will buy stuff. The profit will grow and Sony will get the profit they've been seeking.

However, since it takes a long time for Sony to come up with their big gun. Microsoft use his big wallet to buy the interest of game developpers. They usually removed the "exclusive" part of a title and start to take profit from it.
Now the usual fanboys can play on the 360 and still play their favorite franchises.
Sony loses money, Microsoft win a huge take and Voilą! Sony takes a huge blow and will have a problem to follow the next generation of gaming.

But where does Nintendo fits in all this? Nintendo actually thought of the "casual gamer", the fanboy and the younger audience. The casual guy is the one that makes party or he just wants to play time to time. The younger audience is a really young audience. Nintendo has always been the company that will give you the foot in the door when you are a kid. If Nintendo does NOT try to give a the fanboys the title they wanted, they would lose a HUGE amount of their share. (That's why you will always see a Mario,Zelda, Metroid, etc franchise).

PC Gaming is usually full of FPS, RTS, Puzzle and has a huge range of MMORPG. I'm not saying the other genres do not exist, I'm saying these are the big genres that are most present.

But the PC world is starting to go back to the idea that "I want a computer for work". That's where Apple fits in and that's why Apple isn't popular with games.

The Online market is part of each console and pc related stuff. We have the infamous Xbox Live, PSN, the online network for Nintendo with their hated friendcode and the PC online gaming that will always stay strong.

On the handheld, Nintendo and Sony are the big guys on the market. Nintendo with their innovative DS and Sony with their multi-fonctionnal PSP. I think it woudnt be a good idea for Microsoft to get in this business. Why? Because it's kinda too late to make a dent in this market. Maybe in the next generation of handheld, Microsoft will be able to make a good handheld.

In conclusion, I don't think gaming industries will fail. Since we have so many game console, we will always have some terrain for company to exploit. In other words, competition is always good for business

The latter. People on the internet are batshit bonkers. So don't listen to me, or anyone else for that matter.

Random argument man:
Words of fucking wisdom.

I love you.

Consoles arn't going to die, because if a company really wants to, they can sell almost anything. Buying a new console every few years is profitable, it easy to do branding for a console, and console gaming is idiot proof.

PC gaming I think is more in trouble, but its still not going to die. Consoles are getting more expensive, and everybody needs a computer, so might as well ignore redundancy. Also, the major steps forward for consoles...upgradeable hardware, digital delivery, user created content, so on and so forth...are all things that PC gaming has done for years. I suspect that as consoles start doing these things, people will turn back to there PCs, especially as long as WoW has its foot in the door.

My prediction is that consoles will lean more and more towards the casual crowd (Wii anyone? remember which console is doing so well), with certain franchises and genres on different systems, and PCs will be the place for those people looking for deeper, more complex, and nuanced titles. But there all going to survive, because they all make a lot of cash.

5 billion a year, nuff said.

I cannot say much on this topic outside of the fact that the whole 'it has happened before!' speel is not very effective on predicting a gaming apocolypse. This was due to the fact that Atari didn't release very good games at the time. In fact, most of the garbage they released was made in under a week by the same small group of people and thrown out there just as quickly. Any actual good games were ignored because parents wanted to buy ten games for ten dollars than one good game for ten dollars.

These days gaming is more accepted by a much large community; the games are much better. And as long as the replay value sticks, these are games that can be enjoyed for a life time. Some games are like books: You can read them and enjoy the story, then set them down. And a few weeks to a decade later you can pick them up again and replay. That fact will never change so long as the original system they work on still functions. So long as game companies realize this once they hit some proverbial brick wall on advancing graphics, and they expand in other novel directions, then there's nothing to worry about.

On the by, I still play snes, original gameboy, and Sega master system games (along with PS1-2, and Gamecube games [since they work on the Wii, as well as other console games that were re-released on the virtual console].) Some of the games I no longer play on the snes are usually ones that were re-released by Sony. And as much as I enjoyed some of my time on the atari, it just doesn't compare to the good, fun stuff that came out ten years after that fact.

And additional note I'll edit in: On the by, I think it highly unlikely that everyone will hit a gaming brick wall very soon. After all, look at the car: cars made these days look about the same as cars that came out ten years ago, but there are so many tweaks and internal changes that took place which make driving not only more enjoyable as a whole, but much safer as well. Where the straight-forward car is concerned, it's probably going to change in the next two decades. However now we have offspring cars from that design; hybrids with better gas mileage as well as advancements away from using gas.

The pricing for console gaming is getting to be truly absurd and this will probably be what kills it, if the current console generation doesn't last another 5 years or so... the next console generation may very well be the end (especially if we see another massive disparity in price like we did this last generation)

PedroSteckecilo:
The pricing for console gaming is getting to be truly absurd and this will probably be what kills it, if the current console generation doesn't last another 5 years or so... the next console generation may very well be the end (especially if we see another massive disparity in price like we did this last generation)

What about the Wii? It has changed very little in price. It is also making much more money than the others.