It's a bigger market with more and different people, but all of those people who bought games before are *still here*. We didn't all vanish, we didn't stop buying games as we got older. The average age demographics of people buying games keeps going up, not down. The iPad kids did not replace us, we're still here and we're still buying games more than anyone else even as we get older.
The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !
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Foggy
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Just because a kid has an iPad doesn't mean they don't play console games. Also, when we were kids not every kid played video games. There are still plenty of kids with little to no interest in console games, the difference now is they play angry birds on their iPad whereas they didn't have a single video game they were interested in when we were young. Those kids aren't replacing those that play console and computer games, they are just expanding the video game market into new demographics.
Not sure why a console, Xbone, is trying to go after that market. The iPad only kids aren't really a market you can get into with any substance. They are extremely fickle and particularly uninterested in huge AAA games. Sony is doing it correctly, go after those that love video games. It is a huge market and where the money really is for consoles.
Not sure why a console, Xbone, is trying to go after that market. The iPad only kids aren't really a market you can get into with any substance. They are extremely fickle and particularly uninterested in huge AAA games. Sony is doing it correctly, go after those that love video games. It is a huge market and where the money really is for consoles.
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Yeah but, anecdotal sample of myself, even though my disposable income has gone up exponentially since cutting neighborhood lawns; my time has gone down almost exactly on the inverse. Plus that disposable income now gets split between my house, my wife, our wedding, and in the next couple of years my own children. It sucks, to an extent, to sit here on Memorial day and reminisce about days gone by where I'd stay up until 4am the night before eating cheetos and spend 20 hours today straight playing. But then I sit on my deck with a cocktail, meander down to the neighborhood pool, make dinner for the family, and it is 9pm and work starts at 8am.
So no, I haven't vanished or stopped buying games, but I don't think my reduced spending habits (or the habits of the 30 - 45 age group) can sustain the AAA multi hundred million dollar Xbox / PS development cycles. And I could certainly give a shit about Kinect voice commands or waving my arms around to control my TV.
According to the ESA, the average age of the "most frequent game purchaser" is 35. Also, I think there's some retarded misconception that all we want are mega AAA games. That's simply not true and there's room for a lot more diversity and the growth of Indie Games and small developers recently has shown that in spades.
Btw, games don't cost multi-hundred millions of dollars outside of retarded MMO ventures. This is from 2010, but shit hasn't skyrocketed in 3 years:http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...-Is-23-Million
This next generation's hardware architecture is also going to be a huge boon to developers. Costs probably won't go down, but it's going to be a lot easier in comparison to X360/PS3/PC development and they probably won't skyrocket in costs either.
It sucks to say that I would not be totally unhappy if they just kept making games for this gen. I think not Sony and MS really need to work hard to show us why we need these new boxes. A few more "megahurtz" isn't going to cut it anymore.
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Yeah, was middle of posting when you linked the ESA information. Thanks for that, pretty neat summary of some trends that I'd like to digest.
I would be totally unhappy if they did, PS3/X360 games look like shit compared to PC games. Almost nothing renders at 1080p, most render at either 540p or 720p and they have awful levels of AA/AF. They have absolutely horrible textures and an uncountable list of bad shit.
They are also mostly built to be small boxy levels designed to run on the shitty hardware. Games have no room to grow on the current generation. Developers will have a lot more freedom to design how they want without being so absurdly restricted by the X360/PS3's hardware. This hurts PC games a ton too, they look better sure, but they share the same constricting designs on multiplatform games.
Most importantly though, it is a huge burden to developers to make games for 3 platforms that are so different and having 2 of them be so ancient and restrictive. Having the Xbone/PS4/PC all be X86 architecture is a huge boon for them. It also takes a ton of work to make modern games work on the extremely shitty hardware of the X360/PS3, especially with the absurdly low RAM that they have. Developers are totally elated over the Xbone & PS4 having 8 gigs of RAM, it makes their life so much easier.
Well I was curious to see the budget evolution from the 80's or 90's, and found an interesting article :http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012...all-of-gaming/, at $60 , these budgets aren't compatible with viable business models.
They are if you sell enough. The biggest problem is that people are spending too much money on making mediocre games or making games that they are unable to sell. There's also people trying too hard to copy Activision and see CoD numbers and think that they can pull some of that crowd if they massively inflate their budget and fail miserably at it instead of making games for audiences that made a series into a hit to begin with (hi Dead Space 3). That shit needs to stop.
I think $500 for a premium package is the absolute most that they could charge. It's going to be the PS3 launch all over again if anyone goes over that with any package. I'm hoping that the PS4 launches at a $399.99 price point.
Xexx
Vyemm Raider
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Depends on what they consider a premium package. 1TB version of Xbox with a 3d cam kinect?!?! The PS4 still has not announced the sizes they will sell their console, but since im leaning towards 2 PS4s now instead of 2 Xbox's i'd hope they have a decent size as well. $400-450 per system would be ok i guess. But $500 is out of the question at this point, especially for an Xbox. MS is just failing all over the place, and even if they do suddenly pull a rabbit out of their hat at E3, all the speculation and their lack of clearing shit up is just rubbing me the wrong way.
I think Microsoft's strategy is to differentiate and focus on cross-platform more than just a powerhouse gaming console. Look at the Sony line of televisions and how Samsung has completely taken over in that arena. Core lines of business (OS, Phone, Xbone, Surface) all syncing over Xbox SmartGlass is a smart move but also risky.
Consumers right now are in a pickle - always having to buy independent devices that don't speak to each other. Samsung television, Sony console, iPad, Samsung Galaxy 4s - that's what my living room / device roll-out looked like until recently. I can't read the future but I know some of the things we have in development right now that are 2-3 years out, that are super fucking cool and - if Xbone gets the space that we think it will - could have significant impact on changing the home entertainment game.
(Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft in the hardware partner space)
How many of those 127 million ps2 sales were generated by being a dvd player? That might be telling as to why MS is doing this shit, also wonder how much they have to pay for each bluray drive in the xbone.
Zaphid
Trakanon Raider
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I'd be all for connecting all household devices in more interesting ways than wifi/bluetooth, but every single time a company tried to get in that position, it was with locked systems and overpriced gadgets, gouging people left and right. It took no-name manufacturers from Asia to break DVD region, which only fucked over legit buyers to begin with. Look at console HDDs... That's why I think Android is the way forward in this area, open specifications and competitive market, because no company has resisted the temptation to hold it's consumers hostage.
What was the price of games 20 years ago? $60USD ( I don't remember for games before the nes era ),
The current business model is not sustainable, $10m budgets are still ok but already pushing, I guess it's one reason why the indy model sees such growth.
Zaphid
Trakanon Raider
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Well, look at all the different business models PC and smartphone titles have - Dota2, TF 2, Minecraft, Kickstarters, F2P, subscriptions,... The only innovation consoles did in that space are DLC. No shit it's not going to be sustainable for long.
