Question of the Day, August 29, 2010

[The Escapist Staff]

Question of the Day, August 29, 2010



China will be getting a new console called Ebox in 2011. It is controller-free, and Jack Luo, president of the company making the Ebox "Ebox may not have exquisite game graphics, or extensive violence, but it can inspire family members to get off the couch and get some exercise." Is there room for a new console on the market? What sort of features would the Ebox need to have to be a contender?

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[Quaxar]

I miss a "I suspect this might be a bad chinese copy of the xBox" option...

But no, I don't think this thing will ever make it on a big scale. We already had the Wii to get family members off the couch and now that Sony and Microsoft make their own exercis-y controllers I really doubt there is much chance for a console with far inferior graphics and less games, however cheap it might be.

 

[Riobux]

I think another console could fit in, but it'd be too much at the same time. However, I grew up with there only being two consoles to choose from (at least far as I knew).

 

[Roofstone]

As our dear and belowed Yahtzee said: Gaming is what we do to relax, and you dont do that by doing 20 situps.

 

[wooty]

NOOOOOOOO, no more shovelware systems, arent we getting enough of those recently?

 

[Keava]

Quite indifferent to it. I have my PC for my gaming needs and consoles don't support games I'm interested in anyway so they can as well have a new console every new game just to torment the console users.

 

[blackdwarf]

i hope that someday a new consloe is released. with new ideas. because now the 3 big companys are stealin from each other. de move is ripped of from the wii. kinect is rpped of from the eyetoy. and so on. eventualy the 3 consoles are going to be identical. if a new one come in, hopefully the 3 old companys see that they need think new ideas.

 

[Mr. Grey]

It's Chinese... you- you're kidding with this... right?

Anything good of Chinese technical prowess strictly goes to military endeavors. The only difference between civilian and military is that their military endeavors are supposed to explode.

I'm fully aware of what China is capable of, but when it comes to civilian needs... it's a completely different ball game.

As for adding a new console from a competent company: it may very well make it more difficult for developers to produce quality games. If it does that, then I don't approve of a new console. There could be a chance that it won't, but things have become a lot more complicated than the old days. I'm not sure how it would fare.

[sub]Editing in Bold.[/sub]

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

The whole industry has become saturated. We need some kind of gaming cull to remove the chaff so we get back the soul of what we want from games. I don't mean kill the morons that play COD and sports games, I just mean shift the indutry's resources to focus on good games instead of spreading them over guaranteed-to-make-a-profit games.

 

[SalamanderJoe]

If you look back to 70s and 80s there were dozens of consoles from various companies. That's loads compared to the big three today. Maybe a fourth company should have a go...that likes the colour white...who has an obession with the letter 'i'...and has an apple for a logo. What's their name again?

EDIT: Actually forget that, they made a console in 90s called the Pippin and well...

 

[tharglet]

There's probably room in the market for another console somewhere, but I'm not seeing that one as the contender for that spot. Sounds like it's going to be a rip-off of currently released consoles.

 

[Andronicus]

I think it has become a little too saturated. The competition is good to keep down prices (as long as you don't live in Australia), but there's a point where enough is enough or, quite possibly, too much even then.

Also, I really don't see the need for a "I don't play on consoles" option. It doesn't really matter whether you play on consoles or not, you should still have an opinion, even if that opinion is "I don't know enough about socioeconomics to have an informed opinion". Unless you have no idea what a videogame console is (in which case, what the hell are you doing here in the first place?), you should still be able to make up your mind on whether this is a good thing or not.

 

[V8 Ninja]

If the company behind the console had exclusives that were really good, then sure, why not. It would be nice to see a new contender. As for my thoughts on the Ebox being that new contender, I don't think it will. It's meant for a Chinese audience, and, most of the time, the targeted audience for video games is either the Japanese or 20-something Americans that act like they were lobotomized.

Oh, and P.S., Mr./Mrs./Whatever Roofstone:

Is there room for a new console on the market?

As our dear and belowed Yahtzee said: Gaming is what we do to relax, and you dont do that by doing 20 situps.

I think you completely missed the point. Try again. =P

 

[Digikid]

No. Pure and simple.

 

[Piflik]

The EBox is just the next in a series of console clones...I think each one of the 'Big Three's' consoles has at least one chinese clone...and they all suck...ever heard of the PolyStationr3 (PS3), the Vii (Wii), the Neo Double Games (Nintendo DS), the POP Station (PSP) and similar?

Spoiler: some videos

 

[Hungry Donner]

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo having been sticking with this tech generation for quite some time - if someone released a console with really fantastic new hardware (better graphics, perhaps a PPU, stuff like that) they may attract enough attention to do well.

This however looks like a low-grade wii clone and to be honest it hardly seems like it's in the running. The fact that they don't seem to have plans to release this outside of China sort of cinches the deal.

Perhaps if their next system is international it will have some market presence, particularly if it's quite inexpensive. I could see an inexpensive kinect clone taking a bite out of the market.

 

[sunburst]

Someone could theoretically release a console with twice the power of the PS3, built in motion and voice control, wifi capability, an automatic blowjob dispenser and a price tag of <$500 that would dominate the market. Realistically, we're pretty well saturated. The Ebox is most assuredly not going to bring about the next revolution. It just might possibly do okay in China solely because they won't have the same kind of competition there but it certainly has no hope of gaining a market share elsewhere. But I have heard there's some money to be made in targeting confused old people buying gifts they're only vaguely aware of. I guess the Ebox could always aim for that demographic.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

This "Ebox" sounds like a bit of a joke, really.
I predict it will fail.

 

[tehroc]

Who makes these polls?!? How about a "Yes, more competition could beneficial"