Hideo Kojima Believes Consoles are Dying

Tom Goldman

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Aug 17, 2009
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Hideo Kojima Believes Consoles are Dying



According to Hideo Kojima, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox 720 aren't the future of how people will play videogames.

At a news conference held for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, series visionary Hideo Kojima talked about what he thinks the future of gaming will be, and how it probably won't include consoles. He thinks that cloud computing will become the norm, where the same videogame experiences can go from device to device no matter where players are.

"In the near future, we'll have games that don't depend on any platform," he said. "Gamers should be able to take the experience with them in their living rooms, on the go, when they travel -- wherever they are and whenever they want to play. It should be the same software and the same experience."

What Kojima describes is the experience that technologies like OnLive [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97182-OnLive-Fully-Detailed-in-Columbia-University-Presentation] aim to bring. Theoretically, they would allow AAA videogames to be streamed to anything from a television to an iPhone and therefore free from specific console restrictions.

At the same conference, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kawano told reporters: "It's a bold prediction. We hope he continues to develop for platforms, but we deeply respect his sense of taking on a challenge." Apparently, this was said with a nervous smile.

Kojima also said the development of Peace Walker for the PSP, coming to Japan at the end of April and other territories in June, was an experiment to find out what would work for portable gaming in the future he envisions. "I looked at this in part as an experiment aimed at the future," Kojima revealed. It sounds like he's really putting his faith in services like OnLive. With the massive popularity of current generation consoles, I don't think Kojima's prediction will come true anytime soon, but who knows right?

Source: Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6362GF20100407]


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SamuelT

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Apr 14, 2009
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High names are being pessimistic as of late.

"Games are no art." - "Consoles are dying"

Still, a worthy goal if any.
 

Heart of Darkness

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Jul 1, 2009
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Meh. I don't see it. I don't think console developers will ever push for this, even if OnLive and Gaikai (that's the other one, right?) fight them every step of the way. I also don't see cloud gaming actually becoming popular due the current Internet infrastructure in place.

Only time will tell, I s'pose.
 

DividedUnity

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Oct 19, 2009
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Bad choice of picture there tom. Doesnt really portray him as a serious game developer hahaha

Onlive system is ridiculous. I refuse to have to pay a subscription to play games I already bought. Even if console gaming dies hopefully PC gaming wont. And if doesnt well. Ill just stick to photography
 

antipunt

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Jan 3, 2009
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With the massive popularity of current generation consoles, I don't think Kojima's prediction will come true anytime soon, but who knows right?
Pretty much my opinion on the matter. It sounds crazy, but hey, I'm no expert.
 

Generic_Dave

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Jul 15, 2009
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Hhhmmm...Hideo...I think maybe I like to own my games, and not pay a sub...

I predict smaller consoles (nearly portable ones that can be easily transported in a backpack or something) with a HUGE hard-drive!!!! Even the 250GB PS3 / 360 is too small for proper downloadable purchasing. 1 to 5 TB at the mo, but rising exponentially as games get bigger.

Eventually they'll die off, but probably not until the entire world is incredibly wired up and EVERYTHING interacts with each other and all things are compatible.
 

Thaius

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Mar 5, 2008
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I think it may be possible sometime in the future, but it would be a while. And it would depend on the services offered. There are too many factors to say when it could happen, but I do see it as a possibility somewhere down the line.

Though to be honest, I love the Metal Gear Solid series, but I've started to disagree with Kojima on a lot of things. He said that video games are not art, he apparently really likes Twilight, and now he's saying consoles are on their way out? I like his games, but I'm not really seeing eye-to-eye with him at this point...
 

TelHybrid

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May 16, 2009
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He's in favour of services like Onlive that are internet based streams?

Damn... Kojima's lost a lot of my respect. T_T
 

Casual Shinji

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Jul 18, 2009
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Yeah, and in the future we won't rely on fossil fuel.

It's a nice dream, but it won't happen anytime soon.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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What does Kojima know? His idea of a 'video game' is a movie that is interrupted every 10 minutes by a gameplay sequence. I don't think consoles are going anywhere any time soon.
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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Hideo Kojima also believes you can't crawl while prone, so take that as you will.

As a person who started as a PC gamer and was able to get back into it, I still play Consoles and I think the only problem with consoles right now is that they evolved too quickly in terms of graphics to the point where we're hitting a singularity on those.

I also don't think one super console will ever originate, because of the innate differences between all the competitors.
 

laryri

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May 19, 2008
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You guys have to consider that in Japan, this doesn't seem as far-fetched a claim. The handheld gaming market is much larger than the console market.
 

AceDiamond

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laryri said:
You guys have to consider that in Japan, this doesn't seem as far-fetched a claim. The handheld gaming market is much larger than the console market.
But that's not really a new development, I always thought that handheld and mobile gaming was far more prevalent there, and that it was PC gaming that was what really wasn't very popular in Japan.
 

MR T3D

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
To be fair, Hideo Kojima also believes Twilight is a good book.
he's a special guy.


and I truly hope he's wrong about this, cloud computing would suck balls, onlive isn't very good at all, and it can't even work everywhere you can play games online decently.
and I like modifying mah PC games.