Consoles needs to change

[Guy from the 80's]

Alright, background info :

When my high end computer works I play computer games, when it fails I play console games and vice versa. I bought the new 360 slim with mass effect 3 and gears of war 3 since my old one red ringed. It was a good feeling to play console games again, especially lying comfortably on the couch.

What I have noticed though, it the big difference between hardware performance. So why cant there be consoles where you can upgrade the hardware? It should be that difficult right? I can imagine consoles being designed in a more compact way obviously, but why not design something where you can replace a graphics card in the same way you can change a memory chip?

I think there are only upsides to such a console. It would reduce the need for "next gen" consoles every 5 years.

Thoughts?

 

[Vault101]

or..you know

better support for the PC platform....

 

[Daystar Clarion]

One of the main selling points of a console is that it's hardware is closed off.

Game devs only have to worry about making their game compatible with those specs and consumers don't have to worry about the games they buy not working properly with their hardware.

 

[Eddie the head]

Isn't one of the main advantages to working on a Console game is you know what hardware you are dealing with? Also bug fixing I would imagine would be easier if you know what everyone has. So it kind of takes away most of the point.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

Isn't one of the main advantages to working on a Console game is you know what hardware you are dealing with? Also bug fixing I would imagine would be easier if you know what everyone has. So it kind of takes away most of the point.

Well, it would be controlled on a console. For example, Microsoft opens sale for a new hardware that would upgrade its console instead of 100 manufactures selling a new card that can fit on 100 different pc's.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

 

[Dryk]

I suppose if they only did it every 3-5 years or so and labelled games VERY carefully it might work. Might...

 

[Guy from the 80's]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

 

[Doclector]

One of the main selling points of a console is that it's hardware is closed off.

Game devs only have to worry about making their game compatible with those specs and consumers don't have to worry about the games they buy not working properly with their hardware.

Exactly, but in the next generation, there are a few things that need to change, in particular, the memory which a console ships with. With more and more games going for the "install for optimal performance" approach, and downloadable content being a big thing, we are in desperate need for bigger hard drives by default. Possibly more accesibility to add more memory in a way that is simple, as well, perhaps with specially made portable memory. It'd certainly have to be bigger than the average USB, but hopefully still compact.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

Fair enough but it's all I have for a PC right now. Basically my point is that the good thing about consoles is that they never need to be upgraded, besides the occasional software update.

 

[him over there]

The one advantage of the static nature of console hardware is that it is a totally consistent baseline. It can be easily optimized because everybody has the same thing. While it is true that PCs are somewhat hampered to also meet console standards they still wouldn't meet the super high end standards of the best pc. Why? because not everybody has a high end pc, some people have mid range and entry level PCs so even without consoles there is still a lowest common denominator.

Essentially consoles lack a lot of things but static hardware is a blessing for developers, the only other thing besides that they have going really is convenience for the layman and extremely easy accessibility.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

Fair enough but it's all I have for a PC right now. Basically my point is that the good thing about consoles is that they never need to be upgraded, besides the occasional software update.

That quite fair enough also


My point is that maybe there should be a middle ground somewhere.

 

[GiantRaven]

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

Bullcrap. I can list all the games I've tried to run on my laptop and fail on a single finger.

That list is as follows:

Metro: 2033

Sure you might not be able to play all the latest ultra-graphical AAA releases, but that's hardly all games available on the PC.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

Fair enough but it's all I have for a PC right now. Basically my point is that the good thing about consoles is that they never need to be upgraded, besides the occasional software update.

That quite fair enough also


My point is that maybe there should be a middle ground somewhere.

Where does that middle ground lie? If we open the box for upgrading consoles at our leisure, as stated above by someone else, I see them becoming crappy PCs.

 

[Easton Dark]

Could I upgrade the processor and get faster loading times? That's the only advantage I can see. By default, my Xbox plays any Xbox game I put into it. My laptop doesn't have that capability due to the system specs. I don't want my Xbox to become like my laptop.

If you want to play games, dont use a laptop.

Hah, hah hah is what I say. My laptop from 2007 works just fine. It plays all games really well, even...

Metro: 2033

Huh. My laptop is best laptop.


OT: But then they'd just be awful awful PCs.

 

[baddude1337]

Other people have pretty much nailed it on the head. It is ease of use for the consumer and makes optimization easier for the developers. And how would you do the upgrade? It would need a certain amount of tech-know-how, which, lets be fair, most people don't have. Unless they had ports for future add-ons (like the N64's RAM upgrade).

 

[Canadamus Prime]

If you updated the hardware then devs couldn't optimise for specific hardware as easily and then they would just become shitty PCs.

Exactly. That is one of the biggest problems devs face when trying to develop for the PC. The hardware is never consistent, so Q&A is a nightmare. I imagine that's one of the big reasons why the console market is so much more attractive.

*Note: Remember I'm not biased one way or the other. I'll game on anything with a screen.

 

[Krantos]

One of the main selling points of a console is that it's hardware is closed off.

Game devs only have to worry about making their game compatible with those specs and consumers don't have to worry about the games they buy not working properly with their hardware.

This.

Really, That's the primary draw to consoles, both for the consumer and the developers.

It's much, much, MUCH, easier to test a game for console release than it is for PC release simply because you know exactly what every one of your players are going to be using. With PC you have to test with as many different configurations as possible, and even then there will likely be bugs in certain configs.

You can also optimize like crazy. Say you want your game to run at 60 fps at all times. You can do that, because, again, you know exactly how much resources you have to work with.

As for the consumers, it's a big selling point to know that any game you pick up is going to work. I've got a decent computer. I can run most new titles at 30+fps. Except the Witcher 2. No idea why, but no matter what I do I can't get it above 15 fps. That's not something you have to worry about with a console.

There is literally nothing else consoles can boast that PC's can't. However, that's a pretty big draw card and why I still do about 30% of my gaming on consoles.

An Upgradeable console would throw all that away.

 

[Iwata]

If you wanna fiddle with it, the stick to PC's. If you just want to play games and could care less about the technical issues, then stay with consoles. Personaly, I'm perfectly happy as it is.

 

[AndrewF022]

I have long since thought a modular console could work, however it would not be open slather on parts (that's what PCs are for), because that would make development for consoles a nightmare when you don't have the same uniform specs across the board.

However, if all the important parts were replaced at once at a set time, replacing the GPU, PSU, CPU and RAM at once in a large hardware update say every four years, then that would make new console cycles cheaper not only for consumers, but also for production. Because the software, HDD (or hopefully Hybrid SSD/HDD drives at this point), controllers etc would remain constant until a whole new console hits the market.

Wouldn't be an easy thing to implement though, theres a lot of other things you'd have to consider, as well as making it easy enough for average Joe to install it for little Timmy, or making a system where the manufacturer will install the new hardware for you at a cost.