Nintendo President: Console Obsolesence is "Unthinkable"

[XMark]

OnLive is going to fail because of one unavoidable fact - network latency.

Latency is all right for regular multiplayer games because the entities in the game world can adapt for latency via prediction and stuff like that... but if you're waiting for the server to send you the full screen image then there will be a noticeable lag between trying to look a certain direction, and looking in that direction. And that will be a deal-breaker for any game requiring twitch reflexes, especially since the lag will also be present in single-player games.

Maybe OnLive could be repurposed for an MMORPG though. Latency wouldn't matter as much, and the game world could be stored entirely in the cloud, so there would be no need for everyone to download patches and new game world areas as they are created. And an MMORPG would by definition already be subscription-based and require net connectivity to play.

 

[FloodOne]

OnLive is going to fail because of one unavoidable fact - network latency.

Latency is all right for regular multiplayer games because the entities in the game world can adapt for latency via prediction and stuff like that... but if you're waiting for the server to send you the full screen image then there will be a noticeable lag between trying to look a certain direction, and looking in that direction. And that will be a deal-breaker for any game requiring twitch reflexes, especially since the lag will also be present in single-player games.

Maybe OnLive could be repurposed for an MMORPG though. Latency wouldn't matter as much, and the game world could be stored entirely in the cloud, so there would be no need for everyone to download patches and new game world areas as they are created. And an MMORPG would by definition already be subscription-based and require net connectivity to play.

I like the cut of your jib. Excellent idea.

 

[LeonLethality]

I really hope changes like this and digital distribution never completely take over in my lifetime. Call me old fashioned but I like my consoles and physical game copies.

 

[Rect Pola]

I'm not ready to give up actually owning what I pay gobs of money before. The whole "it saves on production, so won't cost you as much" was thrown out the window with PSP Go. And what about when the company decide to start acting like jerks and triple subscription fees and pay for games? Where's the fallback you can go to and enjoy if you're utterly dependent to play the things you already paid for?

 

[Mr. Fister]

He's right. Console-gaming is far too convenient and popular among the mass market for it to just die.

Not to mention one other important fact: Commercial PC's are not built with gaming in mind. With a gaming system (A Nintendo gaming system, at the very least), you know that its primary function is to play games; everything else comes secondary. PC's are largely geared towards things like coding, using the internet, and creating things using Microsoft Office. They can be tooled to play games, but for the most part, that's an incidental feature.

As long as gaming on a regular PC's is optional, they will never replace console gaming.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Pick up and play consoles will be popular as long as the internet is not completely global and free. For those who can't afford (or get) a good internet connection, hardware will always be popular. For example, my Uncle in rural Saskatchewan has to rely on dial up for his internet. He won't be dropping a grand on the console generation if all the content is dependent on a good internet connection.

You will have to blow my mind away with epic awesome sauce before I will admit consoles that only require a TV and power are dead forever.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

Cloud Gaming will take over only when everyone (or at least a vast majority) of people have constant, stable, low-latency internet connections.

Now, you might be sitting in your warm home in suburban US or downtown London and thinking how everyone must have it by now. You would be wrong. Large parts of developed world don't have the quality of connection that would be required to eliminate the downsides of Cloud Gaming. Even if they do, the internet is too unstable and unpredictable to guarantee perfect service. And as long as that is the case, there will be a market for consoles, gaming PCs and games made for them.

I live in down town London and most of broadband providers here are a joke.

 

[Sylocat]

Heck, even when every gamer everywhere has stable, high-bandwidth and low-latency internet connections and knows how to use them, there will still be advantages to console gaming. Like... oh, I don't know... localized multiplayer, for instance?

Seriously, is Nintendo the only game developer left on the entire planet who remembers that gaming can be a SOCIAL event, not just a ritual of screaming obscenities at strangers through a headset mic?

I agree.

What more must we say?

Calumon: We could talk about Kojima?

Jack: Nah, someone'll talk about him somewhere in these comments and declare a East Game Dev War or something.

Jack's right, Calumon. This is The Escapist, after all.

 

[Omnific One]

Agreed. Thank you for proving Nintendo still has a level of intelligence, even if it is a bit obvious.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Even if every other company signed onto a console-less existence, Nintendo would still be coming up with original gimmicks to try to maintain a grip on profits. The main reason the Wii was made the way it was, was to make something no one else was doing so the experience would be exclusive to their system. Games are games, but Nintendo had the doodad that was the latest and greatest thing everyone had to at least try out once.