Action-packed games pushing up against console performance ceiling.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 console will have been on the market for six years this November, and the PlayStation 3 (PS3) has been around just one year less. That's a very long time in the world of consumer technology, and resource demands for games are only increasing.
Bodycount game director Andy Wilson spoke about how ... [ read the full article ]
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the next XBOX & PS4 will still have drives most gamers still want physical media. maybe in 10 years the cloud will go mainstream in gaming not so sure myself I like to have something in my hand. people are already downloading AAA games I have seen Infamous 2 digital on my friends list.
Guys, I still think you are concentrating on the specs & potential but ignoring the practical.
Let's be clear about the bigger Blu-ray disc sizes.
They aren't going to be anything close to mass-market.
Not outside of Japan.
As it is a dual layer blank BD50 costs are enormous and production is not that high, which helps keep the price high - and this took a long time to get to and was hard to do.....how much harder and more expensive even more layers?
Then there's the claim they work with existing lasers.
I call BS on that, I'll believe it when I see it.
Then there's the final 2 points on this.
1) BDXL. The bigger Blu-ray.
It is stunningly expensive and selling in tiny numbers in Japan only - and it does require a new player.
It's not like any big western studios is releasing films on it either and I have not heard of anyone big planning to.
2) The existing market.
A new Blu-ray is just what the market does not need right now.
50gbs max for Blu-ray (outside of Japan) is it.
Nintendo think 25gbs will do fine.
Microsoft?
I think they might pick up the 51gb triple layer HD DVD tech that was ready just before HD DVD was canned.
But be serious, it's a stop-gap.
A time-filler until our internet infrastructure is ready in enough places so that games (and films) come via digital distribution.
The UK is not exactly a front runner for net speeds but we are getting 'up to 40mb' rolling out across the network right now.
It's coming.
I do expect the next consoles to have a disc player and a much larger (1tb?) hard drive (and USB 3.0 for flash & external HDDs) but it is the last one.....and everyone knows it.
That's not what I call 'the future'.
It's the last knockings of the present.
....and brockie
I'm not "living in the past" at all.
I have all this stuff.
I'm just not kidding myself that I have bought into the future.
The only other problem I can see for full downloadable games is you can not sell it when you no longer play or want the game. I hope they can change that in the future so that you can sell and transfer you license to someone else. This is the big reason a lot of people want to own physical media they don't want to be tied to one console. They want to be able to play there game on any system and be able to sell there game if they so do wish.
There's always a way but it depends on how nice the corps want to be to everyone.
TBH what I expect to see is something like how TV is going.
You pay a monthly sub and a vast catalogue is open to you.
It's just there all the time.
The cloud I guess.
So keeping a physical copy is pointless.
How much we have to pay for this will be interesting but however it begins ultimately I see it as just being part of the normal back-drop.
You turn on your TV, go to menu and select whatever it is you want to watch or play - or continue watching or whatever you were playing before.
they could charge you whatever they wished if cloud was the only form of getting media. physical media, D2D and Related Services keep a balance.
its Human Nature to want something physical or at least knowing it could be made so.
Cloud is like ordering a cheeseburger and getting a plate with a translucent cheeseburger...you can see it and smell it but you cant touch it or eat it.
They could....right up until you cancelled or swapped to another provider/portal service.
I think one of the things here is too many people are thinking about this as if it's going to be restricted in many ways.
It might start off like that but to truly grow & become what it will that just won't happen.
Otherwise it doesn't take off.
But the thing is it offers way to many benefits to too many businesses and people for it not to be allowed to grow.
The cloud is much more like a delivering catering service able to offer you up exactly what you want whenever you want it.
It is going to happen and people clutching their old 'physical goods' certainties will continue to do so for a while - until even they realise how silly & pointless it is.
Let's be real here. I hope bluray is in the next gen consoles. All of them but bluray disc biggest impact for PS3 has not been for gaming. If not for bluray he PS3 wouldn't have sold as many consoles period. That's been its biggest advantage.
As for PS having all these exclusive his year, that's just more chances to have your credit card and other information stolen on an inferior gaming network. Let's keep it real. How many people got rid of their PS3 just to be able to play online months ago. So please stop fanboying here.
And when Sony, Microsoft and who ever else bring out their next Gen consoles????? More long scenes of pointless chatter, fancy expensive pointless CG openings Hollywood style. Very few games with excellent graphics but poor, shoddy visuals, poor game play AND???????? Hundreds of well funded war fighter sims.
Gaming has become so predictable with one target audience in mind.
I agree.....but then trying to break out of the dour self-labelled 'serious gamer' niche is what Wii/Kinect/Move is all about.
There's room for all in my view.
I just look back to the variety of games we used to have with Genesis/Megadrive, SNES & Playstation 1 and can't help thinking where did it all go so wrong?
