Fate of console gaming
The 'theory' goes that you spend more time on career, marriage, raising a family, and whatnot. This is what most people eventually do. Its not even a theory, its par for the course.
I was always under the impression people played video games to avoid those things? Surely people are more likely to try find another way to escape reality, right?
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You've misunderstood me. It takes nothing to quote statistics, and without citations, I don't know them to be accurate.
It seems I have. I apologise then.
Agreed. They are pretty common knowledge or I would have cited. 300 million(or so) Americans. Baby boomers born after world war two, biggest age group of people. Boomer women entered the work force; the birth rate dropped. Water is comprised of oxygen and hydrogen. Not everything needs to be cited.
Neo-Geo can be obtained easily on eBay, and emulation is even easier. Again, many ways to play games. No end to the opportunities.
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Well sure. I have my old TRS-80 and a functioning coleco-vision, but the topic at hand is about development of new gaming systems. Will something come after xbox? That is the billion dollar question.
Darn. I havent had/seen them in years and I was really craving them! I'll have to look more carefully I guess.
The argument is valid though. Apple Jacks are to (Post Cereal?) as splinter cell is to Microsoft Xbox. In fact, I'll use that cereal up. Most people will only ever buy one copy of each game. The minimum number of customers buying that game is critical to ubisoft, who develops splinter cell. They have to pay their programmers. The number of customers is critical to microsoft as well, as they can use the sales to subsidize the development and production of the xbox.
If it did cost 500 million(who knows?) to develop xbox, then if you could only sell 2 million units, everyone would end up paying 250 dollars. Zero profit margin. Thats called a loss leader in sales, and it depends on people buying accessories and things(games in this case). Another good example would be 50 dollar printers that take 100 dollar ink cartridges. Do I need to cite those?
The quintessential American aphorism "build it and they will come" isnt necessarily true.
I'll give you a time based way to make the assessment of how things will develop. If prices of the console games rise steeply, there are fewer buyers (and I am right). If prices drop drastically, then tastes are simply changing(and I am wrong). If game prices stay constant, I am also wrong. I assume(and I think you will agree) that the consoles themselves will continue to increase in price. That is the price for refined features.
So 2 out of 3 that I am wrong. But I dont think I am. Its going to take several years to tell, so I am amicable to ending this debate.. we wont know in a timely enough fashion to continue.
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davidred wrote...
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Tollorin
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Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,178
Location: Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
I think that the future of video games is more with PCs and handled ports. So far games on computers had been limited by the frequent necessity of upgrading the systems for be able to play the latest games. But as the graphics are more and more costly, the compagnys are likely eventually to cut in that part and thus making the game available for most PCs. Because almost everyone got a PC, this open a HUGE market. Also, PCs are much more versatibles that home consoles.
Try this anime
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUmKiEjmO0[/youtube]
Don't know if you understand french, a good part of the impact must be lost without knowing the characters, but this is the most heartbreaking thing I ever seen.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXD_nNWUW34[/youtube]
(There were showing "cartoons" like that when I was a kid... Must had been a conspiracy of the therapists for expanding their future market. )
Bradleigh
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Age: 33
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Posts: 6,669
Location: Brisbane, Australia
I myself have become quite interested in a lot of tv shows. But I find anime quite a good thing to watch, if you want some recomendations of what might interest the gamer I could offer a few. For starters there is the anime version of Devil May Cry, though I am having a little trouble find the first episode online, it is good for fans of the series.
One looking straight at gamers is the .hack series which is based around a futuristic game called "The World", kind of like a virtual reality MMO. It is both an anime series of people playing a game, and a game series of playing a game. I would especialy recomend .hack//sign, it is a good watch and can be good for conecting emotionaly. especialy when yo find parts of why the character play the game, such as escaping family, do something you can't noramly, and even playing to act like someone you can't normaly (more confident).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKVlCVF9UII&feature=PlayList&p=8AC7540A5CFA37B5&index=0&playnext=1[/youtube]
There are so many good ones, maybe recomend Dennou Coil, that is quite popular with many who have seen it, and has some lovely emotional parts. It is set in the not too distant future where the inernet is all arond them and seen via special glasses, and they have a variety of things such as pets and digital gadgets that are like being inside a game.
Hard choice to give decide what to lastly reccomend, I am choosing between The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Spice and Wolf and Clannad. All three are good, though Haruhi is curently the only one with an english dub, Spice and Wolf is getting one soon, and Clannad's series is thought to be one of the best emotionaly as well as very funy, it's sequel series curently in #2 slot on ANN. One of my personal favirouts, few things have made me laugh and cry so much, and is also based on a game, plus I realised recently that a bunch of the character may have aspergers traits.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkL08FUr8QA[/youtube]
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Here's the thing. Although the average age of gamers is around 35, the standard deviation of that number is high. The ages of people that play video games nowadays range from teenagers up to adults around 50. If the xbox ever disappears because of the number of sales, then there will always be other systems. I think some sales are probably going down simply due to changing demographics. In comparison to the article you originally posted, I've found another one:
http://e-strategyblog.com/2005/10/demographics-of-video-gamers/.
That is a good point. And I know of home brew and open source systems that are modifying the market.
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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.
The article in the OPs message is poorly informed. Consoles are on the rise. Sure the console market is down but the economy is also down, so that makes sense.
PCs are lagging behind because you kinda need to know how to think to use one (does your PC have the system specs to play game x? drivers up to date? Is your hardware good? Windows or Linux?). There is many variables with a PC but a console, you just put the disc/cartridge in and viola it plays.
The games market will not shrink though. A lot of bored, cashed up westerners with no wars to fight need entertainment. With the consoles grabbing adults and older gamers now, especially now consoles can be connected to the net, the market can only grow.
Lastly while Microsoft did lose money on the Xbox that isn't a problem. First the Xbox only games make them much more money (Halo for example). Secondly the internet service for Xbox live is subscription based, you need to pay. The OPs article shows a lack of economics knowledge.
TheLonelyGamer
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Location: Deptford, NJ
You've misunderstood me. It takes nothing to quote statistics, and without citations, I don't know them to be accurate.
Which you seem to have some sort of bizarre problem with. You indicate that you dont consider that intelligent thinking.
No, it's someone else's intelligent thinking... Unless these are your statistics. As I said above, it takes nothing to quote someone; I've done it twice in this post!(But with citations...) Oh, and no, I have not seen those commercials. As I said, I stopped watching TV. It bored me.
Neo-Geo can be obtained easily on eBay, and emulation is even easier. Again, many ways to play games. No end to the opportunities.
Also, people get bored. They start messing with things. You get stuff like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_for_Two
And then someone markets it.
EDIT: In your argument regarding Apple Jacks, stores where I live still stock it, and, furthermore, the validity of the argument is questionable. Apple Jacks is one cereal of many, not a broad category like video games.
Yes the Neo Geo/Neo CD is no longer produced BUT up until I think 08 could still have been sent to SNK for repairs and was supported Software wise up till I think 07 I think up to KOF 04 and Garou Mark of The Wolves and Martilmelle where released on AES format ofcourse the is caust more then a PS3 each Cart I can now also say im a proud owner of BOTH a Neo Geo AES AND A Neo Geo CD and am looking into a Consolized Neo Geo MVS arcade board with Custom arcade stick support (mostly USB connector or PS2)
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I've done gaming for a good part of my life, and I understand what he means by "novelty".
I played A LOT of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark as a kid. I LOVED them! Do I play FPS games anymore? No. Why? The experience isn't new enough for me to even bother, and I get bored of almost every FPS I play now.
I played A LOT of RPGs! Only a lot of the OLDER ones though because the newer ones don't really offer much that I haven't already experienced. So what happens? I try the new ones out at a friends place and get bored pretty quick.
Games just can't hold my interest like they used to. I have seen and done too much in gaming in the 90s and early 2000s. I still play games, but I DO NOT spend money on them. I don't think they are worth my money.
Another problem I have with gaming nowadays is the lack of functional options. I see increasing amounts of useful things such as CONTROLS being taken away from me. Fallout 3 does not support southpaw, for example. I cannot play this game on a console, I play southpaw! Less and less controls constricts my playing comfort and deters me from playing. Even some computer games don't allow you to change your controls! Ridiculous. So partly, the industry may just be killing itself via alienation of it's gamers in small ways such as this. Who knows though, most people don't seem to care about losing useful things so long as their favorite video game character has a new coat they can wear.
I am glad I do not spend money on games anymore.
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