Microsoft and Sony need to embrace Tablets for their next-gen consoles

[bouzane]

noname2200 said:

bouzane said:

Why does the industry need to continue expanding? There are already hundreds of millions of people playing video games and the influx of new gamers are mostly playing casual games. Many studios have learned to cater to the audience that have adapted to this controller design. These studios are creating core experiences that haven't benefited from the current crop of motion and touch controllers as far as I can see. I can understand how the current controllers are an obsticle to new players but as I said, hundreds of millions of peopl ehave gotten by until now. You know, as I was reading how "super-precise actions are essentially impossible" I remembered the time I got the platinum trophy on TimeSplitters: Future Perfect's sniping challenge with maximum aim sensitivity. I've never encountered any motion controller that was anywhere near as accurate as proper joystick controls and both are a joke compared to a mouse. Just my two cents.

PS. I'm selfish so the current controllers aren't broken to me and that's all that really matters :P

There's the financial reason, for starters. Games are becoming increasingly expensive to make, distribute, and market, and those costs are already high enough to drive great numbers of developers and publishers out of business. Growth of the marketplace is the easiest way to counter this trend. In other words, it's basically grow, change, or die.

I also think we're in danger of stagnation if we don't attempt to expand beyond the relatively narrow niche we're currently in. This chain of thought would take more time to develop than I have to devote to it right now, but in a nutshell the byline is similar to the financial argument: what doesn't grow, eventually dies.

But I can appreciate your final sentiment. I'm not being sarcastic or joking when I say that I admire your honesty. I strongly disagree with you on this point, but I appreciate that we can be forthright about where we stand.

I have to disagree with the need to expand the industry to offset increasing development costs. The problem should be addressed directly as development costs should be reigned in. The next generation systems should focus on being developer friendly while only increasing the processing power incrementally. I fear that simply making the gaming industry more mainstream is just going to destroy much of its artistic merit in a similar fashion to the music and film industries. Also, how can you call the second biggest entertainment industry niche? As far as the already disgustingly high development costs that we see now I have to say two things. The industry moved sharply in the wrong direction this generation, I personally believe that with the exception of online console gaming, things were much better last generation. Secondly, by far the best games I have played this gen are not the big Hollywood-esque blockbusters but the downloadable titles, especially Super Meat Boy. I can not imagine how my favorite hobby could possibly benefit from further mainstream success, ballooning development costs, innacurate motion controls, limited touch screens or any other gimmicks. I just want a classic controller and some well made old school games coupled with a few fresh ideas. I shudder to think about what we are facing in the coming generation, especially Japanese developers, many of whom are already struggling with the "high definition" consoles. Again, I know I speak for the minority but it's the minority that has been playing video games from the start allowing the industry as a whole get where it is today. I really don't want to see gaming decline in quality. /rant