Future Console CPU-GPU solutions - Revisited - PS4 Example

[freedquaker]

That's a good reminder that we should open up and talk more about the Architectures like Jaguar (AMD) and whether or not they are the future and why? After all, I really like where the Steam is headed for example... The Apple's inclusion of "Account" approaches, which effectively makes all your purchases (games or apps) forward compatible has been embraced by Android, and other mobile platform and we start to see the same reverberations of this on consoles as well. Ouya adopts exactly the same approach, as well as the steambox. If the major console developers cannot adopt to this, they will sooner or later regret it. This will also solve the "major design every X years" and backward compatibility issues... In short,

- Firms should adopt the x86 architecture as the baseline and keep the architecture forward compatible. The systems can still have idiosyncratic tweaks and might require optimizations but "code-wise", they should be compatible (more like where the android and ios have been sailing through for several years).

- The consoles should be renewed yearly, with enhancement on the hardware and software. The idea here is to sell the most up to date hardware at a given (preferably low) price level (like $200-300). This way, there will be no too much fragmentation, only one variation for each year at incremental stages, and the developers may just target the most popular system as base but also scale up and down to others, and gradually shift the development cycle.

- This is great for developers because they don't have to re-learn the programming paradigm every X years. They have to go through all those extra fixed costs. They don't have to deal with PC level fragmentation.

- This is great for the console makers since they don't have to deal with enormous R&D expenses. They will also end up "locking down" their consumer base since all games are forward compatible, which is a MUCH BIGGER DEAL than $1-2 apps in appstore!

- Because of the "locking down" of consumers, The fight for market share will be much lower!

- This is also great news for the consumers because,

a) They will need to spend a few hundred dollars every 2-4 years, which is admittedly more than spending twice as much every 5-6 years but this way, their hardware is always up to date, their games are all forward compatible, and if implemented, downloaded from online servers at will. It's a big win

b) Consumers also don't have to worry about the "exclusives" or viability of their platforms as well. With such settled down market mechanism, their console makers may gradually erode or expand in market share and support, but it is very unlikely for an abrupt change to happen!

This is basically where Steam and Ouya is headed, a la IOS and Android Style, but without the backing up of a giant firm, such as MS, Sony and Nintendo, their viability is questionable. I am amazed that none of the Big 3 have come up with that kind of answer because I know I am not the only genius in town.