I disagree, convergence is not the fture of gaming, I don't see the next Nintendo system being a multimedia device, it will use HD graphics, but it will not be a movie player or any other such stuff, Nintendo has shown that its not needed to be a top system.

 

 

Remeber most people are not tech savvy and just prefer their stuff to be simple 

Grey Acumen said: ... LOL Okay, I give you props for that. I can see both sides of the debate, as a Nintendo fan and a technology enthusiast. I felt a good debate was needed on the subject. I will pose this idea to maybe give a boost to the conversation about this. One thing I found you focusing too much on was that the consoles were becoming too much like PCs, but actually, the real issue that I seee occuring in the future is that PCs are beginning to recognize that people want simplicity as well. ...

An interesting idea, and quite probable. As manufacturers of CPUs and GPUs (the most expensive and frequently upgrade-requiring parts of any PC) switch to multi-core, software has to be more capable of using all of the cores. Therefore, the cores do not have to be physically on the same PCB and it will be much easier in the future to implement multi-GPU (SLI and Crossfire) and multi-CPU setups. Yes, we will begin to see multi-socket computers at the lower price points soon, making it easy to upgrade a system by adding more cores.

However, PC performance tends to increase exponentially, and Crossfire for example will still have all of the problems of current 'add-more' upgrades: Buying another card after 12 months for £100 may increase performance by half again and double your power consumption, but completely replacing for £150 can often give you three times the performance at the same power and space. Platforms also quickly change and often after a few months you can't find a retail card that will fit your given socket or bus.

Game_boy said: However, PC performance tends to increase exponentially, and Crossfire for example will still have all of the problems of current 'add-more' upgrades: Buying another card after 12 months for £100 may increase performance by half again and double your power consumption, but completely replacing for £150 can often give you three times the performance at the same power and space. Platforms also quickly change and often after a few months you can't find a retail card that will fit your given socket or bus.

This is why my initial note was on the universal plug n play that the USB standard has begun to address. pretty much EVERYTHING has USB right now, so while it might not still be the format in 10 - 15 years, I think there will be a similar standardization in the connectivity of all components of a PC. Thus after a few months you WILL be able to find a retail card that will fit the given bus. Even though the individual components may never become standardized, I see teh connectivity between those components becoming standardized in the distance future.

 

Grey Acumen said: ... This is why my initial note was on the universal plug n play that the USB standard has begun to address. pretty much EVERYTHING has USB right now, so while it might not still be the format in 10 - 15 years, I think there will be a similar standardization in the connectivity of all components of a PC. Thus after a few months you WILL be able to find a retail card that will fit the given bus. Even though the individual components may never become standardized, I see teh connectivity between those components becoming standardized in the distance future.

No. Unlike USB devices which just want power and simple communication, processors require all sorts of specialised information at constantly increasing speeds. Even processors on the same socket require major BIOS updates that are often incompatible or have reduced functionality on old motherboards anyway.

GPUs are getting there with PCI Express, but the bandwidth limit means that adding a second GPU at present gives max 1.5x performance and with the current state of drivers often reduces performance below 1x. The way the manufacturers solve this is ever changing, proprietary connectorswhich are the opposite of what you want.

Result: I think it is physically impossible to come up with even a 5-year standard that they won't start wishing for a better one six months in. This is compounded by some manufacturers leaving the standard and gaining a slight advantage by using their own platform, leading every other company to do so too.

If that's the case, then I'd say it's fairly safe to assume that console gaming will remain safe for quite a while to come then.

Actually though, if it wasn't for Nintendo, I'd say your predictions for the console to PC would be almost inevitable, rather than impossible

This makes me wonder about another future event to consider, which would be Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata finally retiring or even possibly dying. I mean eventually they will have to, but there really are few individuals that have managed to maintain such a consistent level of innovation and familiarity that is needed to keep the Video Game industry stable.
Just look at what happened to Disney after Walt Disney died. It fell a long way from what it used to be. Even the muppets took a huge blow when Jim Henson died.

If Shigeru Miyamoto was no longer working in the gaming industry, would Mario, Zelda, and many other iconic game series die with him? Would the mantle be taken up by a new developer, and if so, would they be able to do it successfully?

it is very much my opinion that nintendo is one of the biggest reasons keeping console gaming viable vs PC gaming. If nintendo were to lose Miyamoto and/or Iwata, would it remain a company capable of doing that?

Seems like a good read but too long for me.