Are computers and consoles gonna merge?

[YoshiM]

I know these discussions were touched on in the past but I figured with some newer folks here it'd be neat to touch on this again.

Back in the early 80's when console gaming was starting to die, home computers seemed to pick up the slack. Not only could they balance check books, help you easily make banners or help you with memorizing your multiplication tables they could also play some great games. Games with such complexity that a console couldn't match the experience. Console gaming and computer gaming seemed to merge for a while: with the C64 or Atari computers being able to play games on cartridges AND tape AND disk.

The two gaming platforms then split and kind of ran parallel for quite a while. The early to mid 90's saw both platforms getting some really great games and a lot of attention. However by the turn of the century we started seeing PC gaming going the way of the consoles of old. Gaming on the PC started getting a lot of "me too" games with RTS, FPS and "Sim" games: very cookie cutter not unlike the Space Invaders and Pac-Man clones that glutted up the golden age. Interest seemed to wane as consoles became more powerful, able to give a player years of play without having to worry about upgrading a graphics card or getting a bigger hard drive.

Seeing consoles like the 360 made me wonder, more so now than ever, if the two platforms will merge again. The 360 is a monster for the price. How far-fetched would it be for Microsoft to create Windows 360? The machine has USB ports so hooking up anything USB would just need drivers. A standard TV could pass as a somewhat decent computer screen (don't think PC standard-most of us typed our reports on little TVs. Hell I typed on a black and white 10" TV and that worked just fine). Offer up email, web browsing, document writing and guess what, it plays games! Sony was mentioning having the PS3 be able to run Linux.

Doesn't seem too far fetched anymore.

So what are your thoughts?

[CYRiX]

Yeah it will happen, but not for a couple of decades though.

[Ed Oscuro]

We'll see...I'd definitely like there to be something from the PC manufacturing industry, an "open system" so that you don't have one company (microsoft, sony, nintendo...) deciding what features you do and don't need.

[Joker T]

I guess it could happen but yeah no time soon. That would be expensive.

[njiska]

They already have, it's called Xbox-Linux.

[Kid Ice]

Yeah it will happen, but not for a couple of decades though.

Why wait a couple decades? The technology has been in place for some time now (at least as long as the X-box era).

I think this isn't a question of "Can it be done?", but one of "Why should it be done?"

[hbkprm]

we need it to happen in our generation

[cyberfluxor]

Simply to me a game consule is a specialized computer designed to run a specific hardware and software configuration. So if anything the consule will fade off and there will be a boom in PC game designers. BUT we won't let this happen will we?

[Griking]

I don't think that console and computers will ever completely merge as long as console makers insist on having strict controls over what hardware accessories and software titles can be released for it. There's a bunch of other reasons why it won't happen but that's the primary one that I can think of off the top of my head.

[lendelin]

The merge will happen, and it already started regarding technology, possibilities what can be done and genres. One of the most remarkable and influential developments of this console generation was done by the Xbox: it bridged the gap between PC- and console-RPGs.

There will be one separation line, however, which was exactly the reason why consoles triumphed over PCs as gaming platforms; that is leisure time activities and work.

People associate PCs with work and don't put it in their living rooms, while consoles are already in living rooms. These consoles or PCs will be specialized and developed for leisure activities: gaming, Internet browsing, listening to music, chatting, watching pictures and videos, and even recordings of TV shows. Tivo will be merging with game consoles and PC leisure time activities as well. This long-term battle over the living room is at the heart of the competition between Sony and Microsoft today.

There will be two PCs (or two consoles if you will): one associated and specialized for work, and one in the living room for fun times. There is one line which hardware manufacturers of machines for leisure time cannot cross: These machines have to be closed, that means they have to be consumer friendly. No hardware upgrades, no hassles with controllers, no hassles with memory and graphic cards. The development has to go into the software not into better hardware.

In the end we'll have consoles or PCs which play licensed games, offer all kinds of 'fun' activities besides that, and the pure working horse of specialized capabilities.

The time of the all-around console-PC has with more capabilities has begun, the time of the reduced PC will start soon. The original starting point and vision was the other way around in the 80s. It was turned around because people accepted consoles in living rooms and rejected PCs there.

Personally, I like pure gaming machines. But it seems those times are over.

[stressboy]

I would rather they both stay seperate.

I couldn't imagine typing up a document on a console, or browsing the web while sitting 10 feet away from the computer. I suppose I can put a keyboard and mouse on the coffee table, but that would get uncomfortable fast.

Also, I have always heard that the hardware inside these consoles, while being excellent at playing games designed for them, would suck if they had to do normal computing tasks. I am not a hardware guru so I don't know the specifics.

If this does happen, I don't see it happening this generation, or even the next. I also see no benefit other than possibly saving money, but after 4 years of using the same console - computer hybrid, people will probably be dying for an upgrade.

[stressboy]

One of the most remarkable and influential developments of this console generation was done by the Xbox: it bridged the gap between PC- and console-RPGs.


Wait.. what? How so? The Xbox only had a small handful of RPG's. Morrowind plays MUCH better on the PC. KOTOR I have only heard about, since I have never played the PC version, but I have heard it is superior.

[Ed Oscuro]

People associate PCs with work and don't put it in their living rooms
I don't. I don't have a computer in the living room, quite, but there's one in the kitchen. :)

For me, I think what's really going to happen is that computers simply will disappear into the woodwork, literally, and we will barely know they're there (aside from the fees we'll be levied, of course).