Is Console Gaming Doomed?

MP1st - There is no denying that consoles are designed specifically to make the user experience as simple as possible. That is their purpose and it’s why they’ve been so successful over the past 20 years. With a console, there are no hardware upgrades (short of buying newer consoles), there are no drivers, peripherals are all plug and play, games are readily available from several outlets, and they are designed to be plugged into whatever TV system is popular at the time they’re released. Consoles, by their very nature, are designed to be 1 time purchases. The end result is a simple device that does a lot of what gaming PCs do for less money and hassle, plus (recently anyway) they can replace your DVD/Bluray player, Netflix box, and home audio solutions. This simplicity and functionality has taken console gaming from a niche market to the biggest gaming market around.

But times are changing.

[Y_5150]

No. Lets move on.

[scotchmouth]

These articles are.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

sorry to be the od ball but even when internet speeds get faster say in 10 years? still no?

I just get how it can last forever. how? will cloud fade away?

looking at the world today it seems people are just holding on to old ideas imo. nothing unusual.

Google is offering 1000mbps internet & is expanding next year. If ISP's react to that then still no?

[dedicatedtogamers]

There's too much money to be made (and too much money that has been made) in the traditional console model. It won't die. That's why - in my opinion - it is a mistake for companies to make their consoles more multimedia focused (like a PC). Make a console into a console.

[vortis]

I agree.

I play on PC to play PC games and do multimedia stuff.

If my console is trying to do all the stuff my PC does then what's the point of the console? Games certainly don't look better than my PC nor can it do all the other work related stuff. So yeah, consoles need to stick to being consoles.

Now back in the PSX and PS2 era consoles knew their role in the home. They stayed in the living room and did their tasks the way they were supposed to. That's how real consoles are supposed to be.

[vickers500]

I disagree. I like having services like Netflix and Hulu Plus available for my ps3, watching them on my tv and not my monitor and yes, I know you can hook up a pc to a tv, but on my tv, you can't without having a distorted resolution (it's a 5 or 6 year old 32" Sony Bravia HD), and even if it weren't, I still don't want to watch anything other than youtube videos on my pc. Also, a console is pretty much exclusively always going to be hooked up to a tv, while a pc is usually hooked up to a monitor, and I use both side by side, so having everything on one screen, having to switch back and forth between the trophy guide (or w/e) I'm reading and the game I'm playing is a kind of a pain in the ass.

My ps3 is my entertainment machine, my pc is for web browsing. Multimedia isn't something that's exclusive to pcs, so in the case of consoles adding more and more features, they aren't "trying to be more like pcs", they're trying to be better entertainment machines, except they're a bit more streamlined. The UI and start up process and finding what I want on Netflixs PS3 app is far easier and quicker than using Netflix in a web browser.

Besides, it's not like in exchange for no multimedia features, we'd get a far cheaper console. Consoles would still be expensive as ever, we'd just have less features, and although VERY FEW of you would be okay with that, most wouldn't.

[Relientk77]

Do they really have to keep posting these doom console articles? I prefer consoles and will keep buying them, so I say no.

[Getowned]

I agree and most of the time the people that write this garbage get all of their info out of their arse.

I agree console are always a good, easy, and hassle free option.

[ShadowKingx]

No. Are journalist writing these pointless articles doomed?

[vortis]

Yes...yes they are doomed.

[finbars75]

Yeah the article is silly.Consoles and even PC has it flaws but there all built for different reasons in different ways.They each have great experiences that everybody enjoys.time to move on.Gaming is going no wheres no matter what its played on.

[Qrphe]

.

[Qrphe]

YES

[Hicken]

"I'm building a new PC for the graphics; consoles will die now."

[_LarZen_]

Console is the plattform most people want to play games on. So no.....

[aliengmr]

No. Though they might evolve to something different in the future, but still provide all the advantages consoles offer. They could become upgradable to a small degree.

The console market is huge, so there is no chance its doomed. There's also no way it will just go away either.

[millzy102]

why do people assume mobile games will take over console sales. this is rediculous real gamers arnt happy with mobile phone games for less than £1 this is a different market. I don't play any games on my phone I have a vita and 3ds for that purpous and you can't get a decent mgs game on phone and pure touch screen controls are not responsive enough for propper gaming it sucks. my Mrs plays phone games but she also plays ps3 as she doesn't like Nintendo and her hands are too small for vita. she said
she would buy a vita if they did a smaller version so its down to console design and that's only the mobile market anyway. no way a phone or tab can replace a console experience and most people who only play phone games don't play console anyway they havnt though oh my got angry birds is better than my ps3 I'm not going to buy next console.

as for tv who give a f. some people are still in sd whilst others have just updated from hd ready to full hd with 3d so not many people will be updating there tv any time soon so the price won't drop as quick face it a lot of people are happy with 1080 its more than enough for most consumers. sure console will be doomed but not until the end of the world. people are so full of shit these days.

and people can build the most powerful pc in the world and the games won't be much different apart from pc exclusives most multiplatform games are programmed on consoles then ported to pc so pc is technically held back by consoles anyway and a lot more people game on consoles than pc. nearly 100m wiis, 62m ps3s and 65m xboxs compared to how many pc gamers. and face it most consle gamers went going to adopt to pc becouse they either like consoles too much or are loyal to a particular company. I play all consoles and I still play NES snes, ps1 ps2 games today so graphics and hd don't really matter much its the games and console has better quality exclusives than most pc exclusives anyway.

[Getowned]

exactly, I 100% agree.

[josephayal]

Next-gen consoles will be the last

[millzy102]

no way gamers want more and if there's a market someone is selling

[Whitefox789]

I'm telling you guys we really need a section to filter out articles with the words Doom, Doomed, or DOOOOOOOOMED in the title.

[Getowned]

Doom and gloom section lol I can dig it

[BitbyDeath]

Nothing lasts forever but they'll probably last as long as say mobile phones, maybe longer.

[isarai]

These dumb ass articles have been around since as long as i can remember, the console gaming industry is making more money than ever. It has slowed down the past year or so but it does this near the end of every console generation, this one is no different.

[DigitalRaptor]

Oh, you weak journalists. Just leave now and never come back!

[Tokyo_reject]

Dear Journalist....you just went full retard....you never go full retard