140°

Xbox Challenged as Cable Plots to Make Consoles Obsolete

AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) are gearing up for a push to deliver video games directly to televisions, said people with knowledge of the matter, a strategy shift that poses a threat to traditional consoles such as the PlayStation, Wii and Xbox.

Read Full Story >>
bloomberg.com
STGuy10404643d ago

Gamers will never give up their console systems for this service.

Xwow20084643d ago

Is it me or this is the 3rd article in 1-2 hours that talk about cable companies threatening console business.

darthv724643d ago

it can be reported from many different sites and even though they all reflect the same sentiment.

The fact they come from different sites is enough for people to submit and score some points for it.

LAZL0-Panaflex4643d ago

shrewd dork. $10/month for unlimited games? Ok u keep paying $60 for 1 game.

RivetCityGhoul4643d ago (Edited 4643d ago )

challenged how? so gamers can pay a service fee every month and have download caps. while you can just buy a console with a one time fee (aside from the 360).

Sucitta4643d ago

they get rid of their criminal data caps when you use their service.

up in Canada I pay 100$ taxes in for a 25/10 mb fiber line with a cap of 245gb, but if I use their fibe TV service, it will not count towards my criminal cap.

when will we take back our governments that are bribed by corporations to drip us dry of our earnings via slavery? when is enough enough to you politically ignorant consumers?

vortis4643d ago

Ugh, even without those criminal data caps it's still crap.

They probably have extra surcharges and hidden fees for bandwidth use/etc.,

That's not to mention that they monitor what you download and how much. Yeah, I agree with RivetCityGhoul, I like the one time fees and actually owning my game.

This service via big corps is no different than always-on DRM. No thanks.

rainslacker4643d ago

The thing about all these companies is they find every little way to charge you for your services. Taxes and fees that vary from month to month, hidden service fees, disconnect fees if you decide to take a month off or something, and they try to force you into a contract.

While I believe these are the companies that have the best capacity to push cloud gaming to it's fullest, I also believe that historically they would be the worst companies to do so. I can't really say anything about verizon, but TW has decent customer service but somewhat shoddy cable service, and AT&T has a good service, but finds every little way to charge they can, and the worst customer service on the planet.

One thing to consider with cloud gaming is...what if it's a monthly fee but you decide not to pay one month...if you have nothing else to play then you will have to go without games. I don't see EA or any other major publisher offering free games to the public.

It may work if it's inexpensive like PS+, but I highly doubt that will be the case.

Npugz74643d ago (Edited 4643d ago )

What a stupid article! People will never stop using consoles to use a service like that.There would be so many bandwith issues and it would be so hard to get a game like star wars 1313 or watchdogs to play smoothly without any hiccups or glitches.

darthv724643d ago (Edited 4643d ago )

"People will never stop using consoles to use a service like that."

Just going off that line alone i am reminded of the birth of itunes. People were already using mp3 players but they were a niche product and still out of the price range of many average consumers.

So your comment can be changed to reflect:

People will never stop using records/tapes/cd's to use a service like that (itunes).

Well, here we are and people use a service like that and while it didnt "kill" off the retail sales, it certainly presented the consumer with something the retail didnt. Convenience.

That can pretty much be said about online shopping and dating...its all a convenience that some are willing to pay for and in some cases, change their whole perspective around.

All the other details about caps and price are things that get worked out but while people may be standoffish at first, it eventually gets to a point when the convenience represents more of a benefit than a hindrance.

edit: we can use onlive as a good example. I chose not to be specific because it wasnt the point i was making. But you bring up a good point as well.

Generally, for something big to radically cause a shift in popular culture it has to have two things. The right timing, and the right name behind it.

Onlive, a great idea but their timing and most importantly their name is what did them in. It does not change the fact that their departure in any way slows down the development of such services from Sony, Ms and others who feel that is the next level of entertainment.

So while your one example proves you right, the other companies and content providers don't feel the same.

RivetCityGhoul4643d ago

ummm OnLive closing should be more than enough proof that no one is really interested in trading consoles for cloud gaming otherwise OnLive would be prospering. therefore your argument is irrelevant.

vortis4643d ago

People seem to think core gamers care about trends.

We care about getting our games in a convenient manner and owning them (or as much as we can own them).

Casuals will flock to cloud gaming like they flock to every fad, but core gamers will toe the line and keep gaming pure as we always have.

Kickstarter ftw.
Steam ftw.
Hard copies forever.

T3MPL3TON 4643d ago

What do you work for cable or something, Darth? You're doing your damnedest to fight for this trash. Nobody wants it. Cable has already tried it. Ever heard of the Sega channel? It was stupid and nobody bought into it. Lets not forget OnLive.

What you fools need to learn is the core gaming crowd doesn't give a damn what you people want to push. You sell your gimmicks to the children but you'll need us to make them a strong brand. It simply wont happen.

Just get over it. All these companies have a ME TOO attitude and we can see right through it. It's bullsh*t and we can smell it from miles away.

PinkFunk4643d ago

I think you're all taking a position of either or...

Realistically, it looks as though cloud gaming will become an option, and I can see it being an option that will draw in the casual market - which the past decade has shown is a big market.

I don't see why it 'threatens' the livelihood of core gaming. The way I see it, if you want to be in any way competitive online, at this time you need a dedicated machine. So whether it's console or PC, there's always going to be a strong market for core gamers.

I do see both options living peacefully together, whereas ya'll seem to quickly point to a gaming apocalypse. There may be a time one day when cloud gaming services are really on the ball and the technology has advanced enough that it's standard to have high-speed net and perfect refresh rates... but that will be a way away. And we'll think differently then, certainly. But you'd be hard pressed to say CD's are dead, or even records. iTunes has taken a large part of the market, but everyone is coexisting.

Core gamers will want dedicated powerful machines to stay competitive online, and to experience games in the most direct and beautiful manner. Ie, without the loss of data, potential net issues, and/or whatever other pitfalls come with cloud gaming.

Um, also, notice books are still very much alive and well? Digital books haven't wiped it all away. We love physical things as we're very much physical beings. I am a sucker for a beautifully made and bound books.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4643d ago
NoFanboyRequired4643d ago

Lol maybe thats why time warner customers are having problems with LIVE.

But this will never work. I'd rather have dedicated hardware than anything else.

nevin14643d ago

It could be the other way around. Isnt the Xbox challenging cable companies? I mean Xbox has ESPN. PSN has NFL network.

What is going on?

Show all comments (26)
40°

Find or Be Found: Making Burglary Horrifying • VGMM

Find or be Found puts players in the roles of desperate thieves robbing haunted houses, with one player infiltrating the building while their partner guides them remotely through cameras and a radio. The twist: you're not just avoiding security systems, but supernatural monsters that want you dead

Read Full Story >>
videogamesmademe.com
290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

Read Full Story >>
rushdownradio.net
jambola3d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion1d 13h ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola1d 9h ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin21h ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola20h ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop21h ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel119h ago(Edited 19h ago)

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola8h ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 8h ago
Sciurus_vulgaris3d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK1d 11h ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds21h ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar1d 10h ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy1d 10h ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel119h ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola2d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer1d 15h ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused1d 4h ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion1d 13h ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher1d 12h ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer1d 11h ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion1d 11h ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola1d 9h ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 9h ago
victorMaje1d 12h ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola1d 9h ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused1d 4h ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 4h ago
Inverno1d 17h ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool1d 16h ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

Show all comments (50)
80°

Silly Polly Beast: A Silent Girl's Fight for Freedom • VGMM

Play as Polly, a silent girl on the run from her dark past in this neon-soaked psychological horror shooter.

Read Full Story >>
videogamesmademe.com