These days, on-demand gaming is a huge thing with players. Xbox Game Pass, for instance, offers a phenomenal value for $9.99, which is only going to get better with day-one game releases joining the service. And Sony still has a decent thing going with its cloud-based PlayStation Now, even though its pricing could use a little bit of adjustment. There’s also word that Google may be joining the fray with its own service.
However, well before any of these services were around, there was…the Sega Channel! Yep, long ago, before anyone even heard of the word “broadband” or “MOBA”, Sega teamed up with cable companies across the U.S. to offer its own on-demand gaming service – and for several years, it thrived.
So how did a service that got its start in the 90’s pave the way for what gamers see in on-demand gaming today?
One of the founding members of the Xbox team has questioned Microsoft’s multiplatform gaming strategy, and said they believe the Xbox hardware business is effectively “dead"
Replies(3)Think that rumor that they'll still make a new console but at a profit at $1000 will be true though. The series consoles will remain their cheap alternative throughout next gen I would say. Keep in mind that game pass and pretty much going 3rd party is their main focus. They want to bring xbox everywhere.
If they don't maintain some kind of console presence, I think they will lose gamepass subscribers and just become a 3rd party publisher who eventually sells everything off
Xbox games are releasing on all platforms. Who needs this hardware? PS or PC is all you need
Even if they could get it down to $800 for a box that can run with comparable performance to a PS6 (at, say $200 cheaper) the population of people willing to buy such a thing would be so limited.
It would be the worst of both worlds.
Hardware manufacturer Moza debuted several new hardware peripherals for flight simulation at FlightSimExpo 2025.
As consoles go, the SNES has quite the family friendly image. But, just like a Pizza Hut when you look at its hygiene rating or taste its pizza or breathe inside a restaurant, it’s not always good for everyone.
hahahaha
god i had so much trouble with those damn fking birds, monkeys and giraffes haha
The golden age. No ESRB*. No ratings at all. It was glorious.
*I know the ESRB was formed by the industry to prevent others from stepping in and taking control.
Interesting on ESRB. “ The industry, pressured with potential government oversight of video game ratings from these hearings, established both the IDSA and the ESRB within it to create a voluntary rating system based on the Motion Picture Association film rating system with additional considerations for video game interactivity.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...
Is that how the industry isn’t required to offer consumers a transferable digital token to sell games they no longer play or maybe don’t like? And then treat us all like pirates? That’s how the government is not involved, they had to placate the situation to avoid oversight.
Sega Channel blew my mind when I was a kid.