There is going to be quite a tizzy happening in a couple months time when the new consoles are released here in America. There will be a new debate about what is better PC or console, this debate has been raging now for quite sometime. I can recall renting PC (yep you read that right) games back in 1996 when I lived in Roswell, New Mexico and being impressed by the graphics when compared to the console that I had at that time. Flash forward 17 years and the battle of gaming platforms still rages.
Current generation consoles seemed to be at a disadvantage when they were released due to the hardware choices their respective comapnies made for instance when the PS3 and Xbox360 were released( November 2006 and November 2005 respectively) they both had similar powered processing cores, a very minimal amount of RAM and graphics chips that at the time were a solid 2 generations behind current PC standards (and I dont mean top of the line PC components either). WhileMicr osoft chose to go with the now defunct format of HD-DVD as an add on to their system Sony chose to go with the now widely used Blu-Ray format. Both systems however were very light when compared to the hardware that was available to PC's at the time
Flame wars will undoubtedly increase between these two corporate behemoths fans but we must look at several of the key factors of why now is the time for them to release these systems and introduce a new ecosystem of hardware and software into an already saturated market. Currently video games are made for consoles, and then if it is released for the PC market it is usually a poorly done port, also when ported the game looks no better than the console version even if the PC running the game is more than capable of better results. This has brought on the resurgence of "indie" developers in the PC market, for some reason they are not using the more popular tools available to them because of licensing costs associated with the different game engines that are available. Indie developers tend to develop for the 8-bit and 16-bit look and mostly I believe this is due to cost issues with the game engines (unreal, source,unity) needed to create more graphically complex games. The one thing that these indie developers have shown is that there is still ingenuity in the industry even with all the different franchises and their many sequels that seem to clog the market. Very much like the music industry of yore, the more advertising and hype a game gets the better it does (with some exceptions, yes I am looking at you Duke Nukem reboot) and the more money it makes for a company (2K, EA, Activision) .
Publishers have many factors to consider when releasing a game. They have their own internal development studios, outside studios they have struck deals with, and also outsourced entities for not only "internal" operations, but also manufacturing and all the intricacies that go along with the final release of games. Poor management is what is bringing these companies into a unfavorable light with the average consumer, as companies continue to care more about their stockholders than their consumer they will end up paying a price that is even more costly than their bottom line. Companies are paying for services that produce discs, manuals, inserts (maps,dlc vouchers,and other promotional items) sometimes for pennies on the dollar, and in turn charging a extremely high premium for games (usually $60 a game) yet there is opportunity to make more money with a different model. Currently the new push is for a digital model which can be very profitable,if they rethink the pricing strategy that is currently in place.
Imagine if by going full digital in certain areas of the world (because worldwide the infrastructure is not currently in place to allow for full digital distribution),would allow for games to be priced at a lower starting price point (this is more than doable when less than one year after release PC games can be had at times for sometimes 75% of the original price) when taking out the equation of raw materials and associated labor it should in turn bring down the cost of games. The trend of 6 months after release games can be gotten for a fraction of their price at launch, why not settle for a lower price point to sell more copies of a game. The argument can be made that by going full digital the choice is taken out of the consumers hand of where they are able to purchase their games; however, the opportunity actually increases for more competition in the marketplace. Currently you can walk into a Gamestop, Best Buy, and even local supermarkets and pick up prepaid gift cards for everything from Red Lobster , Amazon, penguin club, and even Xbox Live. I know personally throughout the last year I have seen several instances of the Xbox Live cards being on sale on Amazon and this is how the marketplace will work, by offering cards and codes at a discounted rate. Relying on the consumer to spend more than what they originally intended stores (online and big box) can make money in this fashion. There is a term for this business model and had I been more attentive in business class I would tell ya what that term is, but I do not recall what the term is. This method of selling (and purchasing) has become the case because we are living in a time of change, and this change has impacted everything from the way we purchase items, plan our futures, and even something as small ( or as big as, depending on your point of view) as purchasing your gaming system that you are going play on for the foreseeable future.
Now if you are still reading at this point you have apparently had no issues with my grammatical errors and my very lopsided stance on the PC and console debate. If you got a take on this let me know I like healthy debate and I cherish the opportunity to be turned to another belief. I would very much like to see consoles become more open to pricing changes.
I would also like to see gaming publishers/developers be more open to user created content and not relying on DLC to be a continued cash income for games. I welcome the days of user created maps for games like Battlefield, Call Of Duty and others like it was not so many years ago.
I would like to also call for all of the gaming community to be of a higher echelon, gone are the days when we relied upon server admins to police the places we play, as more games offer multi player capabilities we are going to see less opportunity to host these games and mods on rented servers, even if that opportunity still exists, the modding of said servers tends to be unsanctioned by the game publisher/developers because they want a playing field to be more fair and balanced ( which we all want a game to be fair and hack free but yet we don't want choice taken away from the consumer) and allow for their own brand of sometimes justified policing of servers, and also sometimes unjustified.
Now I know I am sometimes all over the place but I have an excuse today, since I have been watching my favorite football team play today while I was typing this, and they got a win, so for awhile my mind was distracted and I blame them for any lack of cohesion in this post. Also I think I may be making a separate blog where I can talk about technology that I find interesting, and keep this blog to a more personal tone because I feel sometimes the tone should remain consistent with the topics that have been read prior.
One last thing before I go...I miss playing with my buds so if you see me on send me an invite and chances are I will play. This is the one thing I miss most about playing world of Warcraft, I miss the interactions with others so hit me up if you get the chance.
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