Game Console Hollapaloozalooza

When I was talking to my brother, he made a comment about Disney getting into the cell phone business. I cracked some lame-ass joke I pretended I invented about how Disney and Wal-Mart were taking over the world, and soon I'd be playing Final Fantasy XV on Disney's new game console and it would be produced by Wal-Mart's software division.

But that sort of got me thinking... Video game consoles used to spill out from everywhere it seemed. Although the Atari was reigning as king, you really had choices of the Channel F, Atari 2600, Odyssey², Intellivision as the biggest contender. Then later came the Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Vectrex, and the SG-1000 in the later second generation. Good lord.

Most just had an NES, but there was also the Master System and Atari 7800. (Atari's mistakes, what can you do)

I can't recall anybody owning anything other than an SNES or Genesis. Turbo Grafx-16 and the Neo Geo were all but pointless.

The Jaguar and 3DO came out of nowhere trying to steal the the Snes thunder, and at this point I was old enough to really pay attention. I remember thinking the Jaguar looked neat, but I wasn't even certain what it was. It was marketed kinda horribly.

Then the Playstation and N64 came along, leaving even the Saturn in the dust even the N64 lagging way behind, and certainly the 3DO and Jaguar were crushed.

The Dreamcast didn't make it either, and that left us with the Ps2, Gamecube and Xbox, which led to where we are today: The 360, Ps3, and the Wii.

So I guess I should get to, you know, some sort of topic since nobody reads anything that's over a paragraph and this was pointless to type anyway. What I'm saying is, will game consoles ever start springing up everywhere again? Would another company even be taken seriously at this point? Can you imagine another getting into the game? I dunno, Microsoft managed it, but...

I think the game industry has developed to a point that it won't ever happen again. When you reach a place that people are so loyal they go crazy with fanboy arguments on forums, it's pretty much the established companies or nothing.

In fact, I could see consoles dying altogether like Arcades did (most everywhere but Japan anyway). In the Dragon Quest IX for the DS thread, that one analyst said the console will die and be totally replaced by portable systems. At first, I laughed at that idea, but now I'm not so sure. I really think that could happen. It's hard to tell these things sometimes.

Do you see any other companies ever creating a console in the future, or do you think the console will end with this generation before something entirely new like all portable systems, or maybe even a brand new invention, take over completely? :o

This could be the last generation and it will probably last for a while. Then virtual reality will happen

I really doubt you'll see anyone else being stupid enough to try and get into the console business right now. As it stands, the big three just have too much market share, fanbase, and economic power in the market. The only reason Microsoft was even able to make a good solid go of it is that they're the richest company in the world. It isn't cheap to develop a new console, or set up manufacturing for it. I think most investors would be smart enough to realize that there's no room for a fourth console to come out of nowhere and compete in the market right now.

As for whether or not consoles will be replaced by something like handhelds; I doubt it. I personally don't like playing handhelds. I don't travel enough for it to be worth having for long trips, and when I do travel, I'm usually doing the driving so they're useless to me, and if I'm at home, I'd rather play on my 27" TV with surround sound. Handhelds are huge business, but a replacement for consoles they are not.

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Originally Posted by LunarWeaver

What I'm saying is, will game consoles ever start springing up everywhere again? Would another company even be taken seriously at this point? Can you imagine another getting into the game?

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Yeah, I think that it could happen. I mean, imagine asking someone in 1991 if there would ever be another games company to compete against Nintendo with the SNES and Sega with the Mega Drive.

Now imagine telling them that, in five years time, Sony would have a very popular games console out. And in ten years time, Sega would give up making consoles completely.

Anything can happen.

Quaker Oats designed games, well, there you have it! :D:D:D:D:D

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Originally Posted by RedXIII13

Quaker Oats designed games, well, there you have it! :D:D:D:D:D

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That was just prior to the video games crash in 1982, wasn't it?

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And now Burger King have games out? This does not bode well...

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

I really doubt you'll see anyone else being stupid enough to try and get into the console business right now. As it stands, the big three just have too much market share, fanbase, and economic power in the market. The only reason Microsoft was even able to make a good solid go of it is that they're the richest company in the world. It isn't cheap to develop a new console, or set up manufacturing for it. I think most investors would be smart enough to realize that there's no room for a fourth console to come out of nowhere and compete in the market right now.

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On one hand, I'm pretty inclined to agree. It would be too risky for anybody else to enter it. The whole random consoles being made by everybody thing is most likely dead forever. But then again...

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Originally Posted by Odaisé Gaelach

Yeah, I think that it could happen. I mean, imagine asking someone in 1991 if there would ever be another games company to compete against Nintendo with the SNES and Sega with the Mega Drive.

Now imagine telling them that, in five years time, Sony would have a very popular games console out. And in ten years time, Sega would give up making consoles completely.

Anything can happen.

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This is also true, nobody could have foreseen that Sony would bust in and own business. They really were not associated with games at all before, and now Sony and games go hand in hand. It's tricky to predict sometimes... But they were already an electronics company, and still are, and a huge company before they entered the race, so... Who knows anymore.

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As for whether or not consoles will be replaced by something like handhelds; I doubt it. I personally don't like playing handhelds. I don't travel enough for it to be worth having for long trips, and when I do travel, I'm usually doing the driving so they're useless to me, and if I'm at home, I'd rather play on my 27" TV with surround sound. Handhelds are huge business, but a replacement for consoles they are not.

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This is how I feel about handhelds as well, but I still think it's a possibility. Especially with wireless capabilities growing and growing. I could easily see a handheld that can be programmed to appear on certain televisions when it is close enough, making it both your portable device and console at home.

They were already talking about making the next-gen systems entirely wireless, it just didn't happen. It will with the next probably, and then a smaller gaming device like the DS that appears on your television would be the next logical step to me. Nintendo has kind of proven that it's not really about graphical power anymore, as long as it's kinda pretty that seems to be good enough for most, so making these huge consoles like they are now is becoming unnecessary for profit.

I don't think we'll see any other company's making games, it's too late and gaming is too expensive now.

My guess is that if someone has enough funding to make a new system, it wouldn't have to have the best graphics or special features, but if it had a good set of launch games and platform-exlusives, people would buy it. It would still have to have at least X-Box class graphics to be taken seriously, though. I think it's do-able, but not very likely since you would have to either make your own games, or convince a good development company that your system would sell well so they would make titles for it.