Speculation for the next round of consoles

I reckon the PSP2 will almost certainly have SonyEriccson branding, and will be a very functional games console with some mobile phone bits.

LewieP wrote:The format of the media is a tough one, now that HD-DVD is dead in the water. It would not surprise me too much if it was still DVD....

If there's one thing absolutely cast-iron guaranteed NOT to happen, it's that. 100%.

The 360's successor will either have Blu Ray, or (and here's where it depends on the release date) no drive at all. Yes, that's right - the first ever solely DLC console. If the release holds off till 2011, that's what it'll be getting. Anything before that, and the earlier models (but not the later ones) will have Blu-Ray while the videogames industry is still in the process of changeover between disc based and fully downloadable games. I can almost guarantee this. I can certainly guarantee that in 2011 if you don't want to buy a game (any new game) for the next gen of consoles on solid media, you won't have to. It's just a question of whether MS goes the whole hog from Day One or does different SKUs to keep the traditionalists happy.

NickSCFC

Who cares about the next-gen?

I'm still blown away by HD graphics and thanks to Firmware the current bunch of consoles will always be evolving!

NickSCFC

Eighthours wrote:The 360's successor will either have Blu Ray, or (and here's where it depends on the release date) no drive at all. Yes, that's right - the first ever solely DLC console.

The main point behind Silver Live membership was to test how many of their userbase was connected to Broadband.

If it's over 70% then a new DLC only console seems likely.

Eighthours wrote:
LewieP wrote:The format of the media is a tough one, now that HD-DVD is dead in the water. It would not surprise me too much if it was still DVD....

If there's one thing absolutely cast-iron guaranteed NOT to happen, it's that. 100%.

The 360's successor will either have Blu Ray, or (and here's where it depends on the release date) no drive at all. Yes, that's right - the first ever solely DLC console. If the release holds off till 2011, that's what it'll be getting. Anything before that, and the earlier models (but not the later ones) will have Blu-Ray while the videogames industry is still in the process of changeover between disc based and fully downloadable games. I can almost guarantee this. I can certainly guarantee that in 2011 if you don't want to buy a game (any new game) for the next gen of consoles on solid media, you won't have to. It's just a question of whether MS goes the whole hog from Day One or does different SKUs to keep the traditionalists happy.

This isn't speculation, I have it on VERY good authority that you're 100% correct.

I hope that games will be like Warcraft too, where it downloads the game as you play, if you download WOW from thir site you can be playing within two minutes and that's on the shitty connections we have today, in two or three years it'll be near instant between choosing your game from the store to playing it.

I can't see MS keeping their £40 a year online fee either.

I think it'd be a bad idea for there to not be discs, and that you just download games. There would have to be a hell of a lot of memory, enough to store every game you could ever buy, well more than that actually.

I also think there will be another competitor in the market, maybe EA again, and i think it's also somewhat possible the PS3 is Sony's last console for a while, at least.

Wasn't the PS3 meant to last ten years?

Not that I think it will like...

Mafro wrote:DS2 will surely be backwards compatible with original DS games but no GBA slot.

That wouldn't happen because there are some accessories that use the GBA slot.

Also, this talk of a "DLC only console" is a bit of a stretch imo. I can certainly see a situation where most games are joint Downloadable/retail release (look at burnout paradise, there is a definite trend towards that happening now) but no way will it be that fast and that definitive. Completely removing a huge sector of their operations is not going to benefit any of the big three, not it todays markets, and I would wager not in at least 20 years time. I guess we'll see.

Pred wrote:
Mafro wrote:DS2 will surely be backwards compatible with original DS games but no GBA slot.

That wouldn't happen because there are some accessories that use the GBA slot.

That alone isn't really reason enough. There are GC games that use some accessories that use GC hardware not present in the Wii (like anything using the network adaptor.

DeckardRunner wrote:Wasn't the PS3 meant to last ten years?

Not that I think it will like...

Sony said this but it will come down to when microsoft decide to release the new xbox.

HailToTheKingBaby! wrote:Media wise, I think the console will either have a huge Hard Drive and everything will be downloaded (no optical drive) or it'll be Bluray, largely depending on broadband rollout the next 3-4 years.

Hmm, that's an interesting point. I assume, you mean broadband rollout here in the UK? Well that made me think surely they'd be looking at broadband in their respective 'home' countries (Japan and the USA). However, that leads me to think, what about markets where internet speeds aren't as great (eg over here; our internet provision pales in comparison to, say, France)?

This makes me think the games will come on discs as well as being downloadable, onto massive hardrives. But then 3 years is a long time and the internet will doutblessly have moved on a hell of a lot!

Erm, who knows?

LewieP wrote:360 Successor:
The format of the media is a tough one, now that HD-DVD is dead in the water. It would not surprise me too much if it was still DVD....

Not a chance.

The next MS console will definitely have Blu-Ray...... or digital downloads??

I think DVD9 is fine for this generation, but the next will need Blu-Ray, if only just to get it 'on par' with Sony if you know what I mean.

No chance of a DLC-only console any time soon. Mostly due to ISPs bitching about bandwith and slow download speeds, especially over here. I like to play my games as soon as I buy them, not wait hours for it to download.

Mafro wrote:No chance of a DLC-only console any time soon. Mostly due to ISPs bitching about bandwith and slow download speeds, especially over here. I like to play my games as soon as I buy them, not wait hours for it to download.

Fortunately 'pre-loading' games has worked on Steam for ages, so you'll still be able to get games as soon as they're released.

Apart from when pre-ordering, I've been buying games online for ages anyway, and downloading it is probably quicker than the post so I'm not fussed. It would be a shame to not be able to trade games in. It will also cause game prices to increase, as there'll be no competition on where a game can be purchased from.

So from those points of view I'd rather we didn't go download only.

All this talk of Download only machines is far to optimistic. Sure we may all have super high quality broadband by 2012 but far to many markets that Sony/Microsoft are in don't have that luxury. Disk based media may be the only viable option for a large chunk of the user base and to cut out even 10% of people from using the machine means millions of lost sales.

Peter Crisp wrote:All this talk of Download only machines is far to optimistic. Sure we may all have super high quality broadband by 2012 but far to many markets that Sony/Microsoft are in don't have that luxury. Disk based media may be the only viable option for a large chunk of the user base and to cut out even 10% of people from using the machine means millions of lost sales.

In that case, there will be a disc-based version released in those markets.

There hasn't been an iPod released that takes CDs. This is the way things are headed, folks, like it or not.

Last edited by Extralife on Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think they will have both disc drives and digital disctribution, although later on in the gen many will stop publishing on discs because it's not worth the exspense when so many are downloading instead (although more casual games will always be published on disc to avoid alienating those who are not online). Downloads, being free of the middleman, will be much cheaper and anyone with acess to them will buy them over the physical product.

Obviously this will mean a large harddrive but I don't see a problem with that. You can always redownload anything you delete free of charge providing the purchase is recorded in your account (we should be able to download all the arcade and network games we bought this gen from the off). By next gen HDDs will be much bigger and cheaper.

As for handhelds, the next PSP will scrap UMD (it's a failed format) and be download only (either through a PC or a PS3/4). People will download games for it like they do music. Nintendo will probably keep solid state carts for the DS2 but maybe with downloadable games as well.

I can see the allure of the download only machine (the cost reduction alone makes it worth investigating) and if they do opt for it I feel it would be wise to have both versions in all territories. I for one would rather buy a disk enabled machine rather than download only no matter how fast my connection is.

There is no cost reduction. Only bigger profits for the publishers.

It costs them about £20 to put the disc drive in the machine in the first place (a bit more for Blu Ray, though the price is decreasing rapidly, and will be down to those levels in 2 or 3 years time no question), and discs are cheap to print.

Steam has shown that some new games are (outrageously) more expensive than if bought in a shop. COD4 is still $70 on there. Same goes for some of the other download methods.

Wiggy G32 wrote:
DeckardRunner wrote:Wasn't the PS3 meant to last ten years?

Not that I think it will like...

Sony said this but it will come down to when microsoft decide to release the new xbox.

It will last 10 years, so will PS2, PS1 lasted 9 years.

Speculation for the next round of consoles

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