The short answer by Ars Technica is “no”. Frankly I don’t know what’s more interesting, the notion that PS4 and XBox One are a relative bargain, or that a new Neo Geo would cost $1111 in today’s dollars.
It’s an older article but is worth revisiting now that the dust over Microsoft’s DRM stance has somewhat settled. AnandTech’s Anand Lai Shimpi goes into some expected serious depth here:
Differences in the memory subsytems also gives us some insight into each approach to the next-gen consoles. Microsoft opted for embedded SRAM + DDR3, while Sony went for a very fast GDDR5 memory interface. Sony’s approach (especially when combined with a beefier GPU) is exactly what you’d build if you wanted to give game developers the fastest hardware. Microsoft’s approach on the other hand looks a little more broad…It’s a risky strategy for sure, especially given the similarities in the underlying architectures between the Xbox One and PS4. If the market for high-end game consoles has already hit its peak, then Microsoft’s approach is likely the right one from a business standpoint. If the market for dedicated high-end game consoles hasn’t peaked however, Microsoft will have to rely even more on the Kinect experience, TV integration and its exclusive franchises to compete.
Ben Kuchera, writing for The PA Report:
I took my son to Math and Science night at his school last night and saw three kids playing MineCraft on tablets or phones. They discuss what’s happening on their respective servers at lunch. It’s a huge hit, and an innovative platform.
It also would have been impossible on any existing console.
MineCraft may have ultimately come to the Xbox 360, but the game breaks many of Microsoft’s rules.
Gamer Pete Davison argues PC gaming is strong:
There is no other platform on which you can have such diverse experiences as the PC. iOS certainly has a good go, but as days go on it’s abundantly clear that the mobile market is shifting very much in favour of “freemium” social games rather than truly inventive experiences. On the PC, meanwhile, the fact that it is such a free market out there — and easy to develop for (relatively speaking) — means that if you can imagine an experience you want to have, you can probably do so on PC.
Pete’s makes a strong point here against consoles. As I pointed out on last week’s post on Mass Effect 3, there’s a void in terms of indie releases and originality in current-gen consoles; just compare what’s out on Steam versus the XBox Live Marketplace or PSN. Yet I think he short changes the iOS and mobile market. There’s a lot of crap, but there are some great ideas out there, and its price and distribution constitute a threat to the PC market.
Don’t count consoles out either; we’ve got a good year before Microsoft and Sony unveil their next generation devices. With the right approach, they could really bounce back against mobile and PC competition.
Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland:
Not only does going through Microsoft Studios mean keeping your game exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade for a certain period of time after launch, but the outfit also takes an additional percentage of a game’s revenues on top of the standard cut taken for all Xbox Live Arcade titles, Carmel said. “That’s why we see savvy console developers like Supergiant [Bastion] and Klei [Shank] go through third-party publishers—those publishers get better terms from XBLA (directly) than a small developer could get from Microsoft Studios, and they can launch the game simultaneously on multiple platforms.”
Steam and iOS are clearly leading the pack here. Will the traditional consoles have a better solution for more open game distribution when the PS4/Xbox 720 are released next year? I hope so, but I have my doubts.
Peter Suciu, Fortune contributer:
According to industry analyst NPD Group, sales of video-game hardware — a.k.a consoles — software and even accessories fell for a sixth consecutive month in May, tumbling 28% from a year earlier to $517 million. And with the release of Blizzard’s (ATVI) Diablo III, May also saw the first time since July 2010 that the top-selling game was a PC-only title. That boosted PC video games sales up year-over-year to 230% or $80 million.
A bit premature wishful thinking here. The “hard core” traditional PC gaming market will remain niche. It’s simple economics; to play the latest games requires graphic card upgrades, each of which can easily clear the cost of an entire console system.
However, games like Diablo 3, not to mention the many smaller indie games (many of which I’m playing now on my Mac) that can scale on older hardware is seeing quite a resurgence. Valve’s Steam network is leading the way, and so far as a Mac gaming newbie I’m impressed with its organization and growth.