“Valve president Gabe Newell has spoken about the end of the console era, but don’t worry it’s not happening any time soon,” Daniel Krupa reports for IGN.
“Newell believes Apple will be the ones to lead us into a post-console era, suspecting that the company ‘will launch a living room product that redefines people’s expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear,'” Krupa reports. “While this might be an exciting prospect for some, Newell sounded a note of caution, since the adoption of a closed model, he believes, is the ‘wrong philosophical approach,’ one which ultimately stifles creativity.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chris” for the heads up.]
The quality of 3D picture/game video that suggested mass market universal home device could reach does not differ much from that can iPad, iPhone, Apple TV offer.
Dedicated consoles will further offer dramatically more nuanced, high quality picture.
The question is whether this dramatically higher quality of picture will be that much obvious and different to mass market public in the coming years once iPhone/iPad/Apple TV will offer already next year (wirelessly or via cable).
The answer to this question might grant big life to PlayStation 4 next generation consoles or make these devices only game fans-only devices, much like high-end video cards for PC these days.
Of course. Apple has been known for stifling creativity ever since Apple ][e. I myself have never had a creative notion while using an Apple product, and I certainly don’t expect to feel creative Friday just after the UPS driver hands me a 0.4kg package.
Remember Newell is behind Steam, which is just as closed as iTunes and a direct iTunes competitor.
I am a Mac, ipad, and iphone user but I am also an xbox user. I agree that the gap between quality of the visual aspect of gaming of the ipad/ipod/iphone and the console are narrowing. The console offers a few benefits that the hand held do not. Comfort. A controller, tv, and a couch are immeasurably more comfortable than using a hand held for gaming. While a suitable accessories market could make up for this, currently it is not the case. Xbox/PS will be around for a while to come. If it’s not then I fear the hardcore gaming market will die with it.
It is all a matter of timing and market size. The fast growing apple ecosystem will stifle the market for console growth which will then tell game developers to switch to Apple EcoSystem.
This will be slow at first (2011) but will soon speed up.
2012 will see Ipad-HD (and ipad-2 at a subsidized price of $299), iPhone5, and an Apple TV will further cement the ecoSystem. Game developers migrate to Apple quitely.
2013 will require Microsoft and Sony to subsidize game developers to stay with their systems or more likely pay them to port their iOS games to their consoles.
2013 will also see Apple TV to be a substantial product and competing with cable providers and streamers out there. iPhone 5s and IPad-HD/2 plus iOS 5.5, plus expanded cloud services will substantially increase the size of iOS devices.
End of 2013 will see Apple EcoSystem with more than 1.2B active devices and console devices will be just for niche special games.
2014 – It really is hard to imagine any young person thinking about buying a console.
Game over.
AppleTV could easily become the next console system, with a huge amount of other benefits with all of the other iOS and current AppleTV services available.
The only real issue would be controllers, and that is a pretty simple add-on. People could use their iPod touch/iPhone/iPad as a controller, or buy a separate physical controller like an Xbox or PS3 controller. Only wireless, of course.
Then you cut the cost of games by removing physical media, by making delivery immediate, and all of the other benefits of the App Store for developers. Apple would be just about unstoppable.
I find it highly ironic that Gabe Newell states that a closed model is the ‘wrong philosophical approach,’ one which ultimately stifles creativity.” Seeing as Valve IS a closed model.
http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/title-submission.php.
Game developers that want to get on Steam have to jump through MORE hoops and get more approval than getting an app onto the Mac App Store or iTunes App Store. The truly creative “no name” indie developers have no hope of getting onto Valve’s closed platform because Valve only approves games that will make them money because they are tried and true. AKA, clones like Match 3 and Hidden Object Games. How is that creative?!!?
If it’s so wrong Gabe, why don’t you open up Steam.
Or Nintendo. Or XBox. Or Sony……
And consoles, XBox, PS3, and Wii, all iterations thereof are not closed systems?
Sorry I don’t get it. The only open system typically would be a PC and vendors have been trying to find ways to close it for a long time now.
Isn’t Valve a closed system? Where are all the free pron(sp) games then?
I say it’s all mumbo jumbo attention gathering.
Uhhh “Closed model is wrong”..
Hmmm so does he imply that the PS 3 and XBox 360 are open models?
They seem to be just-fine-examples of CLOSED MODEL systems.
In fact iTunes and IOS are quite a bit more OPEN to new innovation and new games than PS3 and Xbox.
Eh?