11–20 of 37 posts
Gamers may not care about hardware aesthetics (the original Xbox is a fat, ugly hunk of cheap plastic), but they sure as hell care about the technical aspects. E.g. Is it backwards compatible? Will it play used games? Can I take my save data to a friend's house? Can I replace the HDD if it fails or I run out of space? Etc.
They also seemed to have announced the Death of Software, as purchased content will not transfer over to the new console[1]. Edit: This comment came off as more trolling than intended. My point is that it's fantastic that they're focusing on software and services. However, they're simultaneously indicating that software and services are to be disposed with along with the hardware. My hunch is that consumer expectatio…
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All Apple hardware is lavished with extreme attention. People still gravitate to pretty physical things and users mostly want the software to just get out of their way. Hardware is certainly not dead, especially if there is a box consumers will be going to best buy to pick up. Also, parent's will have no ability to remember whether they need a Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 360, Playstation wii, Playstation…
It's things like the iPhone that you grip and handle to the point of becoming a fashion accessory that are fussed over the most.
With digital delivery, the requirement for touching the hardware becomes even less of an issue. For most people, apart from changing discs, the hardware itself is just a bother. The thing they interact with the most is the controller and the television it's connected with.
I'm not saying the PS4 will have these issues, but we all hope it doesn't, and that's firmly in the hardware domain.
Ok, what the article says is that nobody is going to care about the hardware. But if they want me to pay for it, I want to know what I'll get. I'm sure others feel the same.
Have a PC/console die on you? Guess you'll be buying all new software.
I worked with Mark Cerny (who presented yesterday) on Crash Bandicoot, and even by HN luminary standards he is a god-like superhero. Given that he's evidently played a key role in developing the PS4, I seriously doubt anyone will be disappointed when they see the physical machine. Sony probably just didn't want to leak details that could help competitors.
The console manufacturers don't have any reason to copy each others aesthetics, because confusing branding doesn't help any of them, and there's no functional reason for them to all have the same shape/form factor.