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The console wars have been lost

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Re: The console wars have been lost

#71

Post by mcphage »

Delphiza wrote: post #60

Somewhere along the way, consoles lost where they fit into the 'living room space'. The biggest thing (for me) was when games stopped with local co-op. Having two controllers and being able to play together was a good way to spend time doing casual gaming. Lego star wars did it well. Gears of War, Halo and others used to be a good way to to spend time with your children. The Wii had all ages playing together. Now, al…

> when games stopped with local co-op

The Switch and Switch 2 are still great for this. And to bolster your point, they’re still selling like hotcakes and Nintendo is making gobs of money.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#72

Post by voidUpdate »

glimshe wrote: post #70
voidUpdate wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve fixed it by making a console that plays PC games, rather than making a PC

But that's not the same. I'm heavy PC user but I only play games on a console. The reason is simple: zero friction. I play games when I'm tired, so if I have to wait a minute for a Steam update (which happened a month ago on the rare day I wanted to play on my PC), I simply give up and go watch TV.

Console games need to update too. I don't know how the steam machine handles it, but steam downloads updates for my games in the background, so if it goes to sleep instead of doing a full power off, it might be able to keep games updated while you're not playing too

Re: The console wars have been lost

#73

Post by mort96 »

cassianoleal wrote: post #69
mort96 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, until you try to launch Trackmania and its launcher needs mouse input to function.

Valve has also solved that by incorporating trackpads to the controller. I bet the PS controllers's trackpads can also be used for that.

You can't seriously argue that using a keyboard/mouse interface using the controller track pad is as nice an experience as just using a controller-focused interface.

And since the Steam Machine doesn't come with a controller, I would bet that a large fraction of users will be using an xbox controller or something.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#74

Post by glimshe »

voidUpdate wrote: post #72
glimshe wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the same. I'm heavy PC user but I only play games on a console. The reason is simple: zero friction. I play games when I'm tired, so if I have to wait a minute for a Steam update (which happened a month ago on the rare day I wanted to play on my PC), I simply give up and go watch TV.

Console games need to update too. I don't know how the steam machine handles it, but steam downloads updates for my games in the background, so if it goes to sleep instead of doing a full power off, it might be able to keep games updated while you're not playing too

Yeah, but at least the XBOX sits in a low power mode that does updates and keeps the spot you were in your game saved. It's really transparent. I'm not saying Steam can't do that but it's not in the same league yet.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#75

Post by frollogaston »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #12
nylonstrung wrote: post #3

Consoles just don't make sense in any modern context. It's profoundly wasteful to have an edge device sitting in your living room, unused for 99% of the time that can only do an incredibly small subset of what a gaming computer can Every PS5 in existence is destined to become e-waste Not to mention how bad the developer and porting experience is compared to PC/Steam Machine

"Game consoles" are a niche lifestyle item for gen-X and millennials with money to waste. (Like vinyl records.) Nobody under 20 knows what a "console" is even for, they play games on their iPhone almost exclusively.

Article author is an example

Re: The console wars have been lost

#76

Post by thatjoeoverthr »

mort96 wrote: post #62
thatjoeoverthr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PS3 is one of a handful of systems that actually had a special processor. The NES and Genesis had common desktop CPUs. The PS1, 2 and N64 had MIPS processors which were in heavy use in workstations. GC, Wii, Xbox 360 had PowerPC. What was unusual was a special and temporary period from the 90s where “pc = x86 = basic” because everything else one way or another failed out of the market. That moment is passed and t…

To my knowledge, all consoles until the Xbox 360 had normal CPUs, but very special graphics hardware. They were decidedly not typical PC hardware.

This more-or-less ended with 3D. The N64, mid-90s, had a novel 3D accelerator (heavily programmable, a kind of a proto-GPU). Its successor went with ATI. The Dreamcast had a PowerVR, which you could buy for your PC, and early iPhones had as well. Xbox had Nvidia. It has always been normal to find OTS parts. Never "IBM PC compatible" but again, the bubble itself is part of the core value proposition.

Honestly, we're dating ourselves with the premise.

There is exactly one generation (mid-90s) where the 3D accelerator design and industry hadn't stabilised. 3D then was like AI today. It was the rising thing. I wrote my first vertex shader on a GeForce 2.

They have common, off the shelf parts because it just isn't where the action is in 2026.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#78

Post by Gigachad »

glimshe wrote: post #74
voidUpdate wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Console games need to update too. I don't know how the steam machine handles it, but steam downloads updates for my games in the background, so if it goes to sleep instead of doing a full power off, it might be able to keep games updated while you're not playing too

Yeah, but at least the XBOX sits in a low power mode that does updates and keeps the spot you were in your game saved. It's really transparent. I'm not saying Steam can't do that but it's not in the same league yet.

I don’t think anyone has the steam machine to test this stuff yet but I can’t see any reason it can’t do exactly the same thing.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#79

Post by Gigachad »

bigcityslider wrote: post #59
Gigachad wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The line is far more blurred now. The Steam Machine is a purpose built device streamlined for playing games. Yet without any hardware modifications you can put it on your desk and load windows on it. So it's clearly a PC too. The nitpicking on language here is entirely due to the fact the distinction is no longer clear like it once was.

Doesn't seem blurry to me, Steam Machine is just a PC.

What is the definition of a console then? At this point it’s just a pc that runs a locked down OS.

Back 20 years ago the distinction was just obvious.

Re: The console wars have been lost

#80

Post by ghusto »

nylonstrung wrote: post #3

Consoles just don't make sense in any modern context. It's profoundly wasteful to have an edge device sitting in your living room, unused for 99% of the time that can only do an incredibly small subset of what a gaming computer can Every PS5 in existence is destined to become e-waste Not to mention how bad the developer and porting experience is compared to PC/Steam Machine

They make sense to many people, even if not to you.

I'll take a one-function device over a general device any day. You switch it on, it does the thing, you switch it off. General purpose computers are the exception that proves the rule, in that "the thing" in their case _is_ everything.

I couldn't care less about playing with randos on the internet, but am very interested in playing with people I know in the same room.

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