The PS4 isn’t coming out
Sony’s party line has always been “10 years of PS3”, and although it’s not like they are ones to keep their word (last guardian anyone?) I don’t see any reason why they wouldn't stick to a 2014 launch for the PS4. The PS3 is finally catching up with XBOX in terms of sales, and is a very nice unit at the price. Forgetting games, it has blue ray and a huge hard drive, making it fantastic unit for people looking for a net TV. They also have about 11 exclusives scheduled for this year; some very late this year. More importantly, I think Sony understands that the gaming market, although it feel slower and is recovering faster than most, is not recovering fast enough to deal with the fact that …
The PS4 will be an ungodly nightmare of features
Nintendo is Nintendo plus it has the game pad. Microsoft is able to build on the huge PC influence and create a new xbox that will have plenty of gimmicks. Sony, just like last generation, has nothing to draw on but raw power. The PS4 is going to have native support for EHD, 3D, and sound and video formats we don’t even know about yet. It will have a SSD by default. It will support 802.11AC, blue tooth, and every other standard there is. In short, it will be a repeat of the PS3 … absolutely top of the line with a price tag to match. The base model will be $400+, with at least one option in the $600 range. A bad starting point, seeing it will need to compete with …
The new xbox (which will be called simply xbox) will run windows RT and direct x11.1
Microsoft is one of the smartest and most resilient corporations in the world. They know when they are beat and know when to shift direction, and they understand what’s going on with the PC market. They are focusing on mobile technology and are not going to pass up the chance to turn the xbox into a product that motivates you to buy a PC, a tablet, and a windows phone. The focus will be integration and ease of use, while shearing functionally. They will move to alienate people from other operating systems. Is your 9 year old still going to want an iPad when the xbox he’s been playing for years runs the same OS as the surface? Microsoft is going to bet all-in on no. Direct x11.1 support will allow for continued momentum in the PC gaming market as ports will be even easier than they are today. Which is important, given …
Source 2.0 will not support direct x
Steam is huge, but most forget that it’s not Gabe’s real license to print money; that would be valve. Sure, they don’t release a lot, but you can find every single game they have ever released on the first page of meta-critics list of best games of all time. How big is half-life? Steam is what it is today because half-life 2 required it. It didn't just set the sales record at the time, it redefined what PC sales could mean. It sold more then doom was stolen. Not to mention COD is nothing more than an updated counter strike. Gabe has been working on 3 things in secret; the “steam box” (a self contained gaming PC with a custom OS), source 2.0, and porting games to Linux. He’s also been pretty public about how much he hates windows 8. Add that all together and you get the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in gaming; why hasn't half life 3 been released when it is guaranteed to make tons of money? Half-life 3 will be the first game using the new source 2 engine, which will forgo direct x compatibility in favor of optimization for Linux. The steam box will dual boot into a custom Linux shell for everyone looking for a way to run Linux without having to deal with the inherent difficulties. Basically what I'm trying to say here is that ...
Half life 3 will be a Linux exclusive.
That is why we are waiting so long. Hell, the game could be excessive to the dreamcast and it's still going to make money, but Gabe is waiting for a time when Linux is accessible enough that Half Life 3 is the "killer app" that has people installing it on PCs. That's going to be made a lot easier when ...
Steam will start publishing and writing Linux drivers.
Why can steam update my video drivers faster and more reliability then ATI? Why is steam gathering data on what type of hardware its users run? Why did steam just start selling apps? Why is valve porting everything they have to Linux? Simple; steam wants to be the only application you need to play games on a PC, but as a means to an end. That ends being an OS. Once they have gained the trust of the average user, they will start delivering drivers and driver bundles for a custom Linux build. Steam will be able to determine your compatibility while you are logged in though windows or Mac, and if you qualify, you’ll have a one button install. A novelty at first, with only valve and a few other publishers offering Linux titles, it won’t stay a novelty for long. If Wal-Mart told WB it wouldn't carry its DVDs unless it also included a beta-max copy, we would see a format revival instantly. And when you can't sell windows games on steam unless you releases them for Lunix ... that's going to change everything. Current estimates put steam at around 80% of the digital and 50% of the PC market … making them much bigger then Wal-Mart. Once steam moves from being a application to an operating system, their power will be unstoppable (but still insignificant when compared to the power of the force). And they will have a great position on the market once ...
EA gives up
EA finishing behind Ubisoft AND activation this year is akin to PepsiCo and … I don’t even know … Royal crown? both out selling Coke products. It should never have happened. It’s pretty obviously the reason … focusing on buying up every developer or unfinished game worth mentioning, they forget to release anything that wasn't horrible. It wasn't simple fan reaction to destroying Bioware or releasing a FIFA that didn’t even bother to update the menus from last year; they simply had nothing to offer. On a management level, they have made more wrong choices then should be possible. EA said no to publishing XCOM because it was too niche, then it went on to sell millions and win GOTY with most PC exclusive sites. They refused to publish a point and click game, motivating the developer to instead go to Kick Starter where he raised almost 4 million dollars. I’m not saying EA is going away, or will stop being a driving force in video games, but they are going to give up on being EA … no more buying up everything in sight, no more 100 million dollar games.
What do you think we are going to see in 2013? What do you think I got wrong or got totally wrong? I would love to hear it!
No comments:
Post a Comment