cnn.com article

[rolenta]

CNN.com has an article about E3 displaying new consoles. It can be found at:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.gam....ap/index.html

However there is in one paragraph in the article that makes me wonder why the mainstream press can never get it right:

"Video game history is littered with failed firsts, where the technological marvels of their time failed to lure buyers because of a lack of games or high costs. Examples include Sega's Dreamcast and Atari's Jaguar handheld."

[Cthulhu]

CNN.com has an article about E3 displaying new consoles. It can be found at:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.gam....ap/index.html

However there is in one paragraph in the article that makes me wonder why the mainstream press can never get it right:

"Video game history is littered with failed firsts, where the technological marvels of their time failed to lure buyers because of a lack of games or high costs. Examples include Sega's Dreamcast and Atari's Jaguar handheld."

Jaguar handheld? Wow. I missed out on that one.

The ultimate failure of the Dreamcast makes a lot of people assume it was a failure to begin with. I've heard this one before.

[Yago]

Well, about the cost. Back in the days I have ads for the Atari 2600 selling for $200 new. I have an ad also for Intellivision that was priced at $300 new! So, as far as cost, game systems and games themselves have not gone up in price at all! They have been the same since day 1! So obviously when the media talks about price they have no idea what they are talking about.

[lendelin]

Yep, the hype PR machines on all sides are in full gear.

Now that we know much more about the 360, and there is little doubt that the PS3 will go in the same direction:

Really surprising is the extent to which the new consoles push for online play and the console as the home media center in the living room. It was to be expected, but I didn't expect such a big push.

Exciting, yep, new possibilities, yep, all the possibilities and limitations of the announcements of new consoles in the past are there.

I'm just concerened how the push for online play will affect game content and gameplay. So far, developers had predominantly the single player in mind, and your competitor was AI. Game design was tailored to convince a single player of the game plugged in. Now, game design will to a much higher degree be influenced by multiplayer features and HI.

What does this mean for genres like the traditional RPG, traditional platformers, sports games and racers? In particular for genres which are meant to be played alone? Can they survive?

The push for online play will change games, and I'm not sure if it is for the best. It will all depend upon how many gamers will still prefer to play alone.

[Yago]

Heck, online play changed PC games years ago. Almost all good games now are geared toward online play. Which is fine by me. But then again, trying to find someting cool to play by yourself is as you said, will be limited.

I played Warcraft all the time on the PC. Then when I started playing it online, man, nothing beats laying the smackdown on another person. Especially when they know they are going to be obliterated, and log off of the game (sore losers).