Blizzard keeps one eye on consoles

Author: Brett Thomas
Published: 7th February 2007
Comments (10) Stumble
Keep one eye on the console market, and one eye on those rotten orcs shooting at you.

Keep one eye on the console market, and one eye on those rotten orcs shooting at you.

Those of us who are PC gamers grow tired of the rhetoric with every console launch, where people scream from rooftops how this or that new console will "kill PC gaming." For those of you who echo that cry, here's a word of advice - give it up, it's not going to happen. And now, an exec at Blizzard is coming out to agree - it may even be consoles that go obsolete.

Blizzard's VP of Business Development, Ben Bassat, recently had an interview with the guys over at GamesIndustry.biz, and he had some interesting things to say. His basic theory is that for each step that consoles advance in technology, they become more like PCs anyway. And with the consumer uptake of media centre PCs, Xbox Live video services, streaming media, and wireless technologies, PCs are starting become true hubs of home entertainment.

"Consoles are becoming sophisticated PCs which sit in the living room... We'll have to see how all this develops, said Bassat. "Maybe in five years you won't need a console because you'll have one PC which delivers content all over your house." He went on to talk about the move to HDTVs and how much they are akin to a computer monitor, illustrating that it no longer requires a mess of complicated cables and setup to run a PC effectively in your living room.

Ben also stated that Blizzard's most popular title, World of Warcraft, will never see a console port. That doesn't mean that the company is totally out of the console market - it's keeping its eye on the new systems, to be sure. However, it seems that Ben is pretty confident that PC gaming is far from dead - it's just moving to the living room, albeit slowly.

One has to wonder how long that transfer will really take, since connectivity options are getting to be even more simple. As we speak, at least two graphics card manufacturers are working on HDMI 1.3 technologies that include sound, meaning the switch from a monitor to an HDTV could soon be as simple as plugging in the exact same cable. What an interesting twist of fate it would if PC ended up killing the console instead...

Have you got a thought on Bassat's statements? Do you agree? Let us know in our forums.
Quote Veles 7th February 2007, 15:25
Well it is completely true, consoles are trying to me more and more like PCs. We saw this with the PS3, apparently it's going to replace the PC...:):):)

The one problem with this theory though, is that getting a PC that can play a game like GoW with as much graphical bling and the 360 version would require a meaty PC, and costs a hell of alot more than the 360. What few people don't realise, is that they have a nice "cheap" console, but then they get butt raped when they want to buy a game or peripheral that costs twice as much as it would if it were for the PC. If you buy enough games and stuff for your console it would eventually even out with a gaming PC, but with the gaming PC you get the advantage of being able to play almost every game ever made with one machine, and you also get the functionality of a PC on top of that.

We've also seen from the many HTPC case reviews on BT is that you can get a very sleek looking case for your PC, that makes it blend in with the rest of the home entertainment kit you might already have. We waved bye bye to the horrible beige cases that made you want to lock them away a very long time ago, it seems MS took a backwards step on that front :p

PCs, as you said, are also getting alot easier to set up, first came the nice colour coded ports, then came USB where you could pretty much plug in anything and XP would make it work, and now we've got nice new connectors on the way that reduce the number of cables even further.
Quote bubsterboo 7th February 2007, 15:42
Nothing will ever replace the PC. PCs are the ultimate gaming machine and always will be.
Quote randosome 7th February 2007, 16:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by bubsterboo
Nothing will ever replace the PC. PCs are the ultimate gaming machine and always will be.
Ive never doubted that PC's will be dominant forever

the nice thing about consoles is its 1 development platform, but you can do so much more on the PC its much better value for money, and anyone can program for them, etc etc
most consoles get hacked to reproduce PC functionality anyway
Quote Evenge 7th February 2007, 16:21
Sounds interesting! :D
Quote DarkReaper 7th February 2007, 17:08
I can't see consoles dying. People will still go for simplicity, and with consoles you've basically got a grand total of two choices - what console, and basic/premium. Try to buy a PC and that becomes what is to many a bewildering set of choices that they haven't a clue about. Most parents will know an xbox from a playstation but mentions of dual-core and 8800GTX cause eyes to glaze over. There's places for both imo.
Quote Phil Rhodes 7th February 2007, 19:26
It's called "convergence" and it is not a recent realisation.

Phil
Quote Perforated 7th February 2007, 21:04
"Maybe in five years you won't need a (insert domestic appliance) because you'll have one PC which delivers content all over your house."

perhaps good news, definitely not new news...
Quote r4tch3t 8th February 2007, 00:49
I always knew that consoles would never make PC gaming obsolete. But to say consoles will go may be an oversight. As people have said, consoles are limited choice, and will work with ll games that come out for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes
It's called "convergence" and it is not a recent realization.

Phil
I wonder how you could incorporate this into the POTM?
Quote Generic42 8th February 2007, 01:53
PC gaming is the smart choice for games to be played on... most people have a PC in their house as well as a console, they just never think of blending the two, but PCs are so much better, you aren't limited is the main one... Any PC game will work on your PC (assuming you're up to spec and not an Apple user) and when playing that game you don't have to sit and wish "If only I had a button to do <whatever>" since you've got a full keyboard and mouse, once you're done playing you can then browse the web, play again and play online with thousands of others in an MMORPG, or 32/64/38/24 or whatever in a FPS, or mano e mano in an RTS.. it's way easier to play a PC game, the PC itself the only hard part
Quote zoot2boot 8th February 2007, 14:03
it might be the smart choice but it does need to be in the living room first... with a simplified control system. when it's time to play computer games it's time to lay on the couch. i never had much time for consoles but then i saw the light of the couch and left the uprightness of the computer chair forever.

this alone guarantees the survival of the console.
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