Rambling about the future of gaming

Things I couldn't fit into ask.fm

What's really the point of the hardware anymore? This isn't like the old days where game consoles just played games. Now it's all about online.

Back in the day, | Atari 2600, Odyssey 2, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Vectrex | NES, SMS, Atari 7800 | TurboGraphix-16, Sega Genesis SNES | Sega Saturn, PS1, N64 | Heck even Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, GameCube were all different machines. They weren't DRM PCs attached to a service. They were standalone boxes that all played their own proprietary media. And during each generation, each console were each very different machines with different capabilities, different games, and their own feel. Nowadays, it's all the same. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just what it is. So all the future console manufacturers need to accommodate for this. Contrary to what you might think, I WANT the Switch to be a service. I think that that's the direction gaming is going, and Nintendo needs to embrace the smartphone model. I want the Switch to be Nintendo's sole platform going forward, that every few years update the power of the hardware, but keep compatibility with all the same games. Starting over with each new console makes less and less sense now than it did before. We're already seeing that from Sony and Microsoft. Sony just released the PS4 Pro, a mid-generation console upgrade, that half asses 4k and lacks a 4k blu ray drive, so personally in the long run I don't think it'll be the best investment unless you really like PlayStation. Xbox Scorpio promises to bring all native 4k gaming. It will probably feature a 4k blu ray drive as the Xbox One S already does. Given that the PS4 Pro already does some native 4k gaming, given a years time I think we'll definitely see native 4k from Xbox Scorpio. If you really are a "gamer who wants to be at the forefront of technology", unless you have money to burn, I'd say wait for Scorpio, as it sounds much more future proof. PS4 is going to look outdated in a year when it can't play 4k blu ray movies, and doesn't do nearly as much 4k native gaming as the Scorpio.

Now it just seems like both consoles are chasing for specs, while maintaining their platform. Which makes sense as starting over with each new console seems pointless now that each console is largely defined by their services.

I believe the Nintendo Switch will be a single platform, that every year Nintendo updates the hardware to keep it up to date, but all the games for the previous Switch work on the new Switch, and have extra features on the new Switch, like per say native 4k which I hope we see on Switch 2 or whatever the updated version does. Gaming is changing, and all the console manufacturers need to embrace that change. And it seems like Nintendo may be the first to do it properly. Maybe.