The Next-box Will Leave Discs Behind
Are we heading towards disc-less consoles?
With the recent UK release of OnLive, a totally online disc-less gaming console, the way we think about our games and the discs they come on could see a huge change. With the latest update of Xbox Live, expected within the next few months, Microsoft will add Cloud save files to its service. Is this yet another inevitable step towards a totally online service?
The Xbox 360 has already pushed the acceptance of online, disc-less content with it Games On Demand and XBLA titles and the examples set by the movie and music industry suggesst that bigger hard drives and zero discs is a future we can look forward to. But, will future consoles really come with nothing but a hard drive and a connection to the internet?
Speaking at the Cloud Gaming USA convention in San Jose, THQ’s CEO, Brian Farrell, described a future of the games industry that could be dominated by consoles that don’t rely on discs.
As well as being the next big thing in the PC world, cloud services are set to offer a number of quick revolutions in how we access content across the internet. Everything from personal pictures to music, movies and gaming are set to benefit from the technology, but THQ’s Farrell believes that future consoles won’t even need disc drives and will access games straight from the internet from services like Xbox Live.
In this future, Farrell described a console and players that were always connected and always online. He went into detail about the innovations this could fuel including a greater connectivity between publisher, developers and the gamers themselves, which could throw up any number of new opportunities for gaming. COD Eilte has already stated that it will have designated officials playing along with gamers, watching and refereeing special online matches; imagine what could be done on an even grander scale? RPGs with full casts of real actors for you to interact with?
Alright, we’ll admit, that one might be a bit too ambitious, but cloud gaming is opening up huge amounts of creative opportunities for the industry, the lack of a disc drive on the next Xbox might even go unnoticed by the masses. A digital future it seems, for many, is an inevitable part of the evolution of the industry and will see the high street store, second-hand games and boxed releases become as antiquated as the SCART cable.
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Digital? Yes. Online-connected-only streaming of content? No. We may be entering an era where we are nearly always connected to the internet where-ever we go, but we are also entering an era of data caps, bandwidth throttling, packet shaping, and price gouging. The telecom and other companies in the industry providing that internet pipeline know that we are developing, or have already developed, not just a want, but a NEED for the internet. No longer are they willing to continue offering a one size fits all plan to consumers. There is far too much money to be made in overage fees that come with tiered and consumption based price models.
Besides, who wants to have their gaming experience hinge on a video-stream from a connection to a server hundreds if not thousands of miles away? It doesn’t matter how fast internet speeds are, or may be, the fact remains you are really not in-control of your gaming experience anymore, even if it is more portable considering it is just a video-stream. On top of that, this model takes away ownership and WILL NOT reduce prices. OnLive individual games are PC priced yes, but, not lower unless they are already old games, which many are. The fact remains, with OnLive or similar service, you will still spend a decent amount of money a year on gaming, but you lose total control of your gaming and are helpless if there are any problems between you and the server.
That is the truth about it. Its an awesome idea, and cool feat of technology. It is not a practical replacement for today’s video-gaming model. However, if this is what people start paying for, or what we are force fed by the profit-hungry industry, it is a dumb move from a consumer standpoint. Because again, it might be cool to say hey look at me I’m playing gleep-glop on my 4th iPad in 4 years, but you don’t really own the game you paid for (or pay for a package deal per month, what ever). You are at the mercy of every factor that could degrade your experience between your access point and the server, many many miles away. And finally, if Comcast and other internet providers have their way, you will be hit with fees up the butt for going over data limits or, at the very least, see your data speed throttled and degrade your streaming-gaming.
But hey good luck, you obviously are already on board.
I can’t see “disc-less” consoles happening. If a new console comes out that doesn’t accept discs, there is absolutely no incentive for retailers like EB and GAME to sell it, and it will bomb big time. PSP Go, anyone?
If disc-less consoles actually happened in the future, the console manufacturers would have to take a page from Valve’s book and actually respect and value their customers.
No, the next generation of consoles will not drop their disc drives. The internet is not ready and won’t be ready in time. While some people have speeds that are fast enough, most don’t. Of the ones that do, the majority are HEAVILY capped. The amount of people who have unlimited internet at a good enough speed to make all digital feasible is too small a market for any console manufacturer to do something as stupid as to completely eliminate a disc drive.
If I went home after a hard days work to enjoy a bit of gaming and my broadband was down for whatever reason so couldn’t – HULK SMASH!!!
Yes, try us. I like to see them try and fail!
Maybe 10 more years, everything is wired up and harddisk cost a small penny.
Like Sy said, sadly there are a huge number of gamers who have to choose between a house in the sticks and intravenous 8000mbps broadband.
My broadband is inherently shit, often struggling to cough and splutter its way past 250kbs, so how is it fair that my 30 odd year gaming career gets thoroughly splatted just because I live outside the city or suburbs.
All good in theory, in reality internet connections not nearly ready to handle it.
DISC-LESS WILL NEVER HAPPEN FOR THE XBOX OR PS CONSOLES NEAR OR FAR FUTURE!
And it will never happen for the following reason if no other:
Blurays hold 25,50,100gb commonly at present, there are many advancements that make them store much more data and even HVD’s that I’m certain will be the game and film storage medium of the future when the need arises.
This huge data storage costs a fraction of a penny, how much does 30gb on a HD cost? Exactly. How many 30gb games could you fit onto a 250gb HD if they were downloads? 8
50gb games on a half TB HD 10….the ratio just doesen’t work.
Disc’s are and will always be needed.