New 'golden age' for video games?

i think that game consoles will still be around for a very long time because the number of people who solely play on a ps3 or 360 will still demand a new console every few years and i doubt that they will give up on piece of technology they paid at the time a good amount of money on.

As an IT professional who works on computers all day long, I hope the console never goes away. The only games I am content playing on a pc/laptop are simulation games (The Sims), requiring minimal input command from a keyboard. When I want to be entertained I try to avoid my computer systems as much as possible, when I am done at work and go home, I don't want to use my systems for anything other than finances, education, business development or watching videos.

The PS3 is the best console which happens to be suffering from a lot of obstacles. Late release of this console, game developers having to work with a physics engine that still hasn't been exploited to its full potential; cause the vacuum available games. The non intended late release was timed during one of America's greatest recession. I believe these outside factors really hindered Sony from realizing there full market saturation and adoption.

And if you think consoles are ever going to be extinct, I believe you can only make that statement if you ignore what Nintendo has done with the Wii. Millions of units sold and sales of games still going strong. Remember these consoles are evolved. If you compare a console of today from its original release date they are not the same. The console companies are able to release updates to enhance and increase the capabilities of these systems through firmware updates. I can’t even image what we will be able to do with the next version of the Wii console.

Gaming in a cloud is still five years away.

Game consoles will no more vanish than PC gaming has. For years people have been decrying the end of PC gaming but it is still alive and some companies, such as EA, make a great deal of their money in it.

Gamers will always be gamers and they will always want their top-end consoles (and PCs for that matter). Mobile devices will always be limited comparartively.

As a game designer, I can't help but laugh at this. To think facebook apps are going to take over games like Prototype or GTA is just crazy. Most gamers I know don't even consider playing anything less than what a PS3 or gaming PC affords them. Perhaps casual gamers will go that route, but that is not the driving force in this industry at all.

indithegeek.

When has any technology advancement been hindered by the consumer market's demand to hold onto past technology?

I agree the console and PC gaming platforms will remain but not in the same positions they hold today. There will always be "hacks" or de-coding methods to prolong their use. example: Atari Classics on PC.

Thin gaming is the future.

I would have to agree with the other comments. Console gaming is far from dead. Certainly, online gaming usage has increased. What is happening, however, is not that 'gamers' are switching to these flash games. Instead, the accessibility of these games is bringing 'non-gamers' into the world of gaming. Consoles, such as PS3 and XBox include an online component themselves, and in many cases provide a much richer gaming experience than what limited flash games can provide.

Consoles are far from dying, although they will change and adapt (as they have in the past), in the next 5 years. You'll see more cutting edge technology, like the Wii and Microsoft's "Project Natal" full-body sensor/controller for the XBox. These will provide gaming experiences that aren't replicated with simple web and flash games.

Web and flash games are like fast food chains. They're popular, fast, and convenient. If you want a real dining experience, however, you need to visit a real restaurant (i.e. a console or full PC game) which provides a much more satisfying experience overall.

Like many, I am a die hard PC gamer only. Simply because I love to see the next best looking game or the next big idea. Flash based games can be fun but I like realism and feeling like being in the game that only a PC game pushing my graphics card to the edge can do. Consoles seem to water down the game experience which makes me angry and sad. I have a hard time playing old, ugly looking games. On the other hand I think some old games should be redone exactly how they were originally but with up to date graphics like Duke Nukem and the original Tribes.

As an avid PC gamer, I have to say that gaming appears to be on the rise. I mainly play World of Warcraft, and have been since day 1. I have noticed in my time in the game, that a new generation has picked up the game. Gamers have switched from not just the pimple faced teen- ager, but to the middle aged, and even senior citizen. I know for a fact that there are people on my realm that play "the 'craft" that are as old as my grandparents. Gaming has become an all age aspect, and is continuing to grow. I do not wish for it to stop. It is the future. I say in closing, Power to the Gamer!

Thanks!
Deathmane
80 Draeini Death Knight

Eonar US

It's just naive to believe the console will die in 5 years. Flash games and the like are just people killing time at work or when they're bored. True gamers will always want the next thing pushing the limits. I think games will go the way of Music, though. We'll be downloading or streaming our games in the future rather than going to Gamestop to get the next release. Why spend all that money on packaging and manufacturing? There will, however, need to be hardware to play the game on.

There will always be a place for both the casual quick game and the massive immersive worlds of games such as Fallout, KOTOR, Elder Scrolls, and others of this nature. Sometimes you want to play a quick game to while away a half hour, sometimes you want to immerse yourelf in a gameworld for a whole evenign or weekend.
And MMOs will never fully replace single player games, because the single player game has something the MMO never will: Freedom.
You can be as much of a jerk as you want in a single player game and nobody will ping your chat yelling "Nice kill-steal, ****!" or report you to a mod for some real or imagined slight or (heaven forbid!) a minmaxed character build.

It seems as though many commenters are missing the main point of the article. The emphasis was on the idea that using RETAIL outlets to sell games will most likely become a thing of the past in the near future. That I completely agree with. As web bandwith continues to improve the ability to download gigabytes of game code in a reasonable amount of time becomes possible for more and more gamers. Video games on web enabled consoles and especially high end gaming PCs will continue to enjoy increased growth for the foreseeable future. There will simply be fewer games available from brick and morter retail outlets.

Yes, there are many people moving into the PC gaming area and mobile games but there are still millions of die hard console fans. I LOVE my 360 even more than my media center pc (that is fully capable of playing top of the line pc games). The reason? I just feel more comfortable playing with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse. And with the upcoming Project NATAL, no controller will be necessary at all. There is NOTHING in the industry that has ever come close to that. If Microsoft can pull it off successfully they will have guaranteed the existence of the Xbox 360 well into the future. In addition, Xbox is currently releasing its new "Games On Demand" where you can buy full length 360 titles just by downloading from Xbox Live (and at a much cheaper price). The sell of disc games in the store are in decline and WILL die off completely in the next few years but that does not mean the console system will die. With the online capabilities it has the potential to adapt and grow and evolve. Possibly meaning that there will not be a need to create new consoles but rather new additions, updates and changes to an old format (i.e. NATAL).

My first concern with downloadable content is that if we do head away from consoles then we will probably go to one device for everything (web, games tv). One major problem is that tech devices do fail and when that happens you will lose access to all those things. Not saying we shouldn't get out side from time to time. My biggest concern is that for any digital distribution you need to give them some kind of payment option which leaves the possibility for someone to hack into the system and get everyones credit card info.

Wow, CNN does it again with stupid editorials that are far off base from reality... Console gaming is not dead and will not die for the forseeable future. The only thing that will change is that games will going towards the digital distribution format versus traditional box packaging, which will save publishers money in having to package the games. Downloadable content has been rising in recent years to become the defacto way of distributing content, even full version games such as Burnout Paradise have been sold online digitally. The other aspect of console gaming evolving are the peripherals. Controllers are changing into motion sensing capable extensions that provide a deeper level of immersion in games. Flash games and all the other sub-par independent games will never draw sales away from mainstream games.

Really? Articles like this amuse me because of their lack of any reasoning. Xbox Live currently has over 14 million active users. Im not sure how many Playstation Network users there are and god knows how many PC gamers exist. Point is most of those mobile games are a joke, people are not going to stop playing Call of Duty 4 on live so they can play pac man or some lame bowling games on their mobile devices.

The cutting edge of gaming will always be determined by the current state of technology, whatever is the equivalant of todays $500 console or $2000 ($CAN) PC will determine the days games. Flash, facebook, and iPhone games are all fun distractions and as someone mentioned they are growing because people can platy them at times when a normal game would be impossible to play (i.e. at work). Unfortunately, they won't offer the complete experience a console or PC game will, as such there will always be a niche for cutting edge games which require high-end computing to handle.

I forsee the PC taking over the role that consoles have occupied, more and more living rooms contain a media centre PC and in most cases, that PC is a wireless gaming controller away from being functional as a console. If developers knew that a massive audience, all with similar hardware, able to consume games on-demand via the web...... but that is more a case of the PC becoming a console of sorts than console gaming dying some sort of permanent death.

i dont think the gaming consoles are going out of market but i think they might lose their majority market share they enjoy right now. With the ever increasing internet speeds, i think people wont have the need to buy a powerful and expensive gaming hardware. We are still going to have the games but we're just going to delegate the processing power to gaming servers owned by second party and pay them monthly or yearly to play.

In response to the comment by Robert about PC Games. Sadly, PC Games ARE dieing. I built a Quad Core gaming system 8 months ago and have played Fallout 3 and COD4 on it.

What else is there really to play? Spore was a disappointment, there aren't very PC many games out there and development is just slowing more and more.

As a kid and teen I remember FPS, RTS, Simulations galore. You had your pick of any genre and at least 2-3 quality games a year in every genre that could guarantee many hours of quality play. Plus, you'd run into groundbreaking games that just shattered the standards for that genre at the time.

Now what do we have? I haven't found a quality game worth purchasing to play on my $1500 gaming rig for months, here's hoping that things cheer up.

-James

I think it's funny to predict any major trend will be "dead in 5 years" when it comes to video games, be them PC or console. I primarily play games on my Atari 2600 system and a Commodore 64 computer that's retrofitted with an MMC Replay (cartridge that allows games/programs to be run from an SD card) – so you could say I'm still living in the FIRST golden age. I enjoy a full-blown, epic piece of first-person shooting with beautiful graphics and an entertaining storyline like Half Life 2 or Crysis every once and a while (on a good PC, because I can't justify spending a lot of money on a console that's strictly for gaming). But I keep coming back to the old Atari and C64 because on these machines there are games that will keep me busy for 15 minutes, I get my fix and then I can be done if I want to – I don't have 8 hours a day to dedicate to games like I did when I was 15 and on summer vacation, and I don't feel the need to compete with those kids who still can. I'm 28. I love games but I have things to do in the real world. But there will always be another generation of hard core people with a lot of time and money to spend...

I hope a new golden age comes and its from indie developers because gaming has become to much a of a business that spews out the same weak garbage over and over. More GTA more Halo knock offs. Another Madden. Its all junk in the mid to late 90's and early 00's we saw a good bit of innovation in the home console market as the PSX (PSOne) and PS2 brought a much bigger market to gaming.
Sadly as the market keeps growing business is killing the art just like movies and music. Things get dumbed down and the same thing keeps getting mass produced. Hopefully digital distribution and smaller developers can make gaming good again.

Thin gaming is not the future. Nor are PC or console titles geared for the lowest common system spec. The recession, Microsoft Vista, have done more to stunt system upgrades than anything. And as both of those fade as issues, the eventual "baseline" system specification will grow quickly. PCs will always have their historical edge in being able to show new games that look simply beyond expectations. Most current games for the format work on systems built 6 and 7 years ago. But they look utterly different on modern systems.

Consoles will always be the "instant gratification" format, and there is nothing wrong with that. But to date, even with HDTV, nobody has gotten people willing to sit in front of a TV to surf the web, send email, update Facebook, etc. That is what PCs and laptops are for, not X-box or PS3.

This isn't an either-or question. But then the article misses the point. Video games are dead, in terms of evolution. But they'll always be around. Depth of immersion, MMOs, deeply integrated games, which simply won't work on consoles, they are the future.

consoles aren't going away anytime soon. Unless cloud gaming takes off.

I'm sure the trend of small flash based games will increase and capture a larger segment of the market, but saying that consoles are going to die out is like those people ten years ago who said Hollywood would die out due to inexpensive but high quality video cameras being so available for creating mass market product. It's about production value! A small non-console game created on a dime by a small company will never have the production value that can be created by a larger team with a big budget. (I know some of you are thinking of Myst as a counter argument, but that's different for several reasons!) They might create the next Tetris, and I love scrabble of Facebook, but it's not going to replace something like the fantastically immersive experience of playing games like Drake's Fortune series for PS3!

Cloud based gaming, much like cloud based computing is worthless at this point in time much like online console gaming via "X-Band" during the 90's was way off its time. Until broadband speeds are uncapped to allow such streaming in real time for mass quantities of players, it will not function, and as of yet does not function well. Serving apps and games on cloud servers hasn't become the end all of desktop applications as "experts" predicted and never will be. Renting games and applications are things that are not cost effective over long periods of time.

Consoles will adapt... Microsoft added Netflix and has tons of great Arcade games. They are also adding Twitter and Facebook soon and offering full 360 games on demand.

Consoles will not die. They are just going to change into all around media centers. We may someday see only one or two consoles on the market, but its gonna be one awesome gaming/media machine!

Consoles aren't going anywhere. There will always be a market for the single purpose gaming device–if for no other reason than parents need to be able take it away when their kids act up. Try doing that with a cell phone or laptop and you practically get hauled in front of Child Protective Services.

PC Gamers and console gamers are 2 different breeds. The decline of the PC gaming industry is due to MMO's. If you're hooked on an MMO you don't tend to buy any other games. MMO's are always updating the game with new content patches, and come out with expansions for the same game. It's not really a 'decline', but what's happening is a handful of specialized companies are ruling the industry. Console gamers though don't normally have the patience to play MMO's. They want to finish a game in a few weeks and move on to a new one – like watching movies. They build up game collections and can't wait for something new to come out.

Wow, some serious misinformation must have been given to the writer. I have been a gamer since the 2600 – back then, I wouldn't even tell a girl I played video games. It was a bit of a stigma – then the Nintendo years (80's) came around, and video games started to become a bit more acceptable, but people still thought of nerdy boys when they thought of video games. The playstation years brought in even more gamers and playing video games actually wasn't a shameful act any longer. Today, there's almost as many female players as male (more according to some reports, though I tend to find them the minority). Today, I find it harder to think of someone that doesn't own some sort of video game system (whether console or gaming computer) than not – and it isn't like I surround myself with just "gamers". - Sure, facebook games, flash games, and other types have lots of players. But how does 3.7 million players of a 'free" game show the decline of console/computer games, when other titles like World of Warcraft can boast 11 million people that pay $50 for the box and $15/month subscriptions?!? Seriously? Didn't Halo 3 then GTA4 not become the biggest single day selling games in history? I believe Sims 2 is the most successful game in history (or something along those lines, I personally didn't like it :)). Not to mention – how many of those "free" subscribers would you lose if companies started locking down their computer systems where employees didn't have the ability to "goof off" at work?? I'm sure that would put a HUGE dent in the freebie games. Trust me, I spent a number of hours dedicated to blocking games from out network.

As for Mr Landing's “My personal prediction is that when we look at the future of games at retail, we don’t see it – in five years, it’s going to be like trying to find music on vinyl.”

Wow! I hope his creative ability is better than his predictive ability! LoL

The more I think of it, the more I wonder if this article was a ploy to convince advertisers to bring their dollars to freebie flash games. You know... those annoying advertisements between levels, that everyone I know, ignores... hint to advertisers, your money would suit you somewhere else! 😉

Console and PC will always be around even when there are free indie games on x-box live marketplace i still wont buy them they are boring side scrollers if i wanted to play a side scroller i would play my old nintendo system. I want my games to go to the future and IMPROVE not stay the same.

The problem I see with souly web downloaded games is piracy. If the manufacturers produce games downloaded from the internet, they will loss market (much more of it). Having games produced in a difficult to reproduce product is key in getting maxamum returns. Once they solve this issue, it only makes sense to sell souly on the web. I give it 15 years.

You know...I've been gaming since the arcade days of the late 70s...and have gamed on computers since my first Atari 800 in 1981...and online since 1987 with Air Warrior on GEnie...for 6 bucks an hour...
As much of my life as I've spent gaming, and despite the tremendous enjoyment I've always been able to garner from games...I really don't think we've HAD a "Golden Age" of gaming yet..
I envision a point at which gaming becomes art...As serious and as pervasive as cinema or music or any other form of art..
Graphically, we're there, and have been for a bit now. But games have the same capabilities of cinema, with the added dimension of active participation, and I don't think we're really seeing that level of emotional involvment as an expected or common aspect of games yet...
But it's not far off, now, I don't think....Or at least I hope.

Considering how PC gaming has changed its very possible gaming will become a disposable experience and the merger of Hollywood and Gaming is not really the future. Right now the industry is bleeding and until the recession I had never thought an industry with Sony or EA was possible but since they have failed to keep costs under control, its looking more likely than ever the industry may have a big reboot coming soon.

Both platforms will remain...However this doesn't mean that both platforms are equal by any measure.

PC games have far more depth and customization built into the package from the get go. In this light, consoles can't come close to what’s possible on a full blown gaming PC.

Where consoles have a significant edge is graphics processing and ease of use. Thus being well suited for kids, soccer moms and the computer illiterate.

What people use depends largely on what they want to play and what level of system investment they are willing to make.

I see two things becoming mainstream that will be really big in the years to come:

1) Cross platform titles, the bridge the gap between PC and Console.

2) User created content or mods.

Resin_Smoker
4th Dimension Team Member
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
http://forums.gaspowered.com/

Who cares about 3.7 million users of the Biggest Brain game...What about over 5 million players per day at Mafia Wars? Gaming consoles aren't dying off, they're evolving into something more than just a console. Watch the Project Natal trailer for the XBOX360. I'm very excited about where the motion capture camera will take new video games.

MMORPG's are the future,indeed.

This article obviously wasn't written by a true gamer. Both platforms will be around for a long time, as long as people want to continue to want the best of what technology can throw at them. The argument between PC and console is like arguing over what cake taste better, in the end it is still cake(gaming).

Did you even read your news story before you submitted it? Consoles aren't going anywhere.

I've been gaming since I was 4, and a girl no less (Not that it matters). I am not a big fan of on-line games. Give me my PS3, PS2, Wii, Game cube, NES, Super NES, Sega Masters system or Atari 64 any day.

By the way, my favorite all time titles are Okami and the Final Fantasy Series. You can't play the majority of those on a computer or hand held and I like the feel of a controler over a keyboard or a hand held any day as a matter of taste.

The danger of a Documentary Producer/Director is you MUST be careful about using blanket statements and assuming everyone agrees and that it is the absolute truth. Then it's just an editorial, not a Doc.

the most hardcore gamers...the ones that dedicate the majority of their lives to 360, are going to find a new home with the hardcore pc gamers who live the mmo. teh WOW and hopefully Elder Scrolls! will probably be what teh most hardcore gamers will go for. the more light gamers will hit the flash games...cheap to free – and quickly found..as my brother has found out. Personally, i've almost abandoned my xbox..the only time i use it is when i feel like hitting the streets of oblivion to crank out some quests or get a land line party going with some halo and buds. So if i had oblivion and/ore halo for the pc which is totally possible.... i wouldnt even touch my xbox. all 300 bucks of it would be reduced to dust collecting!

I agree that the day of the game packaging will be over. I dont believe it will be anytime soon or five or ten years down the road. There are still a lot of people out there that cant afford or cant get high speed internet. If whole entire games are going to be streamed then ppl will need to have those connections. I would say that I'm an avid gamer , not hardcore. I started out with the Atari to the Nintendo and so on and so forth. I played a few games on the PC like Starcraft, Wow, and the occasional Snoody. But i always go back to my console. I think that almost all gamers will still want that box connected to their TV in the end. It just might be a little psychological or nostalgic, i dont know.

I doubt that consoles will ever go out, except to be replaced by their superiors. Personally, I don't mind dishing out the extra money for expensive consoles and the games that come with them. It is pure joy and pleasure, and I'm not giving that up. I would rather play a PS3 or XBOX 360 Live then a flash game anyday–they have nothing on the consoles.

In my opinion, the portable devices have gone to the dogs–classic games and newer games aimed towards young adults (i.e. 18-24) are far and few between. And sure, there are games for mobile devices now, but they can't compare to a 60" LCD screen playing any kick-butt game–lol.

I'm all for the future–give me the rooms without light switches, doors opening by voice command, etc., but don't take away my consoles–make them smaller, and more high tech, but don't phase them out.

Console gaming is dead, but not in the way everyone is thinking, The high costs of getting games to the market on consoles are forcing game companys to beat the same dead horses over and over. How many more Maddens are going to come out before people realize they've been buying the same game with better graphics sence 1995 ?......... As many as they decide to make. Consoles will never disapear but they have been "dead" for a long time.

It's no wonder people are turning to MMO's and free app games on there cell phones and facebook. Underground developers have come out with some really awsome stuff in the last few years, and sites like facebook have brought a HUGE new audience to them. For the people who are just looking for something to do between classes, or doing lunch break, why not? They are fast, free, and fun(gasp), You know the reason people want to play games in the first place.

It's not the consoles that will go away. It will be the marketing by big box stores that will see a drop off. As high speed internet availability increases we will see less and less purpose to going out a buying an $80.00 game off the shelf when you can download it for $40. I predict a split sale approach where games will be discounted for purchasing and downloaded via console and store sales will drop off. Besides what proper gamer would get off the couch if they don't have too...

I was a devoted console gamer up to about 2 years ago. The regurgitation of crap and the high prices drove me away from console games to the PC. Console games are just way too expensive. I simply can't afford to spend $60 on a game I'll probably play for a week. Meanwhile I can spend $40 on a PC game, and through patches and added content, I can enjoy it for months or even years. I also own a modified DS and play tons of old games from the 80s and 90s.

I definitely see gaming going more independent, especially during a recession where people are trying to get more bang for their buck. Smaller dev teams can create high selling games at a fraction of the cost of big-name studios, and then stream these games to devices like I-phones, modified PSPs/DSs, and even PCs.

Because of this, Game designers are really going to need to start thinking outside the box to get the gaming dollar.

PC Gamers and console gamers are 2 different breeds. The decline of the PC gaming industry is due to MMO’s.
Consoles aren’t going anywhere. There will always be a market for the single purpose gaming device–if for no other reason than parents need to be able take it away when their kids act up.

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I think it will evolve, You will rent games digitally. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are not going anywhere. I think the mobile device surge did take some of the game market but it didn't take all of it.

The Xbox will still lead the charge.

I think it works both ways. Mobile brings different users into the arena who then move over to Consoles

The reduction in console use however i believe will be that gamers cant continue from their mobile to the console so just continue at home on the same mobile device

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