Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

Actually... you can get "mod chips" for most (maybe even all) semi-modern console platforms that allow you to play copied games... going to CDs/DVDs was not a wise move on the part of console companies. And you know that hard drive on the Xbox? Just rent a game, copy it on the drive, and run it from there! CD drive + hard drive = piracy guarantee.

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

Heh, I'm showing my age. I keep thinking of console games as cartdiges instead of the CD's they went to now.

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually, it is just as difficult/easy to burn a copy of a DVD/CD game for your PS2 as it is to burn a copy of a DVD/CD game for your PC, and you can always build a simulator for the console that runs on your PC, if you know how, and distribute it (sometimes illegally) for free.

What really makes such things difficult are cartriges, which you can't copy or read without equipment specialized for each specific platform. This equipment can be reverse-engineered, so it is possible to copy games from cartriges or read them into your PC. However, that takes hardware manipulation and know-how, not a simple driver or program you can just download off the net, making it considerably more expensive and complex. For now, console gaming companies don't seem to be going the cartrige route, for the most part. Nintendo still does (I think), but as far as I know, they are the only ones doing so.

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

FYI on the hardware aspect: most console companies LOSE money on each console sold. They make it up with fees on the games.

That's one reason consoles are so much cheaper than PCs- PC hardware makes money, console hardware doesn't.

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

Jack Smith: Even Nintendo has stopped using cartridges for their consoles except the Gameboy. The Gamecube uses a mini-DVD. Both the PS2 and the X-Box use full sized DVDs that can even be used as DVD movie players. Game Consoles don't even use CD's anymore. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

I think back to 1998-1999 when SSI and Microprose were Hasborged. The next year, practically everyone made a RTS game. Megacorps suits looking for hit games based on marketing misunderstandings dominated most of the money being spent on game development - or should I say, on graphics showcases with fragments of old games randomly glued on.

It's a bit depressing how much money and effort is spent developing uninteresting games. Perhaps it's an even worse proportion compared to the amount of uninteresting megacorp dreck churned out in the music, film, and pulp fiction industries. There are very few megacorp game releases that I have any interest in playing. There are practically zero games on consoles that I have any interest in, either.

Megacorps have determined that the most money lies in sales at Walmart etc., to unsophisticated players. Consoles offer concepts that attract suits, like built-in obsolescence and difficulty to pirate.

Megacorp offerings almost never interest me, though. If they all go to consoles only, it'll mainly just mean less distraction by crud.

BTW, Myst is a puzzle, not a game. It only seems like a game for as long as the player doesn't notice he's just watching a bunch of QuickTime animations linked with hot-spots to click on.

PvK

[ November 07, 2003, 22:08: Message edited by: PvK ]

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Modern console games are not that hard to pirate...

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I would love a PDA Version of Space Empires! I've even been tempted to program a moddable 4x game on the Palm myself...

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Funny you mention this; in the late 70's/early 80's there was not much of a distinction between a home PC and a gaming system, mostly because they were the same thing. Rememeber the Ataris? The Commodores? Sometimes, I wonder, with talks of integrating Internet functions and Digital Video Recording (aka RePlay/TiVo), if it is time for the resurgence of the Home Console Comupter. Hopefully, as a side effect it will engender a resurgence of self-taught programmers - I know I would not be the man I am today without my Atari 800 and my Inside Atari BASIC book...

Re: Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Modern console games are not that hard to pirate... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I was mainly talking about what suits think. Maybe I should also have said, "frequency of pirating", since younger kids into console games may be less likely to also have a DVD burner.

PvK