MMO Gaming

Convergence is near, at least if EA is to be believed. Though I’m sure some people have plenty to say about that, I’ll refrain from anything else relating to EA in this post and instead discuss what they were saying. This idea is not really anything new, but I did glean a few interesting tidbits I wanted to share with everyone. But, let me preface this all by saying that I’m not so sure we’ll be seeing what he is talking about quite as soon as he believes. I’m not sure the money is there to make it worthwhile for the big companies no matter how good it may be from the viewpoint of the consumers.

Not so long ago I mentioned how intrigued I was by the idea of convergence on my post about Metaplace. What they want to do is interesting (whether it is a “good,” that is financially speaking, remains to be seen.) I’ll quote one thing, specifically, that I found interesting.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could instead be walled garden content providers and licensors, said Mr Parker.

I find this interesting mostly because I think it would actually work. Look at the XBox360 and PS3. From what I remember reading the PS3 actually costs Sony money to make and the 360 did for a while too, only recently did they start to gain money with the sale of each console (the Wii, on the other hand, actually makes money for Nintendo in console sales.) If there was one box that could do all these things I’m sure it would work out very well for everyone involved on a lot of levels. The problem? We already have this box…it’s called the computer. I find it somewhat amusing that people are looking to take gaming back to what it started as. The single system, the computer, is where the first games were made. After that console systems came into existence whose sole purpose was to play games. And now we want to go back to just having that one box?

Okay, it may not be that simple exactly but the basic premise is there. As HDTV sets start to gain in popularity with the average household it will be possible to be able to use your computer to play games on your TV (at least with the majority of HDTVs which have a PC connection to them, this of course disregards what equipment the computer must have.) And, PC gaming is quite a bit cheaper. Look at the recent release of Bioshock or the Orange Box for PC vs. the next gen consoles. $60 on consoles, $50 (or less) on PC. I own them both for PC and they look as good or probably better than they would on any next-gen system. Given I am running some of the higher end parts in my computer but even so, for the large range of things I am able to do the price is well within reasonable ranges.

Anyway, anyone else have thoughts on this?

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