Today Blake at Joystiq asks about convergence – devices that purport to fulfil the functions of several previously separate devices:
“Do you think convergence can work for game consoles? Do gamers want this?”
In a handheld? Nope. Can you say N-Gage? Handheld consoles are big enough already (DS, PSP) without adding more features and storage space. There’s no way you could strap either of those beasts to your arm while jogging. Maybe in a few years if they get everything down to the size of the Nintendo Micro and slap a decent interface on it, but even then I think portable screens are too small to do justice to any worthwhile visual stuff.
In a living-room console? Yes! Having one device for all your multimedia needs would be fantastic, but current developers (Microsoft) need to stop focusing on making something that looks slick and curvey in a promo picture and just give us a box that sits under the telly and actually replaces something we’d have under there already. If a console were bigger, but replaced two or three other devices that took up space, I’d be very happy. Please get it right, though. If it sacrifices convenience or functionality then it’s not a replacement. It’s just redundant.
Let’s see, most household living rooms probably have a radio, CD/DVD player, video recorder (VHS or otherwise), maybe a separate amplifier or a Freeview/DigiBox. Here’s what we need for a real all-in-one console.
Everything in the Xbox 360, plus:
- A fricking display screen on the thing, so we don’t need to turn the TV on or push buttons when we just want to see the track number on a CD or DVD.
- A decent hard drive and (digital) TV tuner so we can get rid of our video recorders. They could even set up some kind of deal with Sky to replace Digibox decoders though that’s pushing things a bit.
- A radio (or DAB) tuner, so we can remove yet another remote control from the living room. Also requires the display screen.
- Region-free DVD playback.
Oh and please stop trying to push the Xbox Guide Button’s on-off feature as an innovation. Seriously, “the Xbox Guide Button lets you turn the system on and off without ever leaving the couch”. Wow, is that clever or what?
Who’s with me?
Today Blake at Joystiq asks about convergence – devices that purport to fulfil the functions of several previously separate devices:
In a handheld? Nope. Can you say N-Gage? Handheld consoles are big enough already (DS, PSP) without adding more features and storage space. There’s no way you could strap either of those beasts to your arm while jogging. Maybe in a few years if they get everything down to the size of the Nintendo Micro and slap a decent interface on it, but even then I think portable screens are too small to do justice to any worthwhile visual stuff.
In a living-room console? Yes! Having one device for all your multimedia needs would be fantastic, but current developers (Microsoft) need to stop focusing on making something that looks slick and curvey in a promo picture and just give us a box that sits under the telly and actually replaces something we’d have under there already. If a console were bigger, but replaced two or three other devices that took up space, I’d be very happy. Please get it right, though. If it sacrifices convenience or functionality then it’s not a replacement. It’s just redundant.
Let’s see, most household living rooms probably have a radio, CD/DVD player, video recorder (VHS or otherwise), maybe a separate amplifier or a Freeview/DigiBox. Here’s what we need for a real all-in-one console.
Everything in the Xbox 360, plus:
Oh and please stop trying to push the Xbox Guide Button’s on-off feature as an innovation. Seriously, “the Xbox Guide Button lets you turn the system on and off without ever leaving the couch”. Wow, is that clever or what?
Who’s with me?
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