System Wars: Is 'De Facto' the way forward?
We need peace, man. Apparently...
You know the time. It’s happened to all of us.
The moment when you realise that your little box of fun, the rainy day companion, sitting there under the TV next to the Friends videos, is now obsolete.
Of course, you could ignore the voice, the pressure mounting in the back of your head. "Resist", you tell yourself. After all, they're only games. You don’t need to play the latest. There's still a hefty back catalogue to work through...
But lets face the music, sit up and smell the silicon. Its time to reach for your wallet, and do your bit for consumerism and country...
It’s time to buy a new console.
But lets just stop and think for a minute. Being the dedicated gamers we are, it's difficult to realise that this is a decidedly weird situation. And when you do think about it, you simply pass off the thought with some vague explanation involving the relentless march of technology. But this simply doesn't wash.
Imagine if you will: Bosch or Siemens one day announce that they are halting production and support of all older washing machine models, and commencing at once with new product lines. At the bottom of the press release, in small print, the following line sneaks onto the page:
Incidentally, our new machines are so devilishly advanced that they are incompatible with old clothes, and you will all be required to upgrade your wardrobes. Sorry.
A spurious analogy, I know, but one with a hint of truth.
Why does this happen? It happens for several reasons. It happens because Nintendo and Sony (and soon Microsoft - but not Sega apparently) can get away with it. Gamers are inured to this occurrence. If this sort of thing happened in other industries, as it does in gaming, people would take to the streets and demonstrate with the kind of revolutionary zeal normally only associated with irate French farmers and truck drivers.
Comments
The 'de facto' idea is a good one, however it does Platonise a very complex situation, in that I would not be happy with the reality of any one of the existing company's controlling the biz. A very interesting idea though, and I agree that there is still much blood to be shed in this sector. Mind you, at least the PS2 can play older PS games. Great read, btw!
so i never had a console and dont want to have one
i think there are many good pcgames out there...all of my gamerfriends and onlinegamerfriends have a pc. Ofcource it sux when some companies (microsoft) bye other companies (ubisoft) and than tell them to develop only the consoleversion of some great game (halo for XBox) and than the pc game comes one year later....i dont think such tricks can make a pc-gamer by a console...
New media is generally not used by adults and as a matter of fact I do think it is generational. My grandparents rarely go to see movies. I am talking MAYBE a handful of times a year. My parents (in their 50s) rarely use the computer for anything other than email, but go to the movies all the time. I think in 20 years when all us gamers have kids, we will see gaming become a dominant form of entertainment, The industry as a whole is still in it's infancy. Let's not forget most of these companies have been doing this for less than 10 years. I did not even think about the generational gap until you mentioned it.
Get rid of that annoying flashing ad or I'll not visit your site anymor and consequently not follow ANY ads at all.
Luke has not replied to this yet, so I'll do so. The banners are not controlled by Ferrago, they are sold, and delivered by Burstnet (the ad agency). Sorry if they annoy you - but they do pay for the server resources you use, and allow the site to continue
Badman, FYI, GBA isn't backward compatible with GB and GBC games. In fact, the PS2 is the only system I know that is.