Valve/nVidia & Square-Enix(?!) Making Consoles

[Let's Get Sweaty]

The nVidia machine looks ridiculous and smacks of "me too" - their nose is just out of joint because none of the main companies are using their tech in their new systems. They're about to find out the hard way that it takes more than a good microchip to make a successful games console.

And flaunting a system like Android that's most commonly associated with mobile phones will turn away more customers than it attracts.

[Yokosuka Martian]

I honestly don't think any of these will be really flying off the shelves. People are too content with the choices they have right now

[Riku Rose]

Only Valve or Apple really have the pull to compete with the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Every other company we won't hear nothing about other then the announcement of their console and then they will die quietly.

The only reason Microsoft was able to get into the big leagues is because Bill Gates went around throwing money around like a page boy at a wedding.

[MiTT3NZ]

Yeah, because Valve are bigger than Microsoft...

[Riku Rose]

Never said they was just that they are one of the companies that have the potential to have space in a store next to the PlayStation and Xbox games.

The die quietly part was in reference to these companies like NVidia who are announcing consoles lately.

[MiTT3NZ]

I'm referring to the fact you claimed that only Valve and Apple have the pull to compete (suggesting that their status would carry them), and yet Microsoft did will solely down to Bill Gates' money. So that would imply that Valve are bigger than Microsoft. Or at least bigger than they were around the release of the Xbox. And if you think that...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjwaqZfjIY[/youtube]

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

I dunno, Nvidia making a console ain't so bad, its not like Sony was in a much better place in the 90s, shit most of the tech they had wasn't even theirs, Nvidia has experience making just about every part you'd need for a console.

I've seen...things over the past week, so I'm not really surprised at anything when it comes to the consoles. I'm not even sure how I feel about all this yet. A part of me thinks I'm holding back my designs by not accepting this new shift, but another part of me sees that this could all end up being shit.

[MiTT3NZ]

Which is why it's a good job there are so many 'hardcore' PC gamers.

[Henry Spencer]

Panasonic, Atari, Philips, Jaguar, Nokia (ahahaha) - we've all seen what happened to these companies. It's like it's been just Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo for so long now and all of a sudden this is happening.

This year: nVidia Shield, Steambox and Ouya already...and we're in January. The cycle begins anew (to separate the wheat from the chaff).

[Riku Rose]

I'm referring to the fact you claimed that only Valve and Apple have the pull to compete (suggesting that their status would carry them), and yet Microsoft did will solely down to Bill Gates' money. So that would imply that Valve are bigger than Microsoft. Or at least bigger than they were around the release of the Xbox. And if you think that...

Well one of the things that made the Xbox a household name before it got released was the advertising building up to the release. I would have been only 9 or 10 at the time it came out but I still remember seeing ads for it on TV and on billboards. I read an article on Eurogamer about the launch of the Xbox about a month ago and they had some serious problems with getting developers on board which is why they had to show how much money they was putting into it.

[MiTT3NZ]

@Riku: I remember the hype being about the fact the Xbox was a console from Microsoft, not the number of ads plastered all over the place. It was actually around the time where companies were pouring money into these one-second viral ad campaigns on TV, which failed hard. Big difference between effective marketing and throwing money around. A lot of lost SEGA fans "pledged their allegiance" to Microsoft too, as many felt Sony had destroyed them, and Nintendo was the enemy. Microsoft, on the other hand, developed the OS for the Dreamcast (I may be wrong about that though)

Either way, it's incredibly simplistic to say that Microsoft's success was down to Bill Gates' money.

@Spence: I dunno, it's a little different. Nokia's the second or third largest phones manufacturer in the world. They basically helped bring the idea of "actual" games on a phone to the mainstream. Other than that it was just puzzle games. As for the rest... there's really no comparison to what's happening now.

Back in the days of the CDi n shit, they were trying to capitalise on consoles being the "new thing". The likes of Ouya, Steambox, and this new nVidia handheld will obviously be marketed at a much more matured, educated audience. Basically, PC gamers, and the likes of us who wouldn't mind considering a new device so long as it's cheap and isn't dominated by a lot of the shit we moan about.

I've a feeling that these releases are their way of saying "we listened". And whilst it won't have a huge impact on the "Big 3", they could be the perfect answer for those of us who can't afford next gen titles straight off the bat, or those who are struggling to keep up with constant PC upgrades.

They won't set the world alight, and they know it, so their hearts are in the right place, and if it gives us some quality games, then they've got my backing. Then again, if they turn out to be shit, I've got about 150MB worth of EPIC FAIL pics ready for posting.

Well, I don't, but you get what I'm sayin...

[mrslig100]

Jesus Christ how horrifying!
Ah well, I never did like nvidia cards, I have always preferred the ATI Sapphire series.
No opinion yet on the steambox but I am curious.
Just a shame theirs no good games out today.

[Henry Spencer]

You know, the design of it sort of reminds me of that Panasonic console that got cancelled...can't remember the name of it though.

@Spence: I dunno, it's a little different. Nokia's the second or third largest phones manufacturer in the world. They basically helped bring the idea of "actual" games on a phone to the mainstream. Other than that it was just puzzle games. As for the rest... there's really no comparison to what's happening now.

Back in the days of the CDi n shit, they were trying to capitalise on consoles being the "new thing". The likes of Ouya, Steambox, and this new nVidia handheld will obviously be marketed at a much more matured, educated audience. Basically, PC gamers, and the likes of us who wouldn't mind considering a new device so long as it's cheap and isn't dominated by a lot of the shit we moan about.[/spoiler]

How is that any different from them capitalising on the phone games & PC games market? Isn't it sort of the equivalent? "Hey, we can play both your PC games AND your Android/iOS games on one device, great huh? It does everything!" *chortle, chortle*
Doesn't seem any different to me. That's exactly what the likes of Philips did in the 90s: "it's the ultimate multimedia device, it can play video CDs, games and music CDs, wow".

That, and Nokia's N-Gage was as competition to the Game Boy Advance, the focus was not on the mobile phone side of things, otherwise the design would have reflected that more, it was built for gaming. The N-Gage was a right clunky POS, even back then. It was more of a games system and it proved that these hybrids do not work normally (with few exceptions). And where have you been? Nokia has been struggling financially for a long time now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia#Fina ... tructuring

[MiTT3NZ]

I wasn't talking intentions so much as what they became. N-Gage did pave the way for developers to look at phones a little more seriously as a platform. Obviously that wasn't the idea, but I'm sure you understand. And I know Nokia aren't the behemoth they used to be, but they're still big. Their main downfall was supporting Symbian for so many years. They're still bigger than their early 00s competitors (except for Samsung who came out of nowhere)

Just look at the top dogs in the phone market right now. Apple, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry. If you add a fifth to that, it certainly has to be Nokia. And I just realised that I typed "second or third". Momentary lapse in concentration. I was makin scran n burned my hand on one of the oven shelves, so that obviously derailed my train of thought at the time. Anyway...

And no. Ouya & Steambox vs Atari & CDi are not the same. The whole idea behind the former two is to give the industry the boost it needs to maintain. Not in terms of makin a shitloada money for the big boys, but to help put a halt to the alarming rate of studio closures over the last few years. That's one of the intentions, at least. It's also about not charging an arm and a leg for a yearly iteration of a game, only for the online play to be limited to two years.

You say it's the same as jumping on the new thing, but it isn't. Electronics manufacturers jumped on MP3 Players just over a decade ago. This is CDi, Jaguar, etc. Ouya & Steambox are (intended to be) MP3 players for avid music listeners and aspiring artists, who can share links easily throughout an in-built networking system, uploading original content, and downloading tracks that have full details including release date, lyrics, full credits, etc. It's not for the masses, it's for a very specific audience, whilst still being a "nifty gadget" that anyone else can buy, but probably wouldn't get the experience they're after.

Trust me Spence, if all the bullshit PR chatter they squeeze out their arse is to be believed and followed through (lol) with, this isn't a case of "I'll throw my hat in the ring too", it's more along the lines of "This one's for you guys!"

[Bluecast]

Because all the hype money and marketing helped Google TV become such a massive suc....wait....
. That nvidia thing looks stupid as fuck. Like some 90's tiger electronics shit.It's another R zone. ouya might succeed in a small market. Valve steam box sounds like the pippin part 2. The large majority of people who use steam build a PC for gaming.

And yes it can be compared to past failures. CDi was backed by Nintendo at first. 3D0 was from EA co founder Trip Hawkins and put a shit load of great tech in it. At the time he could do no wrong. Ouya is by former Xbox people.Only reason Playstation had ANY success was not because of anything Sony did but because of what Nintendo didn't do. Have N64 use CD roms. Sony were ASSHOLES FROM HELL to work with from devs. Just they were so much cheaper with CD roms. Sony at first had a rule that prohibited any game being 2D,they did back down eventually. Had Nintendo gone CD Rom. Playstation would be mentioned in the same sentence as CDi,3D0. People always mention 90's console failures but forget Nuon,Xavix,the Acer one,Phantom from the past decade.
Microsoft only survived Xbox because they quite nearly literally threw cash at it despite lost billions on it just kept throwing more at it. Without that deep pocket book it would have been a disaster. So it's not just the old days where tons of new consoles come out and try and challenge it's every single generation. 2 have made it. several dozen have not and many had amazing promise.