Will any new company join the cosole race?

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Viva Las Vegas

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I figure we are at least a few years away before any of the current big 3 launch a new game console. It seems like now is the time if any new company was going to take a shot it would be before one of the big 3 launch their next gen systems. I was thinking Apple could build a console with better graphics than what is out there cheaply enough and as long as it has a good controller they could be a serious threat. Just have an app store with all the games and Apple is plenty powerful enough to get the Activisions/EAs on board to support them. Apple just seems the most likely. Any other companies out there you think might try and join the battle? Or do you think it will be the same big three battling it out next generation?
 
Let's just stick with these systems for right now, we don't need super awesome updated systems.

But to answer your question, no I can't see another company making another home console anytime soon.
 
Any new company coming in had better be competitively priced. As for 'app stores' and such, if it were all digital downloads then that companies console would be a NEVER buy for me. I like my games to be on a physical media format unless I'm paying only a nominal amount for them($5).

Now as to the 'omg better graphics', I still say fuck graphics. Give me great storylines and good gameplay anyday over some pretty pretty shiny shiny.
 
I can't see it. Honestly I think 3 consoles are two many and we'd all be better off with a Sony/MS merger. No real need for two consoles aiming to push HD graphics etc. in an era of third party exclusive largely being a thing of the past. Outside of hard core gamers, there's just no real reason to own both these days. Sony's exclusives aren't enough to get me to by a 2nd console, and I'm sure for a lot of PS owners, MS's aren't enough to get them to bite (particularly if they aren't into shooters).

It will never happen though, but it would be nice to just have that joint console with Nintendo doing their own thing as the main competitor.
 
I wish Sega was still in the console business, since no one I know ever had an issue with a Sega console.

Now Sony and MS on the other hand, I've had friends with their consoles failing like crazy.
 
love to see nintendo come out with a

NES/Super nes/ Nintendo 64 system in one or even a gensis with a cd player and 32x build into one that is ne w
 
I don't think we will see a direct competitor to the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, but we will see other devices which connect to a TV and play games. Games for Apple TV is probably the most likely scenario. Most cable boxes have games built into them as well. These types of hybrid systems with multiple uses are probably going to grow in popularity. You might even see newer TVs with an app store built in allowing you to buy games and other stuff as well.
 
with all the new tvs coming out with internet connectivity i think onlive.com could become a viable alternative. they've got a tv adapter coming out soon, recently added wifi access, and they have deals quite a bit.
 
[quote name='Viva Las Vegas']I figure we are at least a few years away before any of the current big 3 launch a new game console. It seems like now is the time if any new company was going to take a shot it would be before one of the big 3 launch their next gen systems. I was thinking Apple could build a console with better graphics than what is out there cheaply enough and as long as it has a good controller they could be a serious threat. Just have an app store with all the games and Apple is plenty powerful enough to get the Activisions/EAs on board to support them. Apple just seems the most likely. Any other companies out there you think might try and join the battle? Or do you think it will be the same big three battling it out next generation?[/QUOTE]

I seriously doubt anyone else is going to jump into the hardware side of the market. Apple is dabbling with the video game market, trying to market their iPod and iPad as a video game device. The DS pretty much owns the handheld market, and they're selling more DSes than any other system/device (I think the PS2 is still on top of the DS, but I may be wrong on that).

I think an Apple console would be interesting; they have that Apple TV, and it wouldn't be a large step to make it a game system, or at least be able to play Apps (their new OSX Lion for Mac is going to have its own App store). However, I think what would end up killing Apple is that they are even more anti-consumer than Microsoft, and they're definitely anti-developer (as they've shown with their crazy app store policy and trying to hold back games from other systems, taking 30% of the revenue off the top, etc). But it would be nice to divert Microsoft's attention from trying to monopolize the video game industry, as they've done with the Office suite and Operating System market.

I think if anyone gets into the industry, and makes some sort of new home console, it would be Google, but it seems they only focus on software. So we may see a joint-venture with maybe Google and possibly onLive.

I can't really imagine another company, other than Apple, or some other PC or TV manufacturer jumping into the market, but it would be cool.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I wish Sega was still in the console business, since no one I know ever had an issue with a Sega console.[/QUOTE]

The dreamcast had about a 15% failure rate, which is higher than the PS3 and Wii. Mine failed after about three years. I popped in my Virtua Tennis disc, and it would get passed the main menu, then tried Skies of Arcadia, and could even get passed one of the boot-up logos. It was a very sad day =(
 
No I dont think anyone will. Panasonic is trying to enter with a new handheld but it will fail miserably. The market is well covered from just about every angle possible. The only way a company could break into it is if they had outstanding games for their new system. But with all the major contenders out there already making billions, its going to be hard for some little guy to standup and convince a developer to invest time, money and energy in them with no proof they will even break even when its all said and done.

Im not saying it cant happen but unless a major software company like EA or activision decides "Hey, we have popular games millions buy. Why not just make out own console for our games and then we get hardware and software sales" then I dont see anyone new making a dent in the market for years to come.

1- Nintendo- They have cornered the majority of the handheld market and with the 3ds looming they will continue to do so. The wii has a hold of so many because it appeals to kids, families, people who dont normally buy consoles and house moms that think is sheek and trendy to have a wii in the house and some buy one and a wii fit because they think it will make them lose weight. So nintendo has covered a lot of ground there and has the majority of the non core gaming audience as well as a portion of the core gamers.

2- Sony- They pickup the rest of the normal type handheld gamers with the psp, even though they basically are getting the scraps the ds doesnt eat. But the ps3 is a big plus to media people since you can plug in a flash drive or network it to watch movies you download, free internet access, awesome dvd upscaling, HD movies with bluray and so on. Its also growing in sales every year for core gamers with its increasing amount of good first party games, the fact you can play games online free and overall more reliable hardware. While its still in its fad stage ps3 also has 3d support via a simple free update and with the Move it also has the best motion control on the market (probablly will even after kinetic comes out). So sony is not only going after core gamers, its dipped its toes into casual gaming and it has technology and multi use on its side. Sony is trying to be versatile.

3- Microsoft- They OWN the younger core gaming crowd for right now. All the teenagers and college level kids have the 360 (well most of them do). True a lot of adults like myself have one also but when it comes to early and mid teens they all mostly have the 360. And MS also advertises its games and tries to appeal to kind of hooting immature dickhole energy drink swilling demographic with its exclusive titles and online gaming. True MS only has one system but they got lucky and landed right in the middle of the group old enough to buy games for themselves but also young enough to beg their parents to buy them games also.

4- Apple- Yes I know apple isnt a gaming company but between the ipod, itouch and ipad they rule the casual downloadable gaming community. Apple is incredibly popular and a lot of people have their stuff so game designers want to make inexpensive and cheap games for that system because they know they can sell some cheap little game for a couple bucks to millions of people and they never need to make a physical product.
 
Apple seem like about the best bet, they're already set up for digital distribution so the games companies will be happy and I'm sure Apple would like to have an increased presence in the home.
 
any new company has so much ground to catch up on in capturing publishers and developers, it would be almost stupid to enter now (unless they have been working super quiet for the last few years).

That said, I can only see mark cuban doing this, but seriously think of how much money would need to be thrown at this!
 
[quote name='slidecage']love to see nintendo come out with a

NES/Super nes/ Nintendo 64 system in one or even a gensis with a cd player and 32x build into one that is ne w[/QUOTE]

Man, a retro-system would be Insane! Something that would play Sega and Nintendo cartridges and discs! I can't belive that it would be that hard, Nintendo supported the NES until 2007, so they must still have techs familiar with the hardware. It may not be Uber profitable, but the R&D on the tech is done, so it would be just getting it all in one package.
 
Another poster mentioned it, but I second it. I want Sega to come back into the console arena. Shame that Dreamcast, with all its potential, was killed because of poor marketing and a lack of developer support. :cry:
 
[quote name='Fonz72']Man, a retro-system would be Insane! Something that would play Sega and Nintendo cartridges and discs! I can't belive that it would be that hard, Nintendo supported the NES until 2007, so they must still have techs familiar with the hardware. It may not be Uber profitable, but the R&D on the tech is done, so it would be just getting it all in one package.[/QUOTE]

Would be a complete waste of their money.

The R&D is not done. Those systems werent meant to be combined so they would have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to combine systems so the power worked, design switches, interface the and so on. Then they would have to actually devolve themselves to create inferior hardware again which is probablly more expensive than making new hardware. Then have to manufactuer it, distribute it, market it and spend millions and millions for something not a lot of people would buy. Sales would probablly start big from all the nostalgia gamers and then sink rapidly. Plus its not like nintendo sells games for them so there wouldnt be any profit from that. They wouldnt even break even doing that.

Plus you have the wii console, they will put their games on it to re-sell you and its a hell of a lot cheaper and more effective for them. Nintendo is all about re-packing their core games over and over and over again and thats it.

Want retro? Get a emulator or use wii console.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Honestly I think 3 consoles are two many and we'd all be better off with a Sony/MS merger. No real need for two consoles aiming to push HD graphics etc. [/QUOTE]

No, that would be the absolute worst thing to happen to video gaming. No competition = no growth. Only the desire to outsell the others will make these companies continue to push the envelope. Monopolies are very very bad things.

A small example would be for those of us who don't have a choice in some of our utilities providers. Don't like the service? Tough shit. Pay or get nothing at all...
 
[quote name='dannyox718']No, that would be the absolute worst thing to happen to video gaming. No competition = no growth. Only the desire to outsell the others will make these companies continue to push the envelope. Monopolies are very very bad things.

A small example would be for those of us who don't have a choice in some of our utilities providers. Don't like the service? Tough shit. Pay or get nothing at all...[/QUOTE]

There would still be competition with two companies out there.

The 16 bit era was one of the greatest periods in gaming history with just two major players with the SNES and Genesis.

Besides, I think competition today is really between developers/publishers, not console makers so much.

Gaming is a huge industry now, the pressure is on developers to make good games that will sell in a market with a ton of games to choose from.

So they have pressure to make good games whether there's 1, 2 or 3+ consoles out there.

The one area that might lag with only one or two conoles is pushing graphics and other hardware technology forward with new consoles every 5 years etc. Personally I'm very happy with the technological state of gaming today.

Future advances will probably be things like more motion controls, eventually getting into virtual reality stuff etc. that I have zero interest in. The day games are no longer played on TVs with traditional controllers is the day I quit gaming for good. Which is fine, most hobbies pass people buy eventually.

So I hope this generation and the next (if it's not all motion controls!) drag on as long as possible! :D

In the meantime, I don't really care how many consoles are out there. With me mainly only playing FPS and WRPG games (and not likeing many Japanese developed games) MS's consoles are all I need anyway as Nintendo and Sony don't have enough decent exclusives in the genres I play to warrant a purchase. Not that I game enough to justify owning more than one console these days anyway.
 
Kind of ironic, but here's a story about how much it took for MS to get into the console race. So, whomever would get into the console race now would need a sh!t ton of cash to do it.
 
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