Time was a video game console was a device to play games. It wasn't a radio or a video player, it wasn't a means to store and search information nor was it a social networking device. It was simply a box that plugged into the t.v and allowed us to play the games developed for the system.
With this being said is it necessary for a gaming console to provide entertainment beyond playing games?
Will these applications sway a GAMER to buy one machine over the other?
Will this machine cause us to replace existing tablets, laptops, PCs, Macs, Video players and stereos for an all in one device?
I see the allure for console developers to get non gamers to buy their product: More money. Get the sports fan to buy because apps will allow to follow fantasy leagues during live sports events. Get the film buff to use it as a medium for viewing favorite and new movies or t.v series. Same with music and digital networking users. But are these things taking time and resources away from the very reason the game console exists?
Perhaps.
In my twenty three years of gaming it's safe to say a vast majority of my time on a console was dedicated to games, not movies, music and social networking. The problem I have with all the new bells and whistles is as follows:
Is the integration of these apps pushing the price up?
It would seem to me it would take a substantial amount of money to have the console play games as well as do everything most modern PCs do already. Surely this will factor into the final retail and it seems like a waste of consumer money if we don't want all the rest.
That's all I have to say on price points.
Moving on I feel like an all-in-one device is not needed with a system I bought for playing games. I will explain this best with an discussion about reading devices I had with some one.
The Kindle was just about to be mine. I was giddy with the thought of downloading the books I love and easily storing them in the palm of my hand instead of the heaps of heavy books crowding my small bedroom. This appealed even more after moving a small library of books nine times, from place to place, in a four year period. While pondering what Kindle I would purchase I spoke about it with my father-in-law. I told him I wanted the color version to also switch my magazine subscription over to digital compared to having mountains of paper cascading down the back of my toilet. He responded by telling me to get a Kindle Fire. "It does internet and movies and books and pictures and stuff!"
What?
It's a digital book reader that now plays movies?
Why? When I sit down to read I simply read. I want to lose myself in the pages and soak up it's words. I felt like all this other stuff would get in the way. So I didn't buy one at all. It had become something not appealing to me. With all that other stuff, additional applications, it begins to complicate things. Not in a sense of being hard to use, just it's not right there doing what it was made to do. Would I have to scroll through additional menus to get to the reading? Will I opt to mess around on the internet instead? Screw the book, watch the movie? They forgot the reason it was made. I could say this about most of the electronic devices we use today.
The same goes for the game consoles. I want GAMES. GAMES GAMES GAMES. I want to play them with friends, I want to play with random people, I want to play them on couch with my kids or wife and I want to play alone. Now all this other stuff is taking up space when I log on. My friends may be surfing or watching a movie or a bevy of other things that is not gaming. So now I turned it on to game and I might not be able to online because all my friends are doing something not game related. Sometimes we have different devices because a phone is for making calls, a video player is for playing videos and the game console is about playing games. We can't surf, play and watch at the same time, can we?
Maybe when the new systems come out I will eat my hat. I will fall to my knees shouting "Ye developer Gods be praised, for you answered all my entertainment needs all at once!" I could only hope and excitedly so. I just hope the implementation of all these things do not take away from Xbox/Playstation/Nintendo"s reason why we love them. THE GAMES!
Before I go I would like to explain why I feel this way going into the next generation. The emphasis on games is why I buy a console. Does it matter if these developers bring in an audience that would normally have not bought the product. I can't imagine that these non gamers would help the company give the gamers what they want. If this is what we want as gamers I guess we are being heard. The only thing I can say is games live or die by the perception of the people who play. Shouldn't this also be the same for the consoles we play games on. It seems to me no matter the fan base a game will do well if it is a good game. A game, no matter the licensing or content, will flop if it's not fun to play. I could use Iron Man games as example. Lots of people like the Iron Man movies and comics but the games did not do well because of flaws. So won't the Console do well by catering to gamers instead of those who aren't?
All this extra dressing around the games seems nice as long as it does not take precedent over games and gaming.
Happy gaming my friends. Man I said game/gaming/gamer a lot in this.
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