this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
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Pushing Buttons: Is there even any point in making more powerful games consoles? (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/letstalkaboutgames@feddit.uk
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Last week, my favoured gaming news site, VGC, asked former US PlayStation boss Shawn Layden whether he thought the pursuit of more powerful consoles was still the way to go for the video games industry. His answer was not what I expected.

“We’ve done these things this way for 30 years, every generation those costs went up and we realigned with it. We’ve reached the precipice now, where the centre can’t hold, we cannot continue to do things that we have done before … It’s time for a real hard reset on the business model, on what it is to be a video game,” he said. “We’re at the stage of hardware development that I call ‘only dogs can hear the difference’. We’re fighting over teraflops and that’s no place to be. We need to compete on content. Jacking up the specs of the box, I think we’ve reached the ceiling.”

This surprised me because it seems very obvious, but it’s still not often said by games industry executives, who rely on the enticing promise of technological advancement to drum up investment and hype. If we’re now freely admitting that we’ve gone as far we sensibly can with console power, that does represent a major step-change in how the games industry does business.

So where should the industry go now?

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[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 18 points 3 weeks ago

Once upon a time, nobody could ever need more than 640kB of RAM. Every "hardware ceiling" ends up being a temporary plateau. How long that plateau lasts is anyone's guess. They'll chase "content" for awhile, and then some form of content will demand more power for something either new or evolved, and it'll be back to hardware races.

Either way, as long as a market exists for dedicated gaming consoles (hi, I'm that market, zero desire to maintain a PC after 25 years in IT) they'll stick around.

[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think consoles can play all games at 4k60fps yet right? Especially on a TV, 4k is a noticable difference. Maybe even go for 4k120? Seems like there still needs to be a bit more improvement. Not sure if 8k is worth it, need to find someone who knows more than i do for that.

[–] Die4Ever@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I don't think consoles can play all games at 4k60fps yet right?

Far from it. PS5 PRO runs Alan Wake 2 at 1536x864 60fps (aka below 1080p, closer to 720p)

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I suspect the next avenue is going to be using AI to create more realistic and interactive NPCs, especially in open-world games.

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I wonder how far away we are from just putting a prompt in for the kind of game you’d like to play and it just being procedurally generated for you.

Also when are we getting haptic suit porn games where my game station sucks my dick? Best I’ve got so far is lubing up the vaccuum while I stream Baywatch on my VR headset

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Also when are we getting haptic suit porn games where my game station sucks my dick?

Asking the real questions.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is totally doable with current tech, tbh.

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 2 points 3 weeks ago

Where do I sign up my dude

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 2 points 3 weeks ago

I mean, I'm playing with GPT literally right now. Granted it's not perfect but it's still interesting.

[–] Wolf314159@startrek.website 4 points 3 weeks ago

Where should the industry go?

Maybe focus more on developing good games that are more than just good graphics. A shit game will still be a shit game at 4k and 120fps. A good game doesn't necessarily need all that to be good. Game developers seem to have lost sight of doing more with less.

The industry has corrupted the mindset of their consumer base with this capitalist driven myth that you need to buy more stuff to be happy. The kids out there trolling about shit graphics and the PCMRs complaining about the lower console specs are gobbling it up. Now that one company is seeing diminishing returns, they're considering pulling back on that growth mantra. Maybe they'll start encouraging game development that doesn't waste so many computing resources for schlocky derivative lazy content. I'm sure they'll find some other way to convince us that in order to keep gaming, we'll need to keep buying.