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"Upgradable Consoles?"

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Tue 31/07/01 at 11:45
Regular
Posts: 787
What do you think is the main difference between PC’s and consoles?



Well, I think it’s the fact that PC’s need upgrading if you want to be able to run certain programmes, play certain games or run programmes and applications quicker.

With consoles, you can play any game without needing to upgrade. You just stick the cartridge or CD in and play.

Hang on a second though... Didn’t Nintendo bring out a certain piece of hardware last year? Something that added an extra 4 MB of memory to the N64?

Yes, they did. It was called the Expansion Pak. Originally it was just intended to be used to boost the graphics on certain games. Expansion Pak enabled I think was the official term. But wait a minute. Weren’t a few games brought out that NEEDED the Expansion Pak to run properly? Again, yes there were. Perfect Dark, Turok 3 and Zelda: Majoras Mask. These three HAD to have an Expansion Pak if they were going to run fully.

But what’s going to happen in the future? We’ve all ready seen an upgrade being provided for the N64. Is this going to become the norm among consoles as it is with PC’s?

What’s so bad about upgradable consoles becoming more frequent? Can you imagine what would happen? The developers will be making more and more games that require upgrades. The cost of all this hardware would put A LOT of people off. I know I can’t afford many peripherals let alone games, let alone hardware! Some people either wouldn’t be able to afford the new hardware. This makes it unfair on those people as they wouldn’t be able to play all the new games, I for one, find that a tad annoying.

Of course, there is a plus side in all of this. The games themselves would be improving graphically and also in the respect that a lot more features could be added in to the games, extending their lastability and enjoyment factors. Seeing as the games are the reason why people buy consoles in the first place, then the fact that they would be getting better and more enjoyable quite quickly is in now way a problem.

And then there’s the consoles themselves. How are they going to accommodate all this extra hardware? Nintendo obviously had all ready planned the Expansion Pak because the hole in which it’s placed was all ready there.

It’s fine if the developers of the consoles think ahead about what they’re going to create so they can put the nooks, crannies and special places on the console beforehand. But what if some bright spark suddenly comes up with a great idea that the company really want to use but haven’t got anywhere on the console to put it?

The obvious answer to that would be to redesign the console and bring the re-modelled ones that can accommodate the new hardware. That means though, that the players are going to have to buy a whole new unit just to be able to play certain games!

Upgradable consoles could well be the future for the gaming market, but they could also be it’s demise.

RBS
Tue 31/07/01 at 13:28
Regular
"You've upset me"
Posts: 21,152
zeldapro wrote:
> Does the 64DD in the GC count as an upgrade??

No, as it's in there from te start. But if the 64DD HAD been brought out on the N64 (I know it was in Japan) then, yes, that would have counted as an upgrade.
Tue 31/07/01 at 12:55
Regular
"qwertyuiop!!"
Posts: 2,517
Does the 64DD in the GC count as an upgrade??
Tue 31/07/01 at 12:13
Regular
Posts: 14,117
The XBox is going to have 64MB RAM, which isn't going to be seperated into NVRAM and all the other types.

The CPU will be able to allocate how much RAM to use for each thing.

I think.

:-)
Tue 31/07/01 at 12:10
Posts: 0
The N64 ram expansion pack was a great idea, as it gave a noticeable increase in the performance of the system.

Ram is always a good thing to have more of. I just hope that Sony and Microsoft take note and make there systems able to be upgraded with Ram.

With the Xbox I hope that this can be normal PC ram (so its cheap), because Ram can make all the difference!
Tue 31/07/01 at 11:57
Regular
"Picking a winner!"
Posts: 8,502
I don't think we will ever see upgradable consoles, well not in the same way as we can upgrade PC's. It wouldn't be cost effective for the console makers. Too many third party developers would produce parts for consoles. Also how many of you would feel happy to open up your console and tinker about with all the parts. You could do some serious damage. I think the most we will see is HDD's and modems and peripherals.

Then there are the games, some would need to be for upgraded consoles which people with the normal console couldn't play. It wouldn't be fair and could destroy the console market. If you want to upgrade then get a PC, consoles shouldn't be upgradable.
Tue 31/07/01 at 11:45
Regular
"You've upset me"
Posts: 21,152
What do you think is the main difference between PC’s and consoles?



Well, I think it’s the fact that PC’s need upgrading if you want to be able to run certain programmes, play certain games or run programmes and applications quicker.

With consoles, you can play any game without needing to upgrade. You just stick the cartridge or CD in and play.

Hang on a second though... Didn’t Nintendo bring out a certain piece of hardware last year? Something that added an extra 4 MB of memory to the N64?

Yes, they did. It was called the Expansion Pak. Originally it was just intended to be used to boost the graphics on certain games. Expansion Pak enabled I think was the official term. But wait a minute. Weren’t a few games brought out that NEEDED the Expansion Pak to run properly? Again, yes there were. Perfect Dark, Turok 3 and Zelda: Majoras Mask. These three HAD to have an Expansion Pak if they were going to run fully.

But what’s going to happen in the future? We’ve all ready seen an upgrade being provided for the N64. Is this going to become the norm among consoles as it is with PC’s?

What’s so bad about upgradable consoles becoming more frequent? Can you imagine what would happen? The developers will be making more and more games that require upgrades. The cost of all this hardware would put A LOT of people off. I know I can’t afford many peripherals let alone games, let alone hardware! Some people either wouldn’t be able to afford the new hardware. This makes it unfair on those people as they wouldn’t be able to play all the new games, I for one, find that a tad annoying.

Of course, there is a plus side in all of this. The games themselves would be improving graphically and also in the respect that a lot more features could be added in to the games, extending their lastability and enjoyment factors. Seeing as the games are the reason why people buy consoles in the first place, then the fact that they would be getting better and more enjoyable quite quickly is in now way a problem.

And then there’s the consoles themselves. How are they going to accommodate all this extra hardware? Nintendo obviously had all ready planned the Expansion Pak because the hole in which it’s placed was all ready there.

It’s fine if the developers of the consoles think ahead about what they’re going to create so they can put the nooks, crannies and special places on the console beforehand. But what if some bright spark suddenly comes up with a great idea that the company really want to use but haven’t got anywhere on the console to put it?

The obvious answer to that would be to redesign the console and bring the re-modelled ones that can accommodate the new hardware. That means though, that the players are going to have to buy a whole new unit just to be able to play certain games!

Upgradable consoles could well be the future for the gaming market, but they could also be it’s demise.

RBS

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