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In light of the current console feast we are about to receive I can’t help but think we are getting more than us gamers are used to. I therefore pose the question “Are extras more important than games?”
When I think of a console, I think of a machine specifically designed with one thing in mind, to play games. I think of this because its been what we have been fed for the over the past decade of computer game existence. From the days of the old Atari ST right up to the SEGA Saturn and PSX we were presented with machines that we bought simply to play games. (The Sega CDX doesn’t count because it was an add on, not a stand alone console)
The arrival of the Saturn and PSX heralded a new advent in the gamers catalogue, that is the ability to be more than a games console, but to also be a CD player. Now lets forget the old Hovis bread music and return to the present.
We are now being tempted from all directions with consoles, which have all sorts of gimmicks. Perhaps this could be a death for the consumer, if a company is so busy designing consoles to have maximum gimmick factor, then perhaps they will not rate the games as highly important.
In the cases of the Playstation 2 and the Xbox we are presented not with mere gaming machines, but a multimedia experience. This is due to both consoles including a built in DVD player in their specifications. However the only company who has resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon is Nintendo with the Gamecube. Some people are all too quick to point out the fact the Gamecube is not a multi faceted device, but I would have to say, “what’s the problem?” I already have a DVD player in my PC, so do I really need one included in my games console? No, I don’t think so, especially since I have never bought a DVD in my life, or ever felt the need.
So therefore in my case, the price that was slapped on top of the console would just have been wasted money. I find the best way to relate to the problem is to think of the extras that you are offered, when buying a new car. For example having Air Conditioning is all well and good, and perhaps a nice little thing to brag about at the office Christmas party, but in Scotland? Its is hardly a necessity, and even when it is hot you can always use that gizmo called the window.
Or when you go into a McDonalds or a Burger King and end up ordering the supersize meal, even though you really aren’t that hungry. We do it because we like to think we are getting more for our money. Perhaps this is why we are attracted to the PS2 and the Xbox, not because it has a DVD player, but because it is more for our money, or at least we tell ourselves that it is.
Furthermore you have to think about the importance of the console, if there are no consoles sold, the producer will not sell any games, it is therefore concluded that the sale of a console is more important of that of a single game. The producer will therefore feel obliged to develop and implement technology which will “woo” the consumer into purchasing the machine.
Conversely however, the consumer will never buy a console which has poor games, so invariably each factor is as important as the other, not only must the console itself attract a purchase, but the games too must appeal to a prospective buyer, and ideally each should compliment the other.
I therefore feel that extras are not as important as the games, but neither are the games more important than the extras, in this way they should exist in a dynamic equilibrium which will compliment each other for maximum effect.
When I think of a console, I think of a machine specifically designed with one thing in mind, to play games. I think of this because its been what we have been fed for the over the past decade of computer game existence. From the days of the old Atari ST right up to the SEGA Saturn and PSX we were presented with machines that we bought simply to play games. (The Sega CDX doesn’t count because it was an add on, not a stand alone console)
The arrival of the Saturn and PSX heralded a new advent in the gamers catalogue, that is the ability to be more than a games console, but to also be a CD player. Now lets forget the old Hovis bread music and return to the present.
We are now being tempted from all directions with consoles, which have all sorts of gimmicks. Perhaps this could be a death for the consumer, if a company is so busy designing consoles to have maximum gimmick factor, then perhaps they will not rate the games as highly important.
In the cases of the Playstation 2 and the Xbox we are presented not with mere gaming machines, but a multimedia experience. This is due to both consoles including a built in DVD player in their specifications. However the only company who has resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon is Nintendo with the Gamecube. Some people are all too quick to point out the fact the Gamecube is not a multi faceted device, but I would have to say, “what’s the problem?” I already have a DVD player in my PC, so do I really need one included in my games console? No, I don’t think so, especially since I have never bought a DVD in my life, or ever felt the need.
So therefore in my case, the price that was slapped on top of the console would just have been wasted money. I find the best way to relate to the problem is to think of the extras that you are offered, when buying a new car. For example having Air Conditioning is all well and good, and perhaps a nice little thing to brag about at the office Christmas party, but in Scotland? Its is hardly a necessity, and even when it is hot you can always use that gizmo called the window.
Or when you go into a McDonalds or a Burger King and end up ordering the supersize meal, even though you really aren’t that hungry. We do it because we like to think we are getting more for our money. Perhaps this is why we are attracted to the PS2 and the Xbox, not because it has a DVD player, but because it is more for our money, or at least we tell ourselves that it is.
Furthermore you have to think about the importance of the console, if there are no consoles sold, the producer will not sell any games, it is therefore concluded that the sale of a console is more important of that of a single game. The producer will therefore feel obliged to develop and implement technology which will “woo” the consumer into purchasing the machine.
Conversely however, the consumer will never buy a console which has poor games, so invariably each factor is as important as the other, not only must the console itself attract a purchase, but the games too must appeal to a prospective buyer, and ideally each should compliment the other.
I therefore feel that extras are not as important as the games, but neither are the games more important than the extras, in this way they should exist in a dynamic equilibrium which will compliment each other for maximum effect.
Well, Resi, you're right about the PS2 dvd severely drawing people away from games... in Japan the console ended up selling more units than games for many months after release!
This was due mainly to DVD players in Japan being hugely expensive at the time...
However, although Sony lost huge amounts of money to start with, it gave them a huge userbase to work with, ensuring developers would target the PS2. As a result, more gamers would buy the console, and Sony would buy back their money.
Sonic
This was due mainly to DVD players in Japan being hugely expensive at the time...
However, although Sony lost huge amounts of money to start with, it gave them a huge userbase to work with, ensuring developers would target the PS2. As a result, more gamers would buy the console, and Sony would buy back their money.
Sonic
I think that people find the games more important, but if they don't see that much difference between the games on System A and those on System B, these little extras are likely to sway their choice.
Thanks for the replies guys, i would also like to mention about the different ranges of colours that consoles now come in, it started on the N64 and is now going to happen on Gamecube and even PS2, do you feel it is better to be able to have more choice of the console colour, or in the PS2's case just an over expensive extra?
It's nice to see a decent topic round here for once, well done!! Sony's inclusion of a DVD player to the PS2 was probably the best and yet worse thing they ever did, It was a superb way of selling the console but added to it's complexity and detoured people from games. Nintendo have the right idea of keeping it strictly for games but on the other hand a build in DVD player has it's bonuses, Some titles offer a making of DVD and because there's no licence needed nearly all PS2 magazines have a free DVD with previews, reviews etc. I'd rather have the extra DVD player than not have it but if it effects the console in any way then I'd rather have nothing to do with it.
nice post.. an interesting read there cookie...
In light of the current console feast we are about to receive I can’t help but think we are getting more than us gamers are used to. I therefore pose the question “Are extras more important than games?”
When I think of a console, I think of a machine specifically designed with one thing in mind, to play games. I think of this because its been what we have been fed for the over the past decade of computer game existence. From the days of the old Atari ST right up to the SEGA Saturn and PSX we were presented with machines that we bought simply to play games. (The Sega CDX doesn’t count because it was an add on, not a stand alone console)
The arrival of the Saturn and PSX heralded a new advent in the gamers catalogue, that is the ability to be more than a games console, but to also be a CD player. Now lets forget the old Hovis bread music and return to the present.
We are now being tempted from all directions with consoles, which have all sorts of gimmicks. Perhaps this could be a death for the consumer, if a company is so busy designing consoles to have maximum gimmick factor, then perhaps they will not rate the games as highly important.
In the cases of the Playstation 2 and the Xbox we are presented not with mere gaming machines, but a multimedia experience. This is due to both consoles including a built in DVD player in their specifications. However the only company who has resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon is Nintendo with the Gamecube. Some people are all too quick to point out the fact the Gamecube is not a multi faceted device, but I would have to say, “what’s the problem?” I already have a DVD player in my PC, so do I really need one included in my games console? No, I don’t think so, especially since I have never bought a DVD in my life, or ever felt the need.
So therefore in my case, the price that was slapped on top of the console would just have been wasted money. I find the best way to relate to the problem is to think of the extras that you are offered, when buying a new car. For example having Air Conditioning is all well and good, and perhaps a nice little thing to brag about at the office Christmas party, but in Scotland? Its is hardly a necessity, and even when it is hot you can always use that gizmo called the window.
Or when you go into a McDonalds or a Burger King and end up ordering the supersize meal, even though you really aren’t that hungry. We do it because we like to think we are getting more for our money. Perhaps this is why we are attracted to the PS2 and the Xbox, not because it has a DVD player, but because it is more for our money, or at least we tell ourselves that it is.
Furthermore you have to think about the importance of the console, if there are no consoles sold, the producer will not sell any games, it is therefore concluded that the sale of a console is more important of that of a single game. The producer will therefore feel obliged to develop and implement technology which will “woo” the consumer into purchasing the machine.
Conversely however, the consumer will never buy a console which has poor games, so invariably each factor is as important as the other, not only must the console itself attract a purchase, but the games too must appeal to a prospective buyer, and ideally each should compliment the other.
I therefore feel that extras are not as important as the games, but neither are the games more important than the extras, in this way they should exist in a dynamic equilibrium which will compliment each other for maximum effect.
When I think of a console, I think of a machine specifically designed with one thing in mind, to play games. I think of this because its been what we have been fed for the over the past decade of computer game existence. From the days of the old Atari ST right up to the SEGA Saturn and PSX we were presented with machines that we bought simply to play games. (The Sega CDX doesn’t count because it was an add on, not a stand alone console)
The arrival of the Saturn and PSX heralded a new advent in the gamers catalogue, that is the ability to be more than a games console, but to also be a CD player. Now lets forget the old Hovis bread music and return to the present.
We are now being tempted from all directions with consoles, which have all sorts of gimmicks. Perhaps this could be a death for the consumer, if a company is so busy designing consoles to have maximum gimmick factor, then perhaps they will not rate the games as highly important.
In the cases of the Playstation 2 and the Xbox we are presented not with mere gaming machines, but a multimedia experience. This is due to both consoles including a built in DVD player in their specifications. However the only company who has resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon is Nintendo with the Gamecube. Some people are all too quick to point out the fact the Gamecube is not a multi faceted device, but I would have to say, “what’s the problem?” I already have a DVD player in my PC, so do I really need one included in my games console? No, I don’t think so, especially since I have never bought a DVD in my life, or ever felt the need.
So therefore in my case, the price that was slapped on top of the console would just have been wasted money. I find the best way to relate to the problem is to think of the extras that you are offered, when buying a new car. For example having Air Conditioning is all well and good, and perhaps a nice little thing to brag about at the office Christmas party, but in Scotland? Its is hardly a necessity, and even when it is hot you can always use that gizmo called the window.
Or when you go into a McDonalds or a Burger King and end up ordering the supersize meal, even though you really aren’t that hungry. We do it because we like to think we are getting more for our money. Perhaps this is why we are attracted to the PS2 and the Xbox, not because it has a DVD player, but because it is more for our money, or at least we tell ourselves that it is.
Furthermore you have to think about the importance of the console, if there are no consoles sold, the producer will not sell any games, it is therefore concluded that the sale of a console is more important of that of a single game. The producer will therefore feel obliged to develop and implement technology which will “woo” the consumer into purchasing the machine.
Conversely however, the consumer will never buy a console which has poor games, so invariably each factor is as important as the other, not only must the console itself attract a purchase, but the games too must appeal to a prospective buyer, and ideally each should compliment the other.
I therefore feel that extras are not as important as the games, but neither are the games more important than the extras, in this way they should exist in a dynamic equilibrium which will compliment each other for maximum effect.