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Online gaming. A word I hear too often to like, and see too infrequently to like. Online console gaming is like the lost city of Atlantis - people think it’s there, but its all talk and no action. I’ve seen plenty of people lured into the mysterious offerings of online gaming, and with the right hardware it can be an absolute joy to play. However, what I really want to know is, how user friendly will online gaming with our consoles be?
Broadband. A very shady word in this country. At the moment, there are less than 1 million broadband users in the country, and due to the rather expensive costs this is unlikely to grow substantially. The usual rate for broadband is around £30 a month, usually with an installation fee of over £100. Recently this price has been coming down, such as NTL’s fantastic offer of £15 a month with £25. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to advertise on Special Reserve, but what I’m getting at is that broadband is a very expensive thing. And a decent online game is only possible with broadband.
Before you lot start drifting away into the topics and rantings of other users, I’ll just assure you that I’m not ‘evaluating’ the pros and cons of each console’s online capabilities. By the time online gaming is finally available to every home in the UK, the next wave of consoles will be here and it is only then that online gaming will truly pick up. This generation of consoles wasn’t designed with the internet in mind - there were no online services from the word go and two of the three consoles need extra peripherals. So what am I going to talk about then? I’m going to talk about what will come next, what will happen when broadband finally does go mainstream, and during the next next generation console era.
Keyboards really aren’t a console thing. Adding a keyboard and mouse to a console is just going to make it a standardised PC. That’s always been the difference between consoles and PCs - with video game consoles the idea is that you sit on your couch in front of the TV and play with a comfortable joypad. Don’t start ranting at me that the Xbox controller isn’t uncomfortable or the PS2 controller is to small, because I think in the next wave of consoles the pads will be very similar, comfortable to hold and be more tailored for online play. Not having keyboards will mean you can’t actually type what you want to say. Using things such as emoticons will be a universal way of communicating, and consequently controllers will need extra buttons to compensate for this extra need.
Of course, with all this online gaming there will have to be some sort of hard drive. With developers talking of downloadable tracks, music and mods a hard drive will not be optional, but built in. I’m very afraid of consoles becoming PCs. If it turns out that there is no way of overcoming text with emoticons and keyboards are used, then undoubtedly facilities such as e-mail, forums and the obligatory word processor will surface. The hard drive is the one area which I think will be the deciding factor in whether console gaming becomes like PC gaming. The one annoyance of playing online is the major compatibility issue. Outdated version, having to download new patches and the like only add to casual gamer confusion. This is why online gaming on the PC hasn’t really taken off.
But we mustn’t forget why exactly we are playing online. It’s to be social, to eliminate the need for AI. In future games developers will be able to develop games faster, and in games with complex AI much development time will be made free because this need will disappear. But it’s the whole online community which is the real appeal. It’s no fun wandering around a soulless town on Morrowind talking to people who spew the same old talk every time - I want to talk to people who’ll kill you if you annoy them too much, or give you presents if you become their friend. This is the most appealing aspect. Very recently my friend got into Counter Strike online, and now it’s the only thing he does. From 4 in the afternoon until 11 at night, he’ll be playing online. And why? Because of the proper human AI, the fact that everybody in your team is human, and make human mistakes, and because it is great fun to play with a load of people who laugh at the same things as you, and get angry at the same things as you.
I’ll probably end up ignoring the current wave of ‘online’ consoles. With talk of the PS3 surfacing as early as 2004, there will be very little time between the PS2 going online and the PS3 arriving. There is no doubt in my mind that when it does get here, there won’t be a need for extra peripherals such as modem adaptors, broadband adaptors and hard drives. I just hope that online console gaming doesn’t end up the same as online PC gaming, and I also hope that online gaming doesn’t end up being the only form. Because for all the squad and team based community games, I’d still have a go every once in a while playing, I dunno, a story based game such as Final Fantasy or Ratchet and Clank.
Online is a very volatile word. If people get it right; if it’s made accessible for the average Joe and is just a plug and play type thing, then it’ll be great. But for this average Joe, the necessity for constant patches will drive him away, and do to online gaming on consoles what’s happened to online gaming on the PC. For once people, we don’t want gaming to be restricted to the hardcore, knowledgable types. So let us praise these developers for their clever online strategies, but remember that if you really want to play online Counterstrike, you don’t need to use your PS2 and an extra modem, hard drive, keyboard, mouse and headset. You’ve already got a PC. So lets try to keep our other form of gaming from becoming something we’ve already got.
Broadband. A very shady word in this country. At the moment, there are less than 1 million broadband users in the country, and due to the rather expensive costs this is unlikely to grow substantially. The usual rate for broadband is around £30 a month, usually with an installation fee of over £100. Recently this price has been coming down, such as NTL’s fantastic offer of £15 a month with £25. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to advertise on Special Reserve, but what I’m getting at is that broadband is a very expensive thing. And a decent online game is only possible with broadband.
Before you lot start drifting away into the topics and rantings of other users, I’ll just assure you that I’m not ‘evaluating’ the pros and cons of each console’s online capabilities. By the time online gaming is finally available to every home in the UK, the next wave of consoles will be here and it is only then that online gaming will truly pick up. This generation of consoles wasn’t designed with the internet in mind - there were no online services from the word go and two of the three consoles need extra peripherals. So what am I going to talk about then? I’m going to talk about what will come next, what will happen when broadband finally does go mainstream, and during the next next generation console era.
Keyboards really aren’t a console thing. Adding a keyboard and mouse to a console is just going to make it a standardised PC. That’s always been the difference between consoles and PCs - with video game consoles the idea is that you sit on your couch in front of the TV and play with a comfortable joypad. Don’t start ranting at me that the Xbox controller isn’t uncomfortable or the PS2 controller is to small, because I think in the next wave of consoles the pads will be very similar, comfortable to hold and be more tailored for online play. Not having keyboards will mean you can’t actually type what you want to say. Using things such as emoticons will be a universal way of communicating, and consequently controllers will need extra buttons to compensate for this extra need.
Of course, with all this online gaming there will have to be some sort of hard drive. With developers talking of downloadable tracks, music and mods a hard drive will not be optional, but built in. I’m very afraid of consoles becoming PCs. If it turns out that there is no way of overcoming text with emoticons and keyboards are used, then undoubtedly facilities such as e-mail, forums and the obligatory word processor will surface. The hard drive is the one area which I think will be the deciding factor in whether console gaming becomes like PC gaming. The one annoyance of playing online is the major compatibility issue. Outdated version, having to download new patches and the like only add to casual gamer confusion. This is why online gaming on the PC hasn’t really taken off.
But we mustn’t forget why exactly we are playing online. It’s to be social, to eliminate the need for AI. In future games developers will be able to develop games faster, and in games with complex AI much development time will be made free because this need will disappear. But it’s the whole online community which is the real appeal. It’s no fun wandering around a soulless town on Morrowind talking to people who spew the same old talk every time - I want to talk to people who’ll kill you if you annoy them too much, or give you presents if you become their friend. This is the most appealing aspect. Very recently my friend got into Counter Strike online, and now it’s the only thing he does. From 4 in the afternoon until 11 at night, he’ll be playing online. And why? Because of the proper human AI, the fact that everybody in your team is human, and make human mistakes, and because it is great fun to play with a load of people who laugh at the same things as you, and get angry at the same things as you.
I’ll probably end up ignoring the current wave of ‘online’ consoles. With talk of the PS3 surfacing as early as 2004, there will be very little time between the PS2 going online and the PS3 arriving. There is no doubt in my mind that when it does get here, there won’t be a need for extra peripherals such as modem adaptors, broadband adaptors and hard drives. I just hope that online console gaming doesn’t end up the same as online PC gaming, and I also hope that online gaming doesn’t end up being the only form. Because for all the squad and team based community games, I’d still have a go every once in a while playing, I dunno, a story based game such as Final Fantasy or Ratchet and Clank.
Online is a very volatile word. If people get it right; if it’s made accessible for the average Joe and is just a plug and play type thing, then it’ll be great. But for this average Joe, the necessity for constant patches will drive him away, and do to online gaming on consoles what’s happened to online gaming on the PC. For once people, we don’t want gaming to be restricted to the hardcore, knowledgable types. So let us praise these developers for their clever online strategies, but remember that if you really want to play online Counterstrike, you don’t need to use your PS2 and an extra modem, hard drive, keyboard, mouse and headset. You’ve already got a PC. So lets try to keep our other form of gaming from becoming something we’ve already got.
pb wrote:
> But the thing is, a lot of people HAVEN'T got a PC. Ok, so everyone
> here has either a PC or a Mac, but many people who want to play games
> online simply have their consoles.
>
> I think the biggest hurdle, apart from the aforementioned lack of
> Broadband (at present counts 60% of the UK can get it), is the
> understanding of the whole thing as far as games players are concerned
> and, with younger players, the ability to get or to pursuade parents
> to get it. Now, if Broadband had other uses, besides being great for
> internet access, then it may well take off a lot quicker. Build it in
> to Digital set top boxes and it would be great, even a discount with
> Satellite and some use for it, such as email or shopping, then it
> would sell, but at the moment it is a niche market.
>
> Microsoft have and will find it difficult, but they have the clout and
> they will keep trying, that's really what's needed here. Once enough
> people have the technology, then it will become more widely accepted,
> like DVD.
And the reason a lot of people don't have PCs? Because they don't have a clue about them. You can't say that cost is an issue for lots of people, because the average amount I see people spending on PCs is around £500 - about the same as they would spend on a PS2 and games. I think the main limiting reason to online PC gaming for people is that they don't have a clue about it.
What I'm getting at is that gaming has to be really simple. Console gaming is just that - pop in the disc and you're away. Whereas for PCs it's all installation, configuration, downloading patches etc. which can be a real nuisance. If the same happened to console gaming it would probably not appeal to the same people who sway away from PCs - because the consoles would be turning into just that.
Everything said though, online IS the future of gaming. It's obvious that there will be hundreds of games developed, and as long as enough people take it up, or there is a really killer online hit, then it'll do well. But if not many people go for online gaming and it is a flop, then I suppose it'll be back to copycat first person shooters. It's one thing which I respect Nintendo for - not jumping into online shenanigans before actually sorting out what does what. Nintendo clearly knows that the GameCube isn't meant to be an online console, but the online part is just an add on, such as the N64's transfer pack.
What I really am talking about is that in the future of online gaming, it has to be made instantly accessible, with information about call costs and what not in the manual - so it really is a plug-and-go thing. I think Sony and Microsoft are forgetting through all of this that the majority of console owners wouldn't have a clue what the difference between 56k modem and broadband is, and they probably wouldn't buy a modem without some serious consideration. The future of gaming may be online, but will this be online for everyone or just people in the know...?
> But the thing is, a lot of people HAVEN'T got a PC. Ok, so everyone
> here has either a PC or a Mac, but many people who want to play games
> online simply have their consoles.
>
> I think the biggest hurdle, apart from the aforementioned lack of
> Broadband (at present counts 60% of the UK can get it), is the
> understanding of the whole thing as far as games players are concerned
> and, with younger players, the ability to get or to pursuade parents
> to get it. Now, if Broadband had other uses, besides being great for
> internet access, then it may well take off a lot quicker. Build it in
> to Digital set top boxes and it would be great, even a discount with
> Satellite and some use for it, such as email or shopping, then it
> would sell, but at the moment it is a niche market.
>
> Microsoft have and will find it difficult, but they have the clout and
> they will keep trying, that's really what's needed here. Once enough
> people have the technology, then it will become more widely accepted,
> like DVD.
And the reason a lot of people don't have PCs? Because they don't have a clue about them. You can't say that cost is an issue for lots of people, because the average amount I see people spending on PCs is around £500 - about the same as they would spend on a PS2 and games. I think the main limiting reason to online PC gaming for people is that they don't have a clue about it.
What I'm getting at is that gaming has to be really simple. Console gaming is just that - pop in the disc and you're away. Whereas for PCs it's all installation, configuration, downloading patches etc. which can be a real nuisance. If the same happened to console gaming it would probably not appeal to the same people who sway away from PCs - because the consoles would be turning into just that.
Everything said though, online IS the future of gaming. It's obvious that there will be hundreds of games developed, and as long as enough people take it up, or there is a really killer online hit, then it'll do well. But if not many people go for online gaming and it is a flop, then I suppose it'll be back to copycat first person shooters. It's one thing which I respect Nintendo for - not jumping into online shenanigans before actually sorting out what does what. Nintendo clearly knows that the GameCube isn't meant to be an online console, but the online part is just an add on, such as the N64's transfer pack.
What I really am talking about is that in the future of online gaming, it has to be made instantly accessible, with information about call costs and what not in the manual - so it really is a plug-and-go thing. I think Sony and Microsoft are forgetting through all of this that the majority of console owners wouldn't have a clue what the difference between 56k modem and broadband is, and they probably wouldn't buy a modem without some serious consideration. The future of gaming may be online, but will this be online for everyone or just people in the know...?
well you must have one shouldnt you?
But the thing is, a lot of people HAVEN'T got a PC. Ok, so everyone here has either a PC or a Mac, but many people who want to play games online simply have their consoles.
I think the biggest hurdle, apart from the aforementioned lack of Broadband (at present counts 60% of the UK can get it), is the understanding of the whole thing as far as games players are concerned and, with younger players, the ability to get or to pursuade parents to get it. Now, if Broadband had other uses, besides being great for internet access, then it may well take off a lot quicker. Build it in to Digital set top boxes and it would be great, even a discount with Satellite and some use for it, such as email or shopping, then it would sell, but at the moment it is a niche market.
Microsoft have and will find it difficult, but they have the clout and they will keep trying, that's really what's needed here. Once enough people have the technology, then it will become more widely accepted, like DVD.
I think the biggest hurdle, apart from the aforementioned lack of Broadband (at present counts 60% of the UK can get it), is the understanding of the whole thing as far as games players are concerned and, with younger players, the ability to get or to pursuade parents to get it. Now, if Broadband had other uses, besides being great for internet access, then it may well take off a lot quicker. Build it in to Digital set top boxes and it would be great, even a discount with Satellite and some use for it, such as email or shopping, then it would sell, but at the moment it is a niche market.
Microsoft have and will find it difficult, but they have the clout and they will keep trying, that's really what's needed here. Once enough people have the technology, then it will become more widely accepted, like DVD.
Online gaming. A word I hear too often to like, and see too infrequently to like. Online console gaming is like the lost city of Atlantis - people think it’s there, but its all talk and no action. I’ve seen plenty of people lured into the mysterious offerings of online gaming, and with the right hardware it can be an absolute joy to play. However, what I really want to know is, how user friendly will online gaming with our consoles be?
Broadband. A very shady word in this country. At the moment, there are less than 1 million broadband users in the country, and due to the rather expensive costs this is unlikely to grow substantially. The usual rate for broadband is around £30 a month, usually with an installation fee of over £100. Recently this price has been coming down, such as NTL’s fantastic offer of £15 a month with £25. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to advertise on Special Reserve, but what I’m getting at is that broadband is a very expensive thing. And a decent online game is only possible with broadband.
Before you lot start drifting away into the topics and rantings of other users, I’ll just assure you that I’m not ‘evaluating’ the pros and cons of each console’s online capabilities. By the time online gaming is finally available to every home in the UK, the next wave of consoles will be here and it is only then that online gaming will truly pick up. This generation of consoles wasn’t designed with the internet in mind - there were no online services from the word go and two of the three consoles need extra peripherals. So what am I going to talk about then? I’m going to talk about what will come next, what will happen when broadband finally does go mainstream, and during the next next generation console era.
Keyboards really aren’t a console thing. Adding a keyboard and mouse to a console is just going to make it a standardised PC. That’s always been the difference between consoles and PCs - with video game consoles the idea is that you sit on your couch in front of the TV and play with a comfortable joypad. Don’t start ranting at me that the Xbox controller isn’t uncomfortable or the PS2 controller is to small, because I think in the next wave of consoles the pads will be very similar, comfortable to hold and be more tailored for online play. Not having keyboards will mean you can’t actually type what you want to say. Using things such as emoticons will be a universal way of communicating, and consequently controllers will need extra buttons to compensate for this extra need.
Of course, with all this online gaming there will have to be some sort of hard drive. With developers talking of downloadable tracks, music and mods a hard drive will not be optional, but built in. I’m very afraid of consoles becoming PCs. If it turns out that there is no way of overcoming text with emoticons and keyboards are used, then undoubtedly facilities such as e-mail, forums and the obligatory word processor will surface. The hard drive is the one area which I think will be the deciding factor in whether console gaming becomes like PC gaming. The one annoyance of playing online is the major compatibility issue. Outdated version, having to download new patches and the like only add to casual gamer confusion. This is why online gaming on the PC hasn’t really taken off.
But we mustn’t forget why exactly we are playing online. It’s to be social, to eliminate the need for AI. In future games developers will be able to develop games faster, and in games with complex AI much development time will be made free because this need will disappear. But it’s the whole online community which is the real appeal. It’s no fun wandering around a soulless town on Morrowind talking to people who spew the same old talk every time - I want to talk to people who’ll kill you if you annoy them too much, or give you presents if you become their friend. This is the most appealing aspect. Very recently my friend got into Counter Strike online, and now it’s the only thing he does. From 4 in the afternoon until 11 at night, he’ll be playing online. And why? Because of the proper human AI, the fact that everybody in your team is human, and make human mistakes, and because it is great fun to play with a load of people who laugh at the same things as you, and get angry at the same things as you.
I’ll probably end up ignoring the current wave of ‘online’ consoles. With talk of the PS3 surfacing as early as 2004, there will be very little time between the PS2 going online and the PS3 arriving. There is no doubt in my mind that when it does get here, there won’t be a need for extra peripherals such as modem adaptors, broadband adaptors and hard drives. I just hope that online console gaming doesn’t end up the same as online PC gaming, and I also hope that online gaming doesn’t end up being the only form. Because for all the squad and team based community games, I’d still have a go every once in a while playing, I dunno, a story based game such as Final Fantasy or Ratchet and Clank.
Online is a very volatile word. If people get it right; if it’s made accessible for the average Joe and is just a plug and play type thing, then it’ll be great. But for this average Joe, the necessity for constant patches will drive him away, and do to online gaming on consoles what’s happened to online gaming on the PC. For once people, we don’t want gaming to be restricted to the hardcore, knowledgable types. So let us praise these developers for their clever online strategies, but remember that if you really want to play online Counterstrike, you don’t need to use your PS2 and an extra modem, hard drive, keyboard, mouse and headset. You’ve already got a PC. So lets try to keep our other form of gaming from becoming something we’ve already got.
Broadband. A very shady word in this country. At the moment, there are less than 1 million broadband users in the country, and due to the rather expensive costs this is unlikely to grow substantially. The usual rate for broadband is around £30 a month, usually with an installation fee of over £100. Recently this price has been coming down, such as NTL’s fantastic offer of £15 a month with £25. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to advertise on Special Reserve, but what I’m getting at is that broadband is a very expensive thing. And a decent online game is only possible with broadband.
Before you lot start drifting away into the topics and rantings of other users, I’ll just assure you that I’m not ‘evaluating’ the pros and cons of each console’s online capabilities. By the time online gaming is finally available to every home in the UK, the next wave of consoles will be here and it is only then that online gaming will truly pick up. This generation of consoles wasn’t designed with the internet in mind - there were no online services from the word go and two of the three consoles need extra peripherals. So what am I going to talk about then? I’m going to talk about what will come next, what will happen when broadband finally does go mainstream, and during the next next generation console era.
Keyboards really aren’t a console thing. Adding a keyboard and mouse to a console is just going to make it a standardised PC. That’s always been the difference between consoles and PCs - with video game consoles the idea is that you sit on your couch in front of the TV and play with a comfortable joypad. Don’t start ranting at me that the Xbox controller isn’t uncomfortable or the PS2 controller is to small, because I think in the next wave of consoles the pads will be very similar, comfortable to hold and be more tailored for online play. Not having keyboards will mean you can’t actually type what you want to say. Using things such as emoticons will be a universal way of communicating, and consequently controllers will need extra buttons to compensate for this extra need.
Of course, with all this online gaming there will have to be some sort of hard drive. With developers talking of downloadable tracks, music and mods a hard drive will not be optional, but built in. I’m very afraid of consoles becoming PCs. If it turns out that there is no way of overcoming text with emoticons and keyboards are used, then undoubtedly facilities such as e-mail, forums and the obligatory word processor will surface. The hard drive is the one area which I think will be the deciding factor in whether console gaming becomes like PC gaming. The one annoyance of playing online is the major compatibility issue. Outdated version, having to download new patches and the like only add to casual gamer confusion. This is why online gaming on the PC hasn’t really taken off.
But we mustn’t forget why exactly we are playing online. It’s to be social, to eliminate the need for AI. In future games developers will be able to develop games faster, and in games with complex AI much development time will be made free because this need will disappear. But it’s the whole online community which is the real appeal. It’s no fun wandering around a soulless town on Morrowind talking to people who spew the same old talk every time - I want to talk to people who’ll kill you if you annoy them too much, or give you presents if you become their friend. This is the most appealing aspect. Very recently my friend got into Counter Strike online, and now it’s the only thing he does. From 4 in the afternoon until 11 at night, he’ll be playing online. And why? Because of the proper human AI, the fact that everybody in your team is human, and make human mistakes, and because it is great fun to play with a load of people who laugh at the same things as you, and get angry at the same things as you.
I’ll probably end up ignoring the current wave of ‘online’ consoles. With talk of the PS3 surfacing as early as 2004, there will be very little time between the PS2 going online and the PS3 arriving. There is no doubt in my mind that when it does get here, there won’t be a need for extra peripherals such as modem adaptors, broadband adaptors and hard drives. I just hope that online console gaming doesn’t end up the same as online PC gaming, and I also hope that online gaming doesn’t end up being the only form. Because for all the squad and team based community games, I’d still have a go every once in a while playing, I dunno, a story based game such as Final Fantasy or Ratchet and Clank.
Online is a very volatile word. If people get it right; if it’s made accessible for the average Joe and is just a plug and play type thing, then it’ll be great. But for this average Joe, the necessity for constant patches will drive him away, and do to online gaming on consoles what’s happened to online gaming on the PC. For once people, we don’t want gaming to be restricted to the hardcore, knowledgable types. So let us praise these developers for their clever online strategies, but remember that if you really want to play online Counterstrike, you don’t need to use your PS2 and an extra modem, hard drive, keyboard, mouse and headset. You’ve already got a PC. So lets try to keep our other form of gaming from becoming something we’ve already got.