“Smartphone and PC will converge to become a new platform”, says TGS keynote speaker
By Alice Lynton on September 22, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Instead of the usual boring “PC gaming is dead” line, Tokyo Game Show keynote speaker Yoshikazu Tanaka chose to take the path less travelled and predict a converging future for traditional and emerging markets.
“The line between PC and mobile has blurred, and that’s a trend for this year. The traditional PC will disappear, and smartphone and PC will converge to become a new platform,” the GREE CEO said, as reported by Gamasutra.
Tanaka said smartphones are becoming a default method of access the Internet, as opposed to a PC; that more smartphones are sold than PCs; and that mobile network and hardware performance will only improve, closing the gap between the two platforms.
Well, at least it’s not yet another flat write-off of a platform which has stubbornly survived – nay, flourished – in the face of almost two decades of last rites.
Source: Gamasutra
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if he thinks that, then that’s not going to happen for a very fucking long time… the whole touch screen is cool and all but its not the new wave of the future its just a precursor to something bigger, it will be interesting to see how technology will evolve over the next 10 – 30 years… flying cars and hover boards maybe..??
ladylala,
So, more advertising stuff? Games.on.net is having some issues with this :S
But I don’t know, the desktop PC is hard to get rid of as a platform, its so ingrained into families and business that I just don’t see it moving away. Until we get omni tools- Oh wait, they still had desktops in Mass Effect.
Its great to think we’ll have gotten super far in terms of technology (flying cars by 2000′s right?) but I don’t think the merge will be any time soon.
And so it continues….
“Pigs will fly” says some random fool.
Next article.
Spam aside .. this is happening. It doesn’t matter if *you* don’t see it, or use it, the point is that it is happening and it’s still ramping up.
I’m looking at making a game at the moment, just plotting out the core mechanics. Going to start using either Unity or something simpler to get it up and running. I’m still going to release on PC, but without a doubt, I’m thinking smartphones and tablets to either incorporate part of the game or the whole game itself.
PCs are a mature technology. Mobile phones are not. People (except gamers) don’t generally buy a new computer that often anymore, except for when whatever they’re using breaks. But people cycle through phones like hotcakes, whether it’s because their contract is expiring or the new iPhone or whatever gets released. So it’s hardly surprising mobile devices outsell PCs.
Having said that, there’s this annoying trend to move desktop GUIs towards unification with mobile tech (e.g. Windows 8, Unity, GNOME 3 Shell, etc). So I’m happy to be a hermit and stick with desktop-dedicated GUIs like Windows 7 and MATE even if the world passes me buy. :)
What I want is, buy it once and use it on multiple platforms. Am I sick of buying the same program multiple times. Yes.
I use email on my mobile phone only everything else I use on PC’s.
Yes I can use my phone to browse the internet but I use for for function. Small screens and average controls don’t make it enjoyable.
I hate using my phone for games, they are for the most part oversimplified and dull. Then again I have always preferred grand strategy titles which are very niche, even on the PC market
It is closer than you may think. Intels next line of processors is being aimed and designed so one processor can be used in mobiles, laptops and desktop PCs with the ability to scale power usage and performance depending on the device. A one chip for all design.
Yup Intel is doing that, though they may get burned by it. One for all usually ends up as a one fits all but doesn’t perform that well in any. So it’s quite a bold move to do so. There are still massive markets for PC’s and computing in general well beyond phones, which let’s be honest are reverting back to late ’90s level of game design to be able to work on the actual mobile device.
It’s just smoke and mirrors again. PC gaming won’t die any time soon, and it’ll more than likely outlive the next generation of consoles too, just as it did the last 3 generations of consoles which all apparently killed off PC gaming…
PC gaming master race.
Dirty console, tablet and phone peasants?
PC’s strong point is the Graphical, Audio and control fidelity.
I’m yet to see another platform game in 3D eyefinity with AAA games with all settings on maximum with the versatile and accurate control method of the keyboard and mouse with the highest levels of sound quality…
Not to mention it’s hard to throw away 10′s of thousands of game titles from the last 20 odd years including games from additional platforms that the PC can effortlessly emulate; with better image quality than the original.
Plus, Steam makes life easy and has seen sustained growth over the years which has NOT slowed down recently, so PC gaming is far from dying, dead or going to die.
Maybe. I’ll still be enjoying my KB/M combo with my desktop though. I’m dreading the day touch screen, motion sensor, and all of that other kind shit is going to be a standard in gaming.
Never going to happen, and even if it does I’m still sticking with the PC. I’m yet to see a smart phone able to do everything a PC can do.
Sure on a smart phone you can listen to music, watch a movie and play a few cruddy games but you would need to switch to another device to oh say… graphics design, movie editing and then you would need to switch to yet another device to do anything business related for example, programming, accounting… The list can go on.
Why clutter our lives up with so many more devices when a PC can do it all?
Leave mobile devices to being phones/on the go entertainment and let PC’s do the real work and gaming.
This is getting to be like robots. We’ve been going to have robots in every house in 10 years time for 30 or 40 years now. It’s an inevitable step that people can see coming, but the link between what should be happening and reality just isn’t quite getting there.
What I think is likely to happen is that at some point, once technology has progressed sufficiently, we’ll have phones which we use like we do already, but once we come home we can dock them in a special docking unit which is connected to a full-sized mouse, keyboard and monitor (either in a laptop form factor or separated like a desktop). The phone then becomes the computer, such that you only need the one powerful device to do everything you need. The idea of this becoming common-place is probably not too far away since we’ve got a couple of phones which can do this already (there’s a prototype Motorola which can dual-boot with Ubuntu and expand to a full desktop when docked).
This will require more powerful phone CPUs though before this is a realistic option, and I doubt you’ll obtain Battlefield 3 graphics on a docked phone with typical phone GPUs any time soon. But then again… in the future it’ll all be cloud gaming and so the GPU will be irrelevant apparently. Just hope to Jeebus you don’t lose your phone. :)
wyver,
As long as Jaws 19 stays out of it…
When the tablet is powerful enough to play 3D at 24+ inch screen worthy resolution (either directly or via cloud rendering)… and when I can dock the tablet linking it to said screen, keyboard & mouse or other desired controllers… and when I can do all this without having to take out a 2nd mortgage… then the PC will be on its way out.
It would be possible for MS to pair Windows 8 tablets with repurposed XBOXs (new version perhaps) in order to have a single PC you can take with you yet have the extra grunt when at home to play 3D games. Unlikely though, as it is their (and everyone else’s) strategy to get everyone onto more controlled hardware in order to extract more $$ from all software and peripheral sales. They would rather segment the market into strictly controlled XBOX games and crappy tablet software through their own store.