Convergence? We Say Boo Sucks!
December 12, 2005 2:24 AM | Simon Carless
Daniel Cook of the Lost Garden weblog has previously got plenty of kudos for his uber-detailed Nintendogs critique, among others, and his latest opus is an extremely detailed analysis of convergence and video games. Cook explains in his intro: "We are entering the mythical land of game consoles as convergence devices... The dream of big media conglomerates and technologists seems to finally be coming to fruition. Just imagine: a single box that does everything... Yet most attempts at forcing convergence of disparate devices fails. A few geeks buy into the hype, but consumers tend to ignore mutants like PSX and other technological monstrosities."
Probably one of the best take-aways: "So when you heard Microsoft and Sony marketoids blathering on about super technology and cool things you can do with the convergence of all media, you are right to dismiss it as hot air. They are simply filling time until a developer creates a great product that uses their platform." Right? Cynical? Dead wrong? Opinions welcome.
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3 Comments
First, I haven't heard any high talk of "convergence" persay, and I pay pretty close attention. Certainly with the Xbox360, Microsoft intends its users to play music from ipods, and Sony expects that people might browse the web with their PSP.
But I think Daniel is putting words in their mouth. Sony, certainly, is not trying to replace components because, simply, they own them. We know Microsoft isn't because the DVD player on the X360 is barely up to par of what an HDTV dvd player needs.
And besides, "filling time"? I daresay Xbox Live for the 360 is one of the most innovative things we've seen in a very long time.
I think what's happening here is that Daniel wants the Revolution to succeed where the Gamecube didn't. I will be first in line to get one myself, but let's be realist. The odds are stacked against it, not for it. Zelda and Mario weren't enough to save the Gamecube. There's no Halo, GTA, and probably only a washed down Madden. To many people, that's what matters.
P.S. This site isn't very good at remembering the personal info for comments. ?
John Beeler | December 12, 2005 6:52 AM
Thanks for the link. :-)
Actually, the article leans closer to predicting high percentage penetration long term for either Sony or Microsoft. The platform strategy has better payoff long term and generally worse payoff short term.
take care
Danc.
Danc | December 12, 2005 1:20 PM
after reading an article about the psx it seems like its a very good and powerfull piece of hardwear but what has it got to do withe the psp if the psx was made two years earlier. another thing why is it only out in japan and nowhere else. sony has alot to sort out including the farse about the ps3 in europe it is a disgrace and many sony fans are turning to microsoft and the xbox 360. sony please get it sorted you will also be loosing alot of money because christmas is coming up and more people will buy it. i think that you will agree too. this is on behalf of europe and your fans.
soul tech10 | November 16, 2006 9:40 AM