With 2009 coming to a close, November 22nd of next year will mark the 5 year anniversary of the launch of the Xbox 360. The shelf life for most gaming consoles has hovered around the 5 year mark for all of the consoles in recent memory. 2010 should be the year that we hear talks from Microsoft, Sony and maybe even Nintendo, about the incredible advances in the industry and what it means in terms of feeding our wireless controlled addictions. But do we need it?

The XBOX 360 and the PS3 are of course the most powerful of consoles ever produced. (We won’t count the Wii, innovative, but not next generation) I’m still in awe at some of the graphical presentations that these games are putting out. Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 can immerse you in the action to a level that is simply not matched by other forms of entertainment. As I ran through  arctic snow storms, sniping unsuspecting watch guards, I though to myself how impressed I am with the 360 as a whole.  It’s Internet gaming experience seems to be the easiest if you want to hop right into some action or arrange a death match with friends. Graphics and audio presentation are still up to snuff. The system has even earned a key component in the living room for many, streaming Netflix movies, buying content from the XBOX Live marketplace and serving as a DVD player. In fact the XBOX’s major flaw right now is its lack of a blu-ray player, which I’m sure will be remedied soon now that the blu-ray format is starting to gain a little traction.

What is the next generation of consoles going to look like? They’ll probably be solving problems we’re not even aware we have yet. But will the need to move us forward ultimately cripple us? The first thing I think of is downloadable games. Will next gen consoles even have optical drives? I would hope so for a few reasons.

1. While downloads seem to be the wave of the future, that future is still uncertain with bandwidth caps beginning to creep into our cable bills. Nothing like waiting until the 13th so your download limit resets before you buy that new shooter
2. I’m not sure about you, but when I download something big and it starts to choke the Internet connection, my roommate gets a little ticked because he starts to lag in WoW. If I can choke it with a 16mb/s down speed, I’m sure there are plenty of families who will strangle their 5mb/s line.
3. Downloading games will force us to create a new term. “Delayed Instant Gratification”. It’s an oxymoron, but I live pretty close to a game store. I can get to it and back faster than it takes to finish a 4 gig download. (Which might be generous. DVD’s hold 9.7gb and their already hard pressed to fit all their content on a single DVD)
4. Hard drives for the next gen system will need to be interchangeable (like the xbox 360) and a hell of a lot cheaper than today’s hard drives. And let’s be clear, it is simple price gouging by Microsoft. Hard drives are NOT that expensive.
5. What would downloaded games do to the trade-in market? There’s something great about being able to purchase a used game or to trade in an old game for store credit. I don’t see that working in the world of digital downloads. Good for business, bad for consumers

These are just a handful of the problems I see with the future leaning towards digital downloads.  We’re already starting to see some of these issues with the PSP Go! units. While I don’t want to stand in the way of progress, I’m finding myself clinging to the old world with a sense of fanactcism. Aside from the traditional graphics and power pumps, I can’t imagine what other innovations might be coming. Enhanced web presence? Social networking? Tighter integration into the living room experience?

Your guess is as good as mine.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Technology, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.