Phantom Console... Will You Buy One?
- Thread starter firestorm
- Start date
For a dedicated machine, certainly not, but if it was included as an option in the cable packages I think it could really take off. On a vaguely-related note, I finally thought of a use for Vince's CELL WORLD - Sony can hardwire demos of PS3 games into their TVs.Phil said:
If consumers wanted pay per play then arcades would still dominate like they did not less than 10 years ago. Times have changed. People will still want to own the physical media they play so they can do it when they want and not from some service based network. What the hell are they going to do when they have outages and can't play their games? I think some might buy into it but most won't.
Sonic said:
IDEA How about, the Phantom "console" is actually an arcade board?
AzBat said:
Okay, I disagree a lot with you on this!
Firstly I don't think there any money to be made from casual gamers, as opposed to it being a lucrative market. People play Solitaire because they have a spare minute and it's available and quick. They don't pay for it and I don't believe people would pay for it. If it weren;t free, it wouldn't be the most played game. These casual gamers are people that do other activities and don't care for gaming, so you'll be hard pushed to make any money out of them. eg. My sister got a GB Color, played it for about a week, and then it gathered dust. She then got a GBA, played a couple of games, and it gathers dust. She prefers to go out clubbing etc. so gaming just isn't her thing, and that's not likely to change.
Secondly, I don't think you can write games/create a system to appeal to the casual gamers. This is a false Golden Fleece for Nintendo. Look at DS. How many people with a DS weren;t first GB owners? How many grannies and 50 year old accountants are buzzing around with DS's? I don't think there's any figures on that, but as the sales rate is the same as GBA, one can only assume it's the same people, and certainly not more people attracted to this new gaming style Nintendo are offering.
If simple games were to appeal to casual gamers, why didn't the whole world play Spectrum and BBC games? They were simple! There's millions of phone-games, web-games and Cable TV box games out there, but I don't know of any public hits in the same way as maybe the Sims. If it's not already freely available on the click of a button like Solitaire (a training tool, and never intended as a game for the masses, plus only a computer representation of a past-time people have used for centuries!) the casual gamer will never even consider looking for a computer game to fill their time : they're just not that interested in games!
Do you honestly believe the sort of people that only play Solitaire would be interested in shelling out $30-40 a month for similarly simple games on a gaming service? It'd be cheaper to subscribe to cable and play their games, plus get umpteen hundred TV channels. Or just scour the web for free Java games.
Maybe it will be possible someday to create a gaming style that appeals to everyone in the same way films do. EyeToy came close in being a game even my MOTHER played and enjoyed! though it tires quickly. Until then gaming is a hobby that will appeal to only a portion of people same as any other hobby. You will no more be able to sell a console to a casual gamer that plays a game once a year at a friend's house than you will be able to sell a horse to someone who rides one once a year at a holiday resort!
Sorry guys for being late getting back to this.
When I said Solitaire demographic I was kinda being a little over-the-top. I understand how and why Solitaire is the most played game of all time. And I understand that most people that played it is because it's free. So I agree those kind of people are not going to be targeted by a game service like the Phantom.
Anyway, I meant the demographic that plays Sims, retro classics(TV Games) and web games(Bejeweled). These type of games are games that can be easily distributed over current DSL and Cable bandwidth. That's where Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade is going. Arcade includes retro games, card games, puzzle games, etc. I can see the demographic that buy these kind of games being HUGE.
I agree with Fodder that a dedicated machine for this kind of online gaming service is not viable for long-term. The long-term strategy is to get it into cable/satellite boxes. I think Infinium understands this and thus the reason to offer the hardware free if you sign a yearly contract for the service. They may have plans to include their technology in other devices. To a certain extent this is how TiVo has been able to last as long as they have.
As for pay-per-play not succeeding in the arcade, I believe the reason is because the technology in the home was meeting and exceeding the arcade experience. Why go all the way to the mall's arcade and put in quarters if you can have essentially the same experience at home? It had nothing to do with wanting to own the media. If that was the case, then why is the movie rental such a huge market? The Phantom service is taking some business strategy ideas from satellite/cable and movie/game rental markets and trying to apply it to the gaming market. I think it has merits. Could it bomb? Yes, and if it does I think that proves my original comment that it might be too early. Case in point: Valve's Steam service.
Shifty, I'm not sure about your DS point. When was the DS targeted at casual gamers? Never IMHO.
I think the sales of the Jakks TV Games, Sims and web-type games are proof that there exists a large gaming demographic that is not currently being tapped by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. That's where I see Phantom going and thus why I believe it shouldn't be compared to the existing consoles. Again, whether or not they succeed is a totally different discussion.
Tommy McClain
When I said Solitaire demographic I was kinda being a little over-the-top.
I understand how and why Solitaire is the most played game of all time. And I understand that most people that played it is because it's free. So I agree those kind of people are not going to be targeted by a game service like the Phantom.Anyway, I meant the demographic that plays Sims, retro classics(TV Games) and web games(Bejeweled). These type of games are games that can be easily distributed over current DSL and Cable bandwidth. That's where Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade is going. Arcade includes retro games, card games, puzzle games, etc. I can see the demographic that buy these kind of games being HUGE.
I agree with Fodder that a dedicated machine for this kind of online gaming service is not viable for long-term. The long-term strategy is to get it into cable/satellite boxes. I think Infinium understands this and thus the reason to offer the hardware free if you sign a yearly contract for the service. They may have plans to include their technology in other devices. To a certain extent this is how TiVo has been able to last as long as they have.
As for pay-per-play not succeeding in the arcade, I believe the reason is because the technology in the home was meeting and exceeding the arcade experience. Why go all the way to the mall's arcade and put in quarters if you can have essentially the same experience at home? It had nothing to do with wanting to own the media. If that was the case, then why is the movie rental such a huge market? The Phantom service is taking some business strategy ideas from satellite/cable and movie/game rental markets and trying to apply it to the gaming market. I think it has merits. Could it bomb? Yes, and if it does I think that proves my original comment that it might be too early. Case in point: Valve's Steam service.
Shifty, I'm not sure about your DS point. When was the DS targeted at casual gamers? Never IMHO.
I think the sales of the Jakks TV Games, Sims and web-type games are proof that there exists a large gaming demographic that is not currently being tapped by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. That's where I see Phantom going and thus why I believe it shouldn't be compared to the existing consoles. Again, whether or not they succeed is a totally different discussion.
Tommy McClain
AzBat said:
I don't have any specific quotes to hand but certainly (iirc) the bigwigs at Nintendo preceeded the device's launch with talk of reaching out to a new audience and appealing to new gamers.
I cuold be wrong but that's certainly the impression I've got the past few months - not targetting existing gamers (mostly GB owners?) but making gaming accessbile to the more casual market.
