consoles at Pando© PandoDigital-only gaming prepares for primetime despite the US' horrible Internet connections2013-02-07T19:46:16+00:002015-06-21T14:40:38+00:00<p>It's no secret that the United States' Internet infrastructure is, well, shit. As Bloomberg's Susan Crawford covered last December, US Internet users are <a href="">paying exorbitant fees for slow service that will be obsolete within a few years</a>, and that's if they're lucky enough to have a high-speed connection in the first place. Poor infrastructure negatively impacts any Web-related endeavor, but one particularly affected category -- fully digital videogame consoles -- might be closer to becoming a reality than expected.</p> <p>Consoles have been increasingly reliant on Internet connections for some time. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U are less focused than their predecessors, morphing from specialized devices meant specifically for gaming into full-blown media devices with access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, and other streaming services. Videogames themselves are more connected than ever before, with services like Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network replacing the arcade as de facto gathering places for gamers. Pulling an ethernet cable from a modern console effectively quarters its <a href="">impact on the living room</a>.</p> <p>Still, it's hard to imagine consoles adopting a fully-digital approach to gaming. (If anything, <a href="">Nintendo's Wii Mini and its lack of Internet capability</a> shows that some consoles could head in the opposite direction.) Downloading high-profile games like "Dead Space 3" and the dozens of gigabytes they're comprised of is different from streaming "House of Cards" on Netflix or even downloading the latest "Angry Birds" game to a smartphone. Having to move such large files over the standard (read: horrible) US Internet connection is enough to make any gamer scream obscenities -- not that that's hard.</p> <p>But recent developments suggest that we'll be abandoning -- or, at least, starting to abandon -- disc-based games faster than you can say "I remember when games were played on cartridges!" (Maybe not that fast.) Whether it's efforts from up-and-coming console makers, like OUYA and Valve, possible contenders, like Apple, or developments at gaming's juggernauts, like Microsoft and GameStop, it looks like 2013 is the year that a digital console doesn't seem like such a pipe dream.</p> <p>Both OUYA's console and Valve's <a href="">Steambox</a> will rely exclusively on downloadable games. <a href="">OUYA</a> will utilize its own games marketplace and Google's Play Store, among other services, to <a href="">create a system</a> that emulates Valve's own Steam platform, which already sells games and other content to PC users. Choosing OUYA or the Steambox is a vote for digital gaming by default.</p> <p>Then there's Apple, which has been haunting the gaming market for years. Valve's Gabe Newell recently <a href="">dubbed Apple the biggest obstacle to the Steambox's success</a>, saying that he believes the company to have all of the pieces in place to "roll" current console makers (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) and maybe even beat Valve to the living room. I have my reservations about Newell's assertion, as current console makers have too much skin in the game to cede the living room as easily as he predicts, but if Apple does enter the gaming market it will almost certainly do so with a digital-only offering.</p> <p>Apple has no love for physical media. The company has systematically removed disc drives from its computers and still doesn't offer a Blu-ray drive 7 years after the format's introduction. If the mythical Apple television set or Apple console (which could be nothing more than a glorified Apple TV ) does enter the market it seems unlikely that it will embrace a format it's made a point of ignoring for almost a decade.</p> <p>Even if none of these newcomers, either confirmed or rumored, make a dent in the market, there's still Microsoft and Sony. Both companies have made headway in the digital gaming space with Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network beyond their facilitation of prepubescent rage and vitriol. The Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store offer downloadable games for customers, ranging from blown-up versions of iOS games ("Jetpack Joyride") to indie titles ("Fez," "Journey") and high-profile games ("Dead Space 3," "Assassin's Creed 3"). Nintendo does the same with the Wii U and the original Wii with its Virtual Console, which sells "retro" games to cash in on nostalgia, and WiiWare titles that wouldn't be out of place on the Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Store.</p> <p>It's possible to use any of those consoles without ever inserting a game disc. It likely wouldn't be ideal if one were obsessed with high-profile titles that don't make it to any of the marketplaces or with being able to play a game almost immediately after purchase, given those pesky download speeds, but it's doable. And if recent reports on the next Xbox are to be believed, going digital-only could be more viable than ever before.</p> <p>Microsoft has <a href="">reportedly added "anti-used-games" technology to its next console</a>, which is expected to be announced-slash-released this year. This would prevent gamers from purchasing a game, finishing it, and then returning it to a GameStop (it's always a GameStop, and we'll touch on that a little more in a bit) to recoup some of the cost. The initial reaction to this news was harsh -- I referred to it as "completely fucked" when I first saw the report from EDGE -- but there might be more to it than meets the eye.</p> <p>Question: When does not being able to play a used game matter? Answer: When you're meant to be downloading games anyway. You can't "turn in" a game on the App Store or the Play Store -- that would be ridiculous. EDGE believes that <a href="">Microsoft is using the anti-used-gaming tech to push customers to downloadable titles</a>. Rather than using the "carrot" to convince customers to switch, Microsoft decided to swing a rather large, contentious "stick."</p> <p>There is one loser in this switch: GameStop. The company, which had previously reported that <a href="">48 percent of its gross profits</a> came from used game sales in Q3 2012, <a href="">saw its shares tumble</a> after reports of Microsoft's new tech came out. Buying and selling used games is a money-making machine for GameStop, as it allows the company to profit from game sales without having to give a cut to the game's publisher. Blocking the practice is basically an early Christmas present from Microsoft to game publishers.</p> <p>So what's GameStop to do? Well, it can get in on the shift to digital as well. The company already diversified its stores by branching out from selling just consoles and videogames to selling devices, like Android-based tablets and iOS products, and <a href="">recently announced a $10 million fund for mobile game developers</a>. And if the US' premier videogame seller starts pushing customers to go digital, well, chances are that they're going to do so.</p> <p>It's going to take a lot for digital gaming to become the norm. Mentioning the state of connectivity in the US might seem redundant, but in this case it's necessary: If the Internet service providers don't improve their infrastructure (and remove data caps from customers' connections) digital gaming will have to constantly fight against the status quo.</p> <p>[Image courtesy <a href="">bobcat123</a>]</p>© PandoNathaniel Mott Gabe Newell's oddly profound quote on Apple and the future of the living room2013-01-31T19:56:29+00:002015-06-21T14:36:40+00:00<p>The Apple TV has always been a bit of an oddity. Apple's puck-shaped streaming device is the company's sole contender for the living room, yet it doesn't bring anything to the television screen that isn't better delivered by other streaming boxes, videogame consoles, or, with the rise of "smart" devices, the television itself. Still, Apple's tenuous grip on customers' living rooms has Valve's Gabe Newell, who is working on the <a href="">Steambox</a> PC-slash-console, worried.</p> <p>Speaking to a class at University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, <a href="">Newell reportedly said</a>: <blockquote><em>The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform. I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?</em></blockquote> There's actually a lot packed into that small paragraph, so let's consider each point:</p> <p><strong>"The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform."</strong></p> <p>There's no denying that Apple has captured large portions of the smartphone and tablet markets, but both markets are finally pushing back against Apple's dominance. Apple doesn't have as large a marketshare as Android in the smartphone category, and a mix of Samsung, Amazon, and Google-built tablets have <a href="">ended the iPad's reign as king tablet</a>.</p> <p>And, despite the obviousness of Apple's pathway to the living room -- release a television already, damn it! -- the company has always been careful with its approach to the living room. Steve Jobs referred to the Apple TV as a "hobby" at two conferences, spaced <a href="">years apart</a>, and Tim Cook has alternately referred to the device <a href="">as a hobby</a> or as an area of "<a href="">intense interest.</a>" Some could see this as a bait-and-switch, but so far it seems that Apple's CEOs have been upfront about exactly what the device means to the company.</p> <p>That isn't to say that it couldn't happen. Hell, Apple could make its way into the videogame console market by beefing up the existing streaming box, adding access to games and opening the platform to developers. Some games and apps are able to take advantage of both an iOS device and the Apple TV to create a new experience, <a href="">as Graham Spencer notes at MacStories</a>, but the current offerings are mediocre. And, given how long it took Apple to add Hulu Plus to the Apple TV, waiting for open access feels a bit like waiting for a snowstorm in July.</p> <p><strong>"I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging -- I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily."</strong></p> <p>The first part of this sentence rings true. It's easier to enter the living room in 2013 than it was back in the 90s or the turn of the century, when Nintendo and Sony blocked or killed just about every competitor. Now we have projects like <a href="">Ouya</a> and <a href="">GameStick</a> (both Kickstarted, Android-based consoles) that bring "good enough" options to gamers on the cheap. These devices aren't as technically powerful as traditional consoles, but they are working to capitalize on the ever-growing casual market.</p> <p>So far as Apple's "rolling" of the console guys... That one's a bit harder to accept. Sure, Sony and Nintendo aren't in the best of shape -- Nintendo had to do <a href="">a complete about-face on its financials</a> because its Wii U console isn't meeting expectations -- but Microsoft won't go so easily.</p> <p>For all its faults as a company, whether it's Windows 8's lackluster reception, the bizarre price and build of the Surface tablet, or Steve Ballmer's repeated demonstrations of just how little touch he has with the consumer market, Microsoft knows how to do gaming. The Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles were able to find a market despite Nintendo and Sony's dominance, and Microsoft has used this success to become <a href="">a genuine living room powerhouse</a>.</p> <p>Even if Apple manages to beat Nintendo and Sony, it's probably rough to describe the shift as a "rolling" of the competition. Perhaps a better metaphor would be "a changing of the guard."</p> <p><strong>"The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"</strong></p> <p>Ah, now we've gotten to the goods. Newell has touched on the fact that Valve (and its Steambox and Steam gaming platform) are fighting a multi-headed beast. It isn't necessarily enough to grab the PC -- though Steam is already a popular gaming platform -- and it isn't enough to get mobile, either. The future of the living room is multi-platform.</p> <p>Valve will probably benefit from Apple's sluggishness as it races to enter both markets. Even if Apple introduces a new, open, more powerful living room device tomorrow, the sheer size of Steam and its user base could allow Valve to grab the "hardcore" market and work its way down from there. Competing with videogame consoles requires console-quality games, and those are rare on the App Store.</p> <p>Newell repeated the Apple threat later on in his lecture, saying that "The biggest challenge, I don't think is from the consoles." He continued, "I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together."</p> <p>This is probably the most prescient observation from the lecture. Apple beating Microsoft and the Xbox console (and, perhaps, platform) seems like a longshot -- Apple entering the living room before Dell, HP, Lenovo, and whoever else realize that that's the next big computing market doesn't.</p> <p>Isn't that what Apple's done best for the last six years? The iPhone, the iPad, the MacBook Air; Apple shipped all of these and shaped the industry's perception of entire product categories before many competitors even realized that people would give a damn.</p> <p>But Gabe Newell is no Steve Ballmer, Meg Whitman, or Mike Lazaridis. He knows that even if Apple isn't a pressing threat at this juncture that it could become one in the near future, and that foresight makes Valve better prepared for that seemingly-inevitable conflict than everyone else Apple has fought against.</p> <p>[Image courtesy <a href="">Atajo de locos</a>]</p>© PandoNathaniel Mott