I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while and never seem to get around to it so hear goes…
It’s not much of a secret that I like video games. I tend to think games are a big part of the reason I grew to like computers so much. Computers are a great tool for games, and like many other people before, I eventually became more interested in the tool than in the games that are made with the tool. It does mean that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about video games.
Overall, my preference has always been console games (with a slight bias towards Nintendo). Sure I played Doom and Myst and a variety of not so great X-Wing or Tie Fighter games, but it always goes back to consoles for me.
The only current generation console I own is a Nintendo Wii. Even though I am a little disappointed with the Zelda game on it, I love the Wii. I think most of the playing I’ve done has been either Wii Sports of with games on the Virtual console. Between the wireless controllers and the virtual console games, I have decided that I completely hate dealing with game discs.
Now, on to my prediction…
I think that the Wii will be the final Nintendo console that relies primarily on physical media for its games. Whatever the next system is called (and I can’t even begin to imagine that), something like the virtual console will be the primary form of game distribution.
I would say the odds are very high (but a little less likely) that the X-Box 1080 (the only logical name for the successor to a system where the second version was called the 360) will work the same way. But not as well since it will be Microsoft in charge.
As for Sony, it is pretty safe to say they will not go that way for a long time. They’ve already gone too far down a different (and not so interesting or profitable) road to change course by the next console generation. Maybe for the PS5 (although by that point movies usually stop having numbers, so maybe the “Live Free, or Play Station”).