Idea's to improve future consoles?

[GizMo_The_Great]

Ok so this is a debate me and a friend had, over what things all consoles lack.. that could easily be implemented to make the consoles better.

I argue that the one thing I would really like to see is multiple screen play...

For example, most games these days don't support split screen. So if I want to play with friends or indeed family members we each have to have a console and a copy of the game... Not too bad between friends, but its playing with family members where the problems start...

Lets say you want to play an FPS game. You don't want to play in split screen because then you and the person you are playing with can see each others screen making it easy to find each other. Or the game doesn't support split screen.

Most people have more than one or two TV's, but to play on separate TV's you need two consoles, 2 copies of the game.. and for games without system link... sometimes even two on-line subscriptions.

So why not add 4 HDMI slots to a console. When playing in multi-player each players display is sent through a different HDMI.. All from one console and one copy of the game. Its not hard to do as I've done something similar with my PC on several occasions.

So do you think this is a good idea...and what idea's do you have to improve consoles

Edited January 5, 2014 by GizMo_The_Great

[Dr_Mayus]

Sony did something like this with their 3D display. It was a neat feature and a shame it never took off (screen size and price saw a swift end to it).

 

Honestly the 1 thing I would want is 0 load times. I really don't care if graphics get any better or we get better frames per second. I just want 0 load times. This should not be a problem any more but we are still waiting upwards of 30-40 seconds for a level to load O_o (yeah I'm looking at you Sports Champions 2).

 

Give me that and companies can keep all their useless social media garbage and cool lighting effects.

[rhyperiorx]

Ok so this is a debate me and a friend had, over what things all consoles lack.. that could easily be implemented to make the consoles better.

I argue that the one thing I would really like to see is multiple screen play...

For example, most games these days don't support split screen. So if I want to play with friends or indeed family members we each have to have a console and a copy of the game... Not too bad between friends, but its playing with family members where the problems start...

Lets say you want to play an FPS game. You don't want to play in split screen because then you and the person you are playing with can see each others screen making it easy to find each other. Or the game doesn't support split screen.

Most people have more than one or two TV's, but to play on separate TV's you need two consoles, 2 copies of the game.. and for games without system link... sometimes even two on-line subscriptions.

So why not add 4 HDMI slots to a console. When playing in multi-player each players display is sent through a different HDMI.. All from one console and one copy of the game. Its not hard to do as I've done something similar with my PC on several occasions.

So do you think this is a good idea...and what idea's do you have to improve consoles

 

Nice idea but I'm waiting for online game trading. The idea means, any game that you brought from PSN can be trade for cash or games that a person has.

Edited January 5, 2014 by rhyperiorx

[Asuka Langley]

Grammar: *Ideas

[rhyperiorx]

Grammar: *Ideas

 

Oh noes! The grammar sentry robot is here lol.

[Asuka Langley]

Oh noes! The grammar sentry robot is here lol.

I'm coming down with un-bearable force.

[KingCuervo88]

backwards compatibility and older games given trophies.... 

[GizMo_The_Great]

Grammar: *Ideas

Lol my apologies grammar fairy lol... to be fair I'm a sucker for grammar. But I've spent the last few months writing and I'm getting lazy now. I usually read back everything I write, but I felt no need achieve literary excellence in this forum ha ha.

But still thanks for pointing it out lol.. If you are looking for work I could use someone to proof read my work on a regular basis.

[rhyperiorx]

I'm coming down with un-bearable force.

 

Damn it Teddie, now I have to throw you a sexy party for making me lol. Invite Everyone!!!!!!!

[Sand dan Glokta]

give us some sort of modding system, imo that is the one true advantage PC gaming has over consoles (I could care less about 60fps at 1080p etc)

I have hundreds of mods for both Skyrim and Left 4 Dead 2 and it greatly extends the life of the game and you get to see just how creative the community can get

[antithesis]

I'm gonna go with "that's fucking ridiculous".

 

Most people do not have multiple TVs in a side-by-side array, nor do they have HDMI cabling throughout the house to facilitate multiple screen output to different rooms. Not to mention the horsepower you'd need to power 4 x concurrent outputs from the 1 machine - the PS4 and XB1 are barely capable of 1080p to 1 display, let alone 4 

 

An alternative yet equally ridiculous possibility is multiple head-mounted displays attached to the one console, eliminating the need for multiple HDTVs entirely. Those headsets *should* feature wide-screen auto-stereoscopy, head-tracking, eye-tracking, voice-recognition, 7.1 surround sound etc, but the cost far outweighs the benefit.

 

The market for multiple screen output for consoles is minuscule at best. That's why we have online multiplayer - the days of playing games on the couch with your mates is long dead. You're better off buying multiple consoles, attaching them to individual TVs and purchasing digital versions of a game. That gives you at least two accounts for the one game, at least on PS3.

 

Best to leave the brainstorming to the experts...we have no idea nor are any of us in the position to speculate what the next generation holds for consoles. That said, I'll play along and say we can almost bet the house that the console hardware and physical disc will be redundant and both MS and Sony will move to a server / dumb terminal model whereby you subscribe to the service and all of your gaming is powered by the cloud. All we'll have to show for it is a controller and a small box similar to the Vita TV. But that's as close as we can get to a glimpse into the future and we're still a good decade away from that model succeeding based on the current piss-poor standard of global internet infrastructure.

Edited January 5, 2014 by ant1th3s1s

[GizMo_The_Great]

Hey it was only an idea, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't own at least two TV sets. As for leaving the brainstorming to the experts, look where that almost got us.. System wide DRM, and consoles that must connect online every 24 hours or they don't work.

I'm not gonna act like I know how everyone feels in regards to split screen but it's where multi-player began. Playing against family beats playing against random people any day. I'd much rather have the option of hooking up my console to two TV's than buying two of everything. Or at least add split screen into most multi-player titles again. Kicking you're siblings butts on Goldeneye or Timesplitters was a great feeling. Better than getting team killed by some jackass in Battlefield who then proceeds to dip his virtual balls into your virtual mouth... Unless you enjoy that kind of thing.

Edited January 6, 2014 by GizMo_The_Great

[antithesis]

Hey it was only an idea, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't own at least two TV sets. 

 

How often do you see those two TVs in close enough proximity to a single console for multiple HDMI output to be a practical solution?

 

More often than not, those two (or more) TVs are at opposite ends of the house, or one is in the lounge and another in a bedroom. So multiple HDMI outputs from a console Is nothing short of impractical.

 

Nor is it an easy solution - 4 concurrent 1080p streams from 1 device requires an exponential amount of processing power. Find me a PC that can do that...I don't mean 1 stream to an array of 3 monitors, I mean 4 individual streams to 4 separate screens.

 

As I said, if you game with a family member, buy two consoles and a digital version of a game. PS3 games will install to two consoles (it used to be four) and can be used on two accounts concurrently. Problem solved. Four consoles / TVs / copies of the game is overkill and will rarely, if ever, be a problem.

 

 

As for leaving the brainstorming to the experts, look where that almost got us. System wide DRM, and consoles that must connect online every 24 hours or they don't work.

 

I was referring to hardware specifications, though none of those were bad ideas for the business of video gaming. MS's roadmap for the XB will happen, but it's a few years too soon for us to swallow without chewing.

 

We really have no clear idea of what shape the next generation to take. We can blue-sky headset specifications, which I think is the next logical step for gaming to take, or we can discuss the pros and cons of cloud gaming, which is the next logical step for the industry to take, or we can cross our fingers for 4K output or daydream about holographic displays. But the reality is, we need 1Gbit fibre-optic as the standard internet connection for  cloud gaming and 4K to become a reality, and that ain't happening anytime soon for the vast majority of planet Earth. And frankly gaming communities are too resistant to change for headsets or holographic displays to manifest themselves as mainstream within a human generation.

 

But I can be sure of one thing - 4 HDMI outputs from 1 console will never happen. It just doesn't make any practical sense to invest in features that one in a million people are ever going to use.

Edited January 6, 2014 by ant1th3s1s