How do you feel about the digital only future of consoles?

[Issac Zachary]

Some people in tech predict the future of "hollow devices". In other words we will all have streaming devices that simply send button, key, mouse, joystick, etc. movements to some data center somewhere where we pay to rent the computing capabilites there and it streams back the video output to the "hollow device" so you can see and hear what you're doing.

That way, things like cryogenic cooling of quantum processors and such can be done without having to drag around a flask of liquid helium in a faraday cage. You'll be able to try the i9 or Ryzen 9 tier for 10 days before commiting to a subscription. Heat generated at the data center will be used to heat homes or make heat for factories for melting candle wax or something similar instead of heating up a processor in your home or hands.

If you need a cosntant data conection to play games already, why not?

[vol.2]

parallel gives way to serial gives way to parallel. rinse and repeat

[neorichieb1971]

If games go digital only it creates a big problem.

What if you buy a game for full price and you don't like it?
Answer : I guess you could buy daily access fees. Or have the Microsoft Xbox system where you buy a pass.

How do you feel being at the mercy of your ISP?
This is a problem since if all your entertainment is reliant on the internet connection your sitting in a room staring at the wall when it goes down.

How many people are cut out of the economy chain by going digital only?
Warehousing, packaging artists, logistics, disc pressing companies and shop employees lose their jobs.

Personally I see nothing in the future that gets me excited about this industry in a digital only era. But humans won't learn until there are only creators left doing any work and nobody left to buy their content.

The biggest question is why you would want any game consoles at all. Or why you would want a monopoly of organizations controlling everything channelled through only a handful of avenues, where there is no competition to keep prices down.

I know its a bit deep, but we are heading for a society where this digital era we are talking about is going to choke society. Not just in gaming but in everyway. The reason to go out shopping, the reason to get excited about owning something, the reason that when the powers that be want to turn something off, your fooked. How will licences work in such an era? Unlimited licence?

[vol.2]

Or why you would want a monopoly of organizations controlling everything channelled through only a handful of avenues, where there is no competition to keep prices down.

I know its a bit deep, but we are heading for a society where this digital era we are talking about is going to choke society. Not just in gaming but in everyway. The reason to go out shopping, the reason to get excited about owning something, the reason that when the powers that be want to turn something off, your fooked. How will licences work in such an era? Unlimited licence?

This is a broader capitalism problem. Same thing happens with the consolidation of all media and this is exactly why there are anti-trust laws. The issues you are describing is a result of technology surpassing the regulatory bodies' capacity to control the overreach of corporate control

There's nothing that can be done to force physical releases in the future, and newer games are often reliant on downloadable content post-release for consoles already anyways. How many of those physical releases these days ship broken or hampered from the intended experience?

[TooBeaucoup]

If games go digital only it creates a big problem.

What if you buy a game for full price and you don't like it?
Answer : I guess you could buy daily access fees. Or have the Microsoft Xbox system where you buy a pass.

How do you feel being at the mercy of your ISP?
This is a problem since if all your entertainment is reliant on the internet connection your sitting in a room staring at the wall when it goes down.

How many people are cut out of the economy chain by going digital only?
Warehousing, packaging artists, logistics, disc pressing companies and shop employees lose their jobs.

Personally I see nothing in the future that gets me excited about this industry in a digital only era. But humans won't learn until there are only creators left doing any work and nobody left to buy their content.

The biggest question is why you would want any game consoles at all. Or why you would want a monopoly of organizations controlling everything channelled through only a handful of avenues, where there is no competition to keep prices down.

I know its a bit deep, but we are heading for a society where this digital era we are talking about is going to choke society. Not just in gaming but in everyway. The reason to go out shopping, the reason to get excited about owning something, the reason that when the powers that be want to turn something off, your fooked. How will licences work in such an era? Unlimited licence?

As far as PC is concerned, Steam at least has a return feature that allows you to get your money back as long as you've played the game for less than 2 hours or before 2 weeks time is up. It's certainly not perfect, but I can usually tell within an hour or so if a game is going to be outright terrible. I've returned more than a few on Steam for a refund. Going forward in the future, who knows if that would always be their policy, though.