During a discussion panel at WTIA TechNW, the co-founder of Valve, Gabe Newell, feels Apple has the best chance at the moment to "eliminate" the console market in terms of winning the living room. He also discussed why he feels the idea of completely closed systems will hurt gaming in the long run.
His main criticism was towards Apple and how they structured their App Store to focus more on getting people attracted to the shiny device and then own complete control of what they can and can't do with it.
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They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people's access to those things.
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He also mentioned how modern gaming now has four domains of "Internet, mobile, desktop, and living room" with every company trying to dominate a sector or all of them as a way to completely control the market and the users.
In a counter to other members of the panel who said it would be unlikely for consoles to disappear, Newell mentioned while the living room has been traditionally the dominance of consoles, he feels Apple is preparing to make a move to that domain. It would be done in a similar way that allowed Apple to gain dominance or control over the other domains and industries.
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I suspect Apple will launch a living room product that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear.
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He also criticized how closed systems in terms of Microsoft's Xbox Live or Apple's App Store structure ends up hurting creativity in the long run. His main issue was since the owner of the system controls all the content, they can both determine what types of stuff will sell well and been seen as a "cheap" way of avoiding competition which could also hurt innovation as well.
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I'm worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going - there's going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say 'I'm tired of competing with Google, I'm tired of competing with Facebook, I'll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don't like from my world.'
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He did mention how Steam isn't a completely open system either but unlike the others, Steam does provide more support for developers in terms of tools and help with selling games.
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/8...onsole-market/
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Quick News Round-Up:
1) Rockstar announces in celebration of Grand Theft Auto's 10 year anniversary, GTA III will be heading to Android and iOS mobile devices later this year. Rockstar also revealed a $149.99 statue of the main character that comes with accessories will be available for sale and ends the debate on the character's name by saying he is officially named Claude.
2) Nintendo reveals the previously European-only Wii bundle containing New Super Mario Bros Wii and the Soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy 2 will in fact be arriving to other regions for $150. The new bundle removes Gamecube compatibility, the GC controller ports and memory card spots, and the vertical stand due to it now being a horizontal-only console.
3) Another new company has been formed based on former Rare employees as Starfire Studios has been created and announced their first game, Fusion: Genesis, will be available on Xbox Live Arcade in the near future. The company was formed by 4 former members of Rare with the majority of their experience coming from the N64 era and Halo 3 for recent work.