News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
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Founder of VoodooPC and CTO of HP's gaming business predicts that gaming PCs and consoles as we know them are doomed.
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Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
i wouldnt pay that much for a card but i know plenty of people that would even in these testing times.
What he should have said is we are not gonna make a $500 card cos it will be SH**
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
He hasn't seen the guys that actually buy expensive setups then ;)
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
I think if you look at the low power HP machine that was on Hexus the other day, he might be on to something.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
Really it is relative PC and Console Hardware specifications as we know them that are doomed. I dunno making money up front seems to be the crux of the matter.
This leads me to one point, the Xbox 360, sure in marketshare it is beating the PS3, but doesn't MS's Xbox division cost them way more than Sony's PS division?
As for PC gamers, you may get more lapsed PC gamers back in if hardware specs become more realistic for the average Joe.
PC gaming won't change (beyond normal change) and neither will console gaming, the platforms will just be less powerful. However last time I checked Half Life 1 and MGS 1 were still hardcore experiences.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
DRM is ruining PC gaming.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
If these times are going to bring a death to the hollywood style enormous budget games which require enormous sales to even break even, I hope it takes the hollywoodesque boring, cliched and overused storys and art styles with them too.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
I think he probably has a point as far as PC gaming goes. You can now get more than adequate frame-rates in a range of titles at resolutions up to 1680 x 1050 for a modest £90 outlay (big up the HB4830!). Expense increases exponentially above that requirement because you need to lay out for a new monitor with the higher resolution to make it worth paying the extra on the new card: and seriously, how many PC gamers *want* to game on a 22"+ monitor? There will be the very few, and they will spend huge amounts for ridiculous frame rates at huge resolutions, but I suspect that cards like the 4870 x2 and GTX 295 will become entirely limited run numbered specials: designed and built purely for prestige and the fraction of a % of gamers who have money to burn. The majority of us will look at our 17" 1280 x 1024 monitors, decide they're good for a few more years, and buy the card that will perform adequately at that resolution.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
I disagree with this man and I dropped a comment in both of his postings.
Obviously the man hasn't been long enough in IT to understand the waves of time that ripple and form IT which are pretty much established facts.
I tend to take no offense from his ignorance; he missed that the last 10-odd years or so were a boom, causing the PC/console to become a household item just like the blender.
The niche market, however, has always been there long before the 'home PC bubble' and will remain there.
Some retailers selling 'blenders' might go out of business, but thats not a boutique.
:sleep:
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
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Originally Posted by
Steve
DRM is ruining PC gaming.
Piracy is the real ruiner - DRM is a regretable consequence.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
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Originally Posted by
kalniel
Piracy is the real ruiner - DRM is a regretable consequence.
You've got a 'Chicken or the egg' point there though.
Lots say Piracy is because of DRM, but then DRM is a concequence of Piracy.:confused:
All I can say is... Argh, Ahoy matey :mrgreen:
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
Not really. Software has been pirated pretty much since it existed and pre dates DRM. As with anything of value, if it can be stolen, someone will steal it.
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
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Originally Posted by
twobombs
I disagree with this man and I dropped a comment in both of his postings.
Obviously the man hasn't been long enough in IT to understand the waves of time that ripple and form IT which are pretty much established facts.
According to his bio "this man" founded Voodoo sometime in '91, which means he's been in the silicon bashing game somewhere near 20 years (yes, I know I'm rounding up) - personally I would have said that this was long enough to establish an understanding. And, being rude about it, unless you're the owner of Chillblast etc then I really don't think you should be casting aspersions! :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by
twobombs
I tend to take no offense from his ignorance; he missed that the last 10-odd years or so were a boom, causing the PC/console to become a household item just like the blender. The niche market, however, has always been there long before the 'home PC bubble' and will remain there. Some retailers selling 'blenders' might go out of business, but thats not a boutique.
Sorry, but I agree with him - while there always will be the guys who want to to have a 40%+ overclocked, watercooled, quad-core, dual/triple-gfx monster rig to play Crysis etc on, unfortunately this is going to be a dwindling minority (if you don't believe me - just search Hexus etc for news of suppliers to this market going bust). And if it ain't mainstream then it's going to be increasingly more difficult for companies to justify spending their hard earned R&D $$$'s on these kind of products. In which case the focus is going (obviously!) to be on more mid-range stuff - which is what he's saying.
Meanwhile, (imho) thanks to M$ making a total a** of Vista, console gaming has been looking more and more strong. Again, if you don't believe me, look at the number of games that are coming out on the consoles either first or not coming on PC at all. Plus you've got less fuss and faster 'boot' times on the consoles. I'm not that impatient but because of the hassle factor my Xbox360 (no sniggering from the PS3-boys!) and DS have pretty much supplanted the PC for gaming in my household*. Oh, and that my PC has 'issues' meeting the h/w specs for the games these days doesn't help either... :(
(* or at least the '360 would be gaming-engine-of-choice if it wasn't currently in Frankfurt having the RRoL removed :censored: )
Strangely enough there was a discussion in the house recently about replacing the venerable PS2 we have, and no one seemed particularly fussed for staying with Sony, the kids were lobbying for a Wii. Would have been an easy/no-brainer choice if some muppet at Sony hadn't decided to remove the PS2 compatibility from the PS3. :(
Of the console vendors, I think Nintendo seems to have got it right (good 'mindshare' and apparently making a profit), whereas Sony and Microsoft have got it wrong (too expensive/no-downward-compatibility and poor-reliability respectively). So again, like RS says - things are going to have to change.
All in all, it's going to be interesting times ahead - moreso if M$ actually make Windows7 worth buying. In which case maybe I'll kill my credit cards, rennovate the old PC and get back to PC gaming.
P.S. why the focus on blenders - do you work for Currys? ;)
Re: News - Rahul Sood predicts: gaming hardware as we know it is doomed
Well maybe I'm being bigmouth with it since I've been in the computerbiz longer then mr. HP does ? :)
Lets say maybe I've seen a 'portable' PC long before it was portable and costs $20k, being sold as a boutique product ? Maybe I can see an HP product manager talking when I see one because I've worked not only with them ? There is a political motive driving this man; especially since he's obviously from the blue team ( HP/manager ) and not from the red team ( compaq/techy ) but hey, that could be classified info....
The connection between nowadays PC and the 60's style blender is that both had their day to become an household -effectively a high volume/low margin yielding- item. But since this man is especially targeting ( preying on ? )the boutique market as a major blender retailer he's missing the whole point; it's the regular blender market that's losing profit/margin ( ie: netbooks ) not the boutique market blender. ( ie: larger custom build servers )
Everybody's got a PC nowadays; for special PC you go to the boutique. It's been always like that; and yes, the PC boutique market had quite a boom, but the real big busts will come to the doorsteps of major manufacturers like, you might have guessed it, companies like HP. And they know it. Expect similar (forced) mergers and maybe even Ch11s/fails or even bailouts. Even m$ is cutting their crew; a very healthy situation btw
More on the blender - homepc :
Do you remember the 'infamous' '60 Hollywood blender ? Almost nobody does. Major blender retailers from the 30's 'til the '60 went down there and then. Guess why they went downhill ? The full story and lists of blenders over at jitterbuzz.com/indkit.html Answer: everybody started selling blenders. The survivors ? Those who could differentiate themselves in the new market, not those that continued to sell 'grey *cough* HP *cough* boxes'
Enjoy your day :)