Reality Check - What if the PS4 or Xbox One Fail?

Dont care if both fail. Steam box and occulus rift will swoop in soon anyways and grab a lot of the gamers. No more subscription fees no more high prices, its all good.

Don't you find it weird that the 2 companies came out with a new console at exactly the same time, with almost identical hardware specs (cpu, gpu, ram - yes I know there are subtle differences). I have a feeling they had some coordination between them.

As far as console manufacture goes, we have had something near monopolies for a long time in the industry, with a lot of attempts at competition failing from various factors. However, when it comes to competition creating socially questionable practices, then it may be worth thinking about how that relates to software development and some of the darker stories about working in the industry.

Cam, you forgot about Nintendo. Good show none the less.

I hope both fail

ugh, cam drives me nuts.

Might brush some decent ideas from time to time and some cool subject matters, but he never really seems to fully understand the deeper concepts he's trying to use to sound intelligent or will just use the first page of a great idea to sell his point and ignore, forget or completely misinterpret the real points the sources he's pulling from were trying to make to begin with.

don't mean to rip on you cam, but you need to go deeper and think about your conclusions more...

makes me think of the dave chapelle skit where he was blind. i think some people go out of their way to push other peoples buttons, tho

microsoft! why have you failed me!!!!

I should also add, not only did hardware makers, minus Nintendo, bleed money this gen only monetizing marginally through software and services, game publishers/devs, bled money by making HUGE budget games that couldn't fully recoup losses/expenses because of used games (and piracy), so we saw less differentiation because mostly larger games survive. DLC (and free-to-play) is a direct result of used games and piracy affecting big budget games.

Remember how earlier this gen we got all these creative new game concepts? Well, they were still in PS2 mode (PS2 was incredibly dominant) and that caused them to lose a lot of money. Loads of games with huge budgets failed. Huge games killed smaller ones. I know that is largely the fault of their business models (not knowing how to keep making money after a game has launched some time ago since used games takes all of their long tail profits).

BTW, loved the episode, Cam. Monopoly or oligopoly only hurts one side: the consumer.

Ah... If PS4 came with that half asian goddess from the PS4 trailer...

I really really hope one fails. I don't care which. Not that we don't want competition in the hardware space, Nintendo and Apple are enough to keep them on their feet--but we as gamers/consumers shouldn't want the hardware wars to water down games. We could be having games fully customized for the leading/only console for core gamers and it would fully use all capabilities of the stystem firstly. Less costs in development. Secondly, since resources are reduced and quality is set at a higher minimum, we'll all get more creative games as the market tries to differentiate itself and find a niche. This happened when there were fewer consoles (and/or dominant consoles) and we should want this to happen again. Better games and we might even have a few players drop prices of new games or offer multiplayer only instead of tacking on campaigns like Battlefield is doing and up until Ghosts, Call of Duty used to do.

comment on here is 1st, then facebook, then twitter and last is google plus .... hmmmm.

Awesome show! And I'd like more competition by Nintendo. More competition is usually better for the consumer, as it creates more choice. Even if it does not affect the price, just being able to find something more suited to you, is a good thing.

I'm a PS4 owner now and I still laughed when he mentioned "Build Quality". lol

These 60 fps videos still kinda weird me out, I like them though.

Oh and PC gaming FTW.

Well, when the idiots realise they are paying 4-500$ for 2% better graphics & not much else, the so called next gen. maybe in serious trouble!

The complete overlooking of Nintendo in this episode, particularly the dig at the end about the possibility that a 'third' console maker could enter the fray, made me experience schadenfreude. Was this a set up? Because it worked.

well if either company fails the other will screw us completely knowing we have no competition =/

@digitalaffect

Regarding your comments on a specific value system. I would have to disagree as we are animals so to say. Throughout our history and even in the animal kingdom the weak or different have been culled to prevent our genetics becoming flawed as a race. I think this is what the study shows within in us is some kind of automatic check system for finding a mate and removing the weak. Look at how woman choose men and men choose woman.

I uselly never comment on this show, cause ur often very informed and have realy good topics.

But this time there where some missinformation.

1. Competition has been proved with many studdies that it preduces less inovation and more faulty products.

2. and this is the biggest fail. To get happy cause of others missery is a Value system, and no one is born with a specific value system, we learn or get indoctornated with one, or what ever word u like to use...

IFollow a guy called jacque Fresco and u will learn alot about that topic

Sorry for my english.

This is probably the last successful generation of consoles, in the last generation the gap between consoles and pc wasn't that big, hell the specs for each console actually made us go wooooow, can anyone go woooow with this generation? honestly no, and plus before it was way too expensive to build a heavy rig pc, today it's not so much, if PC evolution has told us anything it's that by the next generation of consoles PC's will be so out of their league that lots of console only games will probably migrate to PC, consoles will only be playing a cultural psychological marketing game where they will continue as tradition trying to drive into gamers minds that consoles are the best and most typical way of gaming, when they're really not.

Another great ep Cam. I'm always looking forward for more but I have to say that what really got me curious this week was the baby experiments (sounds so wrong if I say it like this...)

@AggrandizedUser Well, no, fast growing doesn't mean significance. An embryo is the fastest growing human being, but they aren't the largest human beings. Like human beings, economic development eventually plateaus. Like how the Japanese economy was assumed that it would take over the globe, and yet they plateaued within a decade.

My thesis wasn't only PCs are relevant. it was that open platforms are more important for continued boom in the industry. Android is an open platform, and iOS is relatively open, therefore you judgement of my statement isn't entirely valid. Just because I didn't explicitly mention it, doesn't mean that I excluded them from my argument.

I think we're all overestimating the relevancy of consoles in a generation that they are quickly being outpaced in every field they considered to be a strength.

The strength of the gaming resurgence isn't universal, and Microsoft and Sony are struggling to keep pace with the PC. Their closed systems simply can't keep pace with the open nature of the PC gaming space. They might get hit indie games eventually, but the primary market for those games are Windows/OSX/Linux.

So the question should have been: what if both consoles fail?

Competition is important for the market. If just Nintendo could stick a BIG finger in SONY and Microsoft 's pie I think I would be even more excited about the games that comes out for the consoles.

I hope neither SONY, Microsoft or Nintendo fails so hard that they go bankrupt (people would lose their jobs).

Competition wasn't good for the Royal Flying Corps [RFC] (precursor to the British Royal Air Force) in the early twentieth century. They hade forty aircraft, all more or less identical, despite being built by different companies in different places. The problem was each aircraft maker wanted a sure sale, so once the RFC bought one aircraft, the other companies copied it's design almost completely because they knew, or thought they knew it would be bought. When the First World War started, just how poor those designs were became rapidly apparent. I suspect the PS4 and XB1 may have a similar problem, if a real competitor in the console space arrives, at a competitive price, they'll both flop.

What if BOTH fail?

Answer: Life will go on. Games, as much as I enjoy them, are not necessities. Besides, gamers have more options than ever. PC (Windows/Mac/Linux are all now supported) and older consoles which are still in mass production are both more than viable.

Today I smile. Xbone has more games, but they suck the same.

So basically all babies a racist neo-nazis?

I think there still is to big monopoly between those two company's , so I hope the steam will bring some new blood in market which could cause better games, and better offers. I hope so. Because only two enemy's doesn't really make a big competition.

Competition is the key to innovation. Both companies (Microsoft , Sony) have great attributes that apply to the gamers of today unlike the WII U that was focused around a gimmick. Nintendo has plenty more to offer but I see them sticking to affordable tech that can almost match the “Big Boys” in the upcoming years. I think its short sighted to say either has a definite “Win” right now because there are too many tests that both have yet to take. Durability, Stability, industry growth, and many other questions will take time to get answers to. A lot of the shift to the PS4 was due to people like myself buying 4 or more xbox consoles with hardware issues. My PS3 is stll going strong along with most everyone I know. Some switched, some didn’t, but all have there RROD story to tell. Im not loyal to a company as a consumer like many though.