Why Specs Don't Matter Anymore

As you may recall, yesterday I posted a video review for the Xbox One. Here's what one viewer (ie best man at my wedding) had to say:

I like how he addressed game play, graphics, etc. Is that not important anymore? Are consoles becoming cell phones i.e. focused on a bunch of other functions except for the one thing they are supposed to be?

-B

Short answer: no with a but. Long answer: hey, here's a lengthy post about the next generation of consoles...

The video game industry has changed a ton over the years. I ran an article about the demise of LucasArts a few months ago where they mentioned that the cost of producing a GTA style Star Wars game would be upwards of $100 million. Think about that for a second. In 40 years we've gone from Steve Wozniak programing Atari games all by himself to teams of thousands blowing through $100 million dollar budgets. And it's worth it, GTA V made a billion dollars in less than a week.

So, if the video game industry is bigger than it's ever been why haven't reviews for the Xbox One or Playstation 4 focused more on games? Because there's barely any difference between the two systems. They use the same media, they share a similar GPU architecture and both have roughly the same amount of system memory. Sony and Microsoft have independently designed two very similar systems to make sure they don't miss out on any hit titles. With so much money on the table neither can afford to ostracize any game developers by creating a machine that's too different from the competitor.

Think about it from the game developers side of things. If you're going to spend $200 million dollars on the next GTA V, you need to make sure you're selling to the broadest market you can, even if that means nerfing your game a bit. We've already seen that with the last generation of consoles. As far as hardware goes the Playstation 3 was more powerful than the 360, yet games like Call of Duty and Madden looked pretty much the same on both systems. Game developers smartly decided to save money and maximize sales by programing for both systems at the same time which meant the more powerful system was limited by the hardware of the weaker system.

Editors Note: This is a wildly simplistic look at software developing but for this particular discussion I think it will do.

Oh sure there are console specific titles out there but how many of those are actually developed 3rd party? 2? 3? Outside of the Wii I can't name a single one.

The point is, if you're looking to play Call of Duty: Infinity or Grand Theft Auto VII: Missoula Montana either system will do. The choice between the two systems is going to come down to the exclusive titles Sony and Microsoft make (ie Halo vs Gran Tourismo), which system provides the best user experience and of course cost. Microsoft took Sony's lunch with the Xbox 360 providing a better user experience than the PS3 at a lower price. It will be interesting to see if this time around they can win the war by offering a better user experience at a higher cost.

Of course I could write about 4 more paragraphs on how the console war for Microsoft is really a trojan horse designed to get Windows 8 (don't call it Metro) into your Cheeto stained hands but I digress.

Now does this leave Valve and the Steam Machine in a position to potentially sweep all the hardcore gamers off their feet? Kind of. The Steam Machine still has a pretty big hill to climb. It runs on Linux, so essentially you're asking developers who have been programing PC games for Windows for the last 18 years to start prgraming them for an alternate OS and Hardware. Ask Apple how well that works.

The big advantage Valve has is a large existing user base in Steam and the fact that PC graphics DEMOLISH even the two newest consoles. Seriously there are PC rigs that right now will play games in 4K resolution. I could easily see a scenario where a Steam Machine becomes the killer piece of hardware to pair up with your new 4K TV but that doesn't make it a lock. With the Steam Machine Valve isn't just throwing their hat into the console war, they're looking to completely change the way gamers look at consoles .