Tuesday, March 24, 2009

GDC - 2 New Consoles enter the market?!?!?

it's early days at the moment at GDC, mostly it's been new trailers, like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 but there was suprise news as two new consoles have been announced!

The first is "OnLive". This could singlehandly change the future of gaming. i know it's a bold statement. it may be a bold statement, but there is nothing like it and it could bring gaming to everyone with a phone line. comparisons to youtube are just, all the games, processing, are done online.

for those without a PC, this box is all you need. as all the work is done online, a console sized box is not needed, all it needs to do is connect to a controller, a tv, and the internet. for those with a PC, they offer a in broswer experiance (much like the new quake online) requireing only a small download.
You internet connection is the only limitation for the device. the slower it is, the lower the resolution you'll see.

it is a subscription based service, but the list of publishers already linned up for the service is impressive. EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Eidos, Codemasters, Epic, Atari, WB and 2D Boy to start, and it takes very little effort to add more.
More on this will come later, read Joystiq or IGN articles for more information.

The second console is Zeebo. whilst not as revolutionary as OnLive, is still a important announcement. it's not going against the Wii, 360 or PS3, but it is aimed at the emerging/poorer markets.

the console is less powerful than the Wii, but like the Wii it's a descision which keeps the cost of the console low, and makes it less complicated. it's a download only serive, games being downloaded over the 3G network in a bid to reduce piracey. brazil is the first market to see the Zeebo, at a price around a third less than the Wii ($199 compared to $1000) before beind released India, eastern Europe and China (by 2011).
so far around 300 games are planned for the console, costing between $5 to $15, coming from a vairty of publishers big and small.
for more infor, Gamasutra has a indepth article and engadget has a brief overview.