Every time there’s a step up in video game technology, the industry becomes that little bit bigger, its relevance to the rest of the word that little bit more pronounced, and the application beyond just playing games a lot more important.
There was a time when in the UK they used to talk about the computer games market being worth £100mn. But to show how far things have changed, Microsoft is thought to have lost forty times that much from its XBox console to date and yet continues to pump in the mega bucks.
Today in the US the new Xbox360 goes on sale. And of course, it’s a humdinger of a machine offering graphics and processing capability that gamers could have only dreamt of a few years ago.
For all that, the next generation Sony, not due to be launched until next year, is the product which has got pulses racing. And it comes down to this: what’s the most important - being first or having the best technology?
These days of course, there is more to video games machines than playing games. The PS2 was also a DVD player, and before DVD players fell so drastically in price, for many homes the console also doubled up as a DVD player.
This time the two combatants will offer much much more, and media convergence will reach new heights.
Tivo, the company behind the Tivo digital video recorder - not big in the UK, but a hugely important product across the pond, yesterday announced that its technology will be available for allowing owners of portable PlayStations (PSP) and video iPods to watch TV from the night before.
And the new Xbox and PlayStations will boast digital TV and video capability, digital music, and via a Wi Fi adaptor, access to the internet, with the ability to download the latest movies, tunes and the rest of new generation Internet media.
Perhaps the battle can be best illustrated by looking at the iPod. The new Xbox, despite the fact that Microsoft has its own rival format to the Apple music machine, will be iPod compatible.
We are not sure about the new PlayStation, but our guess is that it won’t be. Sony too has its own MP3 standard with the latest Walkman. In our opinion this is the most aesthetically appealing of all the music players and could well become the next must have accessory. Sony, which to date has been all about proprietary technology, is unlikely to change. The new PlayStation will also come equipped with the new Blu-Ray DVD. A risky move, because the jury is still out on what format will become the next generation DVD standard, Sony’s Blue Ray or NEC and Toshiba’s HD DVD.
The Sony product also boasts the new all powerful Cell processor, which is supposed to actually represent an acceleration of Moore’s Law - which says computer processors double in speed every 18 months.
If Sony is successful and wins this battle then it will have practically guaranteed success for its iteration of the new generation of DVD. If we are right, and the company chooses not to be iPod compatible, it will also gives the new MP3 Walkman a massive boost - quite possible to rival the Apple product. Sony will be back. It once boasted the second most well known brand name in the world - victory for the PS3 could see a return to those former glories.
But if they have got it wrong. If, by tying itself so much to proprietary technology, and if the consequential time lag between its launch and the Xbox proves fatal, then Sony could be licking its wounds for many years to come.
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