A Fox News report published on Saturday makes the claim that console gaming's days are numbered. Their reason for this bold statement? Comments from "avid gamer Mark Ormond."
"I actually think consoles are a thing of the past," Ormond told Fox, claiming that he plays more games on his iPhone than his Wii or 360 -- interestingly, the article barely mentions the PS3. "Why pay $50-60 for sequels of the same games on $300 machines when I can play newer experiences elsewhere in a lot less time -- and for a lot less money -- on devices I already use more?"
Nintendo's Marc Franklin, director of the company's public relations team, disagrees. "Consoles display games on the biggest screen in the house," he said. "No other game device can match their impact. No other type of gaming brings people together in the same way." But then Nintendo would say that, given that the Wii is built mostly around the concept of same-room, couch-sharing local multiplayer.
Fox's argument seems a little confused, however -- one moment it appears to be arguing that consoles are dead, next it seems to just be saying that physical media is on the way out, with "on demand" services coming to the forefront. But there still needs to be a device capable of downloading and playing the games -- what's that if not a console?
Regardless of what the next generation holds, the current crop of hardware still has a good few years of life left in it yet. It'll certainly be interesting to see exactly what feature set Nintendo's new console will offer when it's revealed at E3 in the summer, though.
(As an aside, it's nice to see an article from Fox News that isn't decrying gaming as some work of awful, terrible evil.)