Home console games can save TV?

In 2015, there was continuous speculation about console games, especially the new model of "host + living room". Can the console game become the core product of the smart living room and place the user in the living room sofa, making the various applications of the smart living room fully marketable?

The game console was lifted. What were we missing in those years was only a few game consoles?



Missed game console

In June 2000, the General Office of the State Council issued an opinion on the special management of electronic game business venues, and the Chinese game console market entered the winter. Since then, the Chinese game industry has grown up in a very different context from the world environment.

In the 1990s, the game engine room (television console game room) was seized. The masses could not afford to host the host, and various domestic cottage red-and-white machines were available.

Afterwards, there were some manufacturers trying to clean the ball, such as integrating the mainframe into a console, and trying to "curve the country" of the Shenyou company. They not only won the Nintendo's agent, but also directly replaced the powerful Nintendo brand with the LOGO of the Shenyou. "This is even more ridiculous, even if you look at it now, which means that you are not only the general agent of Apple's mobile phone in China, but also It also replaced Apple's logo with its own portrait, and the most amazing thing is that Apple also agreed. I personally believe that the company's ability has exceeded the limits of humanity." Liu Yang, senior e-sportsman and WE club manager of China’s e-sports, told a late-night reporter.

In 2003, Sony finally got all the formalities and was ready to open PS2's national bank sales. The result was delayed on the day before it was released and went quietly on the market six days later.

However, regardless of the "curve to save the country", it is difficult to go through the formal route of 9981, and finally failed.

Because the review of the genuine game was stuck. This is deadly for game consoles that need a steady stream of new games to increase hardware sales.

Until April 21, 2014, the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Government posted a notice stating that the implementation rules for the Cultural Market Open Project of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as the “Implementation Rules”) had been issued on April 10 and had been issued since Be implemented.

The Implementing Rules states that foreign-funded enterprises that have obtained business licenses issued by the industrial and commercial departments in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and that their business scopes include “production of game-play equipment and sales of their products” may apply to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture, Film and Television. Review. After the foreign-invested enterprise obtains the checklist for the content of the game entertainment equipment, it may sell its game entertainment equipment to the domestic market. This is another market dividend created by the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

This means that the domestic game console market that has been closed for 14 years will be reborn.



After this, after six months of rumors, Sony PS4 consoles and PSV handhelds were finally open for purchase on Dec. 12. Coupled with the Microsoft Xbox One console that entered China earlier in September, Chinese players have already become “accepted” with the world’s “Chinese characteristics”. Can this spring breeze really wash away the chill of 14 years of winter?

However, on the grounds that the company was suspended, the company refused to interview the late-night reporter. Shanghai's expansion in console games and the details of the living room strategy are still unknown.

Former game editor Xue Xue believes that because of the difference in hardware support, the production standard for console games is far higher than PC games. From the 1970s to the present, foreign players who grew up playing console games, Today has become the backbone of the modern game industry.

Due to the long-term impact of poor computer hardware configuration and bad network conditions in Mainland China, even if many well-established major TV console games are introduced gradually in Europe, America and Japan, there will still be unsatisfied phenomena, and the more exquisite and complicated The faster the game dies in the Chinese market, after many console games are changed to the online version, a lot of subtraction must be done to adapt to the market.

Liu Yang believes that these are merely aesthetic gaps in the game. The most deadly thing that every family member who needs to use the living room terminal to intervene in family entertainment is probably a wave of new industrial revolution.

"For example, video card technology, if not it is applied to the game, it may not be that the technology will not develop so fast, the game technology has promoted the rapid development of the entire industry technology. For the decentralization of the host game operations, the current US military control When robots are used, they all use handles, including the interactive method of controlling drones, and the habitual operation is the same. In the future, the relevant applications will become more and more complicated, the Chinese are lagging behind so much, With the keyboard and mouse, now we are only catching up with the so-called Internet thinking, and we've become a bit smug," Liu Yang said.

Indeed, Xbox One, an entertainment-centric Xbox One produced by Microsoft in the United States, can be placed in the living room and can be voice-activated. Without any device, it can use motion commands, can play music, TV, Internet shopping, can make video calls, and can connect. More equipment.

The Xbox consoles have always had the vision of Microsoft occupying the living room. By then, they hope that the Xbox will become the steward of the Iron Man Jarvis. From the smart interaction to the military level, they can do everything.



The delay of the home console

Look at the status of the global gaming industry in 2013: console games, including handhelds and TV games, accounted for 43%; PC games, mainly stand-alone, accounted for 9%, down 7% year-on-year (thanks to piracy); the same PC On the large-scale online games accounted for 21%, an increase of 14%; but the largest increase is still mobile games, 35%, and accounted for 18% of the industry's total revenue. Looking at the console/TV game industry, the decline is 1%, but it is still the mainstream platform for the game industry.

In mainstream areas of game development and sales in Europe, America and Japan, video games are video games. In the past two years, the extremely popular mobile games have only been waiting for the bus to take the subway and some very fragmented time to kill time, but also to grab market share with online Texas Hold'em.

European and American people said that playing games means playing console games on the living room TV. The Sheldon host selection difficulties in the Big Bang and everyone's vote and comment on the new console wars are the best proof that video games have entered the mainstream culture and entertainment activities in Europe and America.

Although the console game market is booming abroad, many industry players with years of observation experience in the game industry still dominate the domestic console game market.

Because of the prevalence of piracy, the conflict between TV size and per capita residential area, per capita income, and less investment in entertainment, entertainment habits and entertainment aesthetics are ignored. From an economic point of view, video game consoles in the living room are still a Extravagant stuff.



At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, a game console called Ouya was named one of GDC2013's best products. This is based on the android operating system, equipped with a standard gamepad, built-in OnLive cloud game service, more strikingly, it is available at a very low price of 99 dollars. It is not a product of a feverish mind. On the world's No. 1 crowdfunding website Kickstarter, it received more than 63,000 supporters and raised more than US$8.5 million in development funds through them. Ouya's ambition for the console game industry is like Xiaomi's ambition for the smartphone industry.

In addition, the emergence of smart phones has indeed hit the home console market, not only because the games on smartphones have begun to affect the sales of 3DS and PSV. Both the PS4 and the new Xbox have added smart phones and tablets to their peripherals. Computer support is guaranteed not to be spurned by the times, but game consoles based on mobile phone operating systems now represented by Ouya are also aggressively challenging conventional host manufacturers. Although the current market positioning of these two types of mainframes is different and the differences among the player groups are also relatively large, the application of smart phones in life has far exceeded the proportion of home game consoles. It is not difficult to imagine that these are used later. Players who have grown up in ios and android phones would think: "Since I can play games on platforms like smartphones or Ouya, why should I still buy a PlayStation or Xbox?"

However, many industry observers do not believe that the changes in the home console game market will be as rapid as the smart phone market, but these changes are indeed happening and the traditional home game console market is slowly eroding.

Perhaps as Snowman said: "The game will always exist, but the game has changed in the course of the development of the last 30 or 40 years. The change of times may not be the dagger of the old times, but the soft knife is flesh The late penalty may make people even more uncomfortable."



Home consoles occupy the future living room Christmas 2014, Sony and Samsung released an important message: In 2015, Sony's PlayStation Now service will run on some Samsung smart TVs. This is also the first time Sony has launched the service in early 2014 and is expected to run on non-Sony’s hardware.

In other words, only need to have a Samsung smart TV, you can enjoy those Sony's shocking, engaging, great experience of the game. The game that people can play on TV is no longer just Tetris.

The significance of television is still irreplaceable, except that it may bring you some new experiences.

The Chinese people have always attached great importance to the enjoyment of the living room. Even the standard Chinese-style decoration is centered around television sets. Therefore, the entertainment mode of the living room has always been a very acceptable form for Chinese families.

In the past two years, Xiaomi Box has successfully replaced many traditional set-top boxes in the living room. What you may not know is that last year Xiaomi had reached strategic cooperation with Ouya. In February, Ouya CEO Juliet Ullmann personally promised in the media that soon Xiaomi’s platform will have some of Ouya’s games on the line.

Also in February, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s investment in the US game startup company, Ouya, was confirmed by the two companies. Both Ouya and Alibaba declined to disclose the scale of the investment, but they did not deny that the Wall Street Journal reported $10 million. Ouya's more than 1,000 games will be integrated into Alibaba's "Aliyun" operating system. This is a custom version of android that will be used in the company's set-top box "Tmall Box".

"In China, video games are a new field. The national ban has just been lifted last year. We will slowly see the game enter the television field. Chinese users have been using different content consumption methods than Americans, and free games are standard. Instead of exceptions, we know that action-adventure role-playing games are very popular in China, so we will try some of these games, we will try other games, and then observe user feedback. This is a brand-new arena", CEO of Ouya Juliet Ullmann said in an interview with the media.




Host game and TV conjecture

What is the TV in the future more distant?

In the traditional sports competition live broadcast, the audience sees a perspective of the camera position provided by the guide broadcast. In the future, through scene adaptation technology, you can choose the match broadcast position according to your preferences. In the F1 game, you can chase Vettel to see, it can be his helmet camera angle, can be the angle of the rear car, you can switch to the first group or overtaking group, completely view the game according to your preferences.

Its so cool!

Through the TV camera combined with augmented reality, virtual reality technology, so that online shopping experience more real, so that the game is more immersive You can participate in the top specifications of the "online tennis Open" in the living room, enter a certain level, you need to ask a professional coach . If you are talented enough, you may eventually become a tennis superstar on television.

E-sports is no longer a patent for young people. Your grandmother may like to sit in front of the TV with your mahjong fans around the world and watch virtual mahjong. However, your reluctant grandfather is indulged in the same reluctant Wang Daye as the next-door unit. Play against Chinese chess in front of the TV screen.

If the console game achieves localization, a large-scale decline in prices will facilitate the promotion of urban and rural areas with larger living areas. Due to Chinese characteristics, there are fewer large-scale violent games in localized console games, but more family-friendly game titles will be developed. Combining parent-child, sports athletics, female-to-RPG games, and leisure-minded games will enshroud the whole family in the living room. This may broaden the use of interactive living room products. Given China's large population base, the market may be more substantial.

And with a better console game experience, TV, or will continue a new life.

The person in charge of a smart hardware company in Shenzhen believes that TV will become the center of smart home in the future, and it will be the window and platform for managing various smart terminals. After all TV is the most important screen in the living room, and the screen is the most intelligent communication function. . For example, adjust the intensity of smart curtains and lights according to what you are watching, and tell you how much to do according to the length of time people watch TV in front of the TV, adjust the volume according to time and environment, and so on.

Liu Yang believes that the core of the future smart home must be a mobile terminal mobile phones, televisions, computers may be assembled into an object, this object comes with high-definition projection, there is a new, unimaginable input method. "It may still be in your hand, but it must not be called a mobile phone. It may be carried on your wrist, but it cannot be called a watch."

Will the TV disappear in the future? Yes, but the concept of television disappeared, not the medium.

The evolution of human society is the hacking empire. All the information is brought together into a skynet. Everyone is a node in Skynet. All devices and terminals are no longer products of the industrial age, but content and bit transmission. The embodiment of the window.

So, in fact, in the living room, there is no need for televisions, set-top boxes, game consoles, computers to wait for these things that will be weird in the future, but it should still require a large enough screen to display and interact with this Skynet information.

TV will eventually disappear, but it will eventually become your information center everywhere. All you desire will be presented.