360 & PS3 have 'passed their use-by date' - DayZ creator
But next-gen consoles will face "a bit of a battle" with PC, suggests Hall.
Current-generation consoles have "really passed their use-by date", DayZ creator Dean Hall has claimed, before warning that next-generations consoles could face "a bit of a battle" with PC due to the format's innovative approach to gaming.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at gamescom last week, Hall said: "Even the next-generation consoles, [platform holders] see [the innovation on PC].
"They want to get in with it, they want to get in with the innovation and I think they see what innovation the PC space is driving and they want to see how they can capture that and have it occurring on the consoles."
PC has been a key driver for emergent business models, including free-to-play titles and games adopting the 'Minecraft model', which sees games released at a low price and iterated upon post-release.
"What's happened is, the consoles are at the end of their life, they've really passed their use-by date," Hall continued.
"Gamers wanted a console to have been here because a lot of console gamers... I get a lot of emails about the console game, 'Why don't you release this on a console? I've gone out and bought a PC. Why did I have to do that?'
'PC has really made a name for itself in the last year as being an innovator...'
"I think a lot of people have had that, and PCs have come down in price, so I think the [next-generation] consoles are going to have a bit of a battle. I don't know how far away they are.
"There are still obviously a lot of consoles out there, but PC has really made a name for itself in the last year or so as being an innovator and pulled a lot of people in. And there's people making a lot of money."
Hall's comments about platform holders looking "to get in with the innovation" echo those of THQ CEO Brian Farrell.
Earlier this month, Farrell suggested that the focus on next-generation consoles would be to develop "opportunities in different types of business... rather than a humongous change in the foundation of 3D graphics".
DayZ released as a mod for war sim ArmA II earlier this year. The game attracted 1,000,000 unique registrations within three months of launch.
A standalone version is due for release later this year.






User Comments
Batmamerc
dirkradke
rbevanx@ CharleSketch
The Uncharted games in terms of tech haven't really jumped that much in my view. The London areas in Uncharted 3 for starters I felt were poorly desinged f and slightly buggy, nevermind the aiming in single player and other problems with it. Felt Naughty Dog were trying to do too much and had a gut feeling they were doing something else in the background which they were, The Last of Us (where most of the Uncharted 2 talent went) and the Vita game.
It's about losing ground/customers to MS and Sony thats why they bring out a new console and they want their consoles to be the only place to go, music, sports, films etc which I hate to but they want the whole pie as they each wanna make as much as possible through their respected brands.
At the moment both 360 and PS3 are doing things that were just not designed to and run far slower on startup than they did before thanks to adds on the 360 and other rubbish I just don't want.
Endless@ dazzadavie
Then again...works for Apple. Developers pay $99 a year and lose %30 in revenue to Apple to get their Apps on the App store. A similar system for developers on XBL/PSN would probably work out much better for them than MS's current offering.
dazzadavie@ Endless
Minecraft was lucky as it had help from MS, but not everyone is going to get that.
The systems need to find a way to be open for F2P and community stuff but at the same time locked for security. No one wants to fork out this so called 40k to update there F2P game when they can just do it free of charge on PC.
One thing that PC will always have over consoles are mods. We wouldn't be getting anything like DayZ if it wasn't for home coding and that is one market the home consoles will never get.
Endless@ BC_Animus
For me everything BUT the games is drastically out of date. Payment systems, search systems, stores, communication, community tools, pricing and business models. And games are being restricted by all these periphery systems they rely on because they are too dated and in many ways obsolete.
So yeah devs can still make great games, but everything surrounding them is archaic by todays technology standards.
BC_Animus
The problem isn't with how powerful (or not) the systems are, but rather how the devs decide to use the systems. If you create titles that relies on DX11 quality graphics or some fancy but badly coded engine that that relies on raw power, then sure you will definitely get better performance on the latest $5000 PCs, when compared to a $250 console.
It frustrates me even more when devs complain about how the current gen hardware is limiting their ability to innovate. For me innovation is not just about doing more with newer toys, but rather it's all about being able to create something new and unique using what you already have. In my opinion cramming more meat into a meat pie and baking it in a newer oven isn't innovation at all - however cooking up a 7 course gourmet meal using nothing but a sausage and a sock is.
CharleSketch@ rbevanx
What's with people killing off console gaming recently? Saying how crap graphics are on consoles compared to PC, how cool and original and unique the games are on PC, how consoles don't have free-to-play or how you can easily pirate stuff on PC.
After watching my roommate struggle to make Steam work with its infinite updating error for several months, not being able to play anything during that time; download a game for several days and having it not run on steam, so he had to copy and paste several files and folders and mess with the registries for a whole evening before finally make it run... I feel PC gaming stills severely lacks the "plug-and-play" factor of console gaming. So, until the PC catches up in that aspect, I still don't see it as the major platform for gaming.
rbevanx@ Jhonseb
I mean for starters the machines are seven odd years old now and I can't see "100" being all must buys for starters.
I mean there has always been a gap between PC and consoles but now it's far too much. I think my mobile phone has better tech than a Wii for starters, how long will it be for 360 and PS3? So the need to not lose ground/customers is vital.
I can also bet you money Gears of War Judgment will be rubbish, even two of my mates who love Gears are thinking it could be rubbish.
Jhonseb