Loose Threads: Will handhelds ever replace home consoles?

In the future, consoles will be able to read your mind, call in sick to work for you, and between bouts of Street Fighter IX you'll be able to sit down with a life-sized artificially intelligent interactive holograph of E. Honda for some green tea and sushi, delivered to you via the Playstation 10's in-built food synthesizer (which will be a lifeline for Universe of Warcraft players).

Either that or they will be fully portable and the notion of a home console will be as antiquated as the Nintendo Game & Watch. That's of course only our wishful thinking, but if you delve into our curious logic there are grounds to assume that it is at least possible that portable and home consoles will one day merge to become one. Last week we put the topic to you lot to see what you thought, and the replies we got were some of the most intelligent we've had in weeks.

First to the discussion (via the comments on the main site rather than the forum) was MrCairo:

"At one day and age the question was posed: will home game consoles ever replace arcade machines at the various shopping malls? It seemed inconceivable that one would even ask that question.

"So, I think with moving the conversation to hand-held games taking the place of consoles I would venture to say yes to that as well. While it may not be obvious right now, give technology another 10 years and it may become possible. I don't think that it will be something as simple as more powerful GPUs or CPUs that will tip the scales but something far more sublime.

"Perhaps the very portable nature will somehow play into making this a reality over the non-portable console. Maybe consoles will evolve into portable machines and there won't be two distinct types in the future. Whatever the case, I don't doubt that eventually portability will win and we'll look to the consoles of today like we would look at stand-up arcade machines of the (recent) past."

We have to say we like your thinking MrCairo. Ah yes, if our plan goes according to, erm, plan, then one day the whole world of gaming will be at our command and not just the handheld section of the market. Next up was a face we are glad to see back after a few week's out of the loop, daab.orion:

"Yep, I agree.. been saying this for years. Eventually graphics will get to a point where they are "good enough". I'd imagine in two generations we will see this. So when we all have Wii2, Xbox w/e and PS4, that hardware will really only need to decrease in size over the next few years as graphical depictions can really only get so realistic (something Apple and Nintendo have an edge on as they are more about control than anything else).

"After that generation is complete, I would assume the new thing to do is to make a console that is a handheld, which is just as powerful as the previous generation but make it Bluetooth capable with controllers. Hook it up to the TV like you suggested, and voila... no difference.

"Considering everything seems to be going towards digital distribution, I doubt disks will be an issue. Even movie formats like Blue Ray seem to be losing to an eventual digital distribution takeover by Blockbuster's new box and Apple's iTV. Well.. everyone shares this opinion basically except for Gamestop, which of course fails to see digital distribution as being a threat... ever. Sure. And global warming is a government plot to trick us all into donating 14 cents a month to WWF to save polar bears."

Ah, thank the gaming gods, we are not mad. Indeed, we are not alone - there are others who share our vision of the future. Luckily we have the ever reliable Mandark to keep our world domination plots firmly grounded:

"Hmm...I keep changing my mind on this one but my feeling is that the home console will not disappear entirely. It will merge with the TV set top box to become an all-in-one home entertainment box. I know Microsoft has long been talking about such a device but ironically the PlayStation 3 with its Play TV service, could be the first true one. The games on offer on future home consoles might not be as hardcore as those on home consoles today. They might be more like Xbox Live Arcade games or family friendly Wii games.

"The serious gaming device might then become the take-anywhere handheld/ mobile which could be used at home with a video screen or on the fly. And of course you have to wonder where PC gaming will fit into all this as well? Developers are already saying that apart from some MMOs, it's already not economical to produce major PC only titles. It's a really hard call."

That sounds like sense to us, though with cloud computing very much on the horizon (as well as Nvidia's planed invasion into the handheld space) may there not be a place for PC gaming in our glorious handheld future too? Typically, there was dissent in the ranks, though with such sound logic, we found our parade getting ever so slightly damp when Accelorata Jengold entered the debate:

"Though I think it will be possible, technologically speaking, before very long, I don't think it's a likely direction for the big console manufacturers. I reckon that integration between handheld and console devices will continue to increase and will become ever more seamless, but ultimately, no manufacturer is going to release one box when they know they can release two, and still have a good chance of shifting large quantities of both.

"There's just too much money to be made with manufacturers like Sony and Nintendo having separate handheld and home consoles for them to do away with one of them, even if technologically, the home console becomes surplus to requirements. Then there's the way in which home consoles are set to evolve to think about. Who's to say that home consoles 20 years from now won't necessitate a control set-up that's impossible to make portable? We could be talking about VR headsets, interactive life-size holograms or any number of other dramatic changes that wouldn't work on handheld.

"I have a good compromise though. If Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft were to release a handheld console that had wireless access to the Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and PSN services respectively, that was compatible with every title on each of those respective platforms and was capable of wirelessly transferring your save games between each platform on the fly so you could go between each console and never have to replay a section you had already completed, I would definitely buy it."

You just won't let this portable Virtual Console thing go will you Accelorata? We have to admit it does sound good too. Last to the discussion (as always) was SetsFireToPoshHammer with a very intriguing final thought to ponder:

"Maybe you're right (Accelorata Jengold) to say that the big console manufacturers would be reluctant to consolidate their revenue streams and lose money in the process, but could this one console for home and on the go paradigm make for an excellent venture for a new console manufacturer, like EA, or Apple?

"It would certainly help them differentiate themselves from the competition and if handled right it could be marketed as a very cost-effective way for the consumer to get the best of both worlds. This is all pie in the sky stuff, but stranger things have happened I suppose…"

They have indeed, though something tells us that if EA enters the console market, it won't be as an innovator that breaks all the rules. Apple on the other hand…

That was a lengthy one so we only have enough space to very quickly lay the foundations for next week's chat:

What online services do handheld consoles need?

More details as always can be found in the forum along with our friendly regulars, our mysterious ninja-like admins and lots and lots of pocket gaming insight. Head here to sign-up and click 'Track It!' to be sure not to miss next week's Loose Threads.