I came across an interesting article today titled “PC to become future of console platforms?” which put forward the question of PC makers making their PC’s and laptops, console compatible. Rather than there being a Playstation 4 the PS4 could just have hardware requirements. PC makers can then offer an optional extra PS4 add on. If the PC meets the requirements then you can play PS4 games on it.
The guts of every console should tell you that the capability is there for the PC to act as the central point for all the consoles. If you bought a PC and as part of that equation you said, Okay, when you’re on the phone with Dell, “Hey, Dell, on this PC, this new notebook I’m buying, can you make sure it has the PlayStation 4 option built into it?”
I am in two minds about this. On one hand it would cut the manufacturer costs down as they wouldn’t need to make the consoles as that would just be the job of the PC maker to include the chipset or include enough power to run the PS4 OS. But, it does get rid of a “games machine” so to speak. I enjoy having a separate games console to a PC as I see them as two separate devices. One is fairly easily carted around and is less hassle. You just stick a game in and go. I am not sure I would be prepared to merge the two together in to one device.
It’s still an interesting idea though and something I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on.
Via: Fragland
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t ever see this happening personally! I think the nature of cnsoles is similar that of an Apple Mac. The software developers know exactly what is inside a PS4 hardware wise, and therefore development is much easier. By introducing too many variables, such as graphics cards, memory etc the developer suddenly has to develop PC style, where every possibility must be designed for. This would lead to longer lead times on games, which nobody wants!
While a nice idea in some ways, I can’t see it happening. And like you said, I like having a seperate games console regardless of my PC.
@Paul: I couldn’t say it any better that how you did. If we’re already seeing higher developing costs and time with just the raw powers of the machines being built now, how are we and the devs going to deal with accounting for such variables?
Also, who would like to upgrade every now and a then to cover for developer messes such as system requirements? Yeah, the more they add, the more power a machine needs. At least with consoles there is a level cap to such matter.
Hmmmmmm.
Who wants PS4 running on windows?
They will make a bad chip on it to send a virus and ruin all ur saves and ur psn so HELL NO!
With an emulator I can run a variety of older consoles on my PC – no additional hardware required. And people have ported Linux, along with various user applications, to consoles. Not to mention both the PS3 and Xbox360 can be used as “Media Extenders” and play music and videos off a PC.
I do think Microsoft missed an opportunity with the original XBox to make it into a real PC alternative. I doubt it would have taken much effort to port home user applications like Works and IE to the XBox.
It almost happened. Anybody remember the “ApeXTREME” and “DISCover” and “Phantom” Pc consoles ways back? A console designed to run ALL PC games’ simplified drop and play tech. But something happened an the projects were scraped, but the tech still lives in most popular brands PC’s. such as DELL, Alienware, and HP.