Trip Hawkins—founder of game developer Electronic Arts, former game developer 3DO, and mobile game developer Digital Chocolate—has voiced his opinions on the next generation of console gaming in an interview over at Xbox2News.com. Don't forget, this is the man who descrribed the ill-fated 3DO console as "more stimulating to the human mind than any new technology since printing." With that in mind, here's Trip's take on what might happen as we prep ourselves for the next generation:
- Games will not make that projected $10 price
jump
- Xbox 2 will use a standard DVD drive and feature the
hard drive as an add-on
- Developers will make fewer innovations as costs of games continue to rise
- EA, Sony, Microsoft, and Konami will be the biggest publishers of the next generation
- Nintendo will be assimilated into Microsoft within the
next 5 years
- Publishers, beset by the threat of strikes due to poor
working conditions, will outsource employees more than ever before
- Online gaming will steadily continue to grow
- Rather than on consoles, innovative games will be born on the internet and mobile phones in the coming years
- There will be no successor to the 3DO console (phew)
So tell us, when it comes down to predicting the future, is Trip Hawkins more akin to Nostradamus or to or Miss Cleo? Hell, while we're at it, tell us your stance on the next generation of consoles! Are high-def optical formats overrated? Will more and more games be produced by Malaysian sweatshop workers? Will we ever experience a Blue Screen of Death whilst playing Zelda? Make your voice heard!
