Whats the future for gaming?
What is the next gen Console going to have as features? This question crosses every games mind and most of you have great quality of life features that will make everyone’s life better. We can explore some of my own and what I think the future needs. I will explore features that make quality of life and leave the specs to the pros so feel free to drop some ideas you have that would make gaming a better experience for you. Let’s get into it. The internet is a much needed tool for everyday usage, just imagine today’s games and businesses without it? Sure we might have gotten way more amazing story games but let’s be honest the world and gaming is a million times better with the internet so to start with we talk Cloud Gaming service. What is that? Think Netflix, Netflix, Netflix as they single handedly took down BlockBuster the world new standard is these streaming services that run off cloud base services. I will mainly use Sony interactive as my core examples for the ideal next gen Consoles. Take Playstation Now as a example of a stream base gaming experience where you do not have to download anything and stream their over 750 plus games in seconds. Just like netflix you scroll through the menu and simply click and within 30-60 seconds your game is loaded and you can play. At the moment 750 doesn’t sound like a lot but they have tons of classics and great games anyone with the service will spend thousands of hours enjoying the library of games. This all said I have a few key parts I would want to add to the list of what the service already offers.
Let’s start with if you own a game it is added to your streaming service {PS Now} and you can access it anywhere the PS Now works. What this does is make the modern games accessible on PC and anywhere to play with Services like Playstation Now app. This feature alone will open the door for so many more people purchasing PS Now just to be able to play on PC all the Playstation Exclusives. Even if I do not own a PS4 I can purchase the PS Now service and buy games like Game of the Year 2018 God of War and play it through the ps Now app and play on a PC. In the long run it just might encourage PC users to purchase a Playstation console after owning so many games. This is the power of Cloud base gaming and the streaming service like Playstation now can provide and benefit from. At the moment Google Stadia was announced and is a power house that might end up taking over the Cloud based gaming side of things. Once this was announced Sony and Xbox are working on a deal to partner up for a similar service but my Suggestion can cut down this whole process by allowing Modern games to be purchased and used right off the PS Now service. While there might be some technical aspects to work out it can be a bandage to fight off google stadia serge from taking all the customers looking to be able to play anywhere. Yes PS Now isn’t as accessible but they have hundreds of new and great games and most people want to play on PC anyway so it’s a good next gen console move to keep everyone happy. Until Sony and Microsoft figure out what they will do with cloud based gaming I believe this is best formula for long term success. Yes they wouldn’t want everyone to get the PS now service instead of purchasing the hardware Consoles but in ten years Cloud services will rule most of the market and to grab a hold will help give them a firm hold as the leaders. PS Now worked on Phones and tablets before but wasn’t perfect and was ahead of its time. The ultimate goal is to give us players freedom to travel without hardware or wires. I have taken many flights with fear in my mind that my precious PS4 would be crushed by the luggage handlers but spending two weeks in LA for E3 without a night game night would have hurt my gamer heart. This is why Cloud gaming services will lead the way in ten years and everyone must take the first steps to hold the industry down.
Playstation has a good app called Share factory where you can edit videos, add effects, music and so on. I really smart move but what I feel can lead the way as content creators are free advertising for publishers. I want to take it a step further with a new app I would call Stream Factory, similar to the Share app this is basically a tool for streamers who use ps4 as the direct streaming system. This app will allow streamers to add graphics, alerts and more which in turn give publishers better content creators. Everyone wins but how can Sony do that? Every heard of Streamlabs or Streamelements? They are great sites that offer tons of customizable layouts with alerts and more. After you customize all things it gives you a browser link which you input into the streaming software like OBS or wirecast. With this in mind Sony can create their own or partner with one of the great sites already functional. Players will go the on site customize their layouts and send the code to their PSN Stream factory. Once uploaded players can get on the Playstation and through the streams factory go live and they will see the notifications and so on right on the screen. This might take come work but with allowing streamers to stream as is the visuals aren’t appealing as they could be. PS4 was a step in the right direction with streaming and share factory. Adding a streaming feature to customize the visuals will open the door for more creators to really grow and showcase Playstation as a content creators console.
Some of my ideas are to offer a partnership to Netflix, Catchphrase “ The Netflix of Gaming” users of Netflix will can a discount price and monthly benefits to purchase the service of PS NOW on Netflix. Same service but combined offer and new app for gamers. This takes the average movie watcher who sorta likes games a consistent reminder that there is a easy to access service straight from there devices. How would this work? Same as the PS Now app works just adding netflix features in it. Im my opinion PS Now and Netflix lead their respective avenues but combined will conquer the world. Going back to gaming part, I think it’s important to make all future games that release accessible on the PS now service as I stated before it will change the landscape of who wants the service but there is a other things this service can do.
The key word for everything I will speak about is integration and not on a simple scale like consoles now allow minor usage of Facebook or twitter. I am talking fully immerse social media into consoles. First example I will give is Discord, it’s a great neutral place where PS4, Xbox and PC users can text and voice chat. Being able to display the chat would be pretty awesome and being able to connect voice chat to the Playstation Party would make even more sense. How? For voice we make the discord users sign in to their PSN and integrate the party that way. Second example is having a Playstation Social Media page where post, videos and pictures are presented for the world to see can really add to the gaming experience and community. Weathers its partnering with twitter or Facebook or creating its own official Social Media this gives the platform a go to social media place where everyone can engage on neutral grounds. Big content creators will support Playstation and users can sign in using whatever social media they want or create a PSN but in the end Playstation offers a community building platform for personalized experience. We know about the PS Communities which is a great feature and has its own app but its not integrated to social media’s overall which limit it. We are looking to unity the world and add millions to our gaming experience. We can take the easy route and find a way to display our Post from Twitter, facebook and so on into the current communities or personal pages. Playstation Apps are currently amazing from messaging to adding friends and so on work like a charm but there is small things that can help the experience along. Being able to of cross platform follows and so on. Imagine going to my PSN Page and can click to various places like twitter, facebook and so on. It makes life easier and builds the community on both sides this can go backwards if allowed to link your PSN social media page on twitter and so on just grows communities.
The reality is there are many great things consoles can add that would enhance the gamers experience and these are just a small portion of things I got in mind and will continue to post other articles to keep the conversation going. I would like to open the discussion and see what everyone feels can be great features for the next gen console?
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