Convergence Comes To The Video Game Market

from the it's-a-platform,-silly dept

Every few years the word "convergence" shows up again, describing some other area of technology that people are trying to combine. Maybe it's the TV and the internet. Maybe it's mobile phones and PDAs. Maybe it's fax machines and refrigerators. It's tough to keep up. The latest, however, is using the video game system as the platform for convergence. Clearly, the video game makers don't see their boxes as just video game consoles any more. They see them as potential "entertainment hubs" and are building various add-ons that enhance the boring old console, and turn them into something much greater. Over time, these add-ons will get incorporated into the box itself, and the single box will be able to do everything. The question, of course, is whether or not people will want this. The problem with most "converged" devices is that the quality on each of the individual functions isn't as good as specialized devices - slowing down the adoption rate. However, gaming systems might actually make sense, since they're basing all the add-ons on a single device that has reached a high quality level already - so it's unlikely the converged devices will be any worse as gaming devices.

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