If you look at the specs of upcoming tablets and mobile phones, you’ll find an Nvidia Tegra chip powering the graphics prowess of many models. The manufacturer believes that these newer platforms—and the ever-present PC—are closing the gaming gap with consoles. In an interview with GI.biz, Tegra PR manager Bea Longworth postulates that consoles’ biggest strengths are also their greatest weaknesses in this ever-changing marketplace.
"Already mobile gaming is hot-on-the-heels of what you would expect from console-class gaming. We were demonstrating an Xbox 360 game running on our quad-core Project Kal-El technology demonstration at [Mobile World Congress],” said Longworth.
"The gap is definitely closing, and that has always been the Achilles' heel of the console - its greatest strength is it's a stable platform, it's very much plug and play, you don't have to fiddle around with the hardware and have all the hassle that you might get from the PC,” she explained. "But that's also its biggest disadvantage, the fact that they are static from one generation to another, and also that the technology can't improve. Whereas with other platforms like the PC and now mobile gaming, they will be constantly moving ahead.”
Nvidia’s tech is powering a large number of Android devices and the company is betting on the OS moving forward.
"It already is extremely important to us, but in terms of the proportion of the business dedicated to that particular sector, it's definitely going to become one of our most important businesses in the future. We've been pretty open, over the last two or three years, that we have that expectation. And obviously mobile is currently the fastest-growing and the most exciting area of computing and technology, so it makes a lot of sense for us to be there at the forefront,” she added.
Consoles these days are beset on all sides by tablets, mobile devices, and cloud-streaming services like OnLive. Is this really the beginning of the end for consoles?
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