I recently read a very interesting article by Mitch Dyer on IGN.com entitled "12 Innovations We Want fromPS4 and XBox 720" and while I agree with a majority of what the author had to say, including a unified Video service, complete online retail and automatic updates, there was one particular point he made that made me extremely worried. "We don't need a hard drive. Let's enter a future where all our games and all our saves live somewhere else, instantly accessible on our next-gen console as well as on associated mobile devices.
In an ideal world this would be a fantastic idea. Every console owner on the planet could access their saves wherever they were, whosoever's console they were using. Unfortunately though, we don't live in a utopian world where everyone has reliable access to the one thing that makes this all possible.
The Internet.
A friend of mine recently went two weeks without even basic access to the Web, and while this is in no way the end of the world (although you'd be pressed to find a 13 year old who would agree) he got by. The reason for that was simple, he had his game saves on his hard drive and could access them whenever he needed to.I'm no enemy of "the cloud" in fact it's a brilliant idea so long as it's coupled with local data storage, like we currently have with this generations pre-installed hard drives. Sony have already taken the first steps toward cloud storage, any Playstation Plus member can store their game saves in the cloud, but they can also keep those save files on their hard drive. Essentially the Cloud is a back up plan in case the hard drive fails, and the reverse is also true. Extending the application of Cloud storage further is certainly where the future of gaming lies, it would be of great use to be able to back up your DLC and other purchases on the cloud, but limiting consoles entirely to using online saves is short sighted and cuts out a great many people who don't have access to the internet.
Mark next Tuesday down in your diaries people, it's the day Sony hopes to restore some of the PSN's functionality according to a new statement from the Playstation Blog. As a registered PSN user myself, I'm anxious to find out what details have been stolen by the hackers. Thankfully, due to my general mistrust of games console software security i never registered a credit card with the service.
On the subject of the PSN debacle, the thought occurred to me today that when you can buy pre paid cards in any store that sells consoles why would you want to register a credit card to your account instead? Is it Convenience? Laziness perhaps? I understand if you live miles from the nearest games outlet, or if you find out about a new downloadable title that you can't wait until Monday to download, but at the same time is it really that big a deal if you can't play a new game immediately?
When i decided to download a title from the PSN recently i was faced with a question. Should I register my card and get it now, or wait until the following evening so that I could buy a £20 PSN card with all the extra security that it brings. Today I'm thankful that I was patient enough to wait, and very sympathetic to those who weren't.
Of course, it's Sony who are ultimately culpable for the data thefts here, and it will be Sony who will foot the bill for any losses incurred by members of the PSN. But it's sensible for all of us to remember that when any of us register a card for a service it's us that take the risk, at least in the short term. I think Game will be shifting a lot more of those pre paid cards from now on...
A friend of mine recently went two weeks without even basic access to the Web, and while this is in no way the end of the world (although you'd be pressed to find a 13 year old who would agree) he got by. The reason for that was simple, he had his game saves on his hard drive and could access them whenever he needed to.
