Games guru predicts dark future for PS3

Gaming legend John Romero has predicted dark times for the high end games consoles, whilst predicting a warm future for novelty gaming on the Nintendo Wii and powerful graphics on multi-core PCs.

The creator of Doom and Quake made his comments in an interview with games website Adrenaline Vault, and said that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will soon find that themselves being out-powered by the new age of multi-core computers. He said the only way that consoles can survive is to stop pretending to be PCs and to focus on good quality games.

"Right now MMOs, mobile and PC episodic are really polarising into the newest most important segments in gaming. Next-gen console is big but its future isn't too bright with the emergence of cheap PC multi-core processors and the big change the PC industry will go through during the next 5 years to accommodate the new multi-core-centric hardware designs," he said.

"My prediction is that the game console in the vein of the PS3 and Xbox 360 is going to either undergo a massive rethink or go away altogether.

Wii praise

"The Wii has the perfect design for a console that doesn't pretend to be a PC and is geared more toward casual gamers than hardcore gamers. The hardcore gamers are going to either be playing on their PCs or a new PC-like platform that sits in the living room but still serves the whole house over Wi-Fi, even the video signal."

The comments have sparked a bit of a frenzy in the games community with many bloggers attacking his comments. The interview itself has had scores of angry responses, with several web users choosing to send Romero hateful emails.

It may be, of course, that his comments are a bit too close to the truth for some console crazies to bare.