Ellie Gibson
14:05 (BST)
06/02/2007
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Blizzard exec says consoles are becoming 'sophisticated PCs'
WOW developer keeps close eye on Sony and Microsoft
Blizzard's Itzik Ben Bassat has suggested that consoles are becoming more and more like PCs - to the point where they could be obsolete within as little as five years.
Ben Bassat, who is Blizzard's VP of business development and international, observed, "The PC is becoming an entertainment hub - you use it to watch videos and TV, play games, listen to music... With wireless, you can send your content from your PC to anywhere in the house, to your TV, something I already do. You can play PC on your TV because it's an LCD screen.
"Consoles are becoming sophisticated PCs which sit in the living room... We'll have to see how all this develops. Maybe in five years you won't need a console because you'll have one PC which delivers content all over your house."
Ben Bassat confirmed that Blizzard has no plans to bring hugely popular MMORPG World of Warcraft to consoles - but did say that the company is keeping a close eye on the next-gen machines, particularly with regard to the online space.
"Online console gaming is still in its very early stages, and it needs to be developed further to provide opportunities of a scale which will be interesting to us," he explained.
"So when we come to develop a new game we will look at the kind of opportunities that exist out there and what we want to develop, and if it could be interesting on console. We should remember that a 360 is just a sophisticated PC."
Ben Bassat said he has not seen enough of Sony's online service for PlayStation 3 to be able to evaluate it - but he was full of praise for Microsoft and Xbox Live Arcade.
"Personally I love XBLA - I think Microsoft has done an excellent job developing it and there are lots of exciting things there," he stated.
"I'm very impressed, I'm impressed by the people who do it, and the service is very easy, very intuitive. I love it."
Ben Bassat's comments came in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, part one of which is published today - visit the site tomorrow to read part two.
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