[Jonster]

The industry seems to be heading towards convergence in their consoles... (it'll reach a point further down)

Sony started it by including dvd playback with the PS2 (well ok, the PS1 and Saturn kinda did with cd playback, oh ok, the Mega CD did... (not sure about the CD32 or 3D0) Those technically count, but not as much ).

Then Microsoft introduced the Photo Viewing thingy for XBox, and I think there's something coming out that allows you to play your mp3's from your PC via the XBox.
I think the XBox will also work with the Media Center PC package too (which, from what I remember, can control everything)

Sony took another big step towards convergence with the PSX. Which (from what I remember again, been a while since I read about it), you can connect your camera too, then create picture cd's, also plays mp3 cd's (or some other format), can connect to the internet and stream things, plays dvds, and some other stuff.
Oh it plays games too, but the joypad ports are hidden round the back.

So it would kinda seem that company's are trying to get people who don't necessarily play games to buy consoles by including extra features.
I mean if you wanted to do everything, then why not just get one thing that does it all?

However I can still see straight up games console's being released for those who don't want all the features. People who just want games, aren't going to want to buy consoles that do everything, especially if they already have things that do it already.
Plus, if you brought all the consoles you'll have a couple of machines that do everything.

Nintendo, however, have shown no interest in convergence.

Now it seems like I've gone massively off topic here, but I think if the industry does move towards the convergence route, then it will either make or break the industry.
It will either be a huge success and the games industry will flourish and become even more popular, or people won't care and the losses from the research, development, marketing and other costs will have a huge impact on the manufacturers.

Games companies, who have also had to do research into using the new hardware, will have a tough time if it's not successful as they won't sell as many games. And if the hardware companies go bust, who they going to make games for?

I think the only games market that's safe is the PC market.

Already the PSX hasn't done as well as expected, and could be classed as a flop in Japan. It was released incomplete, and even now, when it's been updated, it's not selling. It's likely Sony won't recover their losses from it.

Nintendo, by not taking the convergence route, could be the only company to survive it, because it'll appeal to people who just want games, plus they won't have wasted the money on research et al.

Now personally I hope the industry doesn't crash, I spend more money on games than any other industry, and I want to be a games designer/programmer after I graduate from uni.
So if it crashed, I'd cry...