Gamepolitics and others have brought to my attention the latest in the power-hungry console debate, with news that may have implications for the design of always-on home console services.
According to an article in The Times from a few weeks ago,
The Government is to outlaw standby switches on televisions and video and DVD players to cut the amount of electricity wasted in the home.
At the minute, the environmental directive is focussed on electronic items other than games machines, but according to http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=18441">gameindustry.biz, the government has turned its once-blind eye towards the little bundles of electronic joy that reside in front of the (always on) TV, and may make standby mode illegal. The reason? A report says that £70 million of energy is wasted in the UK every year because of games machines on low power.
Gamepolitics points out that this may have implications for Nintendo's future connectivity plans. From the post:
Specifically, Nintendo's much-ballyhooed "always-on" content update feature could be threatened. This WiiConnect24 feature is expected to ship demos and content updates to your Wii while it's not in use. It will also permit other types of game interactions. For example, fellow Wii users might be able to visit your Animal Crossing town even though you are not playing at the time. ... The Wii, however, will be providing an integral part of the system's service in a low-power mode far preferable to leaving it on full-power as you have to to download with, say, XBox 360.
While they believe that we gamers should rally the government against such a heinous breach on our civil rights, I say balderdash. Instead, we should put pressure on the makers to create products with lower energy consumption.
