Consoles are doomed - Romero

Slipgate Ironworks' John Romero - formerly of id Software and Ion Storm - reckons that consoles like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will have to undertake radical change to avoid being killed off by cheap PC hardware.

"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," Romero told Adrenaline Vault.

"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."

Romero - whose credits include the likes of Doom and Quake, and ill-fated first-person shooter Daikatana - has greater expectations for Nintendo though, backing its belief in broadening the market with a more accessible machine.

"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," he explained.

"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," Romero predicted.

In the meantime, he's working on a PC MMORPG at Slipgate Ironworks, although he still can't say anything about it, other than, "we're creating something that's the first of its kind and we want to be first to market with it".