Eh?
Why are consoles and RPGs mutually exclusive?
I dont think they have to be, but they are. I pretty much think crpgs and PCs are mutually eclusive now for the most part. The saving grace of pc rpgs being indie titles.
I don't blame game makers, console makers, or anyone making money off of video games. I blame the buyers. Game players want next gen graphics, high quaility voice acting, and other crap that adds no real value to the game play aspects of a game. Devs and publishers give them what they want. But what the game player wants costs a lot of money and sucks the resources from other areas of devlopment, like gameplay. And publishers won't finance a game that doesn't look like it will have a return. Games with a large return=fancy graphic, dumbed down games that appeal to the broadest demeographic possible.
If I had a game company I would have a fiscal rsposibility to the owners, employees, and others with a stake in the company, as well as a resposibility to the people I recioeved debt from to finance a game. That equals me making a game I wouldn't want to play but would sell well and have a chance of return, or at least not risk maximizing return.
The game buyer, and only the game buyer, is resposible for what types of games are to be made. As the more they buy of this game, or a game with feature x, the more types of those will be made. Its simple economics.
It all comes down to "you reap what you sow." If everyone bought troika's games, troika would be in business and we would have some spectacular AAA rpgs on the PC to look forward to. As it is now, the only AAA tiutle I plan on buying is Drakensang. And I feel that game is far less than what it could have been because of market demands set forth by game buyers.
And who knows, after NWN 2 being critisised by everyone for being too complicated, they might switch to twitch combat and "streamline" character creation and devlopment just so the game doesn't flop.
Since there is no way for indy devs to make a 100% original game on any of the consoles I know about, and the future of real crpgs (console or PC) lies in the hands of indie devs catering to the niche real crpg market, I argue that the game buyer has made console as well as PC's, and rpgs mutually exclusive.