The rumour that games consoles are dead is grossly exaggerated, though it is not difficult to see why many analysts are predicting their demise. Over recent years smartphones have become almost as smart of the last generation of consoles, and it has been quite some time since consoles such as the Xbox and the PlayStation have been updated. The online gaming model has also changed along with the technology. While serious gaming used to be restricted to hardcore gamers sitting in front of their consoles, innovations such as Microsoft’s Xbox Live have led to a much closer convergence between consoles and smartphones which allow console gamers to maintain and update their Xbox accounts on their phones.

The other big change has been the movement towards mobile gaming. While games such as Angry Birds went viral, in their wake followed a move towards online gaming on mobile devices. This trend was soon picked up by online games like Lucky Nugget which quickly developed mobile versions. Today many people play standard games such as roulette and blackjack while on the go which gives them a whole new degree of freedom. Despite the big move to mobile online gaming, there are many indications that Microsoft and Sony have not given up the fight for keeping the console central to gaming and it is widely anticipated that both companies will launch new versions of their consoles sometime in 2013.

However these will be different from before and will form the central hub of an all encompassing entertainment system that will be also be accessible via smartphones. The rollout of 4G networks will also impact on mobile gaming in that they will provide a more secure connectivity and reach rural regions where 3G is too poor to allow users to reliably engage in online games such as poker and blackjack. There is no real answer to our initial question though; both smartphones and games consoles have an important role to play.