"Let's Go Single Platform!" Says EA's Florin

[egparadigm]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29802

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7052420.stm

Brilliant! A single platform dominated by EA Sports games. I'm in!

I don't think the idea has many merits. The competition between platforms and developers is what drives the creative and industrial process forward.

On the other hand, I think that open access to consoles without restrictions would be positive. As a supporter of open source software, I loathe the kind of legal restriction which is placed on console platforms. Maybe there could be some way of retaining competition without needing to port software from one standard to another.

What do you think?

[SuperDanX]

Didnt read the link, but in princible i agree. multiple platforms in this day and age is stupid. if the industry wants to progress and move forwards a single platform is the way forwards. the only way forwards. nothing to stop the big 3 and anyone else making there own boxes.

[sj33]

Moving towards a single console format wouldn't necessarily damage the quality as games, in fact, developers would have to complete with each other to win customers, and the stakes would be higher if we assume the amount of consumers would increase due to not being segmented.

But you can always rely on a company to break the model and release their own format, Blu-Ray style. And anyone who thinks this single format would be *truely* open (as in, open source) is surely mistaken - we'll see a consortium of developers, publishers and manufactuerers similar to the DVDForum agreeing to a 'protected' spec no doubt.

[dvdmike]

This ment to add to the words flying about that they may buy the xbox platform ?

[Dogg Thang]

While software devs would still have to compete, it would leave little motivation to improve and advance hardware. We could be looking at 15-20 year cycles of games consoles if it went single format.

[Strolls]

I read this shortly before coming to NTSC-UK today & just laughed! I was going to post a link to the BBC article if no-one else did.

This'll never happen because the hardware manufacturers want to be selling something that's "better" than the competition. I suspect they like the lock-in, too - the selling of licenses.

Anyone who knows anything about technology development knows that as soon as you get manufacturers to agree to a "standard" they immediately start adding proprietary "extensions" to that standard. Just for laughs, let's say Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft all agree to produce a standardised platform - Sony's second release would have a *extra stuff* that developers could take advantage of for better graphics. Microsoft would look at this & go "oh no" and they'd release a version with a completely different set of incompatible extensions, marketing the heck out of how wonderful they are. Games that were "optimised" for the Xbox IV would play fine on the Nintendo Pee (which conforms to the standard) but be buggy on the PS5.

I hate platform-exclusives, and that I have to buy a PSP just to play LocoRoco. There are some fantastic games on the 360, but if I want to play them then I'll have ended up buying 3 games consoles this generation. WTF!?!?! That's ?500 or more on hardware (I'm trying to avoid counting). Much of that money could have been far better spent on games. I should be able to buy one console and play all my games on it.

Nevertheless it is performance and the manufacturers promoting the idea that "our console is better than theirs" that drives the industry.

What EA want is for everyone to plug their PCs into their tellies and play them with an Xbox360 controller. In some ways this makes a lot of sense, but I can't really see it happening. Personally I like consoles because I don't have to worry about what graphics card I have or whether my DirecX is up to date - I just slap the disk in the drive & go.

Stroller

[EvilBoris]

Single format ain't ever gonna happen. It ain't how business works

[Dogg Thang]

Tell that to CDs.

[MarioMark]

Yes and no. This already happened in the Playstation days, before the Dreamcast and after the Saturn and N64 didn't make it.

[EvilBoris]

Tell that to CDs.

But CD isn't owned by any one company is it?

[Dogg Thang]

And yet is still a single format.

[CMcK]

CD's are owned by Sony and Royal Dutch Philips who jointly developed the format.

DVD's were a mish mash of two rival formats which came about due to Matsu****a owning about 70% of the patents applicable to the technology.

A single console format would be great I think. But it would have to be led by developers and overseen by a non profit making organisation.

[Ian(not Ian)]

....and the single format console will be called The Phantom.

[ALH]

a single console format would make it much harder for the little guys to get noticed, Its hard enough for small devs as it is to compete with massive franchises.

kinda boring too, i like having different platforms, its fun to go over a friends and play a console you've not got, or to pick up a second hand one and a handful of cheap must-plays once the generation dies out.

[Gradius]

Maybe EA should release their own console