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Expected of an EA goon to be in favor of monopolies.
I like games on discs because I enjoy some nominal sense of ownership. If it's not multiplayer I don't want to be forced to go online in order to play it.
If any of these companies (Sony, MS, Nintendo) were able to become monopolies i guarantee you that you would still pay through the nose for their console. The problem being that no competition means any price point they want.
King hit the nail on the head.
I say stick with variety and competition.
That sounds about right, and an excellent idea. I'd back it.
There's too much money in video games and some other company would jump in on it.
Nintendo will NEVER relinquish control over their own hardware. They design hardware and software in tandem. It is a key factor of thier success (and profitiblity). So, unless all other concede to Nintendo, this will NEVER happen.
It's called the PC.
Imagine for a second that my name is Nintendo, and that the year is 2022. Someone says to me "would you like to make less money?", my answer? "no".
I don't need to say anything else.
First of all it's EA's Vision...
Second I don't want my gaming sytstem riddled w/Hax. Especially when on the internet w/it. Cough! (Microsoft)
Too much uniformality = LAYM Experience!
"steaming HDTV streams and Internet is already happening"
I don't think that's very healthy for the equipment! Good read, tho. I think this EA dude needs to quit whining.
It's too hard to program for multiple consoles.
No wonder they aren't #1 anymore.
Bitches.
that is all.
This is typical of EA, the company which have been releasing the same game in different packaging for over a decade. If healthy competition, the same competition found in every other healthy entertainment industry, is their real fear (which it is), then they should just make ports of the same games for every console available, and then release those ports every year...oh wait.
I can't fucking stand having to buy so many consoles to play any (as in every) game that comes to market. Also having to spend an extra $200 per console for extra controllers sucks.
Picture the amazing level of compatition there would be if the Wii, the PS3, and the 360 all played the same games. Think of how hard each manufacturer would have to work to make their hardware the best. Nintendo could no longer rest on the idea that Mario, Zelda, and Smash Bros would guarantee console sales. Sony could no longer count just on Final Fantasy, Microsoft on Halo.
I think it's obivously better for the consumer for this to happen. Hardware would be cheaper, more powerful, and most importantly, you wouldn't have to ever by more than one console.
If you needed to buy one PC to do your school work, one play games, one to surf the interent, and one to download porn, do you think PC's would sell as well as they do?
If you had to buy one DVD player to watch action movies, on the buy comedies, and one for dramas, do you think the DVD format would have ever over taken VHS?
I don't think so. And like wise, I don't think that gaming consoles will ever be as accepted as DVD players and PC's until there is one universal format.
But I'm convinced that Nintendo as we know them, couldn't possibly exist in a universal format. Who else is willing to take risks like Nintendo? I can think of no other company that would take a hugely successful global brand like the Gameboy, and just ditch it in favour of something whch was completely unknown and at the time mocked - the DS - the point here is that a universal console format would lead to less risk taking because their is no dominant vision with a shared unit.
They say "A camal is a horse designed by a commitee" and I think that saying rings true here, if everyone has their say, then what we get is a bog standard console which is a jack of all trades but master of none, but instead unspectacular and awkward in order to please everyone.
There will always be companies like Sony and Microsoft, but comapnies like Apple and Nintendo need their own independence if they are to maintain their unique design philosophies and approach.
Innovation cannot be unified or universal, it has to be completely uncompromised, so in that respect, I am completely against a universal console format. The videogame industry is evolving into something new, people are trying to work out what that is. I don't know what videogames will become, but I know what they won't become, a universal format is not the future of interactive entertainment, neither is multimedia.
Here's a cheeky possibility, what about Sony hooking up with Nintendo in the future? Sounds far fetched, but when you consider that it almost happened before, and when you take into account that the Playstation brand is broken, not because of the PS3, but because it was an unsustainable concept to begin with, and only a company with near unlimited funds could continue such a concept, which is why Microsoft are beating Sony at their own game. So what do you think, Sony and Nintendo?
Your missing the point. EA isn't saying there should be one car for everyone, they are saying that we need one type of ROAD. At the moment we buy a Microsoft car, but we can only drive on Microsoft roads. We buy a Sony car, we can only drive on sony roads. We should have one type of road and have all the competition focused on developing what matters, the cars/games! Who gives a shit about what road/console it's on?
Or maybe this is just my idea. But this is definitely quite a ways away...
I figure looking at what has changed in the last 20 years for video games that after 20 years there won't be much else to push forward, I almost want to say 10 but there is always something new they make me want.