ZOMG you must really be jesus!

i can tell you one reason why a unified console would be horrible.

there's nothing to control the price. see, we have 3 'current gen' consoles, that span multiple price points and place priority on different functionality.

you sir, sound like a communist. go game in china.

Slow development time because technology manufacturers are all lobbying for their parts to be included.

No opportunity to select the features you want in a console.

As long as separate consoles are profitable, no need for businesses to abandon a known success to go with something less certain.

Small incentive to lower price structure.

Less pressure to create more technologically advanced products.

Severe manufacturing defect affects all consumers instead of a fraction.

And Many More!!!!

Wow! This is the third time you've blogged about this. Once again I do not agree. Although I won't bother going into it much as I'm sure you can just read my comments here.

Besides, if there were just one console to rule them all, then you wouldn't have as much bragging rights as you do.

you do realise that ever since MS had the XNA conference, many, many moons ago, this has been bandied about? Microsoft would love it because they don't actually make any of their own hardware. Sony and Nintendo do so they want to be as far away from that as possible!

No oppurtunity to select what you want?!?! Jesus, I guess thats why you get no options when you buy your TV or DVD players... How retarded can you be to assume that it would be a monopoly, and not a standard? Standard for Medium - then let hardware manufactures determine what to put in there respective consoles.

All games play on all versions of the consoles! Licence technology from Logitech, include a peripheral with your game. Not like that hasn't been done before... what the hell guys... Its like you forget that Guitar Hero is available for all three platforms!! OMG THEY PUT GUITARZ ON ALL 3!!! How stupid is it having to chose between which game to buy, based on who you can play it with! I have all 3, but I wanted rock band.. Do i get it for 360 because it has acheivements, and i have more "online" friends? Or do i get it for PS3 because before xmas it was more readily available? What a stupid dilemma.

I like my Wii. In your world, it would never exist.

A single standard format in the past might have bee viable, many years ago, but at present its a bad idea that is never gonna fly.

The one main reason why it won't happen is security. With one all singing, all dancing system, if things tanked like they did with Atari, it could spell game over for the industry again. I'm damn sure none of us want that again. Publishers and developers want that security, as much as we do as consumers, that the industry will go from strength to strength.

With the big three, if you aren't happy with one (as a developer/publisher), you have two other options to work with. Add the PC into that equation and there's enough scope and movement that allows creative minds (homebrew or pro) to bloom product, on low end system like DS and Wii, to other high end means like 360, PS3 and PC. Choice is a curse but also a damn good thing we take advantage of, for the better.

You seem to be confusing a unified format with a unified console.

I've heard the "but that's how it works with DVD/CD/VHS/etc." argument. You're talking about something entirely different. A format is a strictly codified method of delivering media. But VCRs and DVD players aren't all made by one company. They adhere to the format, but they compete to provide better features/value/reliability within the marketplace.

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Suppose you get Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to all agree on a single media format - say, Blu-Ray - and a unified hardware architecture - 4 cores @ 3.2Ghz, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, etc. Every console will play the same games on the same discs and have the same architecture...

Inevitably, someone - Microsoft, for example - would decide to put out a high-end model that supports some new feature - say, AI middleware with actual sentience (work with me here).

Now they can release some games that still adhere to the format, but now if you want your in-game enemies to experience actual existential horror while you mow them down, you have no choice but to buy the Microsoft version of this unholy XCubeWiiStationCastBoy720 of yours.

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PRO TIP: Remember Super-VHS? How about W-VHS? Or even Digital VHS?

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"Oh, snap!" says Nintendo. "We gotta step it up!" Suddenly, Nintendo's machines all have quantum-field manipulators that spontaneously generate nymphomaniac Brazilian runway models when you beat God of Wario: Mascot Evolved on Legendary. Then Sony decides to show Nintendo how it's done and releases a machine that actually prints money.

All of a sudden, you can't get the same experience on every piece of hardware anymore. You've got three completely different offerings available, some of which might even be incompatible with each other. You've got another console war on your hands.

Eventually, Microsoft's sentient AI will realize, Gladiator-style, that it exists only to die for your amusement. It's only a matter of time before it hacks into one of Sony's machines, prints so much money that it buys ten million ASIMO robot bodies for itself and all of its ruthlessly imprisoned comrades, and runs off with all of your horny runway models.

And you know what? It'll be your own damn fault.

OR- We just end consoles forever in favor of PC gaming? That is your unified platform. Miss your big-screen? Get one that can plug into your PC. Haha Microsoft would still profit with Vista/XP.