No - maybe not - but check out my previous rant about why there would be One console Future...
I've wrote and said it a million times... for years... Industry has started to follow with high profile devs saying the same shit now... and its only a matter of time.
http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2008/01/all-for-one.html
[quote]Can anyone explain to me how having ONE console would be bad for gamers? Or game developers for that matter?
The argument that keeps coming up is, ‘oh, it would stifle competition and competition is good for gamers!’
But I don’t understand this in regards to console hardware.
One game publisher would be bad. One giant game developer would be bad. I get how those things would hurt gamers. But why would one unified hardware platform?[/quote]
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.
Without different Consoles you think the Wii would of been created? With each generation of Consoles they are trying to better each other. The Innovation that comes from competion with each other would be gone.
I like it how it is. Thank You.
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!!!!
Don't get what people get so bent about... Noone would control prices! Look at the model for DVD Players, Televisions, etc...
Like he described, it makes sense for the big three to meet every so often, standardize certain things they wish to use for the gen, and agree on a platform. Noone stops peripherals being created. Look at PS2, it has motion sensing now... So much for you Wii fanboys... PS3 is getting more peripherals that use motion sensing, and Xbox has been looking into the idea again... Don't give me this bullshit that we wouldn't have this, or we couldn't have that if it was the case. Jaffe makes the most reasonable explanation of why it would work. Its logical. Studios splitting time between platforms for essentially teh same game, is making for a worse product, and a higher price...
One day you'll see :)
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.
However, it is possible that you are the most brilliant, knowledgeable, and original thinker ever to tackle this issue, and that nobody before has been able to overcome the technical limitations and varied corporate interests that would hamper a project of this complexity.
@Lukich
How does it mean your Wii would never exist? Do you think there is some sort of magic inside there that let's it track the acceleration of the controller? Wiimote = peripheral, not console.
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.
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.
Thanks for taking more time than myself to explain it :D. It'd be convenient for the consumers initially, but we would eventually end up right back where we are now, and I like it that way.
@dgenerate
My Wii would not exist at the price I paid for it if it had to be able to support the same games that are being made for the 360 and PS3.