Devs Speak Out Against Single Console Platform
- Scribbled on November 2nd, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Industry News, Interviews, Platforms
A few weeks ago, Electronic Arts called for a single platform console. Well, in this great article by Develop Mag, quite a few developers said, “Bad idea.”
“The last time technology companies collaborated by committee to create a processor for next-gen development we were landed with Cell, so no thanks,” said one coder at UK independent studio.
And let’s not forget that when it comes to open standards the industry has struggled somewhat in establishing them in the past, accusations against the PS3 aside.
Frontier’s David Braben reminds us: “There have been at least two attempts at this in the past at this in the last few decades, MSX and CDi. Both took a long time to agree, and both were far from cutting edge when the first machines hit the shelves.”
A similar fate befell Trip Hawkins’ 3DO – which in fact arrived not as a low-cost, low-barrier device but one that priced itself out of the market.
“The industry does not have a good track record of introducing standards,” agrees Reil. “The MSX never really took off and the open PC platform is only moderately suited for gaming – there were many good reasons why consoles took over.”
This is a long and involved article, so check it out and let us know what you think.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:37 pm
The single console would destroy the industry, but I can’t help but want it. I’d love to have ONE box to play ALL my games. The problem then becomes that 200 games are released in the holiday season on ONE console instead of 3… That’s a lot less sales. That’s BAD for the gaming industry.