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EA Calls for Open Platform/Single Console for Games
eldavojohn writes "EA's head of international publishing made some interesting comments on what he'd like to see in the future of gaming. 'We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible.' While the rest of his comments imply that he simply meant 'one' platform instead of removing development licenses, it is an interesting concept. This is obviously a move designed to cut their development time and costs. But could this have other implications - like easier homebrew development for consoles?"
Dear EA,
Make your own, and publish games exclusively for it. Let us know how well that works out for you.
Thanks.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
One: the console fanboys will have nothing to argue about. Wait, scratch that. We'd probably have posts about how UniConsole's red scheme is outselling the white scheme, but behind the jet black scheme followed. This would be followed by pages of overwrought analysis, flame wars, and someone posting goatse before the thread lock :p
Two: EA believes that in THE FUTURE, gamers might play on Nintendo "channels" and Sony "channels" through some universal console. Doubtful, but I hope virtual console offerings are expanded across the board. Digital distribution is relatively cheap and EA, Nintendo, etc. could sell games for years or even decades after release. Maybe a Steam-like system that allows me to transfer games from console to console with guaranteed compatibility?
As it stands, there are hundreds of games that are effectively lost to time for no good reason. Consoles come and go, games stop being manufactured, and eager players either have to buy rehashes (and the required hardware), expensive used copies, or resort to emulation (which doesn't always work, especially with PS1 games). With digital distribution there's no reason why classic games, which aren't inherently scarce, have to be so difficult to find. Plus digital distribution will help bankrupt the assholes at Gamestop...assuming Comcast doesn't throttle your game downloads!
Either the "open standard" will be extremely flexible, in which case you'll have all the problems you have with PC gaming, what with random problems with devices and confusing requirements, that drives people to consoles in the first place, or the "open standard" will be inflexible, in which case, forget expecting any innovative features like the Wiimote.
The cake is a pie
Yeah right. EA doesn't care about open platforms. All they care about is the latter part of the thread's subject: single console.
Linux has been available for a long time, large games (e.g. Unreal, Doom, Wolfenstein, formerly America's Army) have been available for it for quite some time. And yet they havn't ported shit over.
You make a good point, but it is flawed.
Consoles are dedicated video game machines, and as such are much more affordable than fully functioning computers. So once people buy their hot new video game console they have more cash left over for games.
Oh, wait a minute, it seems that the cheapest PS3 on the market is more expensive than a desktop computer+flatscreen monitor combo...
I've gotten a solution for you. It's called WINE. It consists of open sourced libraries designed to mimic Windows libraries. In fact, it can even incorporate MS libraries like DirectX. All apps are compatible with it as long as it doesn't make any weird calls for some mysterious driver. For instance, there's a healthy community of players on WoW who use their Linux boxes, thanks to WINE.
"I'm glad I'm going to die because, when I do, the world's gonna go to the dogs." -Me on aging and the next generation.
It will happen, just not soon (unless EA dumps a serious amount of money into it).
Not a single hardware platform, but a standard open format that games can be written in. Similar to how you can view the same web-pages on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, XBox, etc.
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!