BioWare CEO reiterates old EA wish for one unified console

[Mamoulian War]

If you do not know what a monopolistic provider is able to do to his consumer, just google for russia, EU and gas...

a quick read makes me think you are mis-interpreting what they are talking about... not a monopolistic provider, but a standard platform with (potentially) multiple providers. this is not unheard of.

 

taks

 

That is consumer's wish If the thingie would be realy open platform with lot of providers it could be good, but from Corporate point of view the biggest cash flows in your pocket, when you are the only provider of said service

 

and there is still one thing in the article...

 

You're seeing it on some PC titles now like the flash-based games that are arguably an example of that, where you're playing a game that's displayed and rendered and you interact with it on your machine but it may be running somewhere else. It's an interesting idea in the future.

 

That would mean, from that day on, all games would be handled like MMO's are handled now... All they need to do is make imaginary cut through your cable (disable your account) and you and your awesome console are screwed

 

 

the illuminati's killed jfk and big foot is really a govt. created super soldier project test critter that has occasionally gotten loose.

 

...

 

what, Gromnir thought we were sharing crack pot conspiracy theories in this thread?

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Oh yeah, wanna inhale for a while too?

[Hurlshort]

What we really need is Sony to create the hardware, Microsoft to create the OS, and Nintendo to create the peripherals and controllers for the ultimate gaming console.

[Mamoulian War]

If that would happen, i would definitely not jump out of the gaming ship ... But i still think Linux would be beter choice, but man can't have everything he desires

Edited January 28, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[Gromnir]

Oh yeah, wanna inhale for a while too?

 

 

is this a drug reference? Gromnir feels so out of touch with kids nowadays.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[alanschu]

Hopefully, when digital sales make ordinary retailers superfluous, game prices will go down appropriately.

 

 

Meh, I'm skepitcal. I think games will continue to go down in price vs "real" dollar value as they have been for so long already. Which means paying the same price we have been for years.

[Killian Kalthorne]

I like multiple consoles because each console, while competing for the gamer audience, each one has its own little niche. PS3 for the technophile lites, XBox 360 for the mainstreamers, and the Wii for the family oriented crowd. I think that is how we should keep it at. Well, that and a PC/Xbox 360 hybrid. I want my hybrid dammit!

[stationhater]

I'll not pretend for a moment that monopolization is a flawless endeavor. However, not making developers cross develop for multiple systems would have at least one advantage for the gamer: quality. If you have ever noticed, gameplay on old school games was much more solid and graphics/physics were always on par for the platform. This was because games were designed for that one system.

And for those that would say that competition: I would remind you all that one system does not mean one developer. Developers would still need to compete with eachother on each system.

 

That said....there are still alot of flaws with the idea, but I guess I at least get where the argument comes from.

[Meshugger]

In the future, there will be no consoles. Everything will be run on a virtual console/PC, and the user just start playing on the TV/local PC. The only requirement will be a high-speed broadband connection and high-resolution TV. Sony, MS and Nintendo will still compete for services surrounding the virtual console though.

 

EA will win until someone finds a better solution that the consumers want, or until Nintendo buys them.

[Purkake]

Ah yes, the ever-elusive unified console. To be honest, I could care less, the only console that I have is Nintendo DS and I'm not planning on getting any home consoles until I can get all the games in downloadable form. The problem is that here, in Estonia(and continental Europe in general) the consoles cost 1.5-2x more than in the US without the sales tax and the games come like a month later and cost 2x more. PCs and PC games on the other hand cost about the same as in the US.

 

Maybe the console wars would go back to PC vs unified console. As it stands now I don't like the 360 for taking most of the PC games and simplifying them for the "mainstream". The PS3 is ok, but Sony seems to mismanaging it horribly. And it is fun to watch people blame the Wii for killing the gaming and making everything "mainstream" when the other consoles did that to PC gaming some time ago.

 

The unified console thing would be interesting to see, but it's not going to happen in today's market unless two of the big console makers pack up and leave.

Edited January 28, 2009 by Purkake

[Tigranes]

I wouldn't mind a unified console. More choice for the consumer, because you aren't limited in your games selection.

 

I like what Wii did because instead of having 3 exactly same consoles (what, you thought PS2/3 and XBOX/360 were different? Pfft, they're the same bloody type with variations), they went and did something different. If we had differences like that (or more) then 2-3 consoles won't be so bad.

 

Can't see Microsoft getting out of this though. Maybe Sony if they royally screw up with PS4. But probably not.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

As long as there are still different companies making it, I don't mind. Which means we either stay with the same systems or move on to something like DVD players.

[Maria Caliban]

I'm having trouble following these posts. Maybe I need to take more LSD or something.

 

No, pot is the drug of choice for tirades about the Man and how he's trying to ruin gaming. LSD is for when you decide to sexually experiment with your x-box.

[Pushtrak]

All i see behind this is greed... Another reason for me to not purchased anything from EA, because with that i would be funding this sick vision...

How is that, exactly? If such a unified thing were to happen, it would be the console manufacturers deciding to do so. Not some games developer guy. If you are afraid of funding this vision (and it came to pass) you funded it if you were to give money to whichever console manufacturer takes part in said console unification. So, if its the three, and you get a 360, PS3 or Wii, you are "funding this sick vision".

What we really need is Sony to create the hardware, Microsoft to create the OS, and Nintendo to create the peripherals and controllers for the ultimate gaming console.

Keep Sony the hell away from the disc reader. And no god damn cell processor.

[Slowtrain]

I think having a unified console standard would be great. The hardware could be built by anybody but all would play the same games.

 

I think having a single hardware platform, controlled by one company, that all games have to play on would be not so great.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

But the Hardware wouldn't always be the same, or completely compatible. Which means the consoles just become PCs with less uses. Hell, the one nice thing about consoles is they don't change their hardware around so devs don't have a hard time with it.

[Killian Kalthorne]

But the Hardware wouldn't always be the same, or completely compatible. Which means the consoles just become PCs with less uses. Hell, the one nice thing about consoles is they don't change their hardware around so devs don't have a hard time with it.

That may be true with the last generation, but not this generation of consoles. There have ben four different XBox 360, various versions of the PS3, and soon the Wii is joining the fray with a Dard Drive enabled version.

[Humodour]

Uh, what? How is it evil to not want to have to go through three or four development cycles for the same game in order to get it out to all the platforms?

 

Standards certainly isn't evil. You don't need to have a monopoly to have standards, though.

 

And the PC/Windows OS hasn't had any competition since the Amiga died. Has it really caused a degradation in the quality of PC games available?

 

Poor comparison. You should be thinking of hardware. There has definitely not been any hardware monopoly for PCs.

 

Perhaps instead they should make a console with a single console OS and allow competing hardware vendors to utilise that OS? Oh wait.

 

Seriously, the only thing consoles still have going for them is their controllers. For example, they've all been hacked to run Linux, etc. They're just glorified PCs, and their ability to continue to hide that fact is disintegrating.

[Tigranes]

Perhaps the PC compatibility problem would disappear if we got everyone to buy the same Dell, as well.

[alanschu]

Uh, what? How is it evil to not want to have to go through three or four development cycles for the same game in order to get it out to all the platforms?

 

Standards certainly isn't evil. You don't need to have a monopoly to have standards, though.

 

And the PC/Windows OS hasn't had any competition since the Amiga died. Has it really caused a degradation in the quality of PC games available?

 

Poor comparison. You should be thinking of hardware. There has definitely not been any hardware monopoly for PCs.

 

Perhaps instead they should make a console with a single console OS and allow competing hardware vendors to utilise that OS? Oh wait.

 

Seriously, the only thing consoles still have going for them is their controllers. For example, they've all been hacked to run Linux, etc. They're just glorified PCs, and their ability to continue to hide that fact is disintegrating.

 

 

Of course they are glorified PCs. They always have been.

 

Consoles are just computers people. Always have been, and always will be.

[Meshugger]

Google is already doing research in having servers working as "cloud computers", and there's also indications about some OS's running as a virtual PCs. Why not consoles?

 

With the 100mbit becoming a standard, i do not see this as impossible.

[Mamoulian War]

Google is already doing research in having servers working as "cloud computers", and there's also indications about some OS's running as a virtual PCs. Why not consoles?

 

With the 100mbit becoming a standard, i do not see this as impossible.

 

Lol and where is that a standard??? In USA and Japan? You know, there are around 250 other countries which can disagree with your numbers... But yes i can get 100mbit in here aswell, for a small fee of 2500 EUR/month... oh yeah i love standards...

[Kaftan Barlast]

Cloud computing, or any form of remote processing is unsuitable for running realtime graphical applications on. The data transfer rate of a DVI interface is (Single Link) 3.96 Gbit/s (Dual Link- for 1920x1200+ resolutions) 7.92 Gbit/s, so you would need massive amounts of bandwidth, uniterrupted continuous bandwidth at that. I suppose you could compress the video, but even then it would be very tricky to do it in realtime

 

 

 

Lol and where is that a standard??? In USA and Japan?

 

Try Sweden, you technicly inferior foreign person.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Kaftan Barlast

[Gfted1]

Yeah, Sweden has the mad fiber optics. I just got a letter in the mail from Comcast (my internet/cable provider) that surprised the hell out of me. Something like "Due to recent upgrades to the infrastrucure in your area we are happy to inform you that your internet speed has been increased from 6MB/sec to 12MB/sec with "speed boosts" up to 15MB/sec for no additional charge. To take advantage please go cycle to power on your modem and reboot your PC."

 

Of course, nothing is free so Im waiting for the other shoe to drop, lol.

[Rosbjerg]

Just got upgraded to a ~50mbit myself.. man it's sweet to surf at that speed..

 

(technically I'm sharing a 100mbit with about 30 people - but I have download speeds around 6mb/s any time a day)

 

-

On topic:

 

I don't trust EA to have my best interest in heart with this.. In fact I wouldn't trust anyone to have my best interest.. but, like TVs or PCs, if different companies were producing the same console, or different versions of the same console (but all games still working on it) - I could see it work.

[Meshugger]

Cloud computing, or any form of remote processing is unsuitable for running realtime graphical applications on. The data transfer rate of a DVI interface is (Single Link) 3.96 Gbit/s (Dual Link- for 1920x1200+ resolutions) 7.92 Gbit/s, so you would need massive amounts of bandwidth, uniterrupted continuous bandwidth at that. I suppose you could compress the video, but even then it would be very tricky to do it in realtime

 

We are speaking about the future here, are we not?

 

 

lol and where is that a standard??? In USA and Japan? You know, there are around 250 other countries which can disagree with your numbers... But yes i can get 100mbit in here aswell, for a small fee of 2500 EUR/month... oh yeah i love standards...

 

39,95 here in Finland thankyouverymuch.