BioWare CEO reiterates old EA wish for one unified console

[aries101]

I have long suspected that maybe Greg and Ray actually were from another planet (than Earth). I know understand that my suspicions are correct...

Ray (and Greg) are clearly talking about some other place than Earth, I find. If they are not, someone needs to call them to get back them on Earth again.

 

On Earth, competetion amongst the console makers, game companies and publishers is a good thing. It makes sure that the customer gets the programs, and games cheaper; it even makes sure that those companies who bascially do not treat their customers with respect, get closed. Since they don't sell much....

 

In the future --- seems to be a big word right now, for both EA, Ray, Greg and Bioware. And you do not know if Ray and Greg have had the same expections or hopes for the future that EA and John Riccitiello has: making even single player based games like MMOs, that is paying a monthly subscription to EA for playing a single player game. On their, EA's console...

 

If this were to be come true, I would be very sad....

[Hurlshort]

This is really just a weird reaction. You have a guy saying "my life would be easier if.." and people are just reading soooo much into it.

 

If y'all want to look into the future, the truth is eventually technology will plateau and the hardware battle will become completely different. I hope I live to see the day that I can buy a game that will play on any console or PC. How does it possibly benefit us to have to buy Fallout 3 three times to play it on the PC, 360, and PS3?

[alanschu]

I learned in my Economics courses that sometimes competition isn't necessarily a good thing, and can actually result in higher costs for both suppliers and consumers. (though this is rare).

[Purkake]

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.

 

The problem isn't only the bandwidth, but also the lag.

 

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...

 

The US is way behind on broadband penetration, try Europe and Japan. USA was also way behind on cellphones, it's mostly the size of the country, I guess.

 

I get 12Mb internet along with digital TV for

[Tigranes]

100mbit is fairly common in South Korea and will soon become 'standard'. As Korea is the world leader, I don't see it being out of reach for others.

 

edit: And yes, most of the time it's the ISP capping, not the infra/tech.

[Purkake]

100mbit is fairly common in South Korea and will soon become 'standard'. As Korea is the world leader, I don't see it being out of reach for others.

 

edit: And yes, most of the time it's the ISP capping, not the infra/tech.

 

The ISPs are capping the bandwidth because they lack sufficient infrastructure. The circle is now complete.

Edited January 30, 2009 by Purkake

[Moatilliatta]

The guy who wrote that article seem to be a big Orwell fan.

 

It makes sure that the customer gets the programs, and games cheaper...

Nope. Three consoles means that I need to buy three consoles, and that means that my games are significantly more expensive on the PS3, as I don't want a lot of the PS3 games. I'm still waiting for them to build up enough of a library for it to feel like it is worth it.

 

Has anyone mentioned how awesome the PC is yet? I love my PC.

[Dark_Raven]

LOLZ!

 

It was nice knowing Bioware. R.I.P.

 

Evil EA kills all that it assimilates. Great idea EA, great idea.

[Pushtrak]

LOLZ!

 

It was nice knowing Bioware. R.I.P.

 

Evil EA kills all that it assimilates. Great idea EA, great idea.

I already asked this of the opening poster, and didn't get a response. Are you going to do the same thing and not by a Bio game for fear of "funding this sick vision"? If so, do you also own any of the consoles? Because, I think were there to be a console unification, it might actually be the console manufacturers doing this, and not EA. Just a bit of a thought... Seems somewhat obvious to me.

[Humodour]

The US is way behind on broadband penetration, try Europe and Japan. USA was also way behind on cellphones, it's mostly the size of the country, I guess.

 

I get 12Mb internet along with digital TV for €40 a month and it really is 12Mb as well. 100Mb would cost a bit more, but not anywhere near 2.5K.

 

The real problem is the ISPs that are capping the bandwidth in the US, UK and Australia.

 

Australia's broadband and mobile penetration rates are perfectly fine. Above the OECD average. And we also have the technology to support blistering speeds (e.g. NextG is the fastest commercial mobile network in the world at 42Mbps in 2009). The problem is what the average customer actually gets.

 

I suspect speed caps stifle innovation (read: speed increases) because it's basically a form of price fixing. Speeds do go up over time, though, so as long as that happens, whatever. Our ISPs certainly aren't about to change their business model.

 

What irks me far more about Australian broadband is the download caps. They're usually something pathetic like 1gb or 10gb, and change the cost of the plan by horrendous amounts. E.g. mobile broadband on Telstra's NextG network costs $130 AUD per month for 10 gigs and $60 for 1 gigs (at about 0.5 to 6 Mbps on average because of the scarcity of NextG infrastructure). That's 65 and 30 Euros respectively.

 

I already pay $40 (20 euro) a month to get 10 gigs at 512kbps, so no way am I gonna pay $130 just because it's wireless.

Edited February 1, 2009 by Krezack

[Mamoulian War]

LOLZ!

 

It was nice knowing Bioware. R.I.P.

 

Evil EA kills all that it assimilates. Great idea EA, great idea.

I already asked this of the opening poster, and didn't get a response. Are you going to do the same thing and not by a Bio game for fear of "funding this sick vision"? If so, do you also own any of the consoles? Because, I think were there to be a console unification, it might actually be the console manufacturers doing this, and not EA. Just a bit of a thought... Seems somewhat obvious to me.

 

If console manufacturer wanted console unification we would already had one... If this comes to finale, it will be most likely work of publisher made consortium...

[Meshugger]

The US is way behind on broadband penetration, try Europe and Japan. USA was also way behind on cellphones, it's mostly the size of the country, I guess.

 

I get 12Mb internet along with digital TV for

[Morgoth]

I've only 3 Mbps, but no download limit. But that's maybe because I'm living on the country side.

 

100 Mbps...wow, that's criminally fast. Me wanna have that too!

[Humodour]

Capping download, what a load of ****. Is it completely impossible to find any ISP that doesn't have this kind of business practice, or are they all involved in the same cartel?

 

Well I live in the country so there's not as much choice as some place like Sydney, but download capping is so common I bet the unlimited services would cost twice as much.

 

At the Australian National University when I lived on campus we each had 100 Mbps connections to our rooms. But we were charged at 7 cents per meg. Just as I left they upgraded it to 10 Gbps and lowered the cost to 2 cents per meg. So that was amazingly refreshing compared to a normal ISP, but at $70 (and then $20) per gigabyte it was still fairly restrictive. Data on the uni network (which included the research schools and residential halls) was unmetered thank god.

 

Edit: P.S. 10 Gbps ethernet will blow your mind. It's literally 10,000 times faster than a 1Mbps connection.

Edited February 1, 2009 by Krezack

[Morgoth]

With 10 Gbps, I'll download your face!

[Purkake]

Oh man, I don't think I could live with bandwidth caps. I'd rather go back to my 2Mbs and have unlimited bandwidth as I do now, than have 100Mbs and pay per megabyte. That is just criminal.

 

Apparently our(Scandinavia and Baltic states) infrastructure is solid enough that we don't need caps. Pretty much everyone has broadband here(in cities at least) and I still get my full 12Mbs down and 2Mbs up.

 

Australia is awesome, though!

Edited February 1, 2009 by Purkake

[Meshugger]

Capping download, what a load of ****. Is it completely impossible to find any ISP that doesn't have this kind of business practice, or are they all involved in the same cartel?

 

Well I live in the country so there's not as much choice as some place like Sydney, but download capping is so common I bet the unlimited services would cost twice as much.

 

At the Australian National University when I lived on campus we each had 100 Mbps connections to our rooms. But we were charged at 7 cents per meg. Just as I left they upgraded it to 10 Gbps and lowered the cost to 2 cents per meg. So that was amazingly refreshing compared to a normal ISP, but at $70 (and then $20) per gigabyte it was still fairly restrictive. Data on the uni network (which included the research schools and residential halls) was unmetered thank god.

 

Edit: P.S. 10 Gbps ethernet will blow your mind. It's literally 10,000 times faster than a 1Mbps connection.

 

Whops, i forgot about the great Australian wilderness

[Dark_Raven]

LOLZ!

 

It was nice knowing Bioware. R.I.P.

 

Evil EA kills all that it assimilates. Great idea EA, great idea.

I already asked this of the opening poster, and didn't get a response. Are you going to do the same thing and not by a Bio game for fear of "funding this sick vision"? If so, do you also own any of the consoles? Because, I think were there to be a console unification, it might actually be the console manufacturers doing this, and not EA. Just a bit of a thought... Seems somewhat obvious to me.

I really see no reason to buy any Bio games. We'll see how DA turns out then maybe.

[Pushtrak]

If console manufacturer wanted console unification we would already had one... If this comes to finale, it will be most likely work of publisher made consortium...

If it were to happen, what they had to say on the matter would be one of the key things involved, yes. Somehow, I don't think a handful of people not buying games that EA publishes will diminish that voice though.

LOLZ!

It was nice knowing Bioware. R.I.P.

Evil EA kills all that it assimilates. Great idea EA, great idea.

I already asked this of the opening poster, and didn't get a response. Are you going to do the same thing and not by a Bio game for fear of "funding this sick vision"? If so, do you also own any of the consoles? Because, I think were there to be a console unification, it might actually be the console manufacturers doing this, and not EA. Just a bit of a thought... Seems somewhat obvious to me.

I really see no reason to buy any Bio games. We'll see how DA turns out then maybe.

Oh, I see. So, that post I replied to had nothing to do with this thread.... At all. Yeah, thanks for the contribution.

[Nightshape]

Oh man, I don't think I could live with bandwidth caps. I'd rather go back to my 2Mbs and have unlimited bandwidth as I do now, than have 100Mbs and pay per megabyte. That is just criminal.

 

Apparently our(Scandinavia and Baltic states) infrastructure is solid enough that we don't need caps. Pretty much everyone has broadband here(in cities at least) and I still get my full 12Mbs down and 2Mbs up.

 

Australia is awesome, though!

 

Estonia has a silly number of internet connection per person, I remember being in Rapina (fairly small place for those who don't know), the closest bar had wi-fi! It's everywhere... It's not just cities and large towns, pretty much anything from a small village up has a net connection. I'm not too sure about some of the small farms out in the middle of nowhere, but I'd imagine you could get a connection if you so wanted.

[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

apparently you don't understand the concept of a standard... it's not just "the consumer's wish," nor are what they talking about is a single provider. it took all of 30 seconds of reading to figure that out. lose your pre-conceived notions.

 

standards abound in our lives. the cell phone calls you make are all done through a standard, mostly CDMA in the US, some form of GSM in europe, etc. standards make things easier for developers because they don't have to design for a billion sorts of hardware or meet a myriad of communication protocols. PCs have the PCI bus and its newer variants, SATA, firewire, and RS-232 interfaces, DVI for your monitor, etc. standards all.

 

taks

[Mamoulian War]

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

apparently you don't understand the concept of a standard... it's not just "the consumer's wish," nor are what they talking about is a single provider. it took all of 30 seconds of reading to figure that out. lose your pre-conceived notions.

 

standards abound in our lives. the cell phone calls you make are all done through a standard, mostly CDMA in the US, some form of GSM in europe, etc. standards make things easier for developers because they don't have to design for a billion sorts of hardware or meet a myriad of communication protocols. PCs have the PCI bus and its newer variants, SATA, firewire, and RS-232 interfaces, DVI for your monitor, etc. standards all.

 

taks

 

Apparently Microsoft Windows is a standard aswell... Forced Standard for PC gaming... what can stop a company which brings this stnadard to the public to force it for console gaming because it wants to make same ****loads of cash on it like MS is making on Windows...

Edited February 2, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[taks]

Apparently Microsoft Windows is a standard aswell... Forced Standard for PC gaming...

um, no, not even close. clearly, based on this post, you do not understand what a standard is.

 

what can stop a company which brings this stnadard to the public to force it for console gaming because it wants to make same ****loads of cash on it like MS is making on Windows...

because, if it is a standard, anybody can design to it... at that point, market forces will drive who is successful.

 

taks

[Mamoulian War]

Apparently Microsoft Windows is a standard aswell... Forced Standard for PC gaming...

um, no, not even close. clearly, based on this post, you do not understand what a standard is.

 

what can stop a company which brings this stnadard to the public to force it for console gaming because it wants to make same ****loads of cash on it like MS is making on Windows...

because, if it is a standard, anybody can design to it... at that point, market forces will drive who is successful.

 

taks

 

Nah there are standards made/recommended by organisations like ISO or IEEE, and there are "standards" forced upon customers because there is no other similar product available on the market, like MS Windows for PC based gaming.

 

If you dont understand what i am meaning blame my english explaining skills (not a native speaker)

Edited February 2, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[Purkake]

Oh man, I don't think I could live with bandwidth caps. I'd rather go back to my 2Mbs and have unlimited bandwidth as I do now, than have 100Mbs and pay per megabyte. That is just criminal.

 

Apparently our(Scandinavia and Baltic states) infrastructure is solid enough that we don't need caps. Pretty much everyone has broadband here(in cities at least) and I still get my full 12Mbs down and 2Mbs up.

 

Australia is awesome, though!

 

Estonia has a silly number of internet connection per person, I remember being in Rapina (fairly small place for those who don't know), the closest bar had wi-fi! It's everywhere... It's not just cities and large towns, pretty much anything from a small village up has a net connection. I'm not too sure about some of the small farms out in the middle of nowhere, but I'd imagine you could get a connection if you so wanted.

 

Most of the population is in the bigger cities/town and pretty much all of them have internet. There are still a bunch of people living in farm houses in the middle of nowhere they can get the (not very fast yet) wireless broadband. I guess I'm just spoiled...