The Road to a Universal Platform
David Jaffe recently came under some criticism for a few statements to consumer website 1UP about his future visions of the game industry. The big headline, repeated across the Internet for a day or two, was "Ten years from now there will be one console". It was an unguarded comment, following his own nostalgia for the days of rampant console exclusivity. Jaffe expressed annoyance at the current standard of cross-platform development, and wondered if it was coming to the point where the only distinguishing factor from one console to the next would be its first-party software. From there he made the leap that this small distinction might not be enough justification for multiple consoles – therefore, he figured, perhaps we're on a road to a single universal platform.
There was much tittering in the aisles; a few people made comparisons to Trip Hawkins' dreams for the 3D0 – a console standard that, much like a VCR or other piece of home electronics, would be licensed out to any manufacturer with the initiative. In fact, that comparison is pretty appropriate in that both Trip and Mr. Jaffe have the same reasonable – and actually rather clever – idea, with the same understandable flaw.
The most essential problem is that unlike film or music, videogames have yet to come into their own. Before anything resembling standardization is appropriate, there are still tremendous problems in interface, design theory and craftsmanship to address – none of which, I feel it safe to predict, will be solved any time soon, given that at the moment no one seems to have a clue what to do about them. The difference between the Wii and the Xbox 360 should give a taste of how far we have to go before we're ready to settle.
Read the full article here...Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh
February 16, 2007
Source: Next-Gen.biz