10-19-2007, 09:05 AM
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Complainer of the year
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: England
Posts: 1,370
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EA favours open console.
As news go it's not particularly surprising that EA would rather not have to develop and port across multiple systems. Rather than just a unified console though EA's Gerhard Florin wants a completely open one. From the BBC:
Quote:
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," said EA's head of international publishing. He said the web and set-top boxes would grow in importance to the industry.
"We're platform agnostic and we definitely don't want to have one platform which is a walled garden," said Mr Florin.
EA currently produces games for more than 14 different gaming systems, including consoles, portable devices and PCs.
"I am not sure how long we will have dedicated consoles - but we could be talking up to 15 years," Mr Florin added.
He predicted that server-based games streamed to PCs or set-top boxes, would become increasingly important.
"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on."
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An open system would presumably mean not having to go through Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo to get it published on a system (saving EA the money money that entails), but the benefits aren't so clear for the console manufacturers themselves, especially if, as Florin puts it, "Gaming will just require potentially a £49.99 box from Tesco made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection and a games engine inside. It's basically a boiled-down PC."
Less unlikely (though still hardly probable) would be the big three joining together to launch a single, closed system. Microsoft genuinely seem to value the Live/Marketplace side of things over the hardware, Sony are very much interested in pushing the hardware and Nintendo's focus this time round has been games and innovative controls. In theory none of these primary interests clash as much as in previous generations, but you'd still be talking about splitting the money across three different companies. Nintendo, for one, would be unlikely to favour running huge losses in hardware development and clearly don't believe in open online gaming, while Microsoft and Sony don't seem to be in any danger of becoming bedfellows any time soon.
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