What if 2 of the big three console companies mergered?

[Squilliam]

soulsamurai said:

Squilliam said:
I would call a Microsoft Nintendo alliance the best at this point.

Microsoft - Good relations with third parties, makes the best tools, high technology focus so a Nintendo/Microsoft console can sport a GPU which is forward compatible for at least half a generation, 1st party properties which complement Nintendo such as "Halo, Forza, Fable, Viva Pinata etc" Also can do more with less, see Xbox 360 for your examples. Which is important because Nintendo will likely focus on making the console small and low powered again.

Nintendo, well they are just Nintendo.

 

that's intersting, i never expected to hear nintendo and microsoft combined to make another lower powered system. I was expecting almost a waggle type thing with more nintendo game influence and maybe a SSB with Master Cheif.

EDIT: I misread, I see now what you're saying. That's still a pretty good idea of more with less.

Yep. New technologies such as Tesselation are very important for smaller GPUs especially because it simplifies the whole of the system.

Tessellation is a form of procedural generation of content, they can create complicated wireframe models on the fly using much smaller seeder frames so it takes up less memory, uses less bandwidth (So they can afford a smaller bus) and use less space on disk so they could once again get away with using some form of DVD and keep the costs down that way.

Tessellation is very tools intensive and Microsoft will be one of the few companies with experience with the technology by the time the next generation rolls around. Tessellation goes live in Direct X 11, and the tools have only recently been distributed amongst developers. Its a technology which is present in the Xbox 360, it hasn't been used yet but it will be in the coming years and it will be an important factor in extending the life of the current Xbox 360 beyond 2011.

Nintendo is one of the most creative companies in the world but they aren't tools designers. They would love to use Microsoft tools if given the chance because with even better tools they can focus more on creating a better game.