Exclusives! What are they good for?

[Showertea]

KBG29 said:
This is why gaming has got to find a standard. In the future every game has got to be able to run on every system. This does not mean make every game for every system, it means every system is built to play every game. I know the one console future is the word of the devil around gaming boards, but at some point it has to happen if gaming is going to survive. Companies like EA, Take 2, Activision, and THQ are never going to be able to profit in the future if things continue the way they are. Even if every system next gen takes the way of the Wii things are just going to be to much. When a franchise is licensed to one of these companies the owner wants the game on every platrom. Right now that means 10+ differant version of the game has to be made.

I am not even close to a fan of Dennis Dyack(SP), but he is right about the one console future. Just like they did with Blu-ray and DVD before it. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and all other interested CE companies are going to have to come to gether to set a standard for future console cycles. This will allow developers to focus on one development platfrom across all home consoles, and seperatly mobile devices.

Please do not try to come out and say this will kill inovation. I have seen that argument every single time I bring this up. People always come on and say the Wii would not exist if this happens. Use your head folks. If every system was blue tooth compatable, why would the Wii be imposible?....?

There is absolutly no reason why Nintendo can not ship their system with a motion controller, and make games based on motion. It would just be brought before the board, and made a standard for all devices to support it. Now I know a lot of you will see an issue in this. I myself ask the question, why if one company makes a controller for one thing, would another not just make their own for their game? Well this is were things would come down to politics. I would hope the Video Game Board of Directors would be smart enough to not let thing get out of control. Obviously having a differant controller for MGS4, Halo, Gears, Uncharted, Killzone 2, and Call of duty would be rediculous. That is why these things would have to go before the board along with other issues.

In a furture with a single format for games hardware everything would become more competetive. With more companies jumping in to make a buck in the buisness the price competition would be much stronger than it is now. That would mean on the user end we could expect to get a lot better deals on future systems, and we would not nessicarly have to choose from only the big three.

The best thing that would come from this is relief for developers. By only having to make games for one platform it opens up the flood gates to inovation. Instead of trying to get the same graphics on PS3/360, and Wii/PS2/PSP devs will be able to focus on how to get the most out of the hardware at hand. This will result in a lot less time on repetitive tasks, and more time on making the game as good as possible.

Right now it is getting out of hand. Developers are not only competeing against eachother, but also with themselves. By forcing developers to make a game for one system then do the same thing again on a complelty new system, it is almost like forcing them to make a game in a half for the price of one. In this standard format devs would only have to worry about compteting against each other, and it would lead to greater advances in all aspects of gaming, while allowing for faster development times. So now more exclusives, everyone can enjoy every game. Right to your favorite, or all three today. Make the future of gaming a better place.

I think you're wrong, and a little crazy.

If they instituted a uniform standard that all consoles would have to comply to (which is what you're basically saying), the game industry would die. Formats are the opposite of innovation (The DVD standard hasn't changed at all in 10+ years, and even the act of switching to a new standard, Blu-Ray, is expensive and dangerous). You would have complete stagnation within the field, where the Nintendo, Sony, and MS consoles are all identical and boring.

As for your argument about controllers, that wouldn't work. Nintendo would go up in front of this board of directors, one from all the big companies (Say, Ninty, Sony, MS, EA, Square, Ubisoft, and a couple others), and say 'Hey, we gots this awesome Wiimote things. Can we double plus pretty please put it in the standard'? Sony and MS would vote no because it'd just make their consoles more expensive due to compatability. All the game makers would likely downvote it, because, hey, they're making money as is, and they don't want the market shaken up. Only the nintendo rep would possibly vote for it.

The reason exclusives are going crazy and big companies are dieing is because HD graphics are expensive to produce. It takes twice as long and ten times the money to make an HD game compared to a SD one. As a result, companies have to sell to huge numbers of people to get their money back. This effect will lessen next gen, when the console makers get smart and actually design their consoles so they're easy to program for (hopefully), and developers have more experience and tools for making HD graphics. We don't need some massive socialist game state. Dennis Dyack only wants it because it makes his life easier, but it doesn't make the lives of the gamers any better, nor does it make anyone more money.