What do you want in next generation consoles?

[Baroque_Dude]

Kenryoku_Maxis said:

Chairman-Mao said:

More companies. I know someone above me said drop it to just 2 companies, but less competition means less desire for the companies to perform better. I want 4 choices minimum. The more competition means the harder compnanies will have to work to get our money. If Sony had been the only company this gen the PS3 would still be fat and still be $600. Competition is good for the consumer.

I'd love to see a Wii 2, Xbox 720, Playstation 4, iGame (Apple), and maybe something by EA and/or Activision.

I seriously think EA could pull off a decent console. Look at the monopoly they'd have on sports games. They have right the the NFL, Their NHL series destroys the 2K hockey series, FIFA is better then PES, Their PGA series goes uncontested, etc. The only major sports they don't dominate are NBA and Baseball. Plus they have some other good series like Need For Speed, Burnout, Rock Band, Dead Space, Battlefield, etc. 

From my experience, the (console) gaming market has done much better with only 2 major companies making consoles.  This is better because third parties don't have to allocate as much resoruces to multiple versions of the same game or decide one console to 'support' over 3 (or 4) multiple consoles.  If you only have 2 consoles to support, third parties will be more willing to make games for both AND there will be far more competition.

There was much more competition between the NES/Master System, SNES/Genesis, and PSX/N64.  When there's 3 (or more) systems, one ultimately gets pushed out and third parties hesistate to make major games for 2-3 years waititng till one 'wins'.

Your respective reasonings are partially right, in my opinion. I believe that depending on the circumstances, the market and the companies' strategies, sometimes is better to have less companies, sometimes is better to have more.

For instance, in the past we saw great consoles and great games with less companies than now, but now the competition is very aggressive and, despite the criticized shovelware, we're seeing very good games.