PS3 News
God of War creator calls for single-console future
By Stevie Smith Jan 11, 2008, 8:03 GMT
God of War creator calls for a unified console future. Credit: ViewImages.com.
Writing in his Game Design blog, renowned God of War creator David Jaffe has echoed recent calls made by third-party publisher Electronic Arts for a single, unified videogame platform.
“Can anyone explain to me how having ONE console would be bad for gamers? Or game developers for that matter?” asks Jaffe. “One game publisher would be bad. One giant game developer would be bad. I get how those things would hurt gamers. But why would one unified hardware platform?”
Jaffe argues that DVD is a single platform, and so was VHS before it, so what exactly is the problem with having something similar in place for the videogame industry?
He also notes that while a single format would perhaps result in the loss of certain features that would be otherwise connected to rival formats, such loss is par for the course when embracing a clear ‘winner.’ One need only look at the current battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray to see that playing out.
In terms of possible benefits provided by a single platform, Jaffe says gamers would be given “massive content choice” while also enjoying enhanced quality across the board because software makers wouldn’t have to struggle to produce the same content for two or three differing hardware systems.
“And you get MORE competition on the software side - which is, to me, where it counts,” adds Jaffe, “because there is MORE competition to be the best on a single system instead of content creators splintering and never ever worrying about competing with 2 out of the 3 groups.”
Of course, the God of War creator concedes that the industry as we know it will “have to battle it out to determine who gets to make the system,” whether that be a single company or a group. He also offers that detractors looking to use the failed 3DO format as a reason to shoot down the single-platform idea should bear in mind that: “3DO failed because - for the most part - it had crap games and was way too expensive.”
Naturally, the biggest knee-jerk reaction to Jaffe’s call is likely to be that the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will never agree to pursue the greater good of videogames via a single hardware format - a point he labels as being part of the problem in the gaming business.
“Competition is great. But I think the leaders of the biggest groups should come together from time to time… and make some decisions together for the overall health of the business,” said Jaffe. “Heck, maybe they already do this and I am just not aware. But if they do, they have not made the right decision on the one thing I think that could benefit gamers and game makers in a massive way: a single console.”
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Older Talkback
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interviewer- But which sould it be?
Fanboys- Dunno
Interviewer- the Wii?
Fanboy 1- No! its shit. kids games, and no HD graphics. Gamecube 1.5!!
Interviewer- how about the 360?
Fanboy 2- What? the Breakbox! dont make me laugh... and dont try to make me pay for online!!
Fanboy 3- yeah, and i dont like shooters, i like nice fun games to play at a party
Interviewer- so its the PS3 then?
Fanboys 1 & 3- the ps3? thats not a console its a Blu-ray player. id like a console that actualy has games!!
Interviewer- its a good thing im not the one trying to convince Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo to stop making consoles...
Come on, if we really wanted a uni-console it would be PC based games. The development cost (and the associated risk) are subsidized by the hardware maker/developer. Even if Nintendo is making a small profit day one on the Wii, this is the exception and would not have the development cost rolled in. The magic of the console has been that at launch the hardware is more expensive than the general public will buy so Sony, Microsoft, etc… takes the risk and hopes for the reward. As soon as the 2nd manufacture steps in and tries to different there is a risk of incompatibility. Even on PC’s, as the games “push the limits” it is more and more difficult to support nVidia Vs ATi … and of course people looking to save money buying lame “integrated video graphics” such as Intel… look at home much of a PC game development goes to testing and validating all the possible hardware combos… time that should be spent on gameplay is wasted on UI for tweaking graphic options… and controllers… and network stacks… game matching…
The xbox development environment, for example , handles what could eat up 20%-30% of the software development cost… xboxLive (XBL), matchmaking, voice-chat, video drivers, joystick API, file system, game save, etc…
Market forces and global competition will be such that no one will want to give up… comparing a game platform to the DVD standard is overly simplify. As simple a s cell phones are you don’t have a “standard platform” We have CDMA Vs GSM, smart phone Vs whatever, and so on…
Get over it, there will always be various platforms, software makers will struggle over “platform exclusive” with hardware manufactures chipping in, or the delays and challenges of releasing multiplatform. Why even worry about it?
I think MS is in the driver seat this round… don’t think developers don’t notice their bottom line, that xbox owners buy more games, XBL has full functionality (Sony and Nintendo are way behind here) , and see Sony getting killed with Ratchet & Clank and (more shockingly) Drakes Fortune. Look at COD4, again if the PS3 sales are so close to Xbox360 why did so few copies of COD4 move on the PS3? Are too many PS3’s being used by hobbyist to run Linux or for cluster computing? Both are cool features but it doesn’t help Sony or developers if those people never intended to run them as game consoles. A lot of developers have been on the fence or trying to play on two or more consoles, but with PS3’s numbers (huge software $ losses by developers) you could see monumental shift that can be difficult to turn around. It takes over a year for a game to go from start to release, if everyone sees Insomniac take a bloodbath on Drake, COD4 flop on the PS3, and so on resources will be diverted to 360 and Wii titles… This could be as drastic as dropping planned ports to staggered launches to reduced development focus and features on the PS3. Sony could be forced to buy studios (happening already) to guarantying to buy a min # of copies to make up for public demand just to remain competitive.
It is clear that rabid fan-boys does not translate to software sales. If they did, the PS3 would have 5 of the 10 top software titles for 2007 and no one would be debating when or even if they will overtake the Xbox360.
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NoahJan 14th, 2008 - 18:37:08
Couldn't agree more. There's good games on all systems, stretching back through time. Unify or die.
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