I agree completely. Let's have one unified hardware platform, and let's make it the PS3.

sounds like someone wants to open their pool of potential customers??

I really don't support the idea of a universal console.  Just doesn't sit well with me.

SolsticeZero said it best. 

@ SolsticeZero: lol - damn right.

No but seriously, a universal console would suck BIG time. Who wants to play the same thing? Is it the Wii, 360 or PS3 that floats ya boat? Well this generation: its the PS3. But the next man might not agree so thats why a universal console just.. wouldnt.. work.

as much as he likes to....not gonna happen, at least not in this generation

i dont agree ... because if there was not a X-box did not exist then probably the ps3 would not be such a high tech machine... maybe games would be crap compare to this gen.

 

thats why its bad to have only one gaming system... competition makes companys do there best to make the best system to compete .. other wise we probably would still have a ps2 or an x-box.

he has a point, but like the old saying goes. " Different Strokes For Different Folks"

what drove the price of the ps3 down so fast? Well the competition of course!

 

there was a time when only Intel existed, for the newest CPU chip, they would charge $800, along came AMD, uh-oh! now we pay $150, and that boys and girls is why competition is vital.

ummm it would hurt because without competition there would be no reason to make things butter duh killzone 2/ resistance need halo 3, ps3 needs the 360, and god needs the devil its what drives improvements

Incognito? That's his partner.  Eat, Sleep, Play anyone?  Maybe I'm wrong

I don't like the idea of one console. Competition creates better products. Not just in video games, but everywhere. We don't have a universal car. No universal electronics. The only thing i own thats universal is my remote. Having competition forces companys to continually innovative their products, or they get left behind. Look at cars. American made cars are being killed in sales because of their poor gas mileage compared to foreign cars. This is forcing manufacturers like Chevy and General Motors to invest in fuel cell technology. Innovation.

Competition helps to keep prices from becoming astronomical. Think about the PS3. Sony was selling them at a loss for quite some time. Had they had no competition from Wii or 360, the PS3 could've launched at $900+. The competition forced them to take a loss to remain competitive.

 

Universal anything is always bad. Except for remotes.

Sure it's a great idea, if your console of choice is the chosen platform. Competition is almost always good.

thats proabably when i would give up gameing

What a load of tripe.  There might be one DVD format, but there are lots of ways of watching what can come on DVD.  I can get it on broadcast TV, or watch it at the movies, or heck, even watch some of it live.  By his argument, ALL content should be on DVD so that no-one has to worry about what format to push their media on. 

And if the one platform happened to be the Wii? Yeah I dont think so. If the one console is designed mostly by Sony I would be fine with it as they put out good hardware. With one company though, whoever it may be, we would be stuck with whatever downfall they had. This gen we would be stuck with either an expensive console in the PS3, a broken console with the 360, or a low spec horrible console in the Wii. I would rather have choice.

There are so many pros and cons for this.  He mentions the good parts, but the bad would be a lack of innovation of the hardware.  Or you end up with a situation where some of the hardware is more powerful than others even though they can all play the same stuff, like PC's.  I can play Crysis on this computer, but I won't really enjoy the experience.

it's a good idea, but i don't see it happening, ever. only reason i say that is b/c the gaming industry is a multibillion dollar industry. who wouldn't try to capitalize on that if they have the money to produce a console.

No. No. No. Universal console, different manufacturers = 3DO. Hopefully we learned enough from history to keep from repeating it.

Even though I do own a 3do, everyone's aware what happened with that disasterous plan. It would only mean another crash of the gaming industry.

Really? How much could they jack up the price?  How many needless features would there be to try and get more money?

Sure there would be competition on the software side, but with nothing else to compete with, who's to say the console itself doesn't costs $1000+?

i agree that it would be nice....the competition would remain...(like many companys make dvd players but they all play dvd)...

but the downside would be that console hardware wouldnt be upgraded so often...i think in another 5 or 10 years this will be perfect as the hardware will be advanced enough that improving it will be unnecessary. 

an example is the current tv definition is 1080p and your eyes cant tell anything higher so an improvement would be pointless...

game consoles will reach that point  i think in the next generation....to where no matter what the software requires to put on a 1080p screen... that the hardware will handle it.

Um...I kind of like competetion.  Sony would not have tried to make the most powerful console ever if microsoft never came along with xbox.

Many of you have the right idea.  A Universal Console is a very bad idea because with zero competition the companies can take baby steps when it comes to advancing the tech in their One And Only System.  The reason why they will do this is to insure that they make the most money off of the gaming masses as they can.  David Jaffe said  a Universal Console will be good for gaming thats not true, it will be good for David and people like Davd Jaffe.  Don't let them pull the wool over your eyes by telling you what you want to hear.  They just dont want to put in the work it takes to make great games on all consoles.  Thats why David and his friends like the Universal Console idea.  The good news is the PS3 will Win the war anyway, so in the next gen. the base line for everyone will be the PS3.  That will force the other companies to make a console better then the PS3, thats what is good about competition, and yes Sony will have a head start which is also good for us and Sony. 

Fanboyism is just too much fun

That depends, how can three companies with three different perspectives of gaming have one uiversal console? Or will some third party develop it and somehow topple the big three?

I totally respect Dave but his comparision isn't a good one if you ask me. Especially since the items he used DID have competition.

 

VHS vs BETA

DVD vs Lazer Disk

 

And I mean..I get what he is saying but I think a universal console would slow down new innovation. That and just because you have a standard doesn't mean each one would be a winner. Its like buying a sony or insignia tv. So, lets say most of your user base buys the cheaper console and it breaks a whole bunch. Now, you have a new problem. Your standard is met but people start pushing away from the console because it breaks. Of course, since to the average consumer " all are the same" they won't buy it because they are non the wiser that the pricer one would resolve their isssue.

 

handhelds would take over

no way i like 3 system thank about it they push each other and thats how we move forward with tech. I mean xbox and sony fight to get the newest stuff and options then softwar pushes the fx. Leave it alone

Here's the problem:

One console would have to be developed by one company or a multitude, with a common goal. Unfortunatly there is no such thing as a common goal when refering to multiple companies. Each and every player will have their own ideas of what should be done with the thing, so one will want more colors, one will want a certain controller, one will want a certain color plastic for the sh3ll, in the end it's a thousand chefs trying to make one pie and all are going to want a higher share of the profits than the others.

 

You know what happens then? they split off and build their own version of the hardware, when the 3DO came out there were three different manufacturers for it. not technically they were all the same system but each was tryign to under cut the other with cheaper parts or cool pack in incentives, Eventually to sell more Panasonic 3DOs than Hitachi they'd have to do something with the hardware like add Movie playback, and then the others would follow suit, like One would have a sharper picture or another might only play a certain type of exclusivly built games that use a new higher spec, and you knoe what happenes then.

 

Yeah that's right WE HAVE MULTIPLE CONSOLES AGAIN. So you see it can never work! Even PCs, the closest thing we'll ever see to a universal console can't manage a single spec. ATI, Nvida, Intel, Athlon, etc All of these guys make componnents that instantly make one computer better than another and seperates the game play experience making essentially different platforms.

 

I'll go one step further CDs, DVDs Bluray players, even HDDDVDs and the TVs they're all played on. These are all the same technology in their respective catagories, but there are still a dozen of each of them in stores! Why would we need a Vizio When we can get a Phillips or a Magnavox? They both give 1080p pictures and pick up the new digital broadcast standard transmission that will be mandatory in 2009 right? but yet there are more than one.

 

Every manufacturere is going to try and convince the customer to buy the product form them instead of someone else and that division, that ability to give people choice rather than try to force a single system mentality is always going to win out. Its like putting a baby rabbit in a pen full of rabid wolves, the outcome is inevitable that the platform will eventually branch in to a higher more prestigeous form or a cheaper inexpensive version that sacrifices features in the name of afffordability. H3ll the systems themselves couldn't even manage a single iteration between all the 20,40, 60, 80 gb PS3s and Standard, Premium and Elite 36*s How can you expect there to ever be a single system? You might as wel ask for World peace and a single unified world government too while you're at it!

It will never work, as long as there is competition and thirst for money, its been like that since Spectrum

Although I respect David Jaffe a lot I have to disagree with him. Having 1 universal console would mean a lack of innovation  in hardware. Competition is a good thing for consumers. Each console this generation is unique and offers its own exclusive games and input devices so they are not all just the same.

Its an interesting point about consumers only wanting one movie format but this is different as movie players are not different enough like game consoles. Consumers only want one format but technically I don't see why 2 formats couldn't live together.

three problems.

1. Without competition the price would sky rocket.

2. They would never agree on the same hardware so the console would end up looking.. pretty.. f****d up.

3. Consumers like to choose and have a choise. We wouldn't be able to choose between multiple consoles if there was only 1.

Lets not push hardware at all then David.

 

I'm sure you'll love developing for the same crappy console for  four years with the power of half a modern PC bought on a whim from sobs like PC World.

No way i love de console war!!!! XBOX!!!! for life

I completely disagree, for starters all the examples mentioned like DVD's and broadcast signals have nothing to do with gaming consoles.  Sure somethings need universals standards to succeed, such as DVD.  But other things benefit from competition.  Imagine if Intel was the only company in the world making CPU's while NVIDIA was the only company making GPU's do you really think computers would be as fast as they are today, NO they wouldn't be.  We have already seen what happens when there is a lack of compaetition with Apples iPods.  Normally Apple releases new iPods once a year.  But with the release of the 5gen iPods in 2005, the competition was lacking so much that it took Apple till 2007 to release the 6gen iPods.  If Apple had stiffer competition the iPod Touch would have come much sooner.

If there was only one universal console, what is pushing the makers to release a new console, PC gaming?  Hahaha that will never happen.  Sure it will be easier for developers and good for us at first, but the console gaming world would become very boring very fast.  Competition in this world is a necessity, its what drives technology forwards faster.

If theres anything about having one game console, that I agree with is that having three consoles is too much.  The console world was fine with the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64 (the N64 rules by the way), until greedy, money hungry Microsoft had to stick there dirty paws in and stuff everything up.

Long live Playstation 3

I wouldn't want to wear universal clothing and look like everyone else in the world!!!  We were created this way, that's why we don't all look the same!

So after a few years when we've had our universal console, something else will come out to rival it and we're back to square one again.

if there is no competition for consolse there will be reason for them to improve there product or just charge too much for its use

I don't agree with this at all. But of course we all are intitled to are own opinons.

Maby... just maby if that one unified hardware was the PS3 than just maby. But over all no.

Prices would sky rocket if there was only one console. But it would be cool if the  Powerstation 3 (Ps3) did smoke the Crash.box please.kick.me's Butt ! (xbox 360)

I agree. Hey XBoxers, throw away that junk and buy a PS3.

I think what he's saying is that the tech in the console be universal and all the electronic companies can produce their own products and design based around this tech, very much like how DVD players are built. Still though TV's are not universal as each TV can be more advanced than the another one, and each company is not restricted to a universal technology, every one is trying to come up with new trch in their TV's. Just look at Sony's OLED displays at CES, there is no universal standard in TV's they all just happen to produce the same signal for sations. Consols can have the same signal from HDMI?

So I don't think we will ever see a universal console. How would you get all the companies to agree on a technology? What if the idea was to have a blu-ray drive in and Nintendo didn't want this, also do we want a wii-mote style controller, no thankyou. Having 3 completely different consoles this gen has made everything more interesting and has given the consumer more of a choice to what preferences they want out of a console. Its not as if there are hundreds of different consoles out there, there is just the 3.

Ps3 should be the universal format...it benefits all types of media searchers...gamers like myself....peolple who desire movies...music.....or all three.....with xbox many people would lose....

And the ps3 is way more powerful...that need to be the most succesful developer would show the true power of the ps3.

Reading these comments are great. Here's a thought, hey Jaffe, why don't you just shut the f*u*ck up and make games. I hate it when these people open their mouths and rag on the way The industry opperates. If you don't like the state of it then try and make the hardware yourselves, if not, just shut up.

no i want choices

He has every right to state his opinion. frankly he's probably just tired of having to worry about his games being rated lower because they're on a system that other people mght like, or maybe he just wants to create multiplatform games so as many people as possible can play them, either way he's just stating his preferance and that's perfectly fine. Just as it's perfectly fine for every single person here to dissagree with him like we have for various reaosns.

Couldn't disagree more, Theres nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition. I doubt that the playstaion would be as good as it is had, it not been for 360. Competitiom helps manufacturers break new ground

psn id: gingo.... i enjoy having the choice to choose what console i want to play and with one universal console it would bew a disaster because then there would be complaints about who makes it

almost everyone here has made solid points.....

 

universal console sounds good to the devs but in actuality how do you know whats good if there is nothing bad? What I mean is how do you know your being good if you've never heard of evil? It must exist in order for anyone to know the difference. Competition is a must!!

 

Hate to say it but Sony does need Xbox360 as well as X360 needs Sony

Bad idea, competition is good for the consumer. It allows companies to make better things because they want the best thing possible and in turn get the most sales. Having one universal console would mean less for us on the hardware side and a decrease in quality games. Seriously, in last gen, Halo did change the FPS genre, be grateful for that (even if the game is over rated). On top of that a universal console could mean a monopoly, which is illegal.

This is so stupid. OF COURSE software developers would like just one console, they would have a unified market with minimal effort. But the exact same argument they make could be reversed. How about just one big huge software publisher that handles all games? Much simpler for the hardware companies to deal with and the economies of scale would work for software distribution. This is just silly. With one console you'd have no competition and innovation. Software makers are just being foolish talking like this. Even if it happened, you imagine that no one would ever come up with another console to try and compete and take some of the pie of money involved? Yeah, right. This is just silliness.

@Mattchewie, What!? DVD had a competiter? HA HA! that's the best thing heard in a long time, i want to know how many people actually bought a lazer disk player? I think when every console becomes (almost) exactly the same then a unversal console might be made but it will still compete with other formats, like the the mp3 competes with itunes etc. although that will probably only happen when virtual reality technology becomes available

yea wrong, have anyone here ever hear the word monopoly! one company controlling the game industry, means they can charge whatever they want for the console, games service. what r u 'll crazy?, so if its cost $1000.00 to make the system, they can charge u that same amount of money for it. the prduction companies can now now make crappy games whenever they want to and charge us a $100 for it. an open market, makes it better for us the consumer, they have to compete for our money. that means we get better products for less money!

What the crap would it be called,? The Ninploxstation? No thanks, Ill stick with my ps3.

lmfao!!! this is 1 badass article lol