EA says they hate console wars, says they want one universal system

http://gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=141948&lid=VideoGameNews&pos=3

"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," EA's Gerhard Florin told BBC News in an article published on Friday. "We definitely don't want to have [one monopolized] platform."

Florin believes that a single console would make life easier for both publishers and consumers so long as current hardware makers have the opportunity to stream exclusive content to designated channels.

"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realize the platform it is being played on," he said.

Games analyst Nick Parker agrees with the single set-top, internet-enabled box. "There could be a Nintendo channel, a PlayStation channel and an Xbox channel on your set-top box," he predicted. "There might not be a need for a PS4 or dedicated consoles."

Just how long before competing consoles take the big dirt nap then? "I am not sure," the senior EA executive replied. "We could be talking up to 15 years."

Interesting. EA, the king of multi-platforming and milking wants one console. Hmmm...I thought they loved console wars. :|

I know this is going to piss people off by saying this but..... I think that would be horrible for the industry.

Why?

Easy there will be very little competition and evolution in the industry.

If we only had a unified console there would be no Xbox Live, there would be no Wii, there would be no tech. mixing or 1080p.

Multiple consoles all competing at once create competion. If a console has something intersting on it then it would force another console maker to tighten up their resources to also have it or make better what they have of it (example PSN is now taking on XBL). If another console is losing it starts to get desperate that they are forced to change their business models and it results in either failure (SEGA Dreamcast) or successs (Nintendo Wii). Not only that but because of this we get MORE games made both 1st (Uncharted) and 3rd (Dead Rising) party because console companys are force to compete with one anothers library.

You want to see what a unified platform would be like? Well I have an idea.

For 8 years we were forced to play games on this giant monochrome beast with the best improvement of it being re-releases of it making it smaller. Now what did we get 8 years later? Literally the same exact thing with almost the same exact ram and horse power only with a little better then NES color....that's it. Then the GBA came buy, that's right it took 11 years before we got a TRUE succesor to the thing. However all Nintendo mostly did was just port their old SNES games or even NES to the system.

Now as we know we constantly hear people call the Nintendo DS the greatest handheld or even system of all-time. Why? Simple because it had competition. The PSP is the ONLY handheld to EVER break into Nintendo's Iron Fisted market. Even though the gap in sales is big, the system forces Nintendo on their toes as they constantly make fresh additions to their franchises, push the systems power, making deals with third parties, and most of all creating new IP's. I find it obvious for myself that Nintendo's plan for the DS was originally just to treat it like the GBA, just port all their old games on it and let the third parties throw whatever they desire. I mean for launch window they only had a port of Mario 64, a demo of Metroid (gimmicky at that), Yoshi's Touch and Go, and Poke'mon Dash. It wasn't until the PSP started giving the handheld some competition that Nintendo was forced to get off their butt, and the result is what you see today.

Well anyway that's how I see this. However I must admit what EA just said IS inevitable.

I think a single consol would defiantly not be benificial for the industry and gamers.

EA's Bioware making a Halo game really makes me feel like MS and EA are coming together. I know it's a stretch and highly unlikely, but with each passing day I see EA and MS gettin real close.

:roll: EA was a big backer of the 3DO. Clearly the dream didn't die.

Happily for those of us who enjoy innovation, I doubt a one size fits all console will ever come to pass. As I said in another post in a similar thread, the really interesting hardware improvements over the years has gone against what was then the common consensus (be it the focus on 3D, the incorporation of hard drives or the building in a modem with every system).