[QUOTE="Zhengi"][QUOTE="lordxymor"][QUOTE="Zhengi"]This is a horrible idea. If it happened, the cost of games will rise to $100 for each one. The cost of games have already started rising. With no competition, do you guys really think gaming will be cheaper? No, it'll be more expensive because you would have no other options or competition to drive down those prices.
And for all those arguing that the game industry was going to crash in the future, that's why Nintendo came out with the Wii: to change the way things are going and to allow devs not to spend as much money due to graphics. Who says Nintendo isn't saving the industry once more?
lordxymor
Take for example the DVD market. Every DVD player can play any DVD software, yet there's real competition among manufacturers and DVD players ranging from the most different price ranges and qualities.
Or the cell phone market, where any cell phone can use any carrier, so there's competition between services.
PC is a lousy example, it's not standarized by monopolized. It's the same thing that happens in consoles, you can't actually change platform(Windows in this case) because your software won't work anywhere else. So you're locked. The console market is a Triopoly.
Stardardization allow more competition not less, you go to whomever provides you better service, or cheapest, or whatever you're looking for.
I addressed DVDs earlier on. Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD is the reason why this would never work.
Also, the cell phone market is not as unified as you think it is. Verizon, T-Mobile, Cingular, and Sprint do not allow you to use the cell phone you bought with them with another carrier. The only way you can get a phone that uses any carrier is if you specifically go and buy one. Otherwise, the services don't provide you that cell phone that can be used with other carriers.
And Blu-ray vs HD-DVD split is preventing the adoption of HDMedia. If there was one standard, the only thing holding back the market would be price, which goes down with manufacturers competition. Proof that unification is possible is the DVD itself. Compare the first 10 years of the DVD life with the 10 year projections for Blu-ray and HD-DVD in case the war continues. A unified standard not only is possible, it's the best solution.
Cell phones are artificilly locked to carriers because they subside the device cost, it's a contract you sign, but only using this provider you get x ammount off the phone price. It would be a good solution for the gaming market, not the best, but better than the current system.
Ok, Web Browsers. You can view any website with any web browser, shop from any store and do anything in the browser that fits best your needs.
I just want to say that I back everything you've said thus far. It's been absolutely spot on.
People need to realize that if basic standards were adopted for consoles, it would increase competition, not decrease it. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would be free to make their own versions so long as they supported the agreed specs- if you want to add more and create more of a premium product, you could do that. Want to create the ultra-barebones system? That works too. And since you're all using the same specs, prices will go down because of increase in supply in the items used to create the system. The competition in terms of games would also drastically increase, as it would lower development cost and would allow for more types of games since developers can be assured that their games will reach 100% of consumers at no additional cost.
The only people who oppose this either don't understand the concept thoroughly or are just massive fanboys to one company, which proves how sad they are.
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