David Jaffe Calling For A Standardized Console Model

[cliffbo]

David Jaffe Calling All Consoles to Merge
By Tom Ivan

Leading game companies must come together and make “the right decision on the one thing… that could benefit gamers and game makers in a massive way: a single console”, says David Jaffe.

ImageFamed God of War designer Jaffe, who previously predicted that a one console future is inevitable, has now wholeheartedly jumped on the train in favor of a standard platform, joining fellow proponents of the school of thought such as Denis Dyack and EA exec Gerhard Florin.

“Can anyone explain to me how having one console would be bad for gamers? Or game developers for that matter?,” Jaffe wrote in an impassioned post on his Game Design blog.

Jaffe rejects the often forwarded argument by those adverse to a one console future that a unified platform would stifle healthy competition.

“I don’t understand this in regards to console hardware. 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?

“We have it with DVD, we had it with VHS. We have it with televisions (in the sense that- for the most part- every TV is capable of broadcasting the same signal). So what do we lose by having it for game consoles?”

“Sure you miss out on some features that may otherwise be available if another console was there to compete. But this is always the way when one format wins over another and becomes the standard. And for those few features you lose, don’t you make up for it in so many other ways?”

Jaffe goes on to argue that massive content choice, as opposed to system exclusive content, would be one major benefit of a unified platform, and that more competition on the software front would lead to better quality products.

“… You get more competition on the software side - which is, to me, where it counts - 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 two out of the three groups.

“For me, those are much bigger reasons to want a single console. Sure, you miss out on a cool feature here, a neat feature there. But we’ve gotten used to this in so many other hardware products and - in doing so- reaped the many more benefits of a single system.”

http://www.gametab.com/news/1156064/

[Jay Gee]

Tell M$ to GTFO and let Sony and Ninty talk about it. Until then, the war rages on.

[Diresu]

Never going to happen. Especially not between Sony and Nintendo. M$ doesn't even count, their gaming division will die much sooner then the other 2.

[OmniCloud]

Tell M$ to GTFO and let Sony and Ninty talk about it. Until then, the war rages on.Indeed....and I doubt Sony would talk to Ninty first, and vice versa anyway...

Sounds too good to be true...maybe we could make a poll or something:shrug:

[Zer0-Sum]

Read his blog, he says that people that are writing the articles misconstrued what he meant. Read on and he will explain better than I could.

##############EDIT#############

Thanks for all the great comments, ya'll. Appreciate the input. A few quick things:

a- as many have pointed out, I am arguing for a single standard not a single console. Thanks for clarifying and helping me express it better. And just because the 'big 3' would never stand for it, as some of you say, I wonder what the big 3 would do if EA, Capcom, Valve, Ubi, Blizzard, Activision,etc. formed a consortium and made a console/standard of their own and agreed to only publish on that standard. It would at least put Sony and Xbox out to pasture unless they did something drastic, pretty damn quick.

b- For the record- to all the semi-sensationalist headlines around the net: Jaffe is not 'arguing for' or 'proposing' anything. I think my blog post made it pretty clear I was simply floating the idea, that I did not think I was 100% right, and that I was open to being educated on the subject. Nice reading skillz, ya'll!

c- Chris Kohler reads good! Thanks for taking me up on it. Read your post at Wired.com and loved it. And you are spot on: to me, 80% of the game innovation I care about comes via design, not tech. Yes, you need your upgrades but I could live with an upgrade every 8 years or so (like 2d to 3d) and then do the rest via software upgrades and perpipheral add ons. But that's just me. Thanks for your article tho. Lots of good info on the subject there....see ya at Dice/GDC!

Ok, I'm done with it. Back to more posts about me and the wife watching fecal paste slither out of young women's brown eyes. I mean, come on, THAT'S the reason you come here isn't it? Well hell, that's the the reason I post here! :)

David

http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2008/01/all-for-one.html

[frosty]

I can partially agree with his upgrade statements, after all, can anyone here name off one Wii title that gamecube simply couldn't have run (even if at a slightly lower resolution overall) with a wiimote adapter?

[Viper]

This is a sentiment agreed upon by many in the industry and I also back it.


An agreed upon standard model would make life much easier for the industry as a whole.

[Zer0-Sum]

A single standard would be an excellent idea. But only so long as it is flexible enough to support many different forms of gaming ideas and does not lead to homogenization.

[Viper]

A single standard would be an excellent idea. But only so long as it is flexible enough to support many different forms of gaming ideas and does not lead to homogenization.
Lower TRC's and publisher demands would allow developers to concentrate on actual game development like never before. Getting dull simply wouldn't happen.

[Zer0-Sum]

Lower TRC's and publisher demands would allow developers to concentrate on actual game development like never before. Getting dull simply wouldn't happen.

Wouldn't THAT be a dream...:pinky:

[Jay Gee]

Lower TRC's and publisher demands would allow developers to concentrate on actual game development like never before. Getting dull simply wouldn't happen.
Numbers! You're alive!!! *hugs*

[yoshaw]

Time to change thread title into, calling a standardized whatever.

[Smokey]

This is a sentiment agreed upon by many in the industry and I also back it.


An agreed upon standard model would make life much easier for the industry as a whole.

how well do PC games flourish? since they are the closest thing to a (single/one console) around?

as long as its a SONY i dont care

[woundingchaney]

Im not fond of the idea of 8 years between a tech. redesign for consoles (I personally think 5 is the sweet spot). Though a big reason why I play games in general is simply to experience the tech. behind the games. Usually after 2-3 years in a console generation I switch primarily to pc gaming except for the "epic" titles on consoles.

But anyways publishers should force some kind of standardized configuration requirement for console manufacturer's if there truly is a need for it.


how well do PC games flourish? since they are the closest thing to a (single/one console) around?

as long as its a SONY i dont care

PC games fair the best in Europe and Korea (at least I think Korea things may have changed since last I heard) their market is trailing off in NA and other parts of the world. There is a good bit of speculation that certain titles are holding the pc market by the reigns and occupying much of the consumers interest (WOW, Sims etc). Usually much of the "X game only sold such and such amount" is generally only taking into account one region.

Widespread online distribution also makes the market problematic to estimate, although there is reason to believe (imo) that as a whole the market is in a recession.

[Smokey]

thanks wounding, which platform gets the most games? PC or Consoles/all

[woundingchaney]

thanks wounding, which platform gets the most games? PC or Consoles/all

What do you mean "most games"??

The pc probably gets the most games, but many releases arent exactly along the lines console games and more like "arcade titles on Live or PSN". Since the release of arcade titles Im not really sure what gets the most games as they arent always included in release lists.

To give you an idea of games being released here are links for upcoming games on the pc, 360, and PS3 from now until about spring (links are just for an idea of releases, gamefaqs isnt the cornerstone of release estimates).


http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/



Though we are getting a bit off track here Smoke. If you have more questions or something I can help you with throw me a PM.

[rockleex]

Indeed....and I doubt Sony would talk to Ninty first, and vice versa anyway...

Sounds too good to be true...maybe we could make a poll or something:shrug:

Remember, Nintendo "backstabbed" Sony at the last minute, which was why Sony made PS1 to begin with. So I don't think Sony would trust Nintendo that much. Plus, they both have very different views when it comes to making consoles...

[Smokey]

well the point i was trying to make is that PCs are basically standardized so i was wondering on their games. i also dont think its a good idea of one console as it will basically end up being a PC in the end so whats the point? 3 consoles makes more variety i cant see how its hurting the industry. unless somone wants to monopolize it

[woundingchaney]

well the point i was trying to make is that PCs are basically standardized so i was wondering on their games. i also dont think its a good idea of one console as it will basically end up being a PC in the end so whats the point? 3 consoles makes more variety i cant see how its hurting the industry. unless somone wants to monopolize it

Some aspects of the pc are standardized which is often viewed as a necessity primarily due to the vast range of potential hardware configurations available.

Well I think a standardized model would still allow for uniqueness amongst the consoles just that a lot of the underlying aspects would be similar. Im sure Jaffe is speaking from a development stand point on the issue. As to say every console wouldnt need to have a motion sensing controller, or come packaged with a camera, or microphone (things along these lines).

Is this what your were referring to (sorry been up for awhile Smoke??

[pari]

The only negative I see with PC gaming is the constant hardware upgrade cycle on the gamer side. Every game has a minimum requirement standard but does it give the best experience? For FPS game where every millisecond counts, gamer with a high resolution/sensitivity mouse wins over the lower resolution/sensitivity mouse. Graphic card is always on the upgrade cycle. At least with console, its fixed for 5years and no gamer gets any advantage over the other, everybody is on equal footing. Standardization is good but can the upgrade cycle of PC be avoided?
I see this was trade off between the developer and gamer upgrade cycle. For developers on the console side there is no continuity between one generation to another generation (wii might be an exception), all the learning comes to an end not enough time to take advantage of the familiarity of a particular console(PS1->PS2->PS3). If that can be taken care then everybody wins.

[jaxmkii]

yheaaa its communism for gaming!

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Everyone hear that?
...
That's the sound of general gaming calling!

[Smokey]

Some aspects of the pc are standardized which is often viewed as a necessity primarily due to the vast range of potential hardware configurations available.

Well I think a standardized model would still allow for uniqueness amongst the consoles just that a lot of the underlying aspects would be similar. Im sure Jaffe is speaking from a development stand point on the issue. As to say every console wouldnt need to have a motion sensing controller, or come packaged with a camera, or microphone (things along these lines).

Is this what your were referring to (sorry been up for awhile Smoke??
do you think cell wouldve come now if it was standardized? i dont think so. XBOX is basically standardized to pc, sony does their own thing. companies will lose their push to get the weird & unusual setups as sony has. to be honest this another reason why i like em they dont go with the flow.

[Hisham]

I want this to happen so badly. And then I'd laugh in the face of Sony and MS if all those companies listed decided to band together and make there own console.

I wouldn't laugh at Nintendo though because they have proven they can keep themselves profitable with mininal 3rd party support, so I guess they could do it with no 3rd party support.

[Coded-Dude]

I don't understand his analogy...its not like we have one brand of television sets or VCRs or DVD players.......and they don't all function the same. Some have features the others don't. (just like consoles)

[Hisham]

For VCR's/DVD players, you have extra features but in the end they all play the same thing. TV's are a bit different, but in the end, you can apply the same thing to them as well. All TV's end up serving the same purpose and aside from resolution differences, you'd be able to play the same TV channels, the same movies and the same games on it.

Now with consoles on the other hand, you have 3 very different consoles, and to get the whole experience you would need to buy all 3 to play all the games that you want too. I don't like that because it is bad for the consumer to buy each console. If you buy one console and shift focus to software, it would be better for everybody IMO. Especially in this day when 3D graphics will be reaching their peak and looking for new ways to play will be essiential.

[Coded-Dude]

so we should only have one cable or satellite service provider....

Buying one of the three consoles could be more closely related to television subscriptions. Do you want COX cable, DirecTV, or DISH? Because they don't all play the same thing. But much like consoles, they do have many of the same channels.

[XboxEvolved]

I think it is an interesting idea to have one standard, letting the console makers make their own versions of the standard, and I think the whole comparing it to cable providers is silly, it is more like DVD players, PCs, etc.

I think in many ways all three have gone towards this idea at one point, and I could see MS as the OS provider in the deal, Sony as one of the main technology providers (cutting deals for BD, etc) and Nintendo could innovate in the game space. They all have a lot to offer.

[Hisham]

^Yeah, that is basically what I think of in the end. You have various companies making something that plays everything in the end. You have an industry standard minimum (like including hardrives/ethernet ports) and anything extra like wifi and such can be made in higher end models. The negatives to this though is that it could turn into a PC gaming sorta thing if you don't regulate the way the console can be manufactured. If say there is a minimum in place, and then a maximum in place just to make sure nobodies machine is stronger in graphics or such, then we could have one industry wide standard with the developers now focusing on how to optimise this one system rather than how to optimise this game for each specific system. Of course this has a lot of kinks to work out, but I think it is achievable, and it seems developers are starting to feel the same way so in the end, this could be a reality.

[koten]

I don't like the idea for the simple fact that a standard format would result in format wars, much like the one going on between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. This would lead many companies backing the wrong format, and with the cost and time of developing a game, there would be serious negative consiquences.

Not to mention we would get upgrades much less frequently. DVD came out in 1996. it only took prominance in 2003 or so, and in 2006 they are putting out compeating formats. That's 10 years between generations, which is twice as long as any console generation. The slow attache rate is problem considering that developers would take a long time support the formates considering the development time of games.

My final point is that each country would have to have a licensing and quality control for each region with no uniform measure accros the three. That would lead to more diviergince in release scheduals, hundreds of mainstream games locked into one territory, etc.

While a nice idea, it's really not practicle at all.

[belgarn]

Edit: nvm

[XboxEvolved]

I don't like the idea for the simple fact that a standard format would result in format wars, much like the one going on between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. This would lead many companies backing the wrong format, and with the cost and time of developing a game, there would be serious negative consiquences.

Not to mention we would get upgrades much less frequently. DVD came out in 1996. it only took prominance in 2003 or so, and in 2006 they are putting out compeating formats. That's 10 years between generations, which is twice as long as any console generation. The slow attache rate is problem considering that developers would take a long time support the formates considering the development time of games.

My final point is that each country would have to have a licensing and quality control for each region with no uniform measure accros the three. That would lead to more diviergince in release scheduals, hundreds of mainstream games locked into one territory, etc.

While a nice idea, it's really not practicle at all.

You mean like the format war that has been going on since the dawn of videogames? The whole point of the notion is so there wouldn't be a format war.

Also development time and cost would go down substantially, especially because everyone would all be on the same page with everything.

[Coded-Dude]

...especially because everyone would all be on the same page with everything.


Thats hilarious. Because we all know Nintendo and Sony got along great, which is why they were able to team up and make a console together.....I can just imagine what Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft "negotiations" would end up like. (total disaster)

[Hisham]

I think all the 3rd parties should get together and make there own console and fuck over everybody else.

That would be intresting to see haha.

[OG_Monkey]

If he's not creating another Twisted Metal or helping with God of War 3, i dont really care what he has to say

[cliffbo]

I don't like the idea for the simple fact that a standard format would result in format wars, much like the one going on between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. This would lead many companies backing the wrong format, and with the cost and time of developing a game, there would be serious negative consiquences.

Not to mention we would get upgrades much less frequently. DVD came out in 1996. it only took prominance in 2003 or so, and in 2006 they are putting out compeating formats. That's 10 years between generations, which is twice as long as any console generation. The slow attache rate is problem considering that developers would take a long time support the formates considering the development time of games.

My final point is that each country would have to have a licensing and quality control for each region with no uniform measure accros the three. That would lead to more diviergince in release scheduals, hundreds of mainstream games locked into one territory, etc.

While a nice idea, it's really not practicle at all.

i don't think it would lead to a format war, it would in fact 'end it'. every console would have the best possible internal hardware, but each console manufacturer would still be able to keep their own strategy. you could still have the Wiimote (but in 1080p), you would still have Halo (but on Blu-ray), you would still have PS3 (but with no advantage at all games and innovation would be the only reason people picked one over the other). this creates a situation were every dev can produce the best quality on every console and instead of a struggle to come to grips with each console, they would be able to concentrate on creating the best software for all three. it makes perfect sense for the companies that produce consoles and the people who make games

[cliffbo]

Originally Posted by XboxEvolved View Post
...especially because everyone would all be on the same page with everything.

]Thats hilarious. Because we all know Nintendo and Sony got along great, which is why they were able to team up and make a console together.....I can just imagine what Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft "negotiations" would end up like. (total disaster)

he was simply answering the question posed... whether Sony and Nintendo can bury the hatchet is an entirely different question

[Cofey]

whether Sony and Nintendo can bury the hatchet is an entirely different question
And the answer is no.

[VG Aficionado]

Square Enix says it can't be (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=90670)

[Coded-Dude]

pretty much implausible to think that these three companies would "get along," so to speak.

[cliffbo]

pretty much implausible to think that these three companies would "get along," so to speak.

i'm not entirely sure it has to be an amicable agreement. just like any format war, it will be down to public demand... and having said that, the idea of a 'standardized' solution seems a long way off. we have to realize that Jaffe isn't the only person to couch this idea, and that it is only an opinion on what he would like to happen