Viewing Thread:
"single format gaming: could it work.?"

single format works with v.c.rs,d.v.dplayers and music playersso why/why not with videogames.

what a joke, like any of those devices compare to a games console!

gillpins wrote:
> single format works with v.c.rs,d.v.dplayers and music playersso why/why not
> with videogames.

This is way way way to complicated for me to even begin to understand!

wish you did write it as at least you can spell a little better and you wrote loads more.

and yes this was just to get a word count up a little ISMP

Agent Smith wrote:
> gillpins wrote:
> single format works with v.c.rs,d.v.dplayers and music
> playersso why/why not
> with videogames.

Your typing is really bad, get a
> copy of Mavis Beacon teacher typing. And games consoles work to diffently to
> use the same type of discs, its like trying to play a .sam file type with a
> media player, it just doesen't work.

I have an irresistable compulsion to do this every time someone moans about spelling ;)

1)Teaches Typing, I believe it's called. It should be capitalised if it's part of the name, too.
2)Don't start a sentence with 'And'.
3)it's
4)doesn't

;)

gillpins wrote:
> single format works with v.c.rs,d.v.dplayers and music playersso why/why not
> with videogames.

Your typing is really bad, get a copy of Mavis Beacon teacher typing. And games consoles work to diffently to use the same type of discs, its like trying to play a .sam file type with a media player, it just doesen't work.

A certain standard would be a good thing. It would make choosing a console purely about choosing a console. You wouldn't have to worry about which games you wouldn't be able to play, or whether the company would go under, because you'd still be able to play the games.

The problem is, that you'd need to have something more like a PC than a console. The reason being that even if they all have the same standard language, some are going to be more powerful than others. This means you'll have to worry about what is and isn't compatible, and pretty soon we'd have to worry about upgrading the specifications of our console.

The thing about DVD's and CD's, is that they are not particularly demanding, in the way that games are. For this reason, you couldn't have a standard format ala VHS, you'd have one which would end up more like the PC games market.

It would be nice, but it's not going to happen. Not unless one company monopolises the entire market with one console, anyway. In that event though, you'd have the problem slaveunit mentioned.

I can't see it happening.

Currently, if someone else has a better machine, someone makes a newer, better one. Without the competition, advances would be slower.

What if we all had a x-cube, and then they launch a x-cube2. All the developers would shift to this new machine, and make the old one dead. Everyone would have to get the new machine or live in the past.

Choice is our right.

wrote:
> But surely if all consoles could play any game, then the games would need to be developed withing certain constraints. (i.e. using specific APIs, or interfaces etc.etc.). Wouldn't this cause games developers to be stifled by the contsraints of the platforms ?

At present each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, and that is why some games just shine out on specific consoles.... All the better that way if you ask me.

I was going to do a topic like this, i think that it could work, and if it did work it may or may not be of benefit to the consumer. If you think about it, to stay afloat all of the major console makers would have to either participate in the making or one uniform console, and earn royalties on each one sold, or they would have to make their own design of console, and make it able to accept all games made.

The second method would probably be used, now this would mean that no company would be able to boast about game exclusivity, or which game designer they happen to have in house, it simply would not matter.

Instead i feel that it would then put a slant on the console wars angle, most people say "oh go with the console that has the most games which suit your tastes" but this would not apply.

Instead the emphasis wold be placed on sheer vanity, the console which appealed to most gamers tastes would be the market leader, whether or not this would allow the other console makers to stay afloat i dont know.

But it may also introduce more competition into the market place, for example you have the sony DVD, MD and VCR's all of which are taking up a nice share in the market, but this still leaves a margin for the smaller companies such as JMB.

This could lower prices Globally, and instead of a console having the whats seen as normal price of around £200 it could get as ridiculously low as say £100-£120. Which i think you would all agree could be a nice thing.

However there may be problems, in an effort to try and woo the consumer to a particular console, the maker will try to make it stand out as much as possible. This could range from simple colour schemes to more complex hardware being used. Which pretty much sums up the PC market, this could cause compatibility issues and would in my opinion defeat the purpose of a videogames console.

Perhaps the competition could become so intense that all companies involved would end up bankrupt, that would be a great shame, and perhaps pull the plug on the gaming massmarket.

Console communism, much like the real communism, looks great on paper, and in a utopia it may well work, but in this current existence, can it really be possible?

Thanks for reading :)

CM

single format works with v.c.rs,d.v.dplayers and music playersso why/why not with videogames.