Gerhald Florin, a senior executive at Electronic arts, has said Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo should abandon the console war and help build a common gaming platform.

Mr Florin believes that incompatible consoles makes life harder for developers and consumers alike. EA current produces games for 14 different gaming systems, including consoles and handhelds. And to speed up the amount of games published, less platforms need to exist.

He and EA predicts that set top boxes and the web will grow in importance to the gaming industry. These games, he went on to say would streamed from stable web-servers. Surprisingly set-top boxes have become increasingly more powerful gaining the technology to deal with high definition TV streams and access to the web. Therefore in a few more years this could become possible.

“We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible,” said EA’s head of publishing.

Nick Parker, a games consultant, agrees with Gerhald Florin. He believes that the future of gaming doesn’t lie with consoles.

In the 1980’s Microsoft actually led a similar initiative. The home computer platform was called MSX, and was supported by Sony and Phillips. It was a success in Japan, but due to the rise of home PC’s and consoles the MSX died out.

Nick adds; “Gaming will just require potentially a £49.99 box from Tesco made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection and a games engine inside.”

“Its basically a boiled down PC.” However Nick Parker believes that stone walls will still surround game consoles and a open system will not emerge for another 15 years.

One thing is for certain though, the web is the key and with more consoles making use of this resource there is little need for a PS4 or a new Xbox.

Tags : box tops : EA : electronic arts : microsoft : MSX : Nintendo : Sony : Tesco

Comments

By: Dragonfly On: 10:51 Oct 19th, 2007 Offline	An interesting point, made by the one company who has the least right to share it. I think it's a idea that could redefine the market, but the biggest problem with games in their continued reliance on more and more poweful technology. This leads to the problem of how exactly a single format would work. Of course, if it were implemented, game's scope would be increased ten-fold, and would probably end up out-selling every other entertainment and art medium combined.

By: Corrine On: 12:00 Oct 19th, 2007 Offline	I'm really wary of console unity. I think part of what keeps companies trying when they put out new consoles is their competition. Sure, if a company didn't have competition, they would put out new consoles anyway just to give their customers something worth buying, but it wouldn't be quite as fast as it is with the big three, now. And that's saying a lot, I think Even though most games are cross-console these days, there are still enough exclusives to keep things interesting. Besides, all the new generation consoles serve different audiences, and you'd lose that with one machine. Diversity keeps things fresh.

By: ApplesauceNinja On: 04:35 Oct 19th, 2007 Offline	I agree with Corrine. I think that it's the separation which creates the competition, which in turn results in innovation, and let's face it - better games for us all. You have to try harder when you're not the only game in town. I like the system the way it is, honestly.

By: Evren On: 07:11 Oct 20th, 2007 Offline	I'd rather have three consoles with different games, than one console. I just do NOT like that idea in the slightest. And EA has no right to say that anyway, they're the ones making the most money out of this console war thing.

By: boa On: 07:36 Oct 20th, 2007 Offline	Seems we all agree. Competition is the best thing to help keep things interesting for us consumers. Also, I bet if there was only one console to buy, we'd be wishing for affordable consoles like the PS3.