Video Games

Gamers need fewer consoles. I think one would be sufficient.

I'd like to see Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft create a video game industry forum, adopt a common hardware standard and then license the technology to any company that wants to build a game machine.

Think about it.In any other segment of the entertainment and consumer electronics industries, having two formats (much less three) is considered idiotic and counterproductive for everyone.

When it was Betamax vs. VHS, everyone knew only one format could survive, and it turned out to be VHS. When compact discs were flourishing, the Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio formats were guaranteed nonstarters.

DVD movie discs ruled for a decade, and now we're entering into the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray format war that will almost certainly end with one specification becoming the dominant next-gen disc format for HD movies.

The other format will be roadkill.

So why do we have three incompatible, competing video-game consoles? It's bad for the industry and bad for gamers.

Well, let's start at the top.

When Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo wants to release a new game console, they first have to spend five to six years and hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars designing the systems.

Then, the software developers have to spend years and millions of dollars learning how to program games for three platforms that often have dramatically different hardware designs but relatively similar capabilities.

Finally, many gamers with limited budgets have to pick which console they're going to buy, forsaking the other systems' exclusive games.

If I can only afford a Nintendo Wii, for example, I'll never play Halo 3 or Metal Gear Solid 4.

It's a waste of time and money.

Imagine, instead, that an industry forum met every five or six years to hammer out a new console platform, and then each hardware company was free to build its own consoles based on those standard specifications.

You know, kind of like the television industry and the DVD- player industry and others all do.

So if you really wanted, say, the Sony-branded console, it would be available, but you could still buy all the cool Nintendo games you love and play them on your Sony machine.

Or if you wanted to support the designers at Nintendo, you could buy their console but still play a little Gears of War when the fancy struck.

Game developers, for their part, would make more money, since all their games would be available for the biggest possible audience, and they would only have to develop for a single format. And the hardware makers would be able to pool their resources and keep their costs down by spreading the design expenses.

Heck, gamers might even find that games and game consoles get a little cheaper.

Yeah, that would be great. But I'm not holding my breath.

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