21st February 2014, 2:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 21st February 2014, 2:49 AM by Weltall.)
In the sense that there is one basic standard that gets upgraded every couple of years? That's basically what we have now, except there are three competing standards and the differences between them are entirely arbitrary. And the gamer with wide tastes is the one who gets screwed.
I see no reason why a 3D0 type of model wouldn't work. The reason it didn't work for 3D0 was because 3D0 was garbage and had garbage games and was a tiny competitor going up against established industry giants, two of whom were at their peaks, without any real focus or plan. It wasn't because there were two different companies manufacturing a compatible product.
I'm thinking of it sort of like Blu Ray players; they all play all BR movies, and any basic model can do the essential things you need a video player to do. Some models do more and better things, like Netflix and wireless connectivity and other things, but they all still have that basic functionality. There is still competition--more than there is in video game consoles--but it all takes place within a single, unified standard, letting customers make the choice between different models of the same product rather than three different products that do (or, could do) exactly the same thing. You don't need your console to have online features? Don't need movie-playing? Just want to play games old-school? Why not have those things be features? You could spend more money on a higher-end model that does all these extra things. If none of those are of any value to you, you could get a lower-end model that just does games. Especially in this day and age, most people probably don't want that, but the option would be available for you, if you wanted. Could you imagine having that kind of choice in the environment we have today? Also, you'd see lower prices in both consoles (because of that internal competition) and games (no more royalties to the manufacturers or money wasted porting a game to multiple formats).
To be perfectly frank, I can't see anything wrong with the idea, although the triple monopoly would never go for it.
I see no reason why a 3D0 type of model wouldn't work. The reason it didn't work for 3D0 was because 3D0 was garbage and had garbage games and was a tiny competitor going up against established industry giants, two of whom were at their peaks, without any real focus or plan. It wasn't because there were two different companies manufacturing a compatible product.
I'm thinking of it sort of like Blu Ray players; they all play all BR movies, and any basic model can do the essential things you need a video player to do. Some models do more and better things, like Netflix and wireless connectivity and other things, but they all still have that basic functionality. There is still competition--more than there is in video game consoles--but it all takes place within a single, unified standard, letting customers make the choice between different models of the same product rather than three different products that do (or, could do) exactly the same thing. You don't need your console to have online features? Don't need movie-playing? Just want to play games old-school? Why not have those things be features? You could spend more money on a higher-end model that does all these extra things. If none of those are of any value to you, you could get a lower-end model that just does games. Especially in this day and age, most people probably don't want that, but the option would be available for you, if you wanted. Could you imagine having that kind of choice in the environment we have today? Also, you'd see lower prices in both consoles (because of that internal competition) and games (no more royalties to the manufacturers or money wasted porting a game to multiple formats).
To be perfectly frank, I can't see anything wrong with the idea, although the triple monopoly would never go for it.
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WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR