UltraHammer said:
...wow. Can't you come up with a better excuse? Are you that creatively bankrupt?
I don't need a better excuse. Taking two months to come up with a reply is a poor effort no matter
how you look at it.
The huge control Nintendo had in the 80s would have been a serious problem if it had gone on much longer. Microsoft! Hello! People complain about Microsoft every moment of every day! And it got to where it was by its 90% market share.
And yet, it's still heaps better than Apple. Interesting, eh?
Don't you see that basically no other industry does that? Movies don't do that. DVD player companies compete, TV networks compete, and even though movies at the box office all use film, they all make their OWN film, and there's not one big, ultimate company that controls production of every movie. You need to see the problem, because, as you said, you currently aren't able to see it, which you might want to get checked out.
Um, yes they do- Competing companies make DVD and Blu Ray players, but every one of them must be able to play the same dvds and blu ray disks. TV networks compete to own broadcasting rights, but do they need to port a film reel when they want to show it on another channel? Of course not.
I think it's actually
you that isn't seeing right- you're assuming that if one company owns the console, suddenly they are also the only company making games for it. I'm not sure what bizarro land your logic originates from, but if two of the three major players (being Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo just so we're crystal clear) bowed out of the hardware race, they'd do exactly what Sega did and turn to releasing software on the hardware that is available. Nobody ever said it'd be one company overlooking every aspect of every game made. It doesn't work like that. The console makers would be only too happy to receive their former competitors' new games on their console- the existing fanbase for those companies would ensure continued support for their games. The new Sonic games aren't even particularly good but they are still selling enough to fund further sequels.
It's not just about graphics. Game consoles are all going to get better in some way or another.
Fair point, but you have to wonder how far they really need to go from here. It's not like progress would stop, anyway.
No a one-console domination would just about mean the end of mainstream gaming, for a while, at minimum. But as I said, it won't ever happen, because it's a terrible business idea.
...Only under your assumption that all other companies stop making games. I
still can't work out how you arrived at that conclusion...
The fact that there's a level of variety with consoles is a good thing.
I disagree. Competing consoles split the resources of multiplatform game development, and denies the majority of player bases from even experiencing an exclusive game. Having one console to accomodate all upcoming games removes both of those problems in one stroke. Sure you could just shell out more money for the other consoles, but even that is ridiculously cost-prohibitive compared to owning a single console that accommodates all the games.
Yeah, alright, I'm ignoring the handheld market, which is something else entirely. I apologise.
there'd be no competition and quality would go nowhere. Then there will be no motivation for some talented company to not make their own, better console and compete with them. And then, holy crap, we've got console wars again.
Good luck launching a console up against one that has the combined game libraries of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft alongside every other developer that ever made a console game...
Besides- does the quality of consoles really need to go anywhere from here? as long as it plays the games made for it, it would be fine. And the mere possibility that one of the big three could regroup and enter the hardware war again would be enough for the console company to make the effort to keep the console up to user's standards.
Saying the one console future is a good idea is comparable to saying sticking your head into your butt and up through your body is a good idea; no, it isn't, and it's impossible.
And saying it isn't could be seen as equally ignorant. But at the end of the day they're both merely opinions, and like you say it will probably never happen, so much like alternate history, it will always be nothing more than speculation.