PS3-60: Bethesda exec calls for single console standardisation

Bethesda Softworks game director Todd Howard has revealed that he's keen for the industry to adopt a one console as standard.
<FIGURE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 300px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: inherit; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; CLEAR: both; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300">http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideo...mb_wide300.jpg</FIGURE>Speaking to PSM3, Howard - also executive producer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - was asked which one thing he would change about working in the games market.

He responded by saying he feels it takes a lot of effort to create a game for multiple platforms and would like to see games follow the same path of DVDs and Blu-rays.

"I'd like there to be only one platform. It's a lot of work to make the games look good on every platform you're on," said Howard.

"I often equate it to DVD or Blu-Rays. Once I've bought a DVD I can use it in my TV, in my computer, in my car, here, whatever. And I think it would be good for gaming if it was like that," he added.

The 'One-console future', as it has come to be known, was famously put forward by Silicon Knights founder Dennis Dyack, who said it would be a "massive paradigm shift" that would lead to games becoming "better in quality, cheaper, and more widely available".

However, while Dyack said it is an inevitability, Howard acknowledges it isn't necessarily a realistic future.

"They spend billions of dollars selling consoles at a loss for years, but then make the money back with games," he commented. "It's not like the industry is hurting, we're doing really well. But if I had one wish, you know, we would have better games for a single platform."

Former SCEE president David Reeves told CVG last year that he could envisage a future in which Sony and Microsoft joined forces to create a single machine.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...andardisation/