A couple of the year's biggest console exclusives hit Australian game stores today - Uncharted 2 for the PS3 and Wii Fit Plus for Nintendo's rampaging Wii. Next week it will be the Xbox 360's turn with Forza Motorsport 3.
But while Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are still ploughing millions into internally-developed exclusive games to try to differentiate their platforms, third parties have now all but abandoned the practice because of the high cost of next-gen games development. The number of console exclusive games is shrinking by the day, prompting Gamesmaster to ponder today what the games industry would be like if it had just one standard format.
It is tempting to believe that one universal console would ultimately be to the great benefit of both consumers and developers in an era when the cost of creating games is rapidly escalating almost to the point of being untenable. If there was a universal console with a significantly larger audience than any single platform offered today, developers would be able to save on production costs and recoup their investment more easily, encouraging innovation and risk-taking.
Developers would also be able to concentrate on squeezing every drop of power from the platform, never making the kinds of compromises routinely made today on cross-platform development. And just imagine how fierce the competition would be for the consumer's software dollar? Just imagine the very best games available today all available on one format, all competing for your attention.
In this gaming utopia, many consumers would also have more money for software, as dedicated gaming fans would not need to buy several expensive machines just to play the best games available each year.
Of course, a universal console will never happen. Nintendo's radical Wii and Sony's expensive multimedia monster the PS3 have both ensured there has never been a console generation with a starker choice offered to consumer and developer alike. And good thing, too. Competition in the hardware space breeds innovation and ensures competitiveness on hardware pricing, which is great for gamers.
Failed ventures like 3DO and CD-i also suggest that any attempt to create a standardised platform are doomed: the humble Windows PC is likely to be the closest we ever get to a standard games format.
But despite the great hardware innovation and aggressive pricing that has resulted from fierce competition from console manufacturers, interactive entertainment is ultimately all about software. So it remains tempting to believe that a universal console is in the consumer's best interests, and would provide the very best games imaginable.
Do you think a console monopoly would be good for gamers?