Posted November 12, 2014 I've been perusing the market for a PS4/XB1 and it dawned on that apart from the odd exclusive, the main reason to choose between these is who I know/play with that owns whichever console. This progressed in my mind to why can't we play FIFA 15 or COD against players who own the "other" console. I'm no programmer but I'm certain it's something that it quite easily achievable. Gaming seems to be about the only medium where there is applicable, a dvd will play on any DVD player, likewise CD, MPEG etc. Now whilst the dream of a universal console is never going to happen, cross play should at the very least for the 3rd party franchises. This to me seems the next step in gaming for the next gen of consoles. This gen has seen about the smallest leap forward and usually there is a two generation cycle between a small leap and a big leap. I'm surprised that there has not been talk of some kind of regulation to make cross platform play an industry requirement. So, to conclude: Apart from 4K HD graphics where else can gaming advance in the next gen? Cross platform is the next big leap in my opinion and would end the console wars. Which begs the question, if all consoles could play all the same games, whose hardware would you go with? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2014 It is a weird medium in that regard, I can certainly see a cloud based gaming future with companies selling their controllers as the differentiator rather than a console. Maybe a steambox scenario where companies could make their hardware too. I'd likely go with nintendo as 100% of the time I prefer their controllers, but you never know... As for cross play, it'd be amazing, I don't fully understand the technical issues with it either, but it certainly seems like it should be possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2014 If all hardware could play the same games then the one I would choose would be the one that had the best online features. I suppose that would be the only way to differentiate between the competition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2014 as @dazzybee pointed out, controllers would be the main difference in that scenario. At the moment I see Wii U Pro controller best suited to FPS, XB1 best suited to FIFA and DS4 coming in 3rd place based purely on analogue stick placement. There must be enough money in gaming for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to all make a nice profit if they just went thirds on everything except in-house software. It would certainly reduce their R&D costs if they just pooled their resources and made 1 generic console. It would never happen, but I could see Sony and Nintendo teaming up in the future to try and destroy the XBOX brand. A kind of East vs West scenario. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2014 It would never happen, but I could see Sony and Nintendo teaming up in the future to try and destroy the XBOX brand. A kind of East vs West scenario. Microsoft done a good enough job of that on their own last year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2014 Nintendo's next generation will be the same as the Sony and Microsoft's current generation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
