Denis Dyack has laid out the economic reasons why a single open console platform is an almost inevitable outcome of the current console market. But arguably it isn't really the utopian future it's cracked up to be. In Part 3 of our grand excuse to take Friday off™, Chris Pickering explains why we gamers should looking forward to the next great leap forward in console gaming:

A one-console future eh? There aren't too many folks that see that as the future. Al's given quite a few good reasons and theories as to why it couldn't really work. But for me, it's the way forward. Seriously. It's the way forward for both gamers, and those buggers making millions out of our hard earned pennies.

Let's talk dollar first of all (did I sound all streetwise there? Or just an aging git?). With the current set-up, there's little doubt that there are constant millions of man hours and cash being ploughed into creating the next big thing. The console that's going to win the next generation war. The one that's going to have all the big publishers backing it. The one that's going to have the best games, and flog the most units.

Gaming is, as were all constantly reminded, big business in this day and age. Yet the major bucks are going into developing, producing, and marketing a ridiculously large number of consoles.

Sure, if the current big three were robbed of their ability to willy wave about their bigger hard drives and better chipsets, then chances are they would slip into knocking up a huge mass of weird and wonderful controllers and third-party add-ons.

Well, good! Just imagine if Nintendo didn't have to chuck in the cash to create and produce the Wii, but simply put all that money into knocking up an incredibly innovative control method to be utilised on an industry standard console, and a wide range of games to go with it. Imagine the delights we'd see from the millions spent in this pure gaming direction.

Think about Bungie and their incredible interaction with their fans via their stunning website. Imagine if EVERY developer had the cash to knock up such a concept for all the major games. Could happen with a single platform.

Middleware, again as we well know, has really come into the forefront of developers minds. Just about every game we try our hands at is complete with a half dozen icons announcing what middleware software was utilised to make said game as fantastic as it is.

If these middleware companies had a single target in mind, and not having to constantly tweak for different platforms with completely different abilities, development could be an astonishingly simple process. It could get to the stage that anyone with a bit of cash and a decent idea could create a decent gaming title. We could get back to the days of the bedroom programmers when gaming was truly at its peak.

We could get the best of everything; games, accessories, online options, all on the one single platform. No need to have 3 different boxes under the TV, just one standard unit that will do absolutely everything. What if films were split across a few different platforms (ignore the ridiculous non-war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD) and we were forced to purchase a few different units to see ALL the films we wanted to watch. We wouldn't stand for it, would we.

It's a dream I know (and one without bloody fanboys, just imagine that one for a second!) and it'll no doubt never happen. But if we don't dream, then what's the point of anticipating what's to come?
And anyway, my opinions always right. I championed ICO before most others in the West. And for that alone, a one console future should be the way to go. That and I've stuck a fiver on it all happening within the next decade...

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