If I was console maker what would you want in a console to make it easier to program

[Flux]

What things would you have in video game console?

A sponsored budget(1-3M of ad revenue)

An AI Processor/Physics Processor/Raytrace unit?

What if you had free online for games for constantly upgradable games?(via sponsored Wireless mobile LAN)

Low license fee?

Low Publisher studio service rental fee(if sponsored)?

Free online(via sponsored wireless mobile lan)

What would make games easier to program for, sell, and make a profit off of it?

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I'm not going to comment on the programming part as I know far to little of that but I dont think a consolebuilder can do much to help sell and earn money on a game. At the end of the day what sells a game is quality (or the size of your marketing budget). If you turn out a shit product no matter what a consolebuilder does they cant help you with that. Ofcourse they can offer support in programming where needed but as far as I know Nintendo/sony/ms are already doing that when asked for but you got to come up with something people are willing to spend money on to begin with.

 

[eastmen]

I don't know much about programing , however I would think that having an engine in house that all the first party developers work on and constantly updatewould be an attractive tool for smaller third party games.

If MS were to buy epic and unreal engine 4 would be exclusive with not only epic but all first party and second part devs adding to it and enhancing it. A smaller third party dev could liscense it and have some of the best tech on the market and would be able to sve alot of money. Intergrating match making , online services and what not into that engine would help also.

Thats just my opinion on the matter though.

 

[Nano]

More memory than necessary! As opposed to the bare minimum. RAM is always a limitation.

 

[Sc4freak]

TBH, a good answer would probably be, "Be Microsoft, and do exactly what they did."

In terms of ease of programming, the Xbox 360 can't be beat. Very high quality tools from Microsoft, great developer support, and it's a fairly familiar environment (similar APIs to Windows, and the hardware is fairly conventional).

 

[Tchock]

Joint tech share.

Some inhouse studios do it, but if this was an "exclusive developer" perk, I think it would be enough to jump ship (investment on tech development much lower, less sales needed on general perspective)

 

[Akumajou]

~snip

make it just like the Nintendo Wii.

Single proc, single gpu, adequate memory, adequate everything, aim at the hardcore and at the casuals, make Wii Fit...

And you enjoy Nintendo like domination that Microsoft Xbox 360 just cannot beat even with a one year head start and an "easy to program for" API based tool like XNA.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That doesn't answer the OP's question, which is what a 3rd party developer would want from a console manufacturer.

 

[Akumajou]

That doesn't answer the OP's question, which is what a 3rd party developer would want from a console manufacturer.

I did mention the domination in terms of sales and the ease of development since it is a simpler platform compared to a multi cpu, higher spec GPU, higher memory, etc consoles like XBox 360 and PS3.

of course Microsoft has the claim that their platform is "easier to program for" despite the complexity of the hardware.

Basically appart from being easy to develop for, a 3rd party dev will always desire a high market penetration in terms of sales.

Then add the "casuals" factor that also happens to include a new sub-group in women who are also snapping up Wii-Fit and you have easier games to make because casual games do not require the same graphics technology.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

A 3rd party developer wants the highest returns on their investment, which is affected by size of market, price of games, attach rates (willingness of market to buy 3rd party games), licensing fees, development costs, etc. Looking at publisher financials, it's clear just being the market leader in terms of units sales doesn't mean you'll be earning the 3rd parties the greatest part of their income.

 

[assen]

The Xbox 360 is significantly easier to develop for than the Wii. The Nintendo tools are absolute crap, easily the worst of all current consoles. This is offset to some extent by the simplicity of the architecture and the stupid-code-friendly CPU, but not enough - and the miniscule amount of RAM on the thing doesn't help either.

From a software development standpoint, it would be far easier to develop the average Wii-quality title (think Wii Fit, Carnival Games, etc) on 360, and most of them can probably be done even in XNA.

 

[Akumajou]

A 3rd party developer wants the highest returns on their investment, which is affected by size of market, price of games, attach rates (willingness of market to buy 3rd party games), licensing fees, development costs, etc. Looking at publisher financials, it's clear just being the market leader in terms of units sales doesn't mean you'll be earning the 3rd parties the greatest part of their income.

But wait a minute, how about those very public press reports of 3rd party game publisher CEOs calling for lower "target" prices on current gen consoles (minus the Wii I assume) its like they are almost blaming the high cost of the consoles for their game not selling well.

Also as for price of games, doesn't the Wii still have the same prices as last gen, in other words up to $49.95?

Willingness of market to buy 3rd party games is something I can almost agree with but at the same time the current gen Wii casuals are not Nintendo loyalists.

licensing fees, I don't know if thats a problem for Wii 3rd parties

development costs well thats a given.

 

[Flux]

The Xbox 360 is significantly easier to develop for than the Wii. The Nintendo tools are absolute crap, easily the worst of all current consoles. This is offset to some extent by the simplicity of the architecture and the stupid-code-friendly CPU, but not enough - and the miniscule amount of RAM on the thing doesn't help either.

From a software development standpoint, it would be far easier to develop the average Wii-quality title (think Wii Fit, Carnival Games, etc) on 360, and most of them can probably be done even in XNA.

I am not talking about Wii I am talking about what can a video game console manufacturer do to make programming easier,cheaper and more streamlined.

please stay on topic.

 

[ken_masters]

I am not talking about Wii I am talking about what can a video game console manufacturer do to make programming easier,cheaper and more streamlined.

please stay on topic.

Very interesesting to know for me too.

Answer the pro's, please. :smile:

 

[Akumajou]

I am not talking about Wii I am talking about what can a video game console manufacturer do to make programming easier,cheaper and more streamlined.

please stay on topic.

The problem is that those points in the first point are irrelevant once the console is released and the game dev tools are made available because two years into the console's life cycle the dev tools get major revisions that enable game devs to make games alot easier.

I can say this of PSX and Saturn, I can again say the same for PS2 since it was also initially very hard to program for. We can and should agree to say the same even for Xbox 1 because although it was supposed to be easier to make games on, the game's quality was so poor during the first year and a half that only mostly first party games and a very few platform specific games managed to not be considered mediocre efforts.

Although X360 basically carried over XNA from XBox 1, by now game dev tools should be so advanced and more so easy to develop games on. The same will be said of even PS3 so...

When I mentioned the Wii the main thinking was not "power" because that really did not seem to be implied unless you made it clear that you are talking about a future console that is years away in which case no developer can escape the fact that no matter how "easy" to program/develop for the dev tools are, they are going to be dealing with multiple threads and more check lists GPU features and I am sure that if it was all raytraced there would be a huge set of things game devs would have to learn before even making their games.

When I mentioned Wii I was thinking of ease because of its components and that once that two year period is reached combined with its demanding install base and market presence no 3rd party will want to be left out in tossing a game in there and hoping it sells or appeals to a new demographic that will actually buy their game.

 

[assen]

In a dream world, what would make most developers happy (those who like to finish games, not those who like to tinker with weird and wonderful hardware) would be the fastest possible, least-number-of-cores possible CPU, couple with lots of RAM.

In the real world, what would make most developers happy in terms of familiarity with the development tools and reaching the biggest potential market would be extending the lifetime of the current generation as much as possible.

 

[fearsomepirate]

For ease of programming, I would like a console powered by a 286 with QBASIC. Of course, I would only ever release text-based games, but you asked for easy.

In the real world, what would make most developers happy in terms of familiarity with the development tools and reaching the biggest potential market would be extending the lifetime of the current generation as much as possible.

Well, PS2 and Gamecube 1.5 are still trucking along.