Is it possible?

[zenkidkailen]

Alright, time to get this off my chest. This question has plagued me since I first played a video game; Is a console that can play any game possible? And if it is, why hasn't it been invented yet?

 

[Durxom]

I'm not sure about that..but I did see a special collectors console thing at the Buy&Trade Games store near me, that could play NES, SNES, and Genesis games (it has a port thing for each type of cartridge)

 

[Mirroga]

Alright, time to get this off my chest. This question has plagued me since I first played a video game; Is a console that can play any game possible? And if it is, why hasn't it been invented yet?

It's possible. The reason why it doesn't exist? It's because of business rivalry. It makes more money. Would you think a game would sell more if there were no exclusivity, of course it would, but not as effective. Don't forget that these console companies aren't exactly revolutionizing or even supporting us gamers. It's business.

 

[squid5580]

Way back in the day (and I mean wwwwaaayyyyyy) there was an add on (I dunno if it was 100% legal or not) that allowed the Colecovision to play Atari 2600 games.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

On the AVGN he said that his friend cam up with a box that played Atari, SNES, NES,and Genesis games. That's the most I've seen one machine do

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Because the various companies that make the consoles would never work together.

 

[johnzaku]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This is why.

Oh wait! there is.

Linux + Emulators. Sooooo yeah

 

[The_Healer]

Well I'm sure it could be done on a PC if someone put enough work into emulation.

Otherwise, because of capitalism.

 

[Lunar Templar]

emulators are close as your gonna get, to much money to be made other wise

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well there is this:
http://www.gossipgamers.com/the-8-game-console-projector-r2-d2/

 

[Kilo24]

Yes, it's possible with emulators.

It hasn't been made yet because companies that make consoles like to make money, and they want to be the company that makes all the consoles so that they can get good deals out of people selling games for their system. When multiple companies think that, they start to fight and they make proprietary consoles with legal protection to make sure they're not duplicated.

I'm pretty sure that high-end computers or cheap supercomputers are very capable of emulating any current mainstream system; it's just that the software needs to be developed and to do that well they'd need to get the rights and the info from the makers of the consoles who won't let them do it.

Look at the bright side: competition means better products.

Edit:

actually, there is, its called the PC + console emulator. it also has something to do about monopoly laws in america. companies CAN NEVER form an alliance that spans the entire industry, creating a monopoly. if companies get together and create an all in one console ( ie set prices since they all support the same console, etc) , that doesn't promote business rivalry and hurts the economy. in fact, that's highly illegal.

I'm pretty sure that monopoly laws aren't the problem here. No company's using their extensive resources to push the others out of the business (at least not successfully, anyway.)