Do you want cross platform gaming? I find it annoying that there are some games my friends have (none of whom use computers much in general let alone for gaming) on console I'd like to play with them and prefer the PC version but no games are cross platform. There are a few reasons given for not having cross platform gaming but I think most are pretty much not applicable anymore.
1)PC gamers have an advantage because mouse+keyboard is better than controller for FPS controls.
While this may have been true in the past even the PS2 had USB ports and now both the PS3 and 360 have USB ports (hell the PS3 even has bluetooth) so it's a breeze to hook up a mouse and keyboard, games just need to support them (and wish more FPS games on the PS3 would, the only one I know of that does is UT3). Even if this weren't true you could do either of two things to solve this issue. Either make cross platform server specific, i.e. some servers would be console only, some would be PC only and some would be both. Alternatively you could make it an option when you make a game (much as it's an option to allow mouse and keyboard use in UT3 when you host a game). This also would not even be a problem in co-op modes.
2)The game on console is slower than the PC version (again I'll use UT3 as an example, although there is a mod to fix that). I don't really see why this needs to be done, I play UT3 with the mod that ups the speed to be the same as it is on PC and it doesn't make a huge difference. Even if you do still absolutely need to slow it down on console you could simply speed it up to match the PC for online play while keeping it slower for single player.
That covers the reasons I think don't hold much water, the following arguments I think hold more water but that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be overcome.
3)PC updates can be pushed out as soon as they're done where as console updates have to undergo a long certification process. This makes it difficult to keep console and PC versions identical. This is, at least one of, the reasons UT3 abandoned mutli-platform.
I find it annoying that if I have the same game as my friends we can't play together just because they're on different consoles or one is console and one is PC.
So what do you think? Would you like cross-platform multiplayer?
1)PC gamers have an advantage because mouse+keyboard is better than controller for FPS controls.
While this may have been true in the past even the PS2 had USB ports and now both the PS3 and 360 have USB ports (hell the PS3 even has bluetooth) so it's a breeze to hook up a mouse and keyboard, games just need to support them (and wish more FPS games on the PS3 would, the only one I know of that does is UT3). Even if this weren't true you could do either of two things to solve this issue. Either make cross platform server specific, i.e. some servers would be console only, some would be PC only and some would be both. Alternatively you could make it an option when you make a game (much as it's an option to allow mouse and keyboard use in UT3 when you host a game). This also would not even be a problem in co-op modes.
2)The game on console is slower than the PC version (again I'll use UT3 as an example, although there is a mod to fix that). I don't really see why this needs to be done, I play UT3 with the mod that ups the speed to be the same as it is on PC and it doesn't make a huge difference. Even if you do still absolutely need to slow it down on console you could simply speed it up to match the PC for online play while keeping it slower for single player.
That covers the reasons I think don't hold much water, the following arguments I think hold more water but that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be overcome.
3)PC updates can be pushed out as soon as they're done where as console updates have to undergo a long certification process. This makes it difficult to keep console and PC versions identical. This is, at least one of, the reasons UT3 abandoned mutli-platform.
4)Different networks. I don't really know any of the details of how all this works but there may be some inherent problem in getting PSN games on the same network as XboxLive. I don't know how much control the individual games have on the network vs Sony and MS. For example if there are rules XBL games have to adhere to, rules PSN games have to adhere to, etc.Mark Rein VP of Epic said:
I find it annoying that if I have the same game as my friends we can't play together just because they're on different consoles or one is console and one is PC.
So what do you think? Would you like cross-platform multiplayer?
