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why not the utopian universal ultimate platform ?

category: general [glöplog]
 
let's dream... this project has failed so many times against corporate monopolies but in a perfect world would that utopia be the greatest panacea, the holy grail of users, developers and publishers ?

of course it would look like a PC but with fixed hardware specifications, or maybe like a 360 but with an open system ?

nowadays this project may not sound that unrealistic as the next-gen console war has led MS and Sony into a cash burning fest without immediate return on investment, independent and 3rd-party publishers usually support both platforms but are fed up with the costs of ports (and the varying result quality), and the boom of digital distribution and multiplayer services (Live, PSN, Steam) is a step towards dematerialization and independence from hardware. Besides manufacturers have *finally* 'agreed' on more or less common standards for digital music and HD video, why not for video games too ?

so... do you dream of such a grail for demomaking, or do you still prefer a more competitive scattered diversity of hardware and platforms ??
added on the 2008-05-21 09:48:36 by Zest Zest
I just want to make demos.
added on the 2008-05-21 09:56:29 by Preacher Preacher
Personally, I think it's nice that there's at least a bit of diversity and opportunity to play around with different hardware.

A universal platform would be a good thing for end-users and publishers (and for developers as well) if it was an open system where different manufactures could still compete to drive the platform forwards. Can't really see this happening anytime soon though. And also, isn't this more or less what PC is (or tries to be)? :)
added on the 2008-05-21 10:12:34 by wb wb
zest, would you *please* stop all the completely off topic crap on pouet? we don't care about your opinion on platforms or companies. we care about demos. the problem is that you *don't* care about demos. you're on the wrong site. go to some gamer place.
added on the 2008-05-21 10:13:25 by skrebbel skrebbel
Elsewhere, wb and skrebbel pretty much summed it up :)
added on the 2008-05-21 10:17:05 by keops keops
skrebbel: don't be hypocritical, the demoscene does exist because of the gaming platforms, your GBA wasn't manufactured for your own demomaker pleasure...

i'm just trying to think (or rather dream) out of the box, asides the daily runtimes and known schemes ; the BBS is meant for (useless) talks, not direct demo production (that would be the purpose of a technical forum), so keops please spare me your usual subjective producers vs lamers argument.

A universal open box would mean a wider audience for demos like in old times, no problem of people whining at the high req of fairlight demos, a fixed world to explore at will and with enough lifetime, a renewed challenge of defying the technical limits, chaos said it all in the nolife bp08 report :)
added on the 2008-05-21 11:02:11 by Zest Zest
Maybe a nice platform for you is DVD + TV :)
to begin the flamewar: universal platform is.. Amiga 060 and Amiga PPC, and Atari Falcon and C64 and .... (every computer i've got home but don't remeber where is it).

Actualy there wasn't/isn't/won't be a universal platform. Forget it.
added on the 2008-05-21 11:20:26 by V0yager V0yager
heh i wouldn't be that categorical, publishers are getting more powerful against manufacturers, and the console war may lead to a de facto standard platform in the next decade, if for example MS launches a new HD console soon in 2009 and 'kills' the PS3 which wouldn't have really taken off and has be planned for a 5-7 year life span, then i hope hackers could open the proprietary system... apart from the handheld scene and the casual gaming market dominated by nintendo machines, of course.

seriously and prosaically, wouldn't demomaking on PC be far easier if coders hadn't to test their code on several vidcards for example ? :)
added on the 2008-05-21 11:43:37 by Zest Zest
I don't see how freezing the technology will make demos more popular or easier to develop... (that was your point?). I only see catastrophic future (in the sense of being popular to outsiders) for demoscene if the platform was freezed (amigaaaaaa).

If you want a ultimate platform (today), use a PC+Windows without shaders. You will potential reach 90% of the earth's population that has access to a computer...

Imho, the "the holy grail of developers" as you said is when you buy a machine, it brings a decent OS already installed, you just download the latest professional compiler for free, google "nehe" and can start making demos in less than one hour. Oh, that's Windows :)
added on the 2008-05-21 12:37:21 by iq iq
I think it's all platforms, really. Linux comes with gcc and Apple computers come with a DVD filled with developer tools.
added on the 2008-05-21 12:50:54 by Preacher Preacher
Pouet is a diskmag :'(
added on the 2008-05-21 13:14:33 by doomdoom doomdoom
"is pouet.net a diskmag?" - that would make an interesting article for (guess ;)
added on the 2008-05-21 13:55:27 by makc makc
Quote:
zest, would you *please* stop all the completely off topic crap on pouet? we don't care about your opinion on platforms or companies. we care about demos. the problem is that you *don't* care about demos. you're on the wrong site. go to some gamer place.


I totally agree. As there no off-topic crap at all on Pouet BBS except for whatever Zest is posting.
added on the 2008-05-21 14:22:44 by slux slux

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