Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PC, PS3, PS2) has dominated the NPD US charts for August. On the hardware side, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3, but Nintendo's DS-Wii combo is still lording it over the hardware charts.

Remember those talks of a one console future? Well, one former Xbox exec doesn't agree. Sandy Duncan, former VP of Xbox Europe, believes that in 5 to 10 years, there won't be consoles at all. What would the landscape of video games look like in the future then? Read the full article to find out what Duncan has to say on the matter.

It's been a common practice in the video game industry for developers to license game engine technology to avoid having to build the foundations of games, saving time and money in the process. However, some of the industry's best game makers see this as a bad practice, fueling a debate in DICE 2008. Find out who are for it and who are against it, and which side AAA titles like Resistance: Fall of Ma, Ratchet & Clank, BioShock, and Mass Effect fall into when you read the full article ahead.

We've all heard debates about the feasibility and value of a "One Console Future"  where all gaming takes place on a single platform. Silicon Knights President Dennis Dyack and EA executive Gerhard Florin were the last two big names to express support for the idea, and this blogger wants to share some thoughts. I love Fight Night Round 3 and I'm excited about Too Human, but I'd have to disagree with the two bosses on this one.

There's been plenty of talk coming from the movers and shakers of the gaming business about a possible "One Console Future" where one universal platform would apply, and all developers would be placed on the same playing field as far as gaming consoles are concerned.

Electronic Arts executive Gerhard Florin and Silicon Knights President Dennis Dyack were both quoted expressing their favor for the idea, with Dyack implying that the One Console Future is imminent and "everyone would win" in such a scenario. Not everyone, however, was convinced.

Ben Hoyt, a producer at game tools company Emergent, had a particularly different take on the subject. He says that both Florin and Dyack failed to consider some basic realities of the industry.

Hoyt argues that "Florin's vision of a 'box...made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection, and a games engine inside,' conjures eerie images of the aptly-named Phantom Game Console" and "fails to address fundamental technical realities relating to local versus server-based games. Nor does he address the exciting diversification of gameplay experiences enabled by today's variety of gaming hardware options."

Moving on to Dyack's case, there are two points that Hoyt strongly disagrees with. First is Dyack's belief that the competition of today's gaming platforms create an "unhealthy" industry; second is his assertion where he described a one-console industry as a place where "everyone would win."

"I'm afraid that I fail to see how, in a world where our industry is dominated by a single, monopolistic, console manufacturer, 'everyone would win,'" says Hoyt. He went on to raise some points:

What incentive would this console manufacturer have to fund AAA exclusive titles when all titles would be exclusives? Why would they launch new hardware at a loss when anyone who wanted to play console video games would be forced to purchase one of their systems? How much would they charge independent publishers and developers for the right to release games on their platform?

He continues "perhaps most importantly, what incentive would this monolithic industry entity have to absorb the cost of releasing exciting new hardware configurations every five years? Why not 10? Or never?"

"Finally, I ask him to explain how his vision for a 'unified platform' game industry would avoid the classic, Econ 101, pitfalls of a monopoly, in which the only 'winner' is the monopolist," concludes Hoyt.

GamesIndustry.biz says they're waiting for a Dyack response to Hoyt's rebuttals. If he does answer, we'll update you in a hurry. For now, let's hear what you think about a "one console future."

After Electronic Art's prediction of one standard gaming platform within the next 15 years, Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack believes that not only will the standardized console happen within 15 years, it will be inevitable. "It will happen," said Dyack in an interview with Official Xbox Magazine.

He explains that the standardized console will be brought about not by console wars but because of a phenomenon he coined as "performance oversupply", where all major consoles have already fulfilled their purpose of providing a competent gaming platform so well that the gaming market is suffering a split condition.

Split condition? In Dyack's terms, the gaming market is currently split due to the fact that third-party game developers are having a hard time choosing which platform to develop games for. Conversely, first-party manufacturers are also having a hard time perfecting their software AND their hardware in order to get more third-party developers to make games for them.

The result? Dyack said:

Despite all this, it's still not enough. The economics of the proprietary models seem to point toward spending more money and receiving fewer returns with each generation, with no clear winner.

A consortium of game makers will push through with the idea of a standard console, said Dyack, which would lead to a price drop benefiting consumers as well as an increase in quality. Third-party developers may also benefit the most in the "one console to rule them all" scenario, as it will mean 100% market penetration.

Too Human was originally developed for Sony's PlayStation back in 1999 as an action game that spans five discs, before a partnership with Nintendo made Silicon Knights work on it for the GameCube instead. 

After a few more years of disappearance, a series of events led SK to the hands of Microsoft to make the game on Xbox 360. Not until recently did the game resurface - the release date still an uncertainty - but we can be sure of one thing: head honcho Denis Dyack knows his console history.

Dyack talked about "one console future" during GCDC 2007 in Leipzig, saying consoles are heading towards commoditization and differences between these gaming machines will become less important. In an interview with GameSpy, he went deeper on his thoughts about improving technology and how the next generation can actually be void of console wars.

"I think that as technologies continue to advance, the advances are becoming so strong that they diminish the differences between each console with each generation," Dyack said. He compared the PlayStation to Nintendo 64, both introducing 3D graphics to households. For him, the difference is getting so small that we will come to a point where there won't be discrimination of any platforms.

Like we play DVDs on any DVD player, he sees the possibility of every game being playable on any platform. No exclusives. "Everyone's been saying for the longest time that 'it's all about the games.' If it's really all about the games, then the games will start to dominate, and the value of the hardware will become less and less important," he said.

All these may sound convenient, but he found a lot of bad from "commoditizing" in the gaming industry. "Commoditization is a very bad thing, because the ultimate result of it is slavery," he said.

It won't be surprising if many find his speculations farfetched, but Dyack is quite confident with his words. He was able to say, with confidence, that "predicting the future is hard." He continued, "But one of the things about technology and commoditization is that it's guaranteed to happen one hundred percent."

Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack, who also produces upcoming Xbox 360 biggie Too Human, spoke in the build-up to Game Convention 2007 and predicted that a "one console future" is possible as early as the next game generation.

By one console future, he meant that there should come a time when consoles will not be divided into separate platforms, but rather standardized under one spec set and will be universally compatible with all games developed.

To drive home the point, Dyack used historical trends as his basis. He said that all forms of technology have ultimately come together to create one standard that defies specifications and features.

"Hardware differences will not only become less important, but lose their value altogether," predicts Dyack. "Just like a DVD or a camera, everybody would know what those [standardized console] specs are. It's guaranteed your game is going to work."

However, he made it clear that PC gaming will remain distinct in the foreseeable future. He says that unlike consoles, PC specs change rapidly, and that's a factor that won't be addressed by standardization.

So, will we see a Sony Wii 360 or something like that in this lifetime? Maybe. Will it be good or bad for us? What do you think? Post your comments below and let's talk about it.

Game publishers are better off changing their market strategies and adopting something straight out of Hollywood instead of bleeding dollars by the buckets, says Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack.

In an interview, Dyack described contemporary marketing practices in the gaming business as wasteful and flawed. He particularly pointed to the fact that companies put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves to have their developers create demos for an exhibition, then bum-rush titles so that the marketing money spent to hype the game won't be put to waste.

"I don't think we should start doing press on a game until it's finished," says Dyack as he suggested that like films, the approach taken could be to wait for the game to be finished so that all the creative refinements can be made, then allocate a marketing period so that everything comes out smoothly. That way, games come out with a lot of quality, marketing money is made good use of and sales are set at an optimum level.

Instead of showing rough code to the media early on, Dyack suggested that the approach taken by the Too Human developers be made the poster boy of marketing tactics. He says that the strategy adopted is film-like, functional and reliable.

It seems that developer Silicon Knights has a way of hyping up their titles. Who could ever forget Eternal Darkness? The psychological/horror videogame was originally slated for Nintendo 64 but eventually ended up in GameCube. They did it once more with Too Human. Again, it's supposed to be for PSOne then for GameCube, but it became an X360 exclusive in the end.

See the pattern? Anyway, outspoken director Denis Dyack is starting mind games once more as he re-opens the dark universe of Eternal Darkness and shoves it in the mouth of next generation. According to him:

I am most often asked if we have sequels in mind for Eternal Darkness. The answer is absolutely yes. When creating an original game we start by conceptualizing an entire universe. Once the universe is conceptualized we then tell a story within that world.

But before you guys get over excited, take note that this could be under Silicon Knights' WIP files for a long time. In case you've forgotten, Too Human is just the first installment of a trilogy. Despite that, Dyack mentioned that two titles are actually connected to each other. He shared:

After creating numerous worlds over the years, developing a trilogy is just a natural progression in our game making process. Eternal Darkness and Too Human all fall under the same umbrella of universes that we created. We have many stories to tell within these worlds so this time around we felt it was time to tell more than just one.

So, does this mean that Eternal Darkness would be a Microsoft exclusive as well? The director, unfortunately, wouldn't say. But it is sure good to know that a title with such caliber will soon be gracing the walls of next-gen.