Platform Tectonics: Gaming Platforms Importance in Decline?

What makes a gaming platform a gaming platform these days? In the past, that was easy to define. In the past, each console offered a unique technology, a unique base of developers behind it, and therefore a unique catalog of titles that could only be had on a specific platform—on the Super Nintendo, the SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis, the PlayStation, the Dreamcast, and so on.

Things have started changing this past decade. It’s this generation of console technology that sees the platform landscape transform into what basically amounts to a huge mixing bowl. The previous generation of consoles—and of PC games too to a certain extent—was the last generation of truly unique platforms. The PlayStation 2 had its huge pile of wacky Japanese games, the ton and a half of Sony exclusive titles and the signature DualShock controller. The GameCube had a somewhat weaker lineup of third party titles, mostly due to the lack of dual analog sticks, but a rock solid unique first / second party lineup of truly legendary titles—something that is easily forgotten these days. The Xbox impressed with sheer graphical prowess and Microsoft’s dedication to become a major player on the gaming market and the money to prove it—also proving with Halo that first person shooters were possible and viable on consoles.

The Xbox 360 was the star of this generation. Even the PR nightmare of the Red Ring of Death couldn’t change that.

Those distinctions mostly disappeared when the current console cycle rolled into its later years. Nintendo put themselves out of the big league. The Wii—being cute and adorable as it is—did fall out of favor with the ‘core’ (hard, or not) gamer crowd quickly and was never really able to get back on track. While initially starved of truly outstanding first party titles, the PS3 with all its impressive hardware specs had a hard time to shine in its first years, being outclassed and outperformed by the second Xbox. The Xbox 360 was the star of this generation. Even the PR nightmare of the Red Ring of Death couldn’t change that. Microsoft managed to get many third party exclusive titles for their platform as well.

And this is where the lines start to blur. With time, third party development drew ever closer to a parity between the two big consoles. While initially most third party games were better on the Xbox 360 due it being easier to program for, this gap eventually closed. With more and more platform exclusive titles becoming multiplatform releases from day one, it quickly seized to matter which console to go for. The PS3 versions of most games have the benefit of coming on one single Blu Ray disc, where Xbox games have become more common being delivered on several DVDs. Everything else is mainly a question of taste and preferences. The games look the same most of the time. The PS3 usually has higher quality sound output—but that only matters for those people with beefy home cinema systems. The controllers are an issue for people, but that really comes down to preference.

Today, there is so little difference between the big consoles, that platform has almost ceased to matter.

Today, there is so little difference between the big consoles, that platform has almost ceased to matter. And the PC? Due to the unusually long console cycle, the hardware upgrade race has come to a staggering hold. Where a 2001 gaming PC could easily run into problems running games of even a single year later at good looking detail rates and resolutions, nowadays PC hardware will keep delivering peak performances several years into its own lifespan, easily outclassing the consoles. The problem is of course, that due to the rise of development costs, few games are developed for PC alone these days. Most new releases are developed for the consoles first, and then ported for PC. I’m not interested in the reasons for this trend in this article. The fact is, there are very few games out there that go with that old Wing Commander motto: Delivering the graphics of today, made for the hardware of tomorrow.

And that is just a part of the whole question of platform importance. Even choosing a gaming PC over any given console boils down to personal taste now. As for me, my PC is basically a glorified console when it comes to gaming, thanks to having a graphics card featuring an HDMI port and a wired Xbox 360 controller. I play my PC games—or ‘PC games’—sitting on my couch, controller in hand. So what does that make me in that moment? A PC gamer? What platform am I playing on? Is that truly a PC if it runs on a TV and is controlled by a gamepad? Agreed, the games I play this way are—mostly—console ports. I won’t deny that some games just can’t be played properly with a gamepad, and some games obviously aren’t made for the big screen. Even some ports of console games on PC just don’t support such a high resolution very well, especially when it comes to menu fonts. But are those then PC games?

What’s left of the identity of any particular gaming platform? Is it the form, functionality and color of the dashboard? The quality of the online services provided? The range of things you can do with a console, watch movies, surf the internet, etc? Even there, the different platforms have little difference from one another, safe that the PS3 is also a pretty good Blu Ray player. And the games? The last titles that remain as true exclusives these days on the big consoles are first party developed things. Halo. Gears of War. Uncharted. God of War. Deciding for one platform or another just isn’t as simple as back in the day, when it was “do you like Mario or Sonic?”. Now it’s much, much more complicated. And it’s not as simple as “do you like Master Chief or Nathan Drake?” either. Throwing the PC in the mix makes things even more messed up, since all the three big ones, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, pretty much meet in the middle.

Eventually, it all boils down to very incremental personal preferences. Do you prefer the Xbox 360 pad, or the DualShock? What about mouse and keyboard—even consoles support those —not always but often enough? Gaming libraries? Like shooters? Might be better on the 360. The PlayStation doesn’t even retain the sole exclusivity over having all the wacky Japanese titles. And there are profoundly less of those this generation around. Maybe the gadgets make a difference? Kinect? Move? How about 3D TV? The PS3 supports that. The PC can do that as well. Some games on the 360 can do that.

This generation of hardware has truly reached a point where platform no longer matters.

This generation of hardware has truly reached a point where platform no longer matters. Consoles are small, dedicated PCs, PCs can be made to work as glorified consoles (with better graphics usually), and well, there still is the Wii. The Wii is the only platform, thanks to Nintendo’s opting out of the big hardware race, that still somewhat matters as such, since the games available here won’t be available elsewhere. Well, at least not safely and legally, since there is a working emulator for Wii games on PC.

The fact remains though, the console wars of the old days are over. And... You know what, I think we, the players, we have won.