Open Source the Answer?
Let's face it, costs are running too high for the videogame industry. One way a company could try to reduce costs of producing a game is to base it off another game engine. Doom 3, Source (the engine for Half-Life 2) are two huge engines in which are being based around for other retail games, as well as a slew of mods. The problem, none of these engines are truely open source, companies have to pay to use them.
This is where Nintendo comes in. If there is one thing that Nintendo has a great advantage in, it's that they have an excellent first party line up. Microsoft relies on second parties to produce their games, and the same thing happens for Sony.
So here is something that Nintendo could do: Make their games open source. They already make plenty of games themselves, so why not share the love? I'm sure that one company or another would like to base a game off of the Twilight Princess engine. The only stipulation would be that the game would be a Nintendo-console exclusive.
The problem with this isn't anything to do with Sony or Microsoft, but with Nintendo. Nintendo has been a very secretive, often too afraid for their own good.
Also a problem is the types of games Nintendo goes into. While Smash Bros. could be a decent engine for fighting games, they don't have a fast racer (at least haven't done one since F-Zero X) or a first person shooter. If anything, they would have to go to second parties, making open sourcing a bit difficult (more parties in which one has to deal with obviously would make any process more difficult).
But as a first party, they would have more to gain from open sourcing games in this way. Whereas other companies would like to have the extra money from leasing out engines, Nintendo would inherently get such dollars though the regular fees for making games on their systems. Not only that, it would put more exclusive third party games on their system and fewer on Sony's or Microsoft's.
But if their current known secret (Revolution controller) is any indication, I doubt Nintendo would do such a thing.
This is where Nintendo comes in. If there is one thing that Nintendo has a great advantage in, it's that they have an excellent first party line up. Microsoft relies on second parties to produce their games, and the same thing happens for Sony.
So here is something that Nintendo could do: Make their games open source. They already make plenty of games themselves, so why not share the love? I'm sure that one company or another would like to base a game off of the Twilight Princess engine. The only stipulation would be that the game would be a Nintendo-console exclusive.
The problem with this isn't anything to do with Sony or Microsoft, but with Nintendo. Nintendo has been a very secretive, often too afraid for their own good.
Also a problem is the types of games Nintendo goes into. While Smash Bros. could be a decent engine for fighting games, they don't have a fast racer (at least haven't done one since F-Zero X) or a first person shooter. If anything, they would have to go to second parties, making open sourcing a bit difficult (more parties in which one has to deal with obviously would make any process more difficult).
But as a first party, they would have more to gain from open sourcing games in this way. Whereas other companies would like to have the extra money from leasing out engines, Nintendo would inherently get such dollars though the regular fees for making games on their systems. Not only that, it would put more exclusive third party games on their system and fewer on Sony's or Microsoft's.
But if their current known secret (Revolution controller) is any indication, I doubt Nintendo would do such a thing.
posted by SeanM at 7:45 PM
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