Fed up with the next-gen console war? You're not the only one. EA executive vice-president Gerhard Florin told the BBC on Friday that the current business model of competing consoles is making life complicated for developers and publishers (incredible!) - "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," he continued.
The story then drags in analyst Nick Parker to comment, "gaming will just require potentially a £49.99 box from Tesco made in China with a hard drive, a wi-fi connection and a games engine inside. It's basically a boiled-down PC."
Of course, this is by no means a new idea. The BBC report mentions the MSX, a Microsoft-led attempt to create a standard home computer platform in the mid-Eighties. Successful in Japan and Korea for several hardware generations, the machine never became a global standard, missing out in the US and UK to the 8bit Commodore and Spectrum machines and later the IBM PC.
This isn't even the first time EA has flirted with the concept...
In the early nineties, the company's founder, Trip Hawkins, left to set up the 3DO company and to launch the 3DO console, a 32bit CD-ROM based machine, which set out to be, yes, an open standard. the idea was that other manufacturers would build their own versions with 3DO drawing in royalties on hardware and software sales.
However, as Ars Technica points out the concept failed, partly because the retail price was too high ($700), with the likes of Panasonic and Toshiba unwilling to subsidise the price of the machine. There were other issues too, though - lack of third-party developer support, particularly in Japan, and an architecture that was quickly over-shadowed by the more 3D-capable PlayStation.
Nick Parker's concept of a glorified set-top box with powerful gaming features is not entirely new either. You may remember VM Labs' Nuon, a high-end DVD player specification with built-in games platform. Several manufacturers included the technology in DVD machines released in the early 2000s, but the format never gained widespread support.
What's different now - or what will be different in 8-10 years when its time for a technological refresh? Microsoft and Sony have both pumped millions into their warring machines only to see a lower spec unit come along and outsell them - it could be that, come the next generation, they might be more receptive to a lower-risk group initiative. Also, the simple gaming options offered by cable and satellite TV providers through their set-top boxes have prepared a sizeable audience for the concept of an integrated entertainment unit.
What do you think? Can a single console, backed by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo (and probably Sky, BT or Virgin, as well as other technology manufacturers) represent a realistic alternative to the fiendishly competitive roller-coaster business we've been enjoying for the last thirty years? There's a tendency in the world of gadgets to believe that convergence is always desirable for consumers. It doesn't usually pan out that way - if it did, we'd all have lobbed away our iPods and digital cameras in favour of high-end mobiles.
• This article was amended on 22 June 2009. The original referred to EA's founder, Trip Hawkins, as "co-founder". This has been corrected.
