Pete Hines compares gaming platforms to DVD players

During a panel at PAX Australia, which took place this weekend, Bethesda executive Pete Hines said that he thought gaming platforms would become a lot more similar in the future, using ye olde DVD player as an example, where you could play a DVD on any old player, no matter the make or model. Hines thinks the industry will move closer and closer to this standard.

"You might decide to play it on the Sony machine or the Microsoft machine or use the Google service, but it will start - I think - to look more like it really doesn't matter what you choose to play it on," Hines said. "You just want to play this game on the thing you choose to play your games on whether that's because where your friends are or whatever. Things like cross-platform play, cross-platform progression, all of that stuff."

"We as an industry need to start to move to not be so beholden to, 'I only make a thing for that machine and not this one. The faster we get to that the better it'll be for developers, the better it'll be for games," he added.

Those of you with long memories may well remember the 3DO, a platform that tried to pull a similar trick back in the early '90s, with standardised specifications licensed out to third-parties. While it didn't work back then, perhaps there could be a future for the basic concept? Time will only tell.

Thanks, PlayStation Lifestyle