With so many developers complaining in the past about the difficulty of programming for the Playstation 3 and praising the Xbox 360 for having a programming architecture similar to PC programming the question lingers whether Sony made the right choice by going with the cell. That being said, would Sony be better off making the next Playstation easier to program for and more developer friendly like the Xbox? The answer is not as obvious as it seems.

Sony’s reasoning with the PS3 was that if it is harder to program for then developers will work harder at pushing the envelop in terms of games leading to more innovation as well as extending the life of the console since it wouldn’t be maxed out early in its life cycle. Although theoretical this may be true, it is hard to clearly prove this is the reason for that Uncharted 1 & 2, Killzone, Metal Gear Solid, Heavy Rain and all of the other great PS3 exclusives are a result of this reasoning. In addition, the PS3 continues to suffer greatly in terms of multiplatform titles with many developers creating the Xbox 360 version first and then porting it to the Xbox 360. With the next Xbox pretty much guaranteed to be released before the next Playstation Sony will find itself once again in the same predicament so you have to wonder if they will once again come with a pricier and harder to program for console. Let take a look at what would come about if the next Playstation and Xbox had a very similar and easy programming architecture.

Equal Quality Multiplatform Titles
With no real incentive for exclusivity, 3rd party developers have to create for both HD consoles. Currently it seems that when multiplatform titles are ported from Xbox to Playstation, the Playstation owner often gets the bad end of the stick. With similar programming architectures, this would no longer the case.

More 3rd Party games support and Less exclusives
It would be more financially feasible for developers to release games on both consoles so both Xbox and Playstation owner would reap the benefit of this. Less games will be exclusive to one console so more single console owners will enjoy more games rather than having to own multiple consoles.

More innovative games
With creating 2 versions (Xbox and Playstation) of a game being cheaper, developers will be in a better position to take chances in terms of fresh and original concepts for established franchises and new ip’s.

More service focused console innovation
With most titles (aside 1st and 2nd party games exclusives) being available on both consoles, both Microsoft and Sony’s next consoles would battle in terms of innovative console specific online and offline features that can expand the experience that games or the console itself provides.

Possibility of multi-console online multiplayer?
Although never done before, maybe this would become more of a possibility. It’s a stretch but would take online console gaming to the next level.

Overall, it would seem to be beneficial to all gamers in the long run although some may argue otherwise and feel this will feed into the whole one console future. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are very similar in many aspects and differ in very few which leads me to believe that the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony will only differ less and if the trend does continue it will not make much sense for Microsoft and Sony to compete in terms of hardware but only in terms of services and software. If Microsoft does take the pre-emptive strike approach with it’s next console I truly hope Sony focuses on beefing up its console in terms of little things like extra ram and a better graphics chip while making it easier to program for. Microsoft had the right idea with the Xbox 360 but their obsession with beating Sony to the market kind of forced them to put out a console with a horrible failure rate. However, the fact that most are willing to purchase multiple Xbox 360 (because of the RRoD) rather than simply purchase a reliable PS3 should say something to Sony. Straight forward programming and a “revolutionary” online system will be the key elements for the next Playstation. Microsoft understood this a long time ago, let’s see if Sony gets it with PS4.