Braid developer lashes out on corporate culture – Video Games Update
Jonathan Blow, the creator of the popular Indie game Braid, has stated that Microsoft and Sony need to open up their platforms if they want to continue competing with the likes of Apple and Google.
It is no surprise that Microsoft and Sony are dead against the idea of Homebrew software on their gaming consoles as it ultimately leads to p****y. So both the companies have strict checks and measures in place to monitor all the content that is available
on their network.
Blow states that this excessive control over the platform is a huge barrier for many indie developers who feel that they can’t express themselves properly due to all the rules and regulations. Blow went on to say that even though both Sony and Microsoft
claim to be pushing towards user friendliness with their console dashboards but “can anyone look at the current 360 or PS3 dashboards and legitimately say that those are products of an entity that deeply cares about user experience?"
Jonathan went on to describe the advantages of Apple’s iTunes music store and explained that the company is doing so well because there are few barriers to entry when compared to Xbox Live (XBL) and the PlayStation Network (PSN).
“There is almost no certification process for iOS, so by the Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo theory, the apps should be crashing all the time, everyone should think of iOS as sucky, etc, but in fact this is not what is happening. There is no public outcry for more
testing and robustness of iOS software," stated Blow in an interview with Gamespot.
Blow has stated what many other developers also believe which is that the current console manufacturers will be in trouble if they do not adopt different business models such as free to play and open source development for the next generation consoles.
Now would be the perfect time for Google or Apple to jump into the console market with an open source product since the majority of the developers want next generation to arrive quickly. Thus, launching a more powerful machine right now might be a really
good way to break into the market as developers and publishers would only be too happy to release their next generation projects sooner than wait for Microsoft and Sony’s next generation machines.
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