Twisted Metal is one of those great series from the early days of the PS1 that nearly suffocated under the weight of its own success. It and other illustrious early standouts such as Tomb Raider paved the way for Sony’s dominance of the console war for two generations. In the process, Sony milked the franchise to the point of it almost disappearing forever.

You can’t keep a good clown down, though. Twisted Metal has reappeared on the PS2, PSP, and soon the PS3 as well. A code hidden within the recent Twisted Metal: Head On port to the PS2 revealed the series will soon see its first installment for the PS3. What form that new entry will take is still up in the air, at least to those outside of Sony. However, it seems clear that Sony’s online network would be perfect for multiplayer mayhem.

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David Jaffe, designer of such madcap romps as Twister Metal and God of War, thinks there might be merit to a one console platform. Does this maverick know no bounds with his heresy?

To be fair, Jaffe is not advocating one unified console platform as much as he is waxing philosophically about it. He questions whether the competition between the hardware manufacturers really does much to benefit gamers, or simply themselves. He’s updated his original blog post a few times now, including explanations of how a consortium of big name developers such as Electronic Arts, Capcom, Square, Ubisoft, and others could make such a fantasy a reality. He even defends against the idea that this would simply be the 3DO2 (or 3DO 360 if Microsoft made it). There’s been some negative reaction, especially to his assertion that it would be the equivalent of the standardized DVD, VHS, and television broadcast formats. And he’s right, because of the nature of the format.

Unlike with unified home video formats, which often are fought out, video games are a uniquely home format. Ever since the death of the arcade in the 1990s, it isn’t like there’s some other first-run format for a video game other than your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii. Want to play the newest Madden? Your only bet is to buy the full game, or perhaps rent it. This is quite different from film, where you actually have a wide variety of avenues. There’s theatrical release, pay-per-view, pay cable (such as HBO), broadcast TV, DVD, etc. Several different stops await a film along its distribution path before it runs out of new ways to generate revenue. Video games, on the other hand, essentially have one. (more…)

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