Forgot password
Enter the email address you used when you joined and we'll send you instructions to reset your password.
If you used Apple or Google to create your account, this process will create a password for your existing account.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Reset password instructions sent. If you have an account with us, you will receive an email within a few minutes.
Something went wrong. Try again or contact support if the problem persists.

Blow: Consoles Are Handicapped by Corporate Culture

This article is over 12 years old and may contain outdated information
image

Braid creator, Jonathan Blow, criticizes the 360 and PS3 dashboards while praising iOS.

Microsoft’s certification process for digital games has come under public scrutiny once again following Fez developer, Phil Fish’s, claims that the red tape surrounding title updates has made it impossible for him to fix a broken patch. Indie developers have been complaining about the hassle involved in getting a digital title onto consoles for years. World of Goo developer, Ron Carmel, called working with Microsoft “excruciating.” Joe Danger developer, Sean Murray, referred to XBLA as a “slaughterhouse” for small developers and Derek Yu, creator of Spelunky, has warned other developers away from the service, citing huge costs. Now Braid developer, Jonathan Blow, is once again adding his voice to the chorus.

“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,” he told Ars Technica. “But in fact this is not what is happening. There is no public outcry for more testing and robustness of iOS software.”

Blow also had harsh words for the consoles’ interfaces, accusing them of serving corporate needs before those of the user.

“The edge that both Apple and Valve have going into the future is that they both genuinely care about the end-user experience and want to make it as good as possible,” he said. “Which coincidentally seems to be the place that these consoles are handicapped due to their corporate culture. 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?”

Source: Ars Technica

Recommended Videos

The Escapist is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Ā Learn more about our Affiliate Policy