In his keynote, John Smedley talked at length about the idea that the same game should run on your PC, your laptop, your console, your handheld, and your phone. My gut reaction to this meme has always been negative – it sounds like exactly the sort of thing that’s contributing to the ridiculous budgets we’re facing nowadays.

I’m also worried that, unless the handheld versions are limited to simple things like checking your shop inventory (and I actually favor things like this and SOE’s excellent guild pages), these lower-end versions could result in a ‘dumbing down’ of the primary products. Can you make a game that graphically competes with WoW, if you also have to guaruntee the product will run on a PSP?

The other challenge would be organizational. Even supporting two platforms (Windows and Mac) can make testing and patch deployment difficult. Adding additional platforms just increases the logistical complexity of making fixes when they are necessary. And when the fix is crucial, such as a dupe fix, agility is what developers love.

Is addressing this doable? Certainly, but the level of organizational commitment necessary certainly means that you need to be sure that its something the players will find viable. I think most observers of the industry realize that it’s mentally healthy to seperate these game players from their games from time to time. I think most player’s recognize it too.