In your view, how necessary is a dedicated platform?

I mean, take a look at, say, the 3DS and Cellphone games.

Right now, 3DS sales are in the tubes due to lack of games with Old School values. Cell Phones are selling, but games are not their main purpose.

If the 3DS were to get a game with Old School values (unlikely), it’s sales would go up and the developer would get a big pay check for it’s service. But if Cell Phones got a game with Old School values, would the developer still get that big pay check for it’s service, or is there something about a dedicated platform (in this case, Handheld) that makes games sell like hotcakes?

~Wishing you the best, a fan.

What you are asking is why have a dedicated platform in the first place. Why not have everything be a PC that can also play games?

The issue is control. With control, there can be licensing and control over the consumer experience. A dedicated home console will not have games that crash or pornographic games. With a dedicated home console, permission must be granted in order to sell a game on the system. You will not have people in garages selling games on it. The various legal and business advantages a dedicated home console bring, both to the console company and the third party companies, are so great that it has become standard since the NES.