(Other entrants:: NUON, Indrema, Nokia set-top box)
Correction to the below: the NUON was not 'vapor'. You can currently pick one up (and a copy of the very smart Tempest 3000) at your local specialist retailer.
On exclusivity: There is another issue involved with making a game for one format only. And that is that a game designed with a specific format in mind is almost always better than a port, where compromises have to be made and a different style of controller catered for. Only very simple games like Tetris generally survive the porting process. Games that are developed on multiple formats simultaneously sometimes work out OK but that is a prohibitively expensive exercise. When choosing a console the thing to be weary of is that the genres you prefer are well supported. Buying a console on the strength of a 'killer app' is not always a sound method. (Furthermore, Halo is shite- Christ known what witless marketroid decided it could be considered a 'killer app'.)
Now we see why exclusivity hurts the market. If the console companies signed less exclusive deals, there would be more games. And then, the comparative merits of the same games on different platforms would be measured, and we would actually know what console was better!
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