Nintendo, proving just how all over the place they are, has gone and done what most console makers haven't yet: They've given the okay for cross-platform play.
Now, before everyone jumps up and starts cheering about how this makes it okay to have one when your friends have Sony and Microsofts products, I feel like I would be misleading you if I didn't say that this isn't for everything (with a "yet" being put in place in these here ellipses, for good measure).
For one thing, Microsoft and Sony would have to okay this to make it a really real win for console gamers. That said, second thing is that this is for a game called Pure Chess, by Ripstone Games, and only allows players to play against other people on android and iOS devices (and the 3DS). Still, its pretty big of Nintendo to allow.
Ripstone Games creative director and co-founder Phil Gaskell expected a typical closed console platform, like he (and safe to say, all of us) is used to, but says:
“Within a couple of days they said, ‘yep, no problem. You can have other console players playing against Wii U players. You can have smartphone players play against them. No problem.’"
The matter isn't all said and done though. Gaskell says they still have to get Sony on board and relax their polices, but says he doesn't believe they'll have many problems with it.
Hell, if Nintendo's doing it, after being so self-boxed-in for so long, then I can't see why anyone would.
My Take On This:
This is wonderful news that leads me to wonder if Nintendo is playing some sort of joke. This really doesn't seem like their traditional selves.
That said, I really think cross play needs to happen more often, and its amazing to me that the ball may get rolling in the form of an indie chess game, of all things. Platform exclusivity for these sorts of things, third party things in particular, really seems to be too old school for an industry that's always trying to out computer the computer.
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