Rich Vitale and Michael Chiaramonte, Celisphere: Provide assistance to small developers requesting permission to buy development kits. Even better - assist them in finding fair publishing deals. A more open, accessible screening process would facilitate both of those. At the moment, it's difficult for a startup development company to even be recognized by either organization. They tend to require you have several proven, published titles. That's a catch-22, and it promotes inbreeding in an industry that desperately needs fresh, new ideas. We don't see any reason why new development companies can't be recognized as official developers after undergoing a screening process regardless of their published title history. At most, the "low quality" developers these companies strive to keep out by requiring proven track records will waste their own money getting development kits, working on titles, and then failing due to their own ineptness. In return, smaller companies dedicated to really providing new, fun games to the industry will be given the chance to prove themselves and keep a fresh spark in the industry, and possibly (*gasp*) sell more systems and games for Nintendo and Sony in the process. A radical idea, we know, but it could work.
