Now here's a good way to start a flame war on gaming forums across the net. Microsoft canned cross-platform play because console gamers got destroyed by PC players, so suggests Rahul Sood, founder of Voodoo PC and CTO of HP's gaming business.

"The console players got destroyed every time," says Sood. "So much so that it would be embarrassing to the XBOX team in general had Microsoft launched this initiative.

Under its LIVE brand, Microsoft planned to introduce cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and PC, testing out the water with the first person shooter Shadowrun in 2007 and then with Lost Planet and Universe at War. On Sood’s blog, he pulls no punches, stating that Microsoft would have embarrassed itself if it had continued with the project.

Nevertheless, Sood reckons that if cross-platform play would have been introduced then developers may have continued to see the PC as a viable development platform.

"It's a real shame that Microsoft killed this -- because had they kept it alive it might have actually increased the desire of game developers and gamers alike to continue developing and playing rich experiences on the PC which would trickle down to the console as it has in the past. "Instead they wanted to keep an old business model alive, and as a result they are (all) getting attacked by the most unlikely competitor, Apple,” he says.

Sood’s comments have incited many a flame war between PC and Console gamers on various forums, but at HEXUS.gaming we’d prefer to have a more intelligent debate on the subject in our HEXUS.community forums. Personally, I really do think Sood is missing a point and that Microsoft was way of the mark even thinking about cross-platform gaming in the first place.

PC gaming and console gaming are two totally different worlds and offer different experiences, even when you’re playing the same games. To think that PC gamers and console gamers ever really wanted to play against each other anyway is totally wrong. PC gamers are better at PC gaming and console gamers are better with their control pad, put the two together and it's a match made in hell.

Read Sood's Blog post