Yes, thrice I mentioned a kit for each programmer would suffice among the other grouped kits, yet no one has addressed for example where the 10 - 20 million technology investment comes in? I mean shit, thats upwards of 5 projects( using the 4 million mark he stated ) for a publisher, down the drain JUST because of a new console? Hmmm...a failed project is a failed project, not because of any arbitrary R&D that needs to happen before teams 'get their legs'. Thats why we have 1st and 2nd generation games for each console. They learn as the build. RTFM!!! 
Anyway....
...we're suffering from inflated budgets in this industry, and a lot comes from needless spending. Sure you may THINK you need X, Y and Z, when in fact operating with efficiency rather than brute force spending would allow for opporunities for smaller, fresher teams to develop projects outside the scope of the mainstream, so we don't get endless fucking WW2 FPS's and widdled down gameplay, easily digestible for 'Everyman.tm' for uber mega sales. Now while dev kits may not be as much an issue, as in the grand scope of a reasonable buget, 200k isn't that much money ( did I mention we can move on from the dev kits now? ), and its not like we don't have the money (quite the contrary ), but we now have the stigma that games cost a LOT to make ( statments like Feargus's only add to that ), so we get very little innovation across the board since publishers want to make sure that money is made to the point of sacrificing said innovation. Too many me-too's leaving behing the what-about-me's?!.
Nevertheless, walking into a meeting with an investor, sitting down and asking for 4 million for asset creation after already having the engine completed or licensed is exactly why potentially cool and different games don't get made unless its a me-too. Thats just too much fucking money for a game that has no measure to its potential success. They'd look at you crosseye'd and ask you where the HELL do you plan to spend 4 million on just asset dev ( outside marketing and mob payoffs and crap...his words ), when you already have the tech done! Again refer to my Peter Molyneux comment above...4 mil JUST for assets is a blistering pocket burn.
So regardless of who gets a dev kit, the bigger point I was making is that numbers like those keep smaller guys out of the market. Teams who can easily have vastly superior skills to the schleps that are already in the industry who if given the chance, are hungry enough to make things work without the need for excess spending, and work on efficiency.
Cheers
Anyway....
...we're suffering from inflated budgets in this industry, and a lot comes from needless spending. Sure you may THINK you need X, Y and Z, when in fact operating with efficiency rather than brute force spending would allow for opporunities for smaller, fresher teams to develop projects outside the scope of the mainstream, so we don't get endless fucking WW2 FPS's and widdled down gameplay, easily digestible for 'Everyman.tm' for uber mega sales. Now while dev kits may not be as much an issue, as in the grand scope of a reasonable buget, 200k isn't that much money ( did I mention we can move on from the dev kits now? ), and its not like we don't have the money (quite the contrary ), but we now have the stigma that games cost a LOT to make ( statments like Feargus's only add to that ), so we get very little innovation across the board since publishers want to make sure that money is made to the point of sacrificing said innovation. Too many me-too's leaving behing the what-about-me's?!.
Nevertheless, walking into a meeting with an investor, sitting down and asking for 4 million for asset creation after already having the engine completed or licensed is exactly why potentially cool and different games don't get made unless its a me-too. Thats just too much fucking money for a game that has no measure to its potential success. They'd look at you crosseye'd and ask you where the HELL do you plan to spend 4 million on just asset dev ( outside marketing and mob payoffs and crap...his words ), when you already have the tech done! Again refer to my Peter Molyneux comment above...4 mil JUST for assets is a blistering pocket burn.
So regardless of who gets a dev kit, the bigger point I was making is that numbers like those keep smaller guys out of the market. Teams who can easily have vastly superior skills to the schleps that are already in the industry who if given the chance, are hungry enough to make things work without the need for excess spending, and work on efficiency.
Cheers