Gambryo needs to be free. Google where are you?

I recently had the opportunity to review a copy of the Gambryo software used by several major titles, including "fallout 3" to make very compelling, immersive gaming experiences.

Its an incredible piece of software that makes turning your virtual idea into a reality much easier than other titles Ive seen in the past.

In order for it to really change the world,though, it needs to become free.  Right now it costs something like $80,000 per user per title, which is kind of ridiculous to say the least.  I understand their business model, but its, quite frankly, the most short sighted, lame ass thing Ive yet to have seen in the software world.

If Gambryo were free, and anyone could use it anywhere as long as they had power and a simple computer, we could experience a renaissance in art, economic opportunity, turning around 2nd and 3rd world economies by allowing an onslaught of creativity to be unleashed on the planet the likes of which the world has never seen.

Unfortunately for  mankind, we have companies like Microsoft and Sony that believe that they need to heavily control all the creativity in the world, and own everything.  So the only ideas that get released are ones that are directly aligned with the ideologies of children who get little or no attention from their parents, gamers who spend most of their time in dark, cavernous rooms completely devoid of social contact (and probably bitter about it as well), and nostalgic CEO's who think the coolest games ever made were in the 70's and 80s.

However, if simulations could be developed by anyone, anywhere, with the only limit being the imagination, we might find that Mozart, that Rembrant, the Gallileo of gaming has been living in Mumbai or Nairobi all this time, and we may experience world changing creativity with much more regularity.

Lets look at writing for example.  Where on earth can you find more diversity than in the written word?  Why is that?  Because a pen and paper don't cost $80,000! 

Second only to writing is music, and again, anyone can make music and in the past few years we've seen an explosion of diversity in music because the technology has become relatively cheap and available. 

Next is movies.  Inexpensive video cameras and editing equipment have created an opportunity for an incredible amount of content that has literally exploded and instead of making it harder to make high end movies, high end movies are instead profiting more than they ever have been.

On the web, html pages and flash games dominate the web only because the creation tools are free and relatively easy to get. 

In Second life, we have a 3d platform with simple but less than optimal tools for creativity (junk compared to Gambryo)  but even there, we see an absolute explosion of expressiveness that barely reveals the creative explosion waiting to happen but is being limited by backwards thinking corporations.

Now, even with gaming tools being so difficult and expensive, we see a massive industry of gaming.  Given the potential though, if game publishing were as easy as making a movie on your desktop computer, or writing a blog (at least the expense part),  I bet we would see an incredible explosion of revenue to the extent that the gaming industry would 10 or 100x its size practically overnight, and make new, fulfilling, creative jobs for millions of people globally. 

Microsoft and Sony have the power to do it, but they don't because they are short sighted, selfish, and afraid.  Shame on you folks.  Google?  Where are you?  Buy Gambryo/3d studio max, and make it free!!!