The Videogame Review II (Nov 8-14)

[BRP]

Sequal to the previous thread. I see a lot of videogame threads around, and it's probably going to only end up being more. If you want, instead of making a new thread, you could simply link me something you found the day I posted this or a week earlier and I'll just edit it in. If it more recent, people will still see it in this thread and I'll just put it in the next Review. Or you can just make another thread. I'm interested in posting trailers, so if you find any, I'll edit them in, I'm not actively looking for trailers of non-hyped games, so there won't be many.

You may notice a few things behind, or this being too short. Well, I'm going to post new ones every Tuesday, but I posted the first one on a Thursday or something.




Sells In Japan

- Here are the latest Japanese console hardware sales for the week of October 30 - November 5:

1. DS Lite - 113,097 [5,477,109] units
2. PSP - 23,725 [1,473,473] units
3. PlayStation 2 - 20,982 [1,216,764] units
4. Xbox 360 - 6,580 [91,529] units
5. GBA SP - 1,443 [209,885] units
6. GB Micro - 1,299 [131,982] units
7. GameCube - 647 [69,653] units
8. Nintendo DS - 373 [956,534] units
9. GBA - 20 [3,201] units
10. Xbox - 0 [1,696] units

- Here are the latest Japanese console software sales for the week of October 30 - November 5:

1. Hoshi no Kirby: Sanjou! Dorocche Dan [Kirby Squeak Squad] (NDS, Nintendo) - 166,131 units
2. Imasara Hito ni wa Kikenai Otona no Joushikiryoku Training DS (NDS, Nintendo) - 159,166 [348,866] units
3. Pokemon Diamond (NDS, Nintendo) - 105,943 [1,604,152] units
4. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS (NDS, Konami) - 89,275 units
5. Pokemon Pearl (NDS, Nintendo) - 81,604 [1,358,416] units
6. New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo) - 31,307 [3,366,560] units
7. Kawashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training (NDS, Nintendo) - 27,448 [3,387,842] units
8. Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Kounin: KanKen DS (NDS, Rocket Co.) - 22,824 [210,556] units
9. Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori [Animal Crossing: Wild World] (NDS, Nintendo) - 20,691 [3,389,974] units
10. Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (PSP, Namco Bandai) - 17,961 [78,545] units

Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced the company has sold over 40 million PS2 in Europe, which is 7 million more units than the PSone has after the same time period.

Sony's subsidiary So-Net Entertainment announced that the company will begin to offer HD movie downloads for PlayStation 3 in Japan starting on November 11, 2006. Users can access the So-Net's PTV portal via the Cross Media Bar (XMB). HD movie downloads require PS3 firmware 1.10, which can be downloaded free of charge.

- Famitsu reported that Sony has sold 88,400 units of PlayStation 3 in the first two days of launch in Japan. Here is the break down by model:

* PS3 20GB Model - 33,800 units
* PS3 60GB Model - 54,600 units

- Here are the initial sales of the top three PlayStation 3 titles in Japan over the weekend.

1. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco Bandai) - 30,300 units (hw/sw ratio: 34.2%)
2. Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight (Namco Bandai) - 30,000 units (33.9%)
3. Resistance: Fall of Man (Sony) - 15,700 units (17.7%)

ZDNet reported that over 200 PlayStation 2 do not work properly on PlayStation 3, some of these games will not start or freezes, or have graphical or sound glitches. Sony expects the problem to be resolved with future firmware updates.

- Namco Bandai revealed that four PlayStation 3 titles are under development: Tekken 6, New RPG, New Shooting game and New Sports game.

- Epic Games mentioned that the dev team is now focusing on Unreal Tournament 2007 for PS3, after Gears of War for Xbox 360 is completed.

- Bethesda Software announced the PS3 version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Obilivion has been pushed back to Q1 2007.

- Electronic Arts has canceled its PS3 basketball game NBA Live 07, instead the company is now expecting to release NBA Live 08 and NBA Street Homecourt in the next season in 2007.

- Capcom announced they will ship 500,000 copies of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd for PSP in Japan on February 22, 2007. The first game has sold over 650,000 copies in Japan.

Last month, retailer GameStop began accepting "limited" preorders for the PlayStation 3, asking customers to put down $100 in advance for the system, with a modest expectation of eight units per store in most cases. Now it appears the largest gaming specialty chain in North America won't be receiving even that many systems.

A GameStop representative told GameSpot today that the company received launch allocation numbers from Sony, and that it won't be able to fill its existing PS3 preorders. The representative declined to comment on how many systems GameStop expected to receive, or how short of that figure the company's share of systems would be.

"We are beginning to notify our customers that our initial shipment of PS3 systems will not be what we expected," the representative said. "As this is not an ideal situation, we are asking employees to wait to purchase systems until the second shipment. We are anticipating having systems to cover reservations before Christmas."

For launch day, preorders will be filled in the order they were received, and those who had a preorder but are denied a system on day one will receive something for their troubles. GameStop will give those unfortunate customers (as well as unfortunate employees) a free used game or DVD valued at $19.99 or less when they eventually wind up purchasing the system.

Those who reserved a system won't need to wait long to find out if they can expect a system on launch day. Starting tomorrow, customers who preordered a PS3 will be contacted personally by phone and updated on the status of their reservation, the rep said.

And while it might be a nonissue considering the clamor for consumers to get their hands on the coveted systems, GameStop is also asking anyone with a confirmed preorder to pick their systems up by Saturday evening.

-Gamespot

Enterbrain reports a software-hardware tie ratio of 0.98, meaning less than one game purchased for every PS3 sold.

Microsoft

- Capcom announced they will release a multiplayer demo of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on November 23, 2006, which can be downloaded free of charge in Xbox Live Marketplace. Up to 16 players can play the demo online; 4 play modes are available, including Elimination, Team Elimination, Post Grab and Fugitive.

- Capcom mentioned the company expects to ship 740,000 copies of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for Xbox 360 worldwide. The game will be released in Japan on December 21, 2006.

Nintendo

- Nintendo revealed some additional details on Wii's system settings.

* Up to 100 Miis can stay in your Mii plaza
* The Photo Channel can display a maximum of 1000 photos. If your SD card has more than 1000 photos, you can reorganize the way the photos is displayed
* The Photo Channel can display JPEG images up to 8192x8192 resolution, or QuickTime videos up to 848x480 resolution
* You cannot save or overwrite any photos or videos stored on SD cards
* Software downloaded from Wii Shop Channel is licensed to you, not sold.
* You cannot send photos from your Wii console to PC or cellphone users
* Parental Control feature does not apply to GameCube games
* If you use the messaging feature on the Wii console, Nintendo may monitor your usage and share certain information as required by law
* Initial recommended distance for using the Wii Remote is 3 to 8 feet from the sensor bar. Direct sunlight and various light sources can interfere or make the Wii Remote operation less optimal.
* By formatting the Wii Shop Channel from the Wii System menu, you will clear all records of your transactions and rights to download software
* Adjusting the speaker and rumble settings will affect all Wii remote currently connected to the Wii console.

- Sonic Solutions announced that Nintendo has chosen Sonic CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator as the Wii DVD playback solution. Nintendo plans to release a software based DVD Playback engine in 2nd half of 2007 to enable Wii to playback DVD videos.

Nintendo of America announced they will invest over 200 million dollars US in the next 12 months to market the Wii console in North America. Approximately 80% of advertisement will target adults in an attempt to expand the market beyond children and teens. Nintendo expects to sell 1.5 millions Wii by the end of the year.

Nintendo's upcoming "new-generation" console, the Wii, is hitting stores in less than a week, and people everywhere are talking about it. In anticipation of this innovative console's release, Nintendo has been ramping up an equally innovative marketing plan designed to let people see, feel, and experience the ease of use of the Wii for themselves.

Rather than employing a conventional marketing strategy, Nintendo has opted for a more viral approach. Nintendo has been using positive word of mouth to inform people about the console, rather than paid television advertisements. A two-part episode of South Park centered on the Wii was the closest thing to a traditional television spot that Wii fans have seen. Apparently, Nintendo's viral marketing campaign is paying off already. In the same week in early November, the Wii made front page headlines in the Wall Street Journal, made People magazine's Style Watch gift guide issue, was featured in an NPR report about the hottest holiday gifts, was the centerpiece of a BusinessWeek article, and was seen in the Economist magazine. All of this buzz without a single television advertisement.

"Our plan to market Wii broadly with hands-on experiences continues to pay off," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president. "Wii introduces new ways to play to expand both the appeal of games and the audience of gamers, and our marketing campaign is central to that."

Nintendo put into action several different programs aimed at initiating people in the ways of the Wii and generating positive word of mouth for the console. The Wii Ambassador Program identified people across America to act as hosts for exclusive Wii parties, and the Nintendo Fusion Tour mixed popular alternative music performances with hands-on play time with the console. Starting November 15, Nintendo will start featuring interactive Wii kiosks in 25 different Westfield Malls across North America in order to give people even more hands-on time with the console.

This brave new marketing strategy may be in large part due to Nintendo of America's new President of Sales and Marketing, Reginald Fils-Aime. Fils-Aime seems largely in tune with the goals that Nintendo's Japanese executives have envisioned for the Wii. In an interview with Next-Generation, Reggie echoed the corporate line that has been coming out of Nintendo since the Wii was first announced at E3 2004: the industry is due for a change, and the Wii is just the console to bring it about.

"That's why Mr. Iwata and Mr. Miyamoto were so focused on having Wii going in a different direction. We wanted to bring gaming back to the masses. We want everybody be able to play and you can't do that with a very expensive machine, you can't do that with a very complicated controller, so we are very gratified by the response. But we have a lot more work to do to really achieve our goal, and that's to have Wii being the dominant console in the market place."

Reggie seems to have tailored Nintendo of America's marketing plans to mesh with the design philosophies which spurred the development of the console itself. Nintendo has pulled out all the stops in trying to introduce the Wii to an audience who might have otherwise labeled the Wii as just another gaming console, and so far it seems to be working. It remains to be seen whether or not this strategy will pay off in the long run, but Reggie is confident in the console's ability to draw in an entirely new video game playing audience. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Reggie had these optimistic words to say: "[Our competitors] will see our results,and they'll see how much of a challenge and dogfight this new era of gaming will be."

-IGN



Misc / PC

Namco Bandai president Shin Unozawa revealed the company is working on 30 new titles for Wii console; and 10 new titles for PlayStation 3 and 10 new titles for Xbox 360.

Electronic Arts has canceled its PS3 basketball game NBA Live 07, instead the company is now expecting to release NBA Live 08 and NBA Street Homecourt in the next season in 2007.

(Need confirmation... the last two are PS3 Exclusive?)

UK Top 40 (Reported November 10th)

1 Need For Speed: Carbon (EA)
2 (NEW) WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 (THQ)
3 (NEW) Call Of Duty 3 (Activision)
4 Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami)
5 FIFA 07 (EA)
6 The Sims 2: Pets (EA)
7 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Take 2)
8 Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Activision)
9 (NEW) Medieval II: Total War (SEGA)
10 Canis Canem Edit (Take 2)
11 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (UBI Soft)
12 Cars (THQ)
13 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA)
14 (NEW) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue (Nintendo)
15 Scarface: The World Is Yours (Vivendi)
16 Football Manager 2007 (SEGA)
17 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
18 The Legend Of Spyro: A New Beginning (Vivendi)
19 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Take 2)
20 (NEW) F.E.A.R. (Vivendi)
21 Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends (Nintendo)
22 New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
23 Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft)
24 Madagascar (Activision)
25 The Sims 2 (EA)
26 Open Season (UBI Soft)
27 Warhammer 40000: Dow Dark Crusade (THQ)
28 Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party (Sony)
29 Lego Star Wars (Eidos)
30 Narnia: The Lion The Witch & Wardrobe (Buena Vista)
31 (NEW) Buzz! The Sports Quiz (Sony)
32 Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo)
33 Singstar Legends (Sony)
34 (NEW) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue (Nintendo)
35 Buzz! The Big Quiz (Sony)
36 Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo)
37 (NEW) Bratz: Forever Diamondz (THQ)
38 Neverwinter Nights 2 (Atari)
39 The Simpsons: Hit & Run (Vivendi)
40 (NEW) Bratz: Rock Angelz (THQ)

Source of most information is the-magicbox.com, unless noted otherwise.


Oh and,
Lbelle posted a link to the following site which some people might find useful:

http://www.ps3seeker.com/wii/

If you didn't notice, you can delete the Wii part and search for PS3s near you.

[Ishido]

That Wii map thing is pretty nice. If it's accurate, thats pretty sweet for me as there are 3 Targets in the my area with 99-120 units, and a few Best Buys with about 50.

[Parshias]

Its interesting to see that Nintendo expects to sell 1.5 million Wiis by the end of the year. Aren't they shiping out 4 million Wiis for the launch? If so, either its going to be very easy to find a Wii or Nintendo is going to be pleasantly surprised.

[solsovly]

Whoa at JP top ten not consisting of all DS games. And lol at 360 finally outselling the GBA. Nice summary post. I'll be looking forward to Lost Planet multiplayer, the single player demo was really fun. Any idea what the Japanese impressions of Resistance are? Since most of Japan hates FPS, it'd be interesting to see their take on it.

.98 software adoption rate lolebay.

[BRP]

I forgot to actually comment on this ;o

No surprise the DS is pretty much rocking the house with the software sells... when I'm asked who will win next/this year, I say the DS, even if you include all the next-gen consoles.

I wonder if the PS2 selling more than PS1 is considering the growth in buyers. Personally, I would like to see some percentage comparisons.

Sony letting people download movies, which asks the question: Who will win this gen's "best download content"? My money is on Xbox360 (OnDemand), especially if they expand to anime.

As for PS3's software, meh. Oblivion has been pushed back, when it is pretty much just a port. Anyone who really wanted to play it has already on the PC or Xbox360. Sony really shot themselves in the face with the software launch. Play b3yond? Should just call is PS3bay. Let's hope it will be possible to actually buy the console when it's killer apps come out.

So yeah, a lot of bad news for Sony, or more or less the same for this gen. Hopefully this will be the last of their mistakes.

Not a lot on Microsoft, but Lost Planet might kickass... the demo seems to be quite awesome, like a small game itself. Capcom seems to want to sell a shitload of copies of it though. I wonder the demo, even though completely awesome, might actually hurt the sells.

Blah blah blah, Wii can play DvDs, basic news, and let's hope Mii's are cool. I don't see why they couldn't just make it in-console Animal Crossing ;/.

I kind of like Nintendo's strategy. If they are going to win hearts with the Wii, I feel that commercials won't do it as well as actually getting people to try it. Watching(graphics) doesn't seem to be Wii's selling point, playing(Wiimote) is.

Lots of new games from Namco Bandai, which is cool. Let's hope most of it isn't bad-anime-game-of-the-month crap, which concerns me why Wii has so many since Wii looks like to be the console for those type of games this gen(compared PS2 last gen). It would be funny if it was 10 multi-console ports and the Wii got 20 for itself... anyway, Europeans have horrid taste in Videogames in my opinion.

[zoobernut]

From my perspective I am looking forward to the Wii the most. I have always been a very firm believer in Fun over graphics and Nintendo has really been pushing that with the DS and now with the Wii. they really want to focus not only on fun games but comming up with really unique and new ways to play them that are not just crappy afterthought add-ons. The other thing that really bugs me about the other systems is the companies keep trying to focus too much on the extra stuff and not enough on the game consol portion. they try to add in so much stuff and make it a "media center" that will replace your home entertainment system and your pc and all that crap. I really just want a good game system. I already have a pc and I already have a entertainment center. Adding in all that other crap just means there are more parts to break and more things to go wrong with the system during development.
I think overall the xbox360 will win this round in the consol wars but I also think based on its fun factor, small size, and small price tag the Wii will be in second and beat out the ps3. I really like sonys game systems in the past and I have had a ps1 and a ps2 but sony just made way too many mistakes with the ps3 to fully recover.

[SephYuyX]

I dont see 360 being first, theres no way. (thinking towards the future)

1st and 2nd (Nintendo and Sony, in no order) will be close, they will be fighting over and over for the winners circle, they will always be close.

Right now with Nintendos history and the way people are these days im worried, they want good looks and power and thats why PS always comes out in front.

In the long run, if Sony gets their shit together, ie lower the price sometime in the near future and get some good developers/games and they get ahold of the huge learning curb to program, they will probably be in 1st.

Wii will be right on the PS3 heels however, and I wouldnt be surprized at all if they took the #1 spot atleast once.

Its very close in terms of 1st and 2nd, but I still think 360 will be in last, Gears of War and Halo 3 are really the only outstanding titles. However! Since most of the PS3 games are 360 as well, it works in favor of 360 and Wii, people would most likely buy the 360 version over the PS3. So I think 360 wont be too far back from the 2nd spot holder.


Its still a toss up, if Sony doesnt get their shit together and keeps screwing up, they wont be going anywhere and we could see them behind 360.

I really do wish Wii will take #1, but it will probably only happen if Sony keeps screwing up.

[Boyiee]

Why does it matter whos first and second? Why does Nintendo or Sony have to be #1? Every fucking time anyone posts its 'oh sony sucks, wii will be #1!!!' or 'omfg wii sucks no dvd omg bluray #1 omg' shut up already. Why does it matter to you whether a company outsells another or not? Both are going to sell consoles, and games are going to be made for both, stop caring whether or now who will sell more because it really doesn't matter. Wait till both are released, see which one is more appealing and cost effective to you, and has games you like, and fucking buy it. Who cares if X person buys this, and Y buys that, or Z outsells whatever.

Save up, and get all 3, there are good games for each one that will only be available on those select systems... buy which system has more of those console specific titles that you like, and stop comparing the two - they are completely fucking different.

[SephYuyX]

Its common practice to try and determin which company gets which place, weve been doing it for years, why is this generation any different? We do this with all products, its just natural to rank things.

Unfortunately people are influenced by these things through marketing and it greatly effect the sales.

Market trends, company failures and successes, and consumer ideals all effect the outcome of a company.

Its a shame, but its a fact that "whether a company outsells another or not" does matter, developers will leave a company thats failing, and go to another, in turn making that system even worse. See Gamecube.

More personal, I have more GC games then I do PS2 games, even though GC failed in PS2s eyes, I still favor it for having more fun games. I play PS2 for the RPGs which GC had none.

In the end yes, it doesnt matter as long as the person is happy with the system and games, but just think how much better GC would have been if it was #1.

[BRP]

The gamecube was stronger than the Playstation I do believe. I think what people reall want is a good mix of games, and no can deny that PS2 had the best library last gen. Nintendo, more than often than not, keep themselves alive on their own games... which if you think about it, is quite amazing.

But, "winning" means very little. Last gen, PS2 would continue to get good games, it still does. If all consoles can get an equal or nearly equal amount of good 3rd party support, then it really doesn't matter.

Sony "sucking" doesn't make Nintendo "better". Hardly related.

[aurik]

Why does it matter whos first and second? Why does Nintendo or Sony have to be #1? Every fucking time anyone posts its 'oh sony sucks, wii will be #1!!!' or 'omfg wii sucks no dvd omg bluray #1 omg' shut up already. Why does it matter to you whether a company outsells another or not? Both are going to sell consoles, and games are going to be made for both, stop caring whether or now who will sell more because it really doesn't matter. Wait till both are released, see which one is more appealing and cost effective to you, and has games you like, and fucking buy it. Who cares if X person buys this, and Y buys that, or Z outsells whatever.

Save up, and get all 3, there are good games for each one that will only be available on those select systems... buy which system has more of those console specific titles that you like, and stop comparing the two - they are completely fucking different.

Agreed, I didn't like the classic xbox but I didn't feel any need to lead a crusade against it. And yet I still have one for the exclusive titles that I want to play on it; I bought it off a friend for dirt cheap, long after the release, and picked up classics, quality titles for $5-20 each. I'll probably do the same with the PS3 and the 360.

[Boyiee]

Yeah i know it happends every generation, who will sell best, but when every second someone reads something new on wii or ps3 they fucking make a post about it and trash the other... the entire 1st and 2nd page of threads is littered with WII WII PS3 PS3 can't we just fucking stop already? It releases tomorrow, whatever people post isn't going to change, or affect that. There really is no reason for any more ps3 vs. wii threads except for maybe end-of-year sales (which really wont matter because of the short supply both will probably just sell out). The only threads there should be now are threads about software.

Just getting annoying to click on general discussion everyday and see 3-5 more threads on console vs. console vs. console.

The biggest sellers at the holiday end wont be 360/ps3/wii anyway, they will probably be DS Lite and PS2.

[SephYuyX]

The gamecube was stronger than the Playstation I do believe. I think what people reall want is a good mix of games, and no can deny that PS2 had the best library last gen. Nintendo, more than often than not, keep themselves alive on their own games... which if you think about it, is quite amazing.

But, "winning" means very little. Last gen, PS2 would continue to get good games, it still does. If all consoles can get an equal or nearly equal amount of good 3rd party support, then it really doesn't matter.

Sony "sucking" doesn't make Nintendo "better". Hardly related.

I believe that GC was stronger than the PS2 as well, see R4 as an example.

But the reason PS2 had all those games is because N64 fell to PS1 and developers switched to PS.

There wont be a huge turn around this generation, but if Wii dominates over PS3, then developers may go back to Nintendo next generation. If Wii falls behind again like they did with GC to PS2, then there will probably be even more support for PS4.

Same thing with the democrats and republicans.

[aurik]

The gamecube was stronger than the Playstation I do believe. I think what people reall want is a good mix of games, and no can deny that PS2 had the best library last gen. Nintendo, more than often than not, keep themselves alive on their own games... which if you think about it, is quite amazing.

But, "winning" means very little. Last gen, PS2 would continue to get good games, it still does. If all consoles can get an equal or nearly equal amount of good 3rd party support, then it really doesn't matter.

Sony "sucking" doesn't make Nintendo "better". Hardly related.

I believe that GC was stronger than the PS2 as well, see R4 as an example.

But the reason PS2 had all those games is because N64 fell to PS1 and developers switched to PS.

There wont be a huge turn around this generation, but if Wii dominates over PS3, then developers may go back to Nintendo next generation. If Wii falls behind again like they did with GC to PS2, then there will probably be even more support for PS4.

Same thing with the democrats and republicans.

PS2 won because in addition to pretty much just building on the excellent console that the PSone was, it had a year's head start in the marketplace. It came out just after the Dreamcast, and we didn't see GC or XB until a year later.

PS2 had the same supply issues that PS3 is having, btw. I had a friend capitalize; bought 4 sold 3 on ebay and walked away with a PS2 and a nice wad of cash. That didn't stop PS2 from becoming far-and-away the most dominant console of the generation.

However, because of PS2's year-long lead time, it turned out to be the technologically inferior console. To me, the PS3 looks like it's still a bit unripe (much like the X360 when it was released!) and it looks like Sony would have benefitted if the new generation had landed 6-12 months later. However, they don't want to give Microsoft and Nintendo that same huge advantage they were afforded and won the previous generation with, so they'll paper-launch it with whatever they have ready and hope that they don't get drubbed before the really quality exclusives have a chance to land.

[SephYuyX]

Indeed.

With the PS2, it really only blossomed until recently, I mean take a look at the first year of games, and compare it to the recent ones, FF8 to FF12 makes a good example. This happens with every system, GC only had one or two games that actually pushed its limits, sadly.

I have no doubt PS3 wont do well, but it will take time, it starts off bad and ends up great, Wii is just GCv2 coming out good and ending up good (but hopfully it will end up awsome).

[edgarfigaro]

Winning matters, any Gamecube owner can tell you that.

I'm too lazy to look for the true %, but 80+% of households buy 1 game console. And market share determines which systems get games, and which don't. It is imperative that Nintendo and Microsoft grab enough marketshare to be within striking distance of the PS3, because Microsoft won't (and probably can't) continue to buy up developers just for first party games, and Nintendo is treading too close to the line where they lose too much of their base to be a successful console maker.

I'm a huge nintendo fanboy, but I'm not kidding myself. The Wii is not going to be competitive with the PS3 and XBox 360 in two years. Yes, the Wiimote is a fucking cool idea...but it can be copied so fucking fast by M$ and Sony that in the end, subpar graphics will doom Nintendo to 3rd place in NA definately and probably 3rd worldwide as well. Thankfully, Nintendo will still make money so I'll get 4-5 quad A titles a year that will make buying a Wii worthwhile, but I will eventually have to buy a PS3 or a 360.

So the true battle comes down to the 360 vs the PS3...and right now, I'm not going to call a winner. However, it's looking mighty grime for MS. Sony has made mistake after mistake after mistake, and yet, the PS3 is all anyone talks about. This forum is not the target audience for MS and Sony, the target audience is the uninformed masses out there that only care about the cool thing, and the Playstation brand is leaps and bounds ahead of the XBox. Sucks, because Sony is a piece of trash company that puts out a fucking crappy product that it refuses to standbehind(my brother's PSP has 3 dead pixels and Sony wouldn't repair it for free, my DS lite has 1 and I get a brand new DS shipped to me), but that's what's going to happen.

[Nightstriker]

Thats what people dont understand most of the masses, dont sit around and read gamestop and ign, to find out the scope behind each system. The only thing they know is that the PS2 owned and the PS3 will own. I think that this alone makes it so Sony can keep somewhat in the race while they get there act together.

If you look at this console race, to nintendo it probably doesn't matter if they come in first or not because its well known that they OWN the portable market and have done it for a very long time. Like I said in other threads they make enough money in portable sells to keep themselves happy for a very long time. Sony on the other hand has to win the console market because there PSP isn't doing so hot. If sony gets there shit together and makes PS1 games downloadable and fixes there fireware issues, then I think people will buy the PS3. Hell I want Valkyrie Profile for PSX for 14.99 so I dont have to go to Ebay and pay 150+ to complete my old school RPG collection.

[Ishido]

I think Wii will come out strong, but in around 6 months interest will begin to fade. Once some other huge titles come out, you'll see bursts of selling (SSB:B, etc).

For this weekend, Wii is going to dominate PS3 for a few reasons. Availability, on PS3seeker (not an official source but probably ballpark figures) the most PS3s I've seen for a single store is about 25. For Wii, I've seen several with over 100 just in the area I live. Cost, a lot of people don't want to pay $600 for PS3. It's a lot of money when you have competitive systems for hundreds of dollars less. Release titles, I haven't seen anything get hyped like Zelda (which is the biggest thing Wii has going for it imo), and other games like Red Steel, Excite Truck (saw it getting played today, looked pretty cool), and just fun games like monkey ball.

I think a lot of people will settle for Wii if they can't get a PS3, but Wii sales will taper off faster than PS3 sales. When Halo 3 comes out expect a boom in Xbox360s getting sold (like me getting one then).

[BRP]

I don't like how people rather talk about comparing the consoles, instead of just talking about the consoles themselves ;o.

[Nightstriker]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746482p1.html

This is an interesting article, hell I thought they where losing alot more then $250 a console.