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The State of the Game Console Wars
An anonymous reader writes "Two years after the next-gen game consoles hit the market, the verdict is in. What does the future hold for each of the Big Three? Here is a thoughtful but crude summary of the X-Box vs. GC vs. PS2 ordeal."
..about the current state of gaming. Something like,
;)
I like to play games on:
My PS2
My XBox
My GameCube
My N64
My Computer
2+ of Above Choices
CowboyNeal's couch
Seriously, excluding the obCowboyNealReference, I'm really interested in a breakdown. I used to be terribly addicted to console games, starting with an Atari 2600, then moving to the NES and the SuperNES. Once I discovered computers, console gaming lost all its magic to me and although I've played on friends' PS, PS2, and even a 3DO, I never really got into consoles again.
Would be cool to see a survey of how many people still use console games nowadays, vs those who game only on their computer, vs those who don't care about games at all (except in the toxic waste dump that is CowboyNeal's couch
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The PS2 and the Xbox are the two hottest selling consoles on the market right now. These two consoles in some ways redefined gaming by including a way to connect the console to other players around the world via the internet. The next generation of game consoles will obviously be better. They will be faster. They will have bigger hard drives. The will have better graphics. In short they will almost be as powerful as a desktop computer. Can Sony, Microsft, and Nintendo sell these next generation consoles for less than $300 conoles and still make a profit. The console that wins the pricing war will likely win the "console war."
Um, maybe I'm a little out of things considering that I took the MCAT yesterday and have been more or less drunk since it concluded, but why was that article posted? Are the admins off this weekend?
Don't get me wrong, the subject matter could have been an interesting read, but My cat has buried things in his sand box that had more journalistic merit than that "article" did.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I'd like to see a source for this market-share figure, because I'm not entirely buying it. My skepticism is attributed to the sales of games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto 3/Vice City and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Yes, I am aware that two of the three games mentioned do/will have PC ports.
And to address your second point, that's simply not the case: I'd hardly refer to someone without extensive computer experience as an "idiot." Many people I've spoken to have no idea what's in their computer. I work in technical support and have a good deal of experience speaking with these people. They don't know, and certainly don't care, what "DirectX" is. What's a "32 Emm Bee video card"? What the hell is AGP? These kind of things do realistically put people off somewhat. And though many modern computers are more gaming-oriented as costs of hardware is being driven down, and people are becoming more comfortable with this sort of thing, "casual" gamers are probably not going to play PC games. Besides, a PS2 costs a bit less than a new mid-end video card (retail, these people don't scope Pricewatch), and it takes no technical expertise to install; just hook it up to your television.
I will make one concession to you: The PC's chances in this market are getting better and better, as many of the young'uns become more experienced with computers and the terminology relating to them, as well as many computer-related skills. However, some people would argue that PCs are becoming more of a commodity product as many features are being transferred to other devices (cell phones that can check email and send instant messages, and the like). I prefer to centralize, everything's done on my PC, but others may differ greatly in their ways of getting things done. What do you think the desktop PC will look like in 10 years? I'm curious to hear what other people think.
Until there's a consistent third-party reporting on all three companies the various sales figures, while perhaps having some value taken on their own, become meaningless when compared to one another.
This is quite true, and I won't dispute it. But it's hard to get worldwide figures other than from the companies themselves. They're all going to inflate their own figures and deflate the others... (Why do you think she claimed Xbox was in second place worldwide? Certainly not because she trusted Nintendo's sales figures.)
The idea that Microsoft should be supportive of Linux on their machine is at best naive. Why should they offer more legitimacy [than they have to] to a competitor? Further, why should they support such a feature that would inevitably cause increased sales of a product that isn't a revenue generator while probably minimizing the attach rate of the software, on which they DO make money?
A very good point that I won't dispute. After all, this is Microsoft, and they really have no interest in Linux anyways (aside from killing it). It's just rather interesting that she evaded the whole question rather than giving it more straightly to a person who clearly knew more about what was going on than other questioners.
Ultimately Linux on the Xbox will be thanks to the people trying to get it on, with no help from MS (not even from those hackers who tried to "bargain" with MS to not release the font exploit on the 4th of July). Not through bargains or anything else. I knew that the question was loaded, and I understood the majority of the true reasons behind not letting it on when I asked the question.
And that is market momentum. Nintendo is still on the mind of the ones among us who are in their early 20s. We remember lusting after those Donkey Kong handhelds and NEOGEO games that seemed to define video games after Atari. Even after GameCube, I'm still open to give Nintendo a chance but I'll be wary. Younger ones will not remember the glory days of nintendo and have already associated the image of nintendo with crap.
Enter Playstationa and both 1 and 2 were huge successes. They have whipped up a market momentum ( PS2 would not be such a success without the success of the PS1) that will benefit them much. Seriously which console are we all looking forward to most? Playstation3 of course.
And we all know the XBOX is really a celeron computer with a TV output and a different BIOS. That does much harm to its image as a sleek game box, as much as its sales performance so far. Microsoft has also garnered up a bad image just like AOL for internet connection, with its BSOD and Outlook worms conquering the world.
Given all three consoles come out at the same time with the same pricetag, everyone will buy the PS3 first without checking reviews and specs whether or not it is the winner.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Is this supposed to be humorous or are you so entirely clueless that you think copyright applies to anything you designate? If XGameStation takes an article word for word from Gamespot and publish it without permission or attribution (which may not be enough depending on issues of fair use) then you are discussing an issue of possible copyright infringement. But web site layout is not subject to copyright laws (not are recipes and many other things).
Really!
Sony's profits are down 98%.
Microsoft's game division is down 42 percent.
Nintendo posts a 11.5 billion yen profit for the quarter. That's about $1 MILLION A DAY or $12 a second.
Who's the loser here? Console sales aren't instant profit. Games are what matters, and with Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire selling 9.5 Million worldwide(Who said it was dead?), Nintendo can afford to make the games they want without having to copy anyone else to make a quick buck.
- Monkey Ball 1 & 2 -- the most fun game on the GC.
- Zelda
- Metroid Prime -- I was NOT disappointed by this game, but maybe that's because I had no problems with the controls
- Star Wars Rogue Leader
- 007 Nightfire
- Madden 2004 -- just bought it, also have 2003
- NCAA Football 2003
The only game I've bought for my PS2 this year was GTA: Vice City. Now on my PC I've bought about ten games in the last year, including Jedi Knight 2, Morrowind, Medal of Honor, Unreal Tournament 2003, The Sims, Warcraft III, and Splinter Cell. This pretty much corresponded with my wife buying me a GeForce4 Ti for my birthday last year...