Next-Gen Gamer Habits Profiled

Next Generation Magazine has a profile (done by IDG) looking at the habits for next-generation gamers. From the article: "Social gamers represent 35% of spending while casual gamers represent 28% of the gaming audience but only 13% of dollars spent. The report says devoted gamers will drive sales of new systems in 2005 and 2006 with more than half of them likely to buy a PlayStation 3 and over 45% planning to buy Xbox 360 within the first year of release for each system. "

Comments

No suprise here

[L. VeGas]

It's just common sense that someone "devoted" to something will expend considerably more resources on it.

As a consumer, non-essential item, games and consoles are fairly reasonably priced. Of course someone that is devoted to gaming can and will spend many times what the "casual" user will spend. It's their hobby.

No Nintendo

[skreeech]

There was no mention of nintendo. I wonder if this may have been left out of their research or if it to the writers isn't considered a competitor anymore. I think that in the 2 console per gamer market nintendo has a very good chance to be a lot of people's second choice.

Re:No Nintendo

[HarvardFrankenstein]

They probably left it out because nobody really knows just what the Revolution is going to be yet. Let's just hope they spill the beans on something at the Tokyo Game Show this weekend.

Re:No Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo will do fine in Japan. Next-Gen mentioned a different survey yesterday that said 72% plan on buying a PS3, with 22% planning on buying a Rev. That's a pretty big difference already. If that's what the Japanese market share ends up being, it would be even worse for Nintendo in the US. I really hope they can pull a rabbit out of their hat, because it's starting to look like they won't be in the console biz much longer...

Re:No Nintendo

[skreeech]

well nintendo doesn't have to dominate to stay in the console business. At least I wouldn't think so. A lot of money is going around and the big N can probably continue business with a very small portion of it. Although if things do turn out bad for nintendo and the revolution they could possibly refocus onto handhelds again and stay alive.

What about a me a nintendo

[FidelCatsro]

Well I am intending on buying a revolution, and a PS3 when the price drops to something less daunting.
No matter the new controller on the revolution i will be buying one for the backwards compatibility and the games downloads. obviously selling off my GameCube whilst the price is still reasonable .

I can see no reason to buy an Xbox 360 , though I would love to hear some reasons as to why I should buy one ...I would hate to miss out on some classics . Though to me as a gamer all the action seems to be occurring in Nintendo and Sony's court

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this overrated , god the moderation has gone to hell around here.
I'm off to fark

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

Well 99 Nights looks damn interesting, as does what little I've heard of Too Human. I'm probably going to hold off, though being a resident of Hawaii it's tempting to get Test Drive: Unlimited just to find places I went to the night before.

Rather than prove the Xbox 360's worth, I doubt anybody can do the same for the PS3 yet.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

MS have done nothing exciting with the Xbox 360 . It's boring as hell , they aren't even supporting the HD-DVD format for fear of it losing ; so they are at a disadvantage to Sony
This study really does not mention nintendo at all. It's like this is some retrograde two horse race , Nintendo may surprise us all

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

They don't support HD-DVD because its future is in question and increased media capacity isn't the most important thing in the world. Also, it saves them money on each 360 made (I believe they're going to make money on every Xbox 360 sold).

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

"overrated" == "I hate what you say and I don't want to get hit by the metamoderators for agenda enforcement"

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[KDR_11k]

It also drives them into a corner when it comes to storage space. Considering that the storage requirements usually grow by an order of magnitude between console generations the X360 might miss out on quite a few games because it cannot hold them on a reasonable number (exact number depends on game, multiple discs won't work for Madden or GTA, for example) of discs just like the Gamecube did this generation. Sure, 50GB might sound unimaginable for one game now but five or six years ago the same could have been said about 9 GB.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

The vast majority of games still don't take up a full 9 GB. I've seen parallels drawn between console games and PC games and they make sense. You think CD's will be replaced as the distribution within the next 5 or 6 years? Much less DVD's. These games can all be ported to PC for the most part, your post only proves that Sony's hype machine works (a point I've never argued against).

DVD's don't drive MS into any corners, it's smart for MS to hold off on the higher capacity formats while they sit and wait, probably pushing HD-DVD using their influence through Vista and when the time's right (along with the prices) the HD-DVD (or possibly even Blu-Ray) drive will be made available for the Xbox 360 along with a high-profile title or two. Dare I say Halo?

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[skreeech]

Basically PS3 will have all the followups to PS2 stuff and Xbox360 will have the followups to all the xbox stuff.

So it's a safe bet to say that GT5 with real damage added. Metal Gear 4 which is going to have some type of AI partners in it. Squaresoft is probably still showing the most love to sony. As well as any GTA probably coming out on PS3 a year before being on anything else. Unfortunately I'm not sure of what unique stuff is coming out for PS3.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

Exactly. My point is that the PS3's lineup is only currently full of assumptions. Anyway, I am willing to sing many praises for one title I've seen, though the only name that comes to mind for it is the Godess of War joke since it really looks simiilar only in an ancient Japan/Star Wars Episode I environment. Oh, and Killing Day looked gorgeous.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[KDR_11k]

The problem is that MS has announced they won't allow HDDVD (only?) games to not put early adopters at a disadvantage. Kinda like their "No patches via Live" (patches that only affect Live are exempted, as are content additions) policy.

Games rarely fill a DVD now but what will it be like in three years? A content rich game like HL2 takes 5 gigabytes on the harddrive (obviously only the installed size matters as consoles can't decompress the game files like that), add FMVs like those that happen on consoles in high definition and you reach the limit of the DVD. Sure, some games don't need much space but others will and the hard limit should include all of them.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

HD-DVD editions and multiple discs nagate that entire point. And HD FMV's? Pre-rendered cutscenes are reaching the end of their time since the in-game engines of most games will rival anything that could be produced in a cutscene while using less disc space. And games like Half-Life 2 are the exception that could easily just be released on two or three discs.

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[KDR_11k]

Fluid dynamics are one example of something that won't work outside of FMVs. And multiple disks aren't the solution to everything, especially nonlinear and streaming games cannot be cut in half easily. A game that had one HUGE city that doesn't fit on one DVD would be a problem, would you tell the player to change the DVD every time he drives over a bridge?

Re:What about a me a nintendo

[RoadDoggFL]

No, but that's an extremely specific scenario. The point is that in general, use of the in-game engine and multiple discs are a very viable solution.

What About...

[DarkYoshi]

I've noticed that most Slashdotters are anti-Microsoft, and that many are anti-Sony. I would think that quite a few of us would be buying a Revolution, considering the price, the controller and the backwards compatability with the GameCube. I'm sure that it wouldn't be difficult for our Admins to write a little something in the article, but I guess that there must be too many casual gamers on SlashDot, among us computer geeks and techies.

Re:What About...

[KDR_11k]

You must be new here.
1. The "Admins" are called Editors.
2. "Editor" must come from "edible" or something because they sure as hell don't edit.

XBox

[MBCook]

Is anyone else surprised by the XBox numbers? I figured they'd be up, but I would think that it would be more like 70% of people interested in the PS3, 25-35% in the XBox. I guess MS's work (and lost $$$s) have paid off. Now if the can make a console (and games) good enough to keep things that way we may be back to the early 90s when Sega and Nintendo were neck and neck (which I think was almost a golden age). That could be a great thing.

Really, I'd like to know about the interest in the Revolution, but I don't expect all that much until after the Tokyo Game Show (starts friday!) when Nintendo is expected to release more details. Once the Revolution is better known (games, prices (or at least a guess), etc) then the numbers will mean more.

Still, the XBox 360 has quite a buzz it seems.

Re:XBox

[RoadDoggFL]

MS already manufactured an amazing console. It's called the Xbox. Unfortunately it carried the MS name with it and now it's being followed up with the very product it was accused of being: a low-end PC. I can't wait (read: I'd love) to see if Nintendo can really pull off a sucker punch to Sony and MS and remind everybody what console gaming's all about. A true three-way race doesn't seem too unlikely, but I'm not betting on it.

Re:XBox

[MBCook]

Yes, but for various reasons (including launching later, and being a newcomer) the XBox never got close to the PS2 in market share. But they've learned lessons and got the word out that they are here and are serious, so now is when we might see a real race.

Comming out of the gate like Sony did with the PS and taking over a lead spot in the industry is rare.

Re:XBox

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony hasn't really hyped the PS3 up yet - there's plently of stuff at game shows and specialist websites, but not much mainstream coverage. Shops are taking preorders for the Xbox 360 already.

Plus, I've got to say that Microsoft vs Sony doesn't really sound like a golden age to me. Though I appreciate that 2 consoles versus 3 means everyone gets access to more "exclusives".

Re:XBox

[MBCook]

I agree with the golden age comment. Nintendo and Sega were both gaming companies. Sony is a media company and MS is a software company.

Still, more equal marketshare means better compeition which should mean better games (all else being equal). We'll see what actually happens though. It's is fully possible that Sony or MS screws up (like that $500 price tag for the console alone) and the market becomes 70-20-10. We'll just have to wait and see.

Personally, I think the ideal would be 40-30-30 Nintendo-Sony-MS.

Re:XBox

[RoadDoggFL]

I agree whole heartedly that MS really stands as more of a contender and depending on my mood I can't for the life of me find it possible for either Sony or MS to even succeed. You know? I mean it's really that close at this point. But the more competition there is the better off we as consumers are, so bring on the race.

IDG Press Release

[Tringard]

The IDG Press Release has a more complete summary of what their white paper covers as well as a link on how to obtain the full thing for a mere $750.

Re:IDG Press Release

[dtfarmer]

...as well as a link on how to obtain the full thing for a mere $750.

Will they give me a discount if I buy in bulk?

Warning for Nintendo?

[Castar]

From TFA:
The report goes on to warn. "Executives who believe that enticing casual gamers to new machines is the secret to industry profit and market-share gains, [cannot] expect widespread consumer adoption of new platforms until 2007."

I guess that is meant to be a warning for Nintendo, since their stated strategy is growing the market by appealing to women and casual gamers. It's certainly a risk, but someone has to try and find new gamers, and competing head-to-head with MS and Sony didn't work out so well for them before.

On the other hand, part of what Nintendo is doing is not so much getting brand-new gamers, as trying to draw old gamers back into the fold - the people whose last console was an NES or SNES, and will be nostalgic for SMB3, Star Fox, and Bayou Billy. As long as they price and market it right, it might work out.

Re:Warning for Nintendo?

[nb caffeine]

I AM nostalgic about smb3, etc. My last nintendo console was an n64, and I pretty much am planning on getting the new console from big N (along with a 360 at some point. Gotta have perfect dark).

I suppose They are really gonna be marketing it to 20-30 year olds who have grown up on their consoles. well, Ill bite :)

Re:Warning for Nintendo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anybody who's nostalgic for Starfox won't be touching a new Nintendo platform with a barge pole. After the cracking SNES title and the slightly-less-good-but-still-excellent N64 title, the franchise has been abused beyond belief in the current generation.

Starfox Adventure was... was... erm... was so bad I can't even bring myself to talk about it. It's no secret that it was developed as "Dinosaur Planet" and that the Starfox title was just stuck on at the last moment in a cynical ploy to widen the sales base for a highly mediocre game.

Starfox Assault is slightly better, with a couple of very decent rail shooter levels. Unfortunately, these accounted for less than 1/3rd of the length of a game which has severe playtime issues anyway (I completed it in under 6 hours and couldn't see any obvious replay value, beyond the lacklustre multiplayer). The rest of the game was a mixture of sub-Rogue-Squadron "free roaming" shooter levels and utterly, epically dire on-foot sequences.

No, this is one franchise that's been abused beyond the point at which I can still feel affection for it. The only other Nintendo franchise I have similar residual affection for is Metroid and, to be frank, I can get much better fpses on the other platforms. Mario, Zelda et al have never appealed to me; I prefer the more involving and immersive franchises to be found elsewhere.

I won't be buying a Revolution, unless there's a dramatic reversal in Nintendo's attitude towards third party developers. Don't hold your breath.

Re:Warning for Nintendo?

[Castar]

Anybody who's nostalgic for Starfox won't be touching a new Nintendo platform with a barge pole. After the cracking SNES title and the slightly-less-good-but-still-excellent N64 title, the franchise has been abused beyond belief in the current generation.

Well, my point was that you can play the SNES version on the Revolution - it's like an emulator box made easy.

Re:Warning for Nintendo?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can still play the SNES version on my SNES. Of course, I've completed it so many times already that I don't see myself going back to it for quite a few years now.

But never mind.

Revolution

[richman555]

I know where I'll be putting my money. After the success of the Nintendo DS, I will definitely buy Nintendo's next gen console. It will most likely be the best value for any system. I want it to be something totally different and unique as compared to the PS3 or Xbox 360. I really think Nintendo has it all right this time around.

Social vs. Casual?

[Greg_D]

If by social gamers they mean "players who purchase and pay subscription fees for online games," then it's a no freaking brainer. Not everyone wants to spend a few hundred bucks over the course of a year or two to have the opportunity to have their level 50 night elf wear the newest funky armor.

If they mean "players who have friends over to play games," then it's probably due to the Madden phenomenon. Tons of folks purchase the next year's edition every season simply so they can keep their rosters up to date. Seems loony to me, but if it works, hey, go for it.

I suppose I'm a casual gamer. I own 27 PS2 games, but The only game I really play with friends is Hot Shots Gold Fore (I rarely play games at all). Match play = great drinking game.