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The Revolution Will Be Globalized
Gamespot is reporting that Nintendo plans on a global launch for the Revolution. From the article: "Talking about the Revolution in an interview with Nikkei Business, Iwata stated, 'I can only say that it's coming out during 2006, but it will be after the current fiscal year. We hope to make it a simultaneous worldwide release as much as it's possible ... It [the Revolution] would be a complete failure if we didn't sell more units than the Nintendo GameCube'"
200 USD
300 EUR
200 GBP
ouch, sucks to be European if you want a Revolution.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Just be thankful you have the chance to get Electroplankton. It is very rare to have a game that didn't sell well in Japan make it to the US. Also, I imported Electroplankton, and though the game needs little translation, the manual needs a lot. It isn't a small point either. Iwai handwrote and illustrated the entire thing. The manual itself is a nifty piece of art.
History has shown that, more often than not, first to market=first to games=first to sales. Price has never been a serious factor before, though, so Nintendo has an extra chip in their pile if they can pull off a cheap launch (Seeing as, despite being last in sales behind MS and Sony, they were first in profits, I don't doubt they'd be willing to eat an initial loss to get back on top).
Another boon for Nintendo is the delay rumors around the PS3. If it IS delayed even half as long as some of the rumors, that means Nintendo's still got a good shot at beating Sony to market. Sony got out first with the PS1 and PS2, and that head start hurt Nintendo both times in overall sales.
Microsoft will almost certainly get out first by the looks of things, but I still expect their Japanese game linup is going to be weak like it was with the original Xbox. They'll have the first-out advantage in the US, definitely, the Xbox didn't do poorly by any measure, but they have a bad track record in Japan against a household name. I think people there will be much more likely wait for the Revolution or PS3 rather than buy a 360. If Nintendo gets a good release lead on Sony, and have the games to back it up (Their weakness with the DS, although the same can be said for the PSP) they can easily come out on top.
Maybe Nintendo's got their act back together. Only thing I'll say without a "maybe" or "if only" or "I dunno" attached is that the news right now doesn't look too hot for Sony.
History has shown that, more often than not, first to market=first to games=first to sales.
Tell that to Sega!
And Europe (usually) gets hosed even worse than North America.
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
History has shown that, more often than not, first to market=first to games=first to sales.
You can't be talking about the videogame industry. TurboGrafx-16/Turbo CD, Sega CD/32x/Saturn/Game Gear/Dreamcast, Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, and others were the "first" of their kind, and failed horribly. Even a bizzare homoerotic smear campaign against Sega couldn't save the Turbo system. The PlayStation was out before the N64, and yet it didn't dominate that system. Same for the PS2.
Price has never been a serious factor before,
Apparently you forgot about the 3DO and the release price that the Saturn had, which was compounded with the screwy situation of two addons for the Genesis. A phantom example is the fact that no handheld system has ever really been able to supplant the Game Boy, partly due to the fact that Nintendo sells so many they can afford a very low price.
If Nintendo gets a good release lead on Sony, and have the games to back it up (Their weakness with the DS, although the same can be said for the PSP) they can easily come out on top.
Dude, you could really strengthen your arguments if you said WTF you were talking about. I assume you mean that the DS and PSP had crappy launch games, but you could also be saying that the DS has a bad game lineup in general (which is not true). Also, I don't see Nintendo being able to get "back on top" of the console pile in the next 2-3 years. This is mostly due to the momentum they are working against. Go find how many PS2s were sold, and then compare that with how many XBoxen and Cubes were sold. Nintendo can't just come flying out of the gate and steal all of Sony's marketshare with a shiny new console, because THEIR COMPETITION HAS SHINY NEW TOYS TOO. A third problem for Nintendo is the constant FUD they encounter from the press. gamesarefun.com has some great editorials debunking some of the myths about Nintendo, but I'm sure new ones will sprout like weeds (OMG the controll3r has less buttons than teh GBA! Nintendo si teh d00med!!1 lolo)
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?