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Xbox 360 Wins Through 2009?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the more-fun-with-analysts dept.

simoniker writes "As part of a recent MI6 Conference presentation, IDG's Jason Anderson made predictions on the North American installed base of the next-gen consoles through 2008. He predicts that the Xbox 360 will continue to hold a lead into 2009, with the PS3 just behind and the Wii trailing significantly. In particular: 'In 2008, Anderson suggests 15.5 million units in homes for the Xbox 360, 13.5 million for PS3, and 6.8 million for Wii.' Is the Wii really going to trail by so much, or do the analysts not 'get it'?"

2 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting choice... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1, Troll

    I hate to break it to you, but the console is essentially a PC with more restrictions. It's a PC that's been so DRM'd that it can only be used to play games that are licensed for that console.

    And I can't imagine why you think a console will "just work" any more than Steam. I guarantee someday you'll bring home a console game and it will either be defective (won't play at all), or your console will reject it for some other reason. At least with a PC, it's highly likely I'll have a backup for all my savegames -- with a console, you need an exploit in order to do it in any kind of automated fashion. And I don't have a source for this, but my brother once brought home a PS2 demo cd that completely corrupted our memory card.

    The difference is, on a PC, it's usually possible for you to prevent things from going wrong, whereas on a console, there's not much you can do if someone else (console manufacturer, game developer/publisher) screws it up.

    It's true, it's not very likely that a console game will have that kind of problem -- but on a well maintained PC, that's not likely either. It's easier to maintain a console than a Windows PC, but Windows is not your only option -- a Mac is pretty easy to maintain, and Linux, while hard to set up, is even easier to keep clean. But even if it's got to be Windows, keeping your PC clean has other advantages than games.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    1. Re:Interesting choice... by Slovenian6474 · · Score: 1, Troll

      I'd have to agree that the console is MUCH easier to maintain than an average PC. Big point being: Software developer know EXACTLY what hardware you are running in your console. PC software has to work with almost ALL hardware out there. The developers don't know if you're running an ATI or nvidia card, how much ram you have, what software you are already running, etc. That's why every once in awhile, a computer game just won't work and you have to do some digging to get it to work.

      If you have problems like that with a console, the company has no excuse. Give them a call and they should work it out.

      Granted, IF you do have a problem on the console, it's VERY difficult to fix yourself. Rather with the pc, usually it's easier to dig up the solution yourself.

      Reason I'd take the PC over a console any day is the variety and control of the games. There are TONS of games for the PC and they rarely get to a point where you phyiscally can't play them anymore. (Example: try to play the original zelda on a stock gamecube). The other thing is the mouse. I have MUCH more precise control with a mouse than any gamepad/stick/controller. Halo is quite popular because they almost a perfect balance of control with the current xbox controller. It works like it should. Bad example: Perfect Dark Zero. I hate playing the game because the controls are out of wack. It seems like it'd be a good game but i can't stand playing it.

      Wii has a new approach and if it works good, i should be able to teach myself a new precise way to move and aim. Granted i'll have to train myself to use it, but it just seems fun.