Last-Gen Console Discussions (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

360 game sales are very healthy- often more so than the Wii, which has a large casual aduience who do not buy many games for it.

The PS3 is catching, but the Xbox isn't far off being three years old now; how long is Sony meant to take for that to mean anything? What use is catching the Xbox just in time for the next Xbox to come along?

If Microsoft could get a decent foothold in Japan, Sony would have a real issue now. As it is, it's just... not good enough for them.

You still get this feeling that the Wii isn't competing, as such. People still seem happy to own a Wii as a second console. Good move by Nintendo.

Going with just the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV; Mario Kart Wii has outsold it (5.87m to 5.47m).

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Add to that the Xbox 360 will get a price cut pretty soon. The pressure is back on Sony.

is that official... or still speculations 😕

Originally posted by Ushgarak
360 game sales are very healthy- often more so than the Wii, which has a large casual aduience who do not buy many games for it.

The PS3 is catching, but the Xbox isn't far off being three years old now; how long is Sony meant to take for that to mean anything? What use is catching the Xbox just in time for the next Xbox to come along?

If Microsoft could get a decent foothold in Japan, Sony would have a real issue now. As it is, it's just... not good enough for them.

You still get this feeling that the Wii isn't competing, as such. People still seem happy to own a Wii as a second console. Good move by Nintendo.

yeah, everyone holds the Wii as a "on the side" console. It pretty much works for Nintendo, but as of late, I don't think they're seeing that way, I've sensed some arrogance from their part lately: calling their most loyal fans a bunch of geeks and Otakus, the almost total disregard for the hardcore crowd, the focus on party "for everyone" games, while leaving truly great third party games fence for themselves (Zack and Wiki, Bloom Box).... and what happened with that goal/philosophy of theirs: making a 100$ console?... it's better to appear to be coy, to avoid disappointment when you fail, then being overconfident and cocky, and then having to admit defeat. that way you can be arrogant if you win, and appear to not give a damn if you lose...

For how long can that last though?, popular /multiplatform titles are not going to appear on Wii, some third parties said they won't work on Wii titles, most use PS2 ports... even Nintendo doesn't worry about promoting great third party games... 😬

Originally posted by S_D_J
yeah, everyone holds the Wii as a "on the side" console. It pretty much works for Nintendo, but as of late, I don't think they're seeing that way, I've sensed some arrogance from their part lately: calling their most loyal fans a bunch of geeks and Otakus, the almost total disregard for the hardcore crowd, the focus on party "for everyone" games, while leaving truly great third party games fence for themselves (Zack and Wiki, Bloom Box).... and what happened with that goal/philosophy of theirs: making a 100$ console?... it's better to appear to be coy, to avoid disappointment when you fail, then being overconfident and cocky, and then having to admit defeat. that way you can be arrogant if you win, and appear to not give a damn if you lose...

For how long can that last though?, popular /multiplatform titles are not going to appear on Wii, some third parties said they won't work on Wii titles, most use PS2 ports... even Nintendo doesn't worry about promoting great third party games... 😬

Dude, how old is your information? The Wii has more exclusive games in development than the 360 and PS3. Heck every and I mean every third party company has said that due to the success of the Wii they will start developing exclusive titles to it.

The console that sells the most will have the most. That simple.

Well, the Wii might have a lot of exclusive titles.

But have you seen what most of their exclusives right now are? It's all a bunch of crap, really.

Originally posted by Peach
Well, the Wii might have a lot of exclusive titles.

But have you seen what most of their exclusives right now are? It's all a bunch of crap, really.

The Wii has only be out for a year. It took two for the 360 to start getting a bunch of worth wild games.

Originally posted by ESB -1138
The Wii has only be out for a year. It took two for the 360 to start getting a bunch of worth wild games.

It's been out for nearly two, actually.

Point is, beyond first party games and a small handful of third party gems, the Wii is really inundated with crappy exclusive games. Of course, this is the fault of the developers more than anything else, but it doesn't change the fact that it's the truth.

Originally posted by Peach
Point is, beyond first party games and a small handful of third party gems, the Wii is really inundated with crappy exclusive games. Of course, this is the fault of the developers more than anything else, but it doesn't change the fact that it's the truth.

Shall I bring up the crappy to good game ratio for say the Playstation 2? The console that sells the most will have the most of everything; the great, the good, and the down right horrible. That simple.

Originally posted by ESB -1138
Dude, how old is your information? The Wii has more exclusive games in development than the 360 and PS3. Heck every and I mean every third party company has said that due to the success of the Wii they will start developing exclusive titles to it.

The console that sells the most will have the most. That simple.

and I never said anything about exclusives tittles, or lack of... there's a bunch of tittles out for the Wii, but how many are actually good?

many third parties will make games for Wii, it is after all the best selling console out right now, not having games for it will hurt your business, one may think. The biggest problem is that almost nobody buys games for the wii, most people would just buy the console for wii sports.... and wiiplay for the extra wiimote (I did), and that's it. First party tittles are best seller obviously, but that's because Nintendo manages to make the best out of their own products. Quality it's almost a sure thing, and they are very efficient when pushing their products to consumers...

But what do third parties do?.. make a bad wiisport/wiiplay clone and call it a day.... how many of those exclusive tittles you mention are not a wiisport/wiiplay clone?, how many of those are not party games? how many of those will have a "wiggle your wiimote back and forth" type of crappy controls... and still dare to call it revolutionary? how many will try to get attention by using the wiiboard in stupid way (not even trying to outdo nintendo's very own wii-fit)?

See, the thing is Third Parties are not focusing hard enough to make quality games for the wii, Ubisoft said (they occasionally make great games)they will focus almost exclusively to 360 (and PS3) and occasionally throw yet another party game for Wii, I heard some company completely scrapping any Wii tittles for the time being...

... What happens when a good tittle comes along?... Nothing, nobody hears about them, you certainly won't see the white and blue mini car coming to your house to, at least, let you know such tittle exists. Nintendo doesn't bother to promote such games, and they end up as business failure (I'd be really surprise when Bloom Box gets 100.000 copies sold).

Everyone else gets RE5, we get RE:UC, everyone else gets Soul Calibur 4, we get Soul Calibur Legends... see where I'm going with that? the technical limitations the Wii has, it's starting to show. Most multiplatform games end up suffering on Wii (even if they're not PS2 ports).
Graphics are not important, that's true, but technology moves forward, and you end up waggling your wiimote... or playing another party game 😱

And Nintendo gives us Mario Sluggers, a sequel to a GC game that nobody heard, which capitalizes on the "Mario plays any sport" formula, but will actually work this time around due to the wiimote. All the good games everybody expected are already out... no mention yet of a true Zelda wii tittle or anything else for that matter.. MP3 was a success, but everyone knew Metroid, it was going to be a great game, but Nintendo didn't bother to promote the tittle until mere two/three weeks before it's launch, We were very busy watching Wario Ware or Big Brain Academy promos apparently. Why? because those games (as good as they may be) appeal more to the casual crowd than Metroid will ever do...

It's really insulting for the hardcore crowd, the ones that stood by Nintendo after the N64 debacle, and the barely living GC era (I'm not one of them) the way they are being treated by Nintendo... at least that's what I think.

Or do you like being call an Otaku (in a derogatory way)?

Originally posted by ESB -1138
Shall I bring up the crappy to good game ratio for say the Playstation 2? The console that sells the most will have the most of everything; the great, the good, and the down right horrible. That simple.

right now the "very bad to average" reings supreme when it comes to the Wii.

I really want that to change, I rally do.... but apparentely Nintendo it's very busy selling Wii Sports to grampa and gramma to actually care.

Originally posted by ESB -1138
Shall I bring up the crappy to good game ratio for say the Playstation 2? The console that sells the most will have the most of everything; the great, the good, and the down right horrible. That simple.

Except that the Wii doesn't really sell GAMES. The system is in high demand. The games, beyond the first party ones, really don't go anywhere.

Or do you like being call an Otaku (in a derogatory way)?

There's no way to call someone an otaku and not mean it in a derogatory manner, unless you don't know what it means. It's a derogatory word, plain and simple.

Though to an extent I believe that companies should not listen to the hardcore crowd. It's always a bad idea to pay a lot of attention to the hardcore fans as they make up a small percentage of those who buy or like something.

The Wii is targeted more towards casual gamers than the hardcore crowd, anyway. So of course Nintendo's going to think about what the casual crowd might like first.

Originally posted by Peach

....

There's no way to call someone an otaku and not mean it in a derogatory manner, unless you don't know what it means. It's a derogatory word, plain and simple.

Though to an extent I believe that companies should not listen to the hardcore crowd. It's always a bad idea to pay a lot of attention to the hardcore fans as they make up a small percentage of those who buy or like something.

The Wii is targeted more towards casual gamers than the hardcore crowd, anyway. So of course Nintendo's going to think about what the casual crowd might like first.

that's the thing, due to America's obsession with Japan and Anime, some words get lost in translation... I know Otaku it's an insult, though lately the word is trying to lose a bit of its derogatory connotation..

but that's Japan. I heard, and know, a lot of stupid people who take compliment when they are called Otakus... I meant that as an explanation... the same can be said about Geeks... it's not as much as an insult lately as it was years ago.

I'm not sure how we can define "hardcore crowd"... 360 and (to an extend) PS3 games are gear more towards the "harcore crowd" and those games end up being great (to excellent) games that are a console's best seller... and they sell consoles

The Wii has: SMGalaxy, MarioKart, SSBB... and Metroid and Zelda.. and that's about it... while WiiPlay its still its best selling game 😕

Even with the release of GTA IV and MGS4 the PS3 is stil behind the Wii in Japan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTKU00339620080703?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Sony PS3 catching up to Wii in Japanese sales

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Wii game console once again outsold Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) PlayStation 3 in Japan in June, but its lead is fading, a game magazine publisher said.

Wii outsold the rival console by 1.7-to-1, making it the No.1 game console for a seventh consecutive month, Enterbrain said, but that was well short of the 6-to-1 lead the Wii had in May.

The launch in June of Konami Corp's (9766.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) highly anticipated "Metal Gear Solid 4" for the PS3 helped stir demand for the Sony machine, the magazine said.

Nintendo sold 235,990 units of its Wii console in the five weeks ended June 29, while sales of the PS3 came to 139,494 units, Enterbrain said. Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Xbox 360 trails the pack, with sales of 10,964 units.

Despite its strong performance in June, the PS3 has a lot of catching up to do in total sales around the world.

Sony has sold 12.85 million units of its latest console worldwide by the end of March, or just half the Wiis sold since the rival consoles were both launched in late 2006.

For handheld game players, Sony sold 274,131 of its PlayStation Portable during the five-week period, surpassing Nintendo, which sold 195,714 of its DS gear, the publisher said.

Prior to the announcement, shares in Sony closed up 0.9 percent at 4,600 yen while Nintendo gained 0.2 percent to 60,900 yen. The Nikkei average .N225 was down 0.2 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Rodney Joyce)

I mean come on...Sony can't say they're not targetting the casual gamer....why else do they release Rockband and Guitar hero and kareoke games? At this time Sony would rather have those buyers than the traditional "hardcore gamer".

The one Wii limitation that needs working on is storage. With the Wiiware stuff now out (which I've been pretty happy with actually), the internal space is just filling way too fast.

Originally posted by ESB -1138
Shall I bring up the crappy to good game ratio for say the Playstation 2? The console that sells the most will have the most of everything; the great, the good, and the down right horrible. That simple.

... The PS2 has been out 8 years. I didn't even own one until 8 months ago and I have over 20 quality games now because of how cheap they are.

You are a real idiot apparently.

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Even with the release of GTA IV and MGS4 the PS3 is stil behind the Wii in Japan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTKU00339620080703?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

I mean come on...Sony can't say they're not targetting the casual gamer....why else do they release Rockband and Guitar hero and kareoke games? At this time Sony would rather have those buyers than the traditional "hardcore gamer".

Well, to be fair (and I've said this a bunch of times), casual gamers tend to make up a larger percentage of people playing games than the pure hardcore group.

Originally posted by Peach
Well, to be fair (and I've said this a bunch of times), casual gamers tend to make up a larger percentage of people playing games than the pure hardcore group.

But the casual group is not going to buy a PS3... generally speaking. I'm not casual, not hardcore - somewhere in the middle, but I'm not paying for a new console right now.

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Even with the release of GTA IV and MGS4 the PS3 is stil behind the Wii in Japan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTKU00339620080703?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

I mean come on...Sony can't say they're not targetting the casual gamer....why else do they release Rockband and Guitar hero and kareoke games? At this time Sony would rather have those buyers than the traditional "hardcore gamer".

The same thing can be said about Microsoft, and still they are far behind (almost unimportant) in Japan.

GTA didn't help Microsoft nor Sony in Japan, MGS4 is helping Sony, but not enough to beat Nintendo.

Why would you consider Guitar Hero or Rockband as casual games used by SONY to target Casual gamers?, those games are on 360.... Heck, those games are also on Wii. Rockband 2 it's said to be a temporal 360 exclusive. Karaoke games could be, but they're mostly US targeted games

But the thing here it's console sales: this generation doesn't seem to be resolved based on game sales, and it won't be. Nintendo pretty much won this gen, even if games are not selling or driving console sales.
....That still seem to be the case on handhelds though (I mean in Japan) even though the PSP doesn't have an stellar (or even considerable) line up of games as the DS has, it still manages to beat (or still come in second) the DS, just by selling one game (usually an RPG like Dragon Hunter) ... that and it's cheaper than PS3.

... and like pointed out, a casual gamer won't spend as much money to buy a PS3, if they can buy 2 Wii for the same price... and PS3 doesn't have WiiSport for free...
... and, if they want to, they can play Guitar Hero (and Rockband) in the Wii as well...

Bought a PS3...and I can't get online with it. Something about the DNS. Pisses me off because the 360 connects just fine.

GTA didn't help Microsoft nor Sony in Japan

Well, of course not. Since when has GTA ever been big there?

Originally posted by Superboy Prime
Bought a PS3...and I can't get online with it. Something about the DNS. Pisses me off because the 360 connects just fine.

Is it up to date?