Sony trash-talks Microsoft, Nintendo

[Zealot]

I'm thinking in buying the GC, and give it to my 3 years old sister. But only when Pikmin comes out in Europe, because I want to play on the GC too!

The downside of the GC is that no one has an 8" CD-R to pirate GC's games.
Still, comparing with X-Box's game prices, it's a lot better.

And I was never impressed with the Playstation.

[Saint Marcus]

John, I mean in this console war. I'm sure that things will change when another "next generation" of consoles comes along.

[JohnIII]

The PS2 is between generations. Asher got that one right, at least.

[Saint Marcus]

[Saint Marcus]

Let me ask this question: if the PS2 is really so crappy, then why is it outselling both the GC and XB?

[JohnIII]

Because it has been out longer and has more games. Next question.

[Saint Marcus]

sure

[JohnIII]

Are you saying that neither of those is true?

[Saint Marcus]

if the PS2 is really half a generation behind the other two, then those two reasons you mentioned won't make people buy the PS2.

[JohnIII]

Because people still bought the PSX when the DC was available

[Saint Marcus]

DC failed because of other reasons.

also, people did buy the PS2 and not the PSX when it came out.

[JohnIII]

But that was a whole generation gap.

[Saint Marcus]

I thought it was just a 0.5 generation gap

[Asher]

The point is, Saint Marcus, that nobody's doubting the PS2 will always been around and strong this generation.

The point also is, nobody cares. It's impossible to catch up with that kind of lead, and the hardware itself is inferior to the two real next gen consoles (Gamecube, Xbox) so the point is moot.

There are still tons of awesome games that offer a better gaming experience on both Xbox and Gamecube. I have my PS2, and I'll probably get the odd game for it still, but the majority of the games I'll get will be for the Xbox.

As far as I'm concerned, Sony's not even in this console war. It's lasting just on popularity, not on prowess. It's like having a battle between rock bands (GC and Xbox) while Britney Spears keeps selling more albums than all of them.

[Asher]

I found an interesting article relating to this thread, and I've bolded some important parts (including Merril Lynch figures for cost):

http://xengamers.com/sections/columns/7237/3/

Xbox fans should have something to cheer about after E3, where Microsoft is sure to have some great games like Mech Assault, Crimson Skies, Project Ego, Quantum Redshift, Project Phoenix, The Unseen and Brute Force, as well as some nice surprises. Xbox Live will show some muscle with the likes of Unreal Championship, Phantasy Star Online, and Sega Sports 2K3 titles, and the Xbox userbase which now stands at roughly 2.5 million happy gamers, should rise rapidly to 3.5 million by the end of June, about one million shy of Microsoft's original target.

While this is somewhat disappointing, it's more important to note that MS is poised for excellent future growth. A combination of superior hardware power and flexibility, coupled with huge financial power and marketing muscle is sure to result in a slow but steady increase in Xbox fortunes over the next couple of years. It would be surprising if MS did not drop the price to $199 US this holiday season, and this should go a long way getting the userbase into the 12 million range by this time next year. Xbox hardware costs have always been greatly exaggerated. The most reasonable estimates would place the cost at roughly $235 US to produce an Xbox [$25 CPU, $25 DVD, $50 HD, $50 NVidia, $15 RAM, and $40 for other hardware and $30 for the Flextronics assembly fee (both Merrill Lynch estimates)]. This is a far cry from the $375 US that many have been citing erroneously. Microsoft will be able to match price with Sony if they chose to. As long as first party titles demonstrate the hardware advantages, the Xbox should slowly eat into the PS2’s market share.

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are all well positioned to deliver 30+ million users to developers by the end of 2004. In all likelihood, the big black box will finish last in the next-generation console race due to difficulties in Japan, but Microsoft will make money, Xbox gamers will be happy, and Xbox 2 will be right around the corner. Microsoft will have gained much needed respect from Japanese gamers and developers, thereby making the Xbox 2 a viable first place contender next time around. If it's one thing you can say about Microsoft is that they are relentless in the pursuit of their marketing goals and the Xbox project should be no different.

Xbox gamers are advised to relax, play a game of Spider-Man, salivate over the gameplay in Morrowind, rub their hands with glee at the prospect of playing Star Wars: KOTOR, Project Ego, and Shenmue 2 in a few short months, and about playing Unreal Championship, Phantasy Star Online, and Mech Assault over a stable broadband infrastructure. Have you seen Splinter Cell yet? Metal Gear Solid who? It's a safe bet that the console with the most flexible hardware and biggest marketing budget is here to stay.

So the costs are down to $235US per box, and for a while it was already selling at $299, so they're only losing ~35 per box. But they also make $10 per game, and the average tie-in ratio for new Xbox purchases has been 3.X on launch consistently from the start, and thus far in 2002 there is an average of 7.5 games per Xbox (from Sony's pre-E3 press conference), which means MS has recouped that money already.

One of the reasons MS chose easy to find parts for lots of the Xbox is because, due to the economies of scale, the price will drop far faster than the competition's proprietary offerings. We're seeing the first evidence of that now. It'll be even cheaper to make once the plant in China opens.

Xbox gamers will be happy, and the userbase will slowly grow, and you can bet in the next generation there will be far more people willing to adopt the Xbox^2 than were willing to "risk" adopting the original Xbox, especially if MS delivers the most powerful and developer friendly platform again (which it is poised to do, seeing as Sony's plan for grid computing is being laughed at by most tech analysts)