Console Wars: The Clone Wars

[Verto]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
You do realize that about 1/2 that list isn't exclusive to the 360, right?

Halo - Xbox 360 exclusive
Gears of War - Xbox 360 and Windows/Mac exclusive
Mass Effect - Xbox 360 and Windows exclusive
BioShock - Xbox 360 and Windows PC exclusive
Oblivion - available on PS3, 360, Windows
Call of Duty 4 - available on PS3, 360, PC
Rock Band - available on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii (albeit the Wii will be of course be a gimped version, with no DLC, no real multiplayer, etc etc
Forza - Xbox 360 exclusive
Rainbow Six Vegas - available on 360, PS3, Windows

So Oblivion, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, and Rainbow Six Vegas are the only ones that are available on other consoles. The rest are exclusive to the 360 (and also Windows for some).

So, while some of these aren't 360 exclusive, my point was this: the majority of the big sellers for the Wii are Nintendo franchises, and even these big titles aren't doing as well as you'd expect. Consider that Wii owners have fewer games to pick from, compared to the many choices available to 360 owners, and add in the Wii's growing user base, you'd expect their sales to be much more impressive.

360 with lots of SW and Wii with mainly 1st party titles.
Thats been the expectation from the beginning. If several of the 360 titles (and multiplat titles where 360 has been dominant) have done better than expected, by the same token its true that several of the Nintendo 1st party titles have done better than expected. As for 3rd party, while we are all still waiting for developers to get on the Wii bandwagon, it should be noted that number 10 on this months SW list was a third party Wii title

How long are people willing to wait for developers to 'get on the Wii bandwagon'? More importantly, if software sales on the Wii continue to stagnate (with the exception of Nintendo titles) what incentive do developers have to focus on the Wii? I think the status quo will continue into the future: developers focus on making a game on the 360/PS3, and then throw a shoddy port at the Wii. The 360 attach rate is spectacular from a business' perspective. Just look at the Call of Duty 4 map pack: 1 million people downloaded it in the 9 days since its release, which translates into $10mil more for Infinity Ward. That's just for 4 online maps, which required minimal effort on their part to create. I don't know how the PS3 is doing with DLC, the Wii doesn't even have the option. I don't have current numbers for the Rock Band DLC, but I know it's been phenomenal as well (at least a couple million songs downloaded). Once again, this is something not possible on the Wii, besides their Virtual Console library, where they not only charge (IMO) a disappointingly high $ amount for their games, but then make it a burden to even accumulate more than a handful of games without having to clear out space from its limited hard drive. No effort made to add online play, or the option for improved HD graphics, no online leaderboard, etc.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Verto



So, while some of these aren't 360 exclusive, my point was this: the majority of the big sellers for the Wii are Nintendo franchises, and even these big titles aren't doing as well as you'd expect. Consider that Wii owners have fewer games to pick from, compared to the many choices available to 360 owners, and add in the Wii's growing user base, you'd expect their sales to be much more impressive.

Wii software has been selling on par with 360 software since december, even excluding wii play, which is fairly remarkable considering the gap in install base is still over a million. What do you really expect from wii software?

The software is moving, its just not the software that you or I have much interest in*, which is from lack of effort by 3rd parties to court us, rather than lack of sales. RE4, RE:UC have demonstrated a fairly sizable interest in our type of gaming, yet not much has followed. Tales of Symphonia 2 and Monster Hunter 3 are on their way to shore up 3rd party (hopefully) quality support, Okami has been ported over as well, which I've never played.


I'm really interested to see how Spielberg's game is going to do, looks really fun, but doesn't seem like something you'd be interested in.


Unfortunately, I'm guessing that it will be Nintendo alone again this generation, with party games and port ups from 3rd parties ps2/psp games, even after the wii's base is larger than the 360 and ps3's combined. Luckily for wii owners, it seems like Nintendo has a much better plan this go-around than it did in the Cube generation, softwarewise, in the event of 3rd party lack of support.




*I have a much higher tolerance for wii games than you, obviously, and own quite a few games that you would find terrible, no doubt.

[asleepathewheel]

3rd party in action?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4680562&page=1

[Verto]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel


Wii software has been selling on par with 360 software since december, even excluding wii play, which is fairly remarkable considering the gap in install base is still over a million. What do you really expect from wii software?

I'm expecting Wii's flagship titles to sell a lot more copies than they are, given the limited game library. But, this once again goes back to the 360's attach rate, which is considerably higher than PS3 or Wii.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Verto


I'm expecting Wii's flagship titles to sell a lot more copies than they are, given the limited game library. But, this once again goes back to the 360's attach rate, which is considerably higher than PS3 or Wii.

Yeah I agree, but I make the following points:

1. The wii flagship titles you are referring to have sold already/will sell more than their gc or immediate predecessors. ex Galaxy has outsold sunshine in 6 mos vs xyears. Zelda has outsold windwaker. brawl is going to blow right past melee. I expect at the end of the generation, they will have well exceeded their cube counterparts, especially considering that demand for the console is apparently nowhere near being satiated.

2. The library is limited in genres that you and I prefer, but clearly there are other games being purchased in disturbing quantities, ie carnival games. Apparently to many purchasers of the more casual demographic, the library is not so limited.

Whether that is a good or bad thing, depends on your pov. To me, since I have both a 360 and a wii, I don't care if shovelware sells like mad, since it insures nintendo massive profitibility and thusly I get another Zelda or Metroid or Kid Icarus (expected to drop in the fall)-I have a 360 to fill in the gaps. realistically, I only expect 5-10 AAA must have games, and a slew of b-b+games to throw into the collection, to mix metaphors a bit. I'm more than pleased with the wii offerings thus far, I'll be up to ~16-18 or perhaps even 20 by the end of the summer-quite a few of those were purchased for my wife's benefit, ie mysims, mario/sonic olympics, ddr, etc.

[DrSpike]

From a more practical perspective I'm still um'ing and ah'ing about the Wii. There are a few games I want to play, but not that many. It's not like I can't afford it so I'll probably cave at some point, but there's still a voice inside me saying that the Wii isn't good value (you can get a 360 here now for about the same) and there aren't enough games to justify a purchase.

[asleepathewheel]

Yeah, its far easier to justify the purchase when you have a wife or kids with divergent interests.

As a single guy, there isn't that much that is tremendously compelling to justify the initial purchase. I would be more than content with my 360 and DS, but the wii has its benefits around my apartment....my wife loves brawl and umbrella chronicles.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon


And the PS3 is now selling more than the 360 in the US for the last two months in a row.

Where are you now?

The 360's outselling the PS3 again without any new hot-selling exclusive games. As I'd said, the PS3 got a sales bump from Bluray after HD DVD died and now that bump is dying out.

The 360 is actually selling almost twice as much in March 08 than March 07, at similar price points.

That's a feat, IMO. Sony's been hacking at the price since launch and it still can't catch up.

Meanwhile, MS is going to spend equal amounts of money marketing GTA4 for Xbox 360 than they did Halo 3...

People still aren't buying PS3 games.

[flash9286]

The 360 is actually selling almost twice as much in March 08 than March 07, at similar price points.

Uh, it is selling more than it did in March 07 but no where near twice that amount.

[DrSpike]

I see Asher apologised faster than usual this time.

Welcome back.

[Asher]

Originally posted by flash9286


Uh, it is selling more than it did in March 07 but no where near twice that amount.

Well, that's what skimming numbers will do for you.

March 07: 199,000
March 08: 262,000

[Asher]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I see Asher apologised faster than usual this time.

Welcome back.

You should've seen the PMs. They wanted a lengthy, Locutus-esque apology but I negotiated it down to the half-hearted one liner that we stuck with.

[DrSpike]

I don't believe you - post the PMs.

[Asher]

They are too vile to post.

I WILL NOT BE TRICKED BY A EUROPEAN.

[DrSpike]

So close.