Console Wars: The Clone Wars

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
We're talking about the big picture here, very obviously. Whether some niche game still sells a paltry amount -- but relatively more in one market or another -- has no bearing on the gaming community at large. It's time for a scope check, LOTM.

yes, and if my argument hung on Paradox alone it would be silly. That was simply an example of a much larger tendency thats been widely noted elsewhere.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Id like to revisit the assertion that Germans buy PS3s out of anti-American feeling.

They don't. The Germans are normal. The Xbox is a North American thing, and most of the anti-Sony and anti-Japanese prejudice emanates from NA. Most people outside NA could not see the point of buying something other than a Playstation. They still can't. That's why the PS3 is outpacing the 360 in cumulative sales from launch. North American sales are the only thing holding the 360 up. It is getting spanked elsewhere (and absolutely raped in Japan).

But it no longer matters. The Xbox 360 has peaked and is now on a slow decline. Microsoft actually shipped fewer 360s in 2007 than it had in the year before. They actually cheated by flooding the channel in late 2006 just to get up to the magic 10 million number. But they didn't sell, so retailers spent a lot of 2007 getting rid of the old inventory. They've been juggling different numbers (shipped and sales) to hide this unpleasant fact. However, some people have noticed that it doesn't add up.

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/02/rothbarts-rant-80-microsoft-screwed-up.html

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/01/31/video-game-consoles-2007-wii-ps3-and-the-death-of-microsofts-xbox-360/

Microsoft's bet was to rush their console to market first and hope that they could build up enough momentum so that they could do to the PS3 what Sony had done to them with the PS2. That's why they promised to ship 10 million in 2006 - to create an aura of inevitability.

It hasn't worked. The result has simply been billions of dollars spent, a console with huge reliability problems (a 33% failure rate is commonly mentioned), expensive online option, heat problems that make the fan run so loud that it is useless as a media centre, and now a console that has no HD optical drive option (and if it eventually gets a blu ray add on, it will still be more expensive than Sony's technically superior machine).

The blu ray victory is simply the obvious tipping point. You have to laugh.

[DrSpike]

It's a boost I'd say - but the PS3 still has to prove it can bring on the games and have them sell. That's not true at the moment.

MGS4 sales later this year will be an interesting stat.

[Asher]

Microsoft's bet was to rush their console to market first and hope that they could build up enough momentum so that they could do to the PS3 what Sony had done to them with the PS2. That's why they promised to ship 10 million in 2006 - to create an aura of inevitability.

It hasn't worked.

Really -- why is the install base for the 360s so much larger, and why is it that no one is buying games for the PS3?

I remember when you were pitching Warhawk as a better game than Halo 3 on here, how much fun it was, etc. Total lifetime sales to date of that game -- a very hyped, much publicized game -- are 380,000 compared to Halo 3's at 7,200,000.

The Xbox 360 may be many things, but to say MS strategy in getting the 360 to market and dominating that market "didn't work" is to ignore reality. MS is still in the drivers seat in the most important region, long-Sony exclusive developers have been jumping ship, and the PS3 is playing catchup. PS3's catchup is working in Japan and Germany, but is this any surprise -- the Xbox 1 bombed there too, for whatever reason they don't buy the same consoles.

By far the most important market is North America, and its North America where the PS3 has no hope of catching up. Since launch, it's only fallen further behind.

Look at the weekly sales. Devil May Cry, a HUGE PS-exclusive game series, was put on the 360 as well as the PS3 due to poor PS3 sales. And the results?

XB360 DMC4: 138,000 copies
PS3 DMC4: 84,000 copies
(XB360 COD4: 76,362) -- yes, COD4 for 360 almost outsold DMC4's debut on the PS3

"It didn't work"

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by Asher

I remember when you were pitching Warhawk as a better game than Halo 3 on here, how much fun it was, etc. Total lifetime sales to date of that game -- a very hyped, much publicized game -- are 380,000 compared to Halo 3's at 7,200,000.

I have gotta be missing all this hype and whatnot. Never have seen one thing on Warhawk outside of a dedicated PS3 place.

Halo had some of the best commercials for any game ever to come out. Running constantly. With product promotions on the likes of Mountain Dew and probably others I'm forgetting.

In fact, I'ld say one of the problems with the PS3 has been a lack of hyping up it's games.

The only exclusive GAME I can recall seeing even advertised to the mass market, not a dedicated gaming arena, is Ratchet and Clank.

They might have existed, but they have been unremarkable if they have.

Yeah, they had those ugly PS3 commercials that would show clips from various games, but that was a commercial for the PS3 itself and also typically included blueray movies into the add, no single game has really been hyped up to the masses.

Xbox had that gorgeous Halo 3 marketing campaign, and a couple others recently that I don't recall the name of. Their marketting department knows their stuff.

[asleepathewheel]

Lost Odyssey has a pretty good commercial out now, I've seen it on espn a few times.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
[
XB360 DMC4: 138,000 copies
PS3 DMC4: 84,000 copies
(XB360 COD4: 76,362) -- yes, COD4 for 360 almost outsold DMC4's debut on the PS3

I must say though that COD4 is a nice game. I was in Best Buy the other day, and they actually had a PC hooked up with COD4 on it - to sell the hardware I think more than the game - and so I played a bit of COD4. Graphics, story, all good - UI intuitive enough for someone whose experience with FPS is limited to one playthrough of Half Life - I mean I can see why this is a huge seller. Dont know anything about DMC.

[Asher]

UnOrthOdOx: The fact that Warhawk is a run-of-the-mill, online-only game on a system with pathetic online infrastructure also surely factors into its poor sales.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


I must say though that COD4 is a nice game. I was in Best Buy the other day, and they actually had a PC hooked up with COD4 on it - to sell the hardware I think more than the game - and so I played a bit of COD4. Graphics, story, all good - UI intuitive enough for someone whose experience with FPS is limited to one playthrough of Half Life - I mean I can see why this is a huge seller. Dont know anything about DMC.

Yes, we all know COD4 is a good game. The point is COD4 has already sold many millions and is months old and still almost selling as much as the only decent PS3 game out in many months, a franchise that until now was Playstation-only.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by Asher
UnOrthOdOx: The fact that Warhawk is a run-of-the-mill, online-only game on a system with pathetic online infrastructure also surely factors into its poor sales.

I'm just commenting that I don't see it as a "very hyped and well publicized game" CERTAINLY nowhere near the level of Halo.

As I have not played, and will not be playing, either, I'm afraid I cannot comment on the gameplay of either with any authority.


Yes, Lost Odessy, that's the other one I couldn't remember the name of. Great Marketing. Reminds me of the marketing of Final Fantasy VII.

[MJW]

There should be an Asher-Agathon avatar war.

[Asher]

Phil Harrison (SCE Worldwide Studios President) leaves Sony (rumours say, unceremoniously so): http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93374

This comes a few days after an astonishingly frank interview where he was very critical of Sony Japan for resisting his push for "social gaming".

[Asher]

Another PS3 SKU on the way:

80GB with Metal Gear Solid 4 bundled and the Dual Shock 3 ("SIXAXIS" with rumble) @ $499 US

Sony Computer Entertainment America Introduces Metal Gear Solid(R)4: Guns of The Patriots PS3 Bundle Available in Late Q2 2008 in North America

Company Also Announces Limited-Edition God of War(R) PSP(R) Entertainment
Pack and April Availability of DUALSHOCK(R)3 Wireless Controller for North
America

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- At its annual retail and
publisher conference Destination PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment
America (SCEA) announced details of upcoming PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) and
PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable) (PSP-2000) hardware bundles with two of the
most highly anticipated 2008 titles. The company also announced the April
2008 availability of DUALSHOCK(R)3 wireless controller in North America.

To coincide with the much-anticipated North American launch of Metal
Gear Solid(R)4: Guns of the Patriots in late Q2 2008, SCEA will introduce a
PS3 bundle, which will include an 80GB PS3, the upcoming blockbuster Metal
Gear Solid(R)4: Guns of the Patriots and a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller
for $499 (MSRP).

[MJW]

The Xbox might crush the PS (like the ps2 owned the other ones during its time) so badly that I might have to get one. The fact that is the best blu-ray player and had a clear majority in certain markets will stop it from being totally blow out of the water for some time.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MJW
There should be an Asher-Agathon avatar war.

That isn't going to happen. I've had him on ignore for so long I can't remember when I put him on. Apparently, he still gets his girl panties in a twist about it.

Personally, I can't be bothered.