Console Wars V

[DrSpike]

CivRev is awful by the way so don't play that Verto. I can see the case for a DS version but if you're at home just play Civ4 on the PC.

[asleepathewheel]

I'm going to echo the civrev comments. Its mediocre at best. I have the full version, 360. meh. on the go, I could definitely see it being fun, and I'd rather use stylus controls than use a directional pad. (assuming that's how the ds controls)

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
Fun for LOTM: How many third party Wii titles in the top? How many 360?

3 for the greatest game machine of all time to 1 for the the six month fad.

Fun for Asher, plot the change in either A. the ratio of 3rd party sales on the 360 to those on the Wii over time, or B. The ratio of 3rd party sales on the Wii to 1st party sales on the Wii.

For even more fun, do a time series analysis of either ratio, using either a simple ARIMA model, or toss in the ration of installed bases as an independent variable.

The fun really never ends, does it?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Fun for Asher: by how much did the Wii win the hardware stakes this month? And overall?

even more fun, which HD console won the hardware stakes this month, and YTD?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
No reason at all to get CivRev for 360; it just doesn't have very much depth. On the DS, however, it's perfect.

so a not very good Civrev still makes #10 on the console chart. I know this season is slow, but that doesnt really argue for TBS as a dead niche genre, does it?

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


even more fun, which HD console won the hardware stakes this month, and YTD?

The one that has half as many consoles in the US as the 360 and is selling well as MS drags its feat on real pricecuts. The PS3 and the 360 are basically identically priced right now, which doesn't work in the 360's favour with the PS3 having Bluray.

Did you know that PS3 weekly sales actually fell 36% since last month and 360 sales went up 20%? It's amazing that kind of insight I can get from NPD when I actually think and analyze.

You're way too superficial.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
3 for the greatest game machine of all time to 1 for the the six month fad.

Fun for Asher, plot the change in either A. the ratio of 3rd party sales on the 360 to those on the Wii over time, or B. The ratio of 3rd party sales on the Wii to 1st party sales on the Wii.

Why is that fun? I've already noted 3rd party sales on Wii have increased, it helps that they've simply got larger user bases to sell to but it also helps that Wii games are cheaper and the people who own Wiis are notably more likely to be classified as "complete retards". The fact is, Wii's third party sales are still lacking compared to the 360's, notably so.

The statistics I saw last week is the average third-party game sells twice as much on the 360 compared to the Wii. Considering that the average third-party game on the 360 is also priced higher, as a publisher that interests me more.

[Asher]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Fun for Asher: by how much did the Wii win the hardware stakes this month? And overall?

The Wii is selling amazingly well, that isn't news and it isn't fun. There's still a remarkable pile of **** games for it that pisses me off to no end. I'm genuinely concerned that Nintendo's going to turn off more people from gaming in the long-term because people won't play genuinely good games because they're scarred from the superficial piles of crap like Wii Sports and Cooking Mama. Nintendo is marginalizing game quality for a quick buck, and I hate that.

"Fun" indeed.

Some charts courtesy of the actual intelligent people are Beyond3D.



Weekly sales compared to last month:

Wii: +4% from 133k/week in June to 138k/week in July
Xbox 360: +16% 44k/week in June to 51k/week in July
PS3: -31% 81k/week in June to 56k/week in July

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Asher
The fact is, Wii's third party sales are still lacking compared to the 360's, notably so.

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/npd-wii-thirdparty-games-really-do-sell/?biz=1

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter decided to give us his take in an email: "Year-to-date (which I think is more relevant than lifetime), third parties have sold 13.4 million units of software for the Wii and 16.5 million units for the 360. That's NPD, and U.S. only. My guess is that the numbers are much closer to the same if we include Europe, and much higher for Wii if we go worldwide."

So, in other words, despite the fairly large userbase differential that was only overcome in June after record levels of wii sales, the difference in third party sales between the two consoles since January is essentially due to one game, Grand Theft Auto IV.

[Asher]

So, in other words, despite the fairly large userbase differential that was only overcome in June after record levels of wii sales, the difference in third party sales between the two consoles since January is essentially due to one game, Grand Theft Auto IV.

It was not "overly large" in the new year, the Wii was close by the end of December.

Additionally, GTA4 is basically the only "major" game to have come out on the 360 since Christmas. You know as well as I do, but are intentionally leaving this out, that the prime time for "core gamers" to buy games (and for these games to be released) is in the 4th quarter.

The Wii, catering to clueless mothers and geriatric grandmothers, sells shovelware year-round. There's a reason why Nintendo and even Pachter are framing this in "year to date" or "X months since console launch" figures, and that's because it's tells the story they want to tell.

Where are the numbers for the "last 12 months" vs "year to date", I'll tell you how different they'll be...

No, the third party sales gap between the 360 and Wii will grow even more by the end of the year as the "big games" come out for the 360 now.

[asleepathewheel]

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Asher

Some charts courtesy of the actual intelligent people are Beyond3D.



Weekly sales compared to last month:

Wii: +4% from 133k/week in June to 138k/week in July
Xbox 360: +16% 44k/week in June to 51k/week in July
PS3: -31% 81k/week in June to 56k/week in July

That doesn't seem the right interpretation unless there is a reason that one months worth of downturn represents a strong trend. And it's from a healthy spike up the month before.

The more balanced take is that the PS3 sales have been consistently on a par with or better than the 360 over 2008 - which is interesting.

[DrSpike]

more on pricing

I noticed earlier this weekend that here in the UK you can now get a pre-order 60GB 360 Premium (no games) for pretty much the same price as a Wii.

Now the Wii gets an overly bad rap here from some, but there's no way in hell I am buying one until the price difference reflects the hardware a little better. On Wii release it was £180 (with Sports) versus £280 or so (with a game) for the 360. And I still bought the 360 around that time.

Looks like Nintendo has been so popular they don't need price cuts to keep the sales going. Whereas the 360 and the PS3 continue a price war that must be painful for both, because they are direct competitors.

More evidence of Nintendo's genius I think.

[DrSpike]

Btw anyone have figures on loss (or profit if they are scraping some) per unit for MS and Sony?

[asleepathewheel]

wow, civ rev for 360 is terrible, why I didn't try the demo that I downloaded, I don't know. I guess I didn't expect that the only customizations on startup would be civ and difficulty, and those complaints are just the tip of the iceberg on this one. grrr.