PS3 release schedule sucks the big one...

[Mr. Analog]

Nintendo is less competition now then the PS2 was in the last generation.

How do you gather that? Nintendo has gotten a lot more media attention and nearly as many units sold as the 360 in under a year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#System_sales
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7224&Itemid=2

I think there's a fairly healthy competition being waged these days between Microsoft and Nintendo!

That's right "it's just a fad"... or is it?

[Shayne]

I don't think its a fad at all and I dont see an end to the console sales.  But I also see them as different target markets.  Wii applies to more the casual and younger audience for the most parts where as the 360 appeals to a more mature and media-centric audience.  They both play games sure, but their is no Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc on the Nintendo but their is also no Mario and Zelda on the 360.

Getting more consoles into homes Im not sure crowns a winner, goes a long way, but its ultimately down to software and Nintendo just doesnt have it.

[Thorin]

Oh I know.  The one stat that I heard a while back is that Blu-ray and HD DVD had sold a combined since their release that is less then the amount of copies 300 on SD DVD sold in its first week.  Its pretty crappy.

It might be just a matter of time.  I try to buy my new dvds in HD DVD as the quality is just astounding.

And you qualify as one of those techies that Internet commenter was referring to.  I even do, somewhat (I at least have optical digital hookup from the DVD player to the receiver).  But the point is that so many other people out there are not techies and won't bother buying either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, and therefore won't require either.  So to hope or suggest that the PS3 sells well because it has a built-in Blu-Ray player for cheap seems to me to be false hope.

Off-topic: Wow, lots of posting today

[Shayne]

If HD DVD or Blu-ray can get a hi-def player into the $199 area I could see the sales come.  Its not a $30 DVD player like you can get at Wal-Mart but its at that price thats at least accessible.  My first DVD player was my Xbox.

[Thorin]

Wii applies to more the casual and younger audience for the most parts where as the 360 appeals to a more mature and media-centric audience.  They both play games sure, but their is no Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc on the Nintendo but their is also no Mario and Zelda on the 360.

Do Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles or Medal of Honour: Vanguard or Call of Duty 3 compare somewhat to Halo 3, Mass Effect, or Bioshock?  I haven't played any of them, but they all appear to be similar genres.  How about others on the list, like Battalion Wars II or Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 or Red Steel or Splinter Cell: Double Agent or Manhunt 2?

Wii has a surprisingly large number of T and M rated titles for it supposedly being the kid console.

[Melbosa]

Off-topic: Wow, lots of posting today

OOT: Yeah and its all my fault , and one by Shayne/Lazy a piece

[Mr. Analog]

I don't think its a fad at all and I dont see an end to the console sales. 

Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound like I was directing at you. I apologize

But I also see them as different target markets.  Wii applies to more the casual and younger audience for the most parts where as the 360 appeals to a more mature and media-centric audience.  They both play games sure, but their is no Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc on the Nintendo but their is also no Mario and Zelda on the 360.

Now, I've heard this argument before and I have to disagree (and I used to support the belief that there was clear market segregation). I think peoples' perception of Nintendo's library of games as being purely "kids stuff" is largely a stereotype. To say that the library doesn't offer more "mature" content because of some strategic focus or that Nintendo isn't in direct competition with Microsoft for video game dominance is probably naive.

Getting more consoles into homes Im not sure crowns a winner, goes a long way, but its ultimately down to software and Nintendo just doesnt have it.

Ok, then I suppose I'm a bit confused about your earlier post claiming the Wii is "less competitive" against the 360 than the PS2 was against the XBox. Mindshare is a difficult thing to measure, but if there are more console owners of one kind than another there is a clear market advantage. Having market dominance is what crowns a console as a "winner" to me.

Perhaps in a year when we see what level of establishment each console carves out it will be clearer and the importance of market share may be more apparent.

[Mr. Analog]

If HD DVD or Blu-ray can get a hi-def player into the $199 area I could see the sales come.  Its not a $30 DVD player like you can get at Wal-Mart but its at that price thats at least accessible.  My first DVD player was my Xbox.

Well, a bit OT but I'll say this much, I honestly think that hi-def disc media hit the market too soon and may end up as an evolutionary dead end as far as media goes. Talking to Thorin here in the office I drew similarities between Laserdisc and the current push for HD DVDs. For those who can recall (Mags?) Laserdisc was also a "better" format, digital sound, quality picture, no rewinding etc. The trouble was, at the time VHS was "good enough" for most people with their 27" tv sets and no one really saw value into buying into a more expensive format.

IF HD / Blu-Ray DVD sticks around long enough for Joe Average to have purchased Hi-Def televisions we may see a shift but there isn't any kind of market-driven need for upgrading. We will probably see what we did in the 90s; almost glacial acceptance of digital video and even a few dead ends (DivX set top box). It's just not a "gotta-have-it" thing yet.

[Thorin]

Right now Wii has almost caught up to Xbox360 (according to nexgenwars.com).  If the current rate of sale continues, Wii will be 40%+ ahead of Xbox360 by this time next year.  By then we may very well see EA do more Wii/DS-exclusive games like Playground.  If Wii gets a decent number of exclusives, would that convince you that it's competitive as you define the word "competitive"?

[Mr. Analog]

Right now Wii has almost caught up to Xbox360 (according to nexgenwars.com).  If the current rate of sale continues, Wii will be 40%+ ahead of Xbox360 by this time next year.  By then we may very well see EA do more Wii/DS-exclusive games like Playground.  If Wii gets a decent number of exclusives, would that convince you that it's competitive as you define the word "competitive"?

Well, even with the crop of killer apps ready for the Wii's Christmas season I'm relatively sure that Wii sales will drop off (as will XBox 360s). Whether that rate is a constant between the two should be interesting.

All I know is this; the PS3 is done like dinner.

Maybe next year I'll be eating those words, but I strongly doubt it at this point in time.

[Shayne]

If you sell 100,000,000 consoles but only 200,000,000 games is that better then 30,000,000 consoles and 240,000,000 games?  Im not so sure it is.  Looks pretty equal to me.  Maybe it isn't, I'm not a market analyst.  It just seems to me that if people are buying up Wii's for Wii Sports (bundled) is that really market dominance?

These forums actually support my market segregation argument.  Melbosa, Cova, Druid, AdamS and myself are all sporting Xbox 360s for the hardcore games with lots of graphics and gameplay.  Dare I say the hardcore gamers.  Tonnica, MrA, Throin (not sure who else) have Wii, the less hardcore and people with families.  Lazy has a Wii as well, but is looking at a 360 when a few games he is looking forward to arrive.

I'm sure their is overlap in the marketplace.  much like a ven diagram.  its not like owning one takes you out of the market for the other.

As for mature games, Im sure they do exist, but quality over quantity is what Im after.  Red Steel is not quality, CoD3 isnt bad but with CoD4 dropping in a couple weeks (not on Wii as far as I know), Resident Evil the real one will be on 360 not a zapper game.  Thorin goes on to list a bunch of other games that are cross platform as well.

I could be wrong, I just feel sorry for those that are so closed to a second console and praise the Wii for Mario and Zelda that they are missing out on the masterpieces that are Bioshock, Final Fantasy, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect, Halo, etc.  Different strokes for different folks, but getting excited for Zelda 15 is a little hard.

[Shayne]

Well, even with the crop of killer apps ready for the Wii's Christmas season I'm relatively sure that Wii sales will drop off (as will XBox 360s). Whether that rate is a constant between the two should be interesting.

Like Mario Galaxies..and?  With Smash Brothers being delayed till next year it doesnt look so good on the Wii to be honest.  Nothing compared to what its going to be on PS3 and 360

[Melbosa]

I think the Wii has the potential to outstretch the 360 save the High Def content.  But at this point, as a general rule the Wii focus is barely teens and lower or family/party functions.  The 360 focus is home media center and teen through adult content.  This doesn't mean either console doesn't have software or features specific to the others focus, far from it.  But as such is sales enough to justify a win?  Is there enough of a diversity in market focus to compare sales in equality?  There may be, there may not, I'm not sure.

Could price margin be a factor?  360 is more pricey than the Wii, yet yields more powerful hardware in terms of graphics and computing.  Not to say the Wii isn't capable of attaining to a certain degree the features of the 360 media center, or the 360 implementing some type of interactive controller system.  Is competitive being most sales or best bang for power purchase or more of what works for the focus market?  Is success=competitiveness in this?  Again just asking the question.

In either case, I think the looser of the game is the PS3.  The feature set that unit brings to the table is somewhere inbetween the Wii and the 360 but does neither as good as the originals.  Will Home from Sony be their breakthrough feature?  If Blue-ray wins the HD wars (should there not be the whole LaserDisc thing again), will that revive the PS3 sales? Time will tell.  

[Melbosa]

These forums actually support my market segregation argument.  Melbosa, Cova, Druid, AdamS and myself are all sporting Xbox 360s for the hardcore games with lots of graphics and gameplay.  Dare I say the hardcore gamers.  Tonnica, MrA, Throin (not sure who else) have Wii, the less hardcore and people with families.  Lazy has a Wii as well, but is looking at a 360 when a few games he is looking forward to arrive.

Hey I have a PS3 too

[Shayne]

You're obviously a witch! Burn him!