140°

What Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo Don't Get

Don Reisinger:

"Each other. Too simple? After seeing yesterday's NPD numbers and hearing about them from all the companies, each has their own spin on what went down last month. Nintendo (rightfully so) chose to gloat about how well the Wii is selling. According to NPD, the Wii outsold the 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP during April. Even better for the company, it held the number two spot in hardware sales with its DS platform.

On the other hand, Microsoft chose to discuss how well its platform has done so far and explained to me that its 10.1 million units sold mark is a major milestone for the company because the first console in each generation to hit 10 million units sold in the US has won the console war. When asked if it should be worried about Nintendo, Microsoft said it doesn't see Nintendo as a competitor. When asked if it should be worried about Sony, the representative said it's not worried at all and the company believes it's in the best possible position right now.

Finally, we move to Sony. The company was barely beaten in hardware sales by Microsoft -- a mere 900 unit margin separated the two companies -- and it did relatively well in software sales. That said, it only captured 35 percent of GTA IV sales, which the company attributes to a smaller installed base. Of course, a more logical notion suggests the robust online component included in the Xbox 360 version was the main reason. Regardless, it contends that it's coming on strong and can win the console war.

And as I examined what each company had to say about the numbers, it became quite obvious that not one understands the other."
BIoodmask - contributor
Published: 594 days 12 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii
 
 

Showing: 1 - 21 of 21 Comments
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chaosatom333 - 594 days 13 hours ago
1 - "sony hasn't realized the online component"
It has, that's why it's doing in-game communication, trophies, Utube integration with games, and home.

It's taking them time, yeah sure, but they have realized it.

Plus, they have comes miles ahead in the online component compared to what ps2 offered.
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Superfragilistic - 594 days 12 hours ago
1.1 -
Whilst what you state is correct in terms of Sony getting its online act together the statement is correct as nothing has been "realized" (ie. exists) at this point in time. Just semantics.
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sidar - 594 days 12 hours ago
1.2 -
" It's taking them time, yeah sure, but they have realized it."
Same can be said about Nintendo's online system....but untill then WE SHALL SEE?

also what ^ he said about "realized"
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segasage - 594 days 11 hours ago
1.3 - well really the TERM chaosatom333
is looking for is called Smoke & Mirrors.

something all too familiar with sony and yet after a year still can't get that online aspect on lock with every game and as well that HOME bs, let alone in-game XMB.

im sure a lot of that was part of the issue, with the gta4 sales. plus wasn't there more pre-orders or something but the numbers didn't look so hot, if u ask me.

these are the games that are suppose to be pushing sony's console, the fact it is big with its name. after all sony big guns if they have little effect in NA then its gonna be a long ride. well see in may.
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blindfromthesun - 594 days 11 hours ago
1.4 - chaosatom333, good point, however
There is something called too little too late. The day PS3 has all the online features of Xbox 360 (as it is today) I will be quite happy. I love my PS3 but I spend far more time on my 360. It has flawless online execution and a "community" as vivid and lively as any online blog. I feel that Home will turn out great but should have already been implemented; everyone has been waiting and let down more than once. With that said, I expect the Xbox to continue to innovate and improve its online service Live. What the PS3 does well is hold on to key exclusives like MGS4 and Final Fantasy; you simply can't get many of the best third party exclusive games on Xbox. Also, I use my PS3 as my one and only blu-ray player; Netflix upgrades any movie choice to blu-ray if available and I'm loving it. Nintendo I feel is the hardest to account for. Their strategy is brutally efficient: target everyone that doesn't traditionally game and make the interface simple and intuitive. You can't say that Nintendo doesn't cater to the hardcore crowd either. I will admit that I'm addicted to Mario Kart Wii and to a lesser extent Super Smash Bros Brawl. I have two examples that put the success of Wii into perspective: #1 my fiance' who used to casually play a game of tetris or hexic once a month asks me to play Mario Kart everyday. #2 my grandpa who is 84 has a Wii (who asked me for months to buy him one)and plays Wii Sports with his grandchildren; also part of his daily workout. I don't understand the universal appeal of the Wii considering hardcore games generally appeal to me more, but Nintendo seems to be courting the non-gamer crowd very well. They aren't particularly concerned about either Xbox or PS3; the sales figures speak for themselves. Neither of the two "next gen" consoles will ever approach 700,000 units per month unless it is the holiday season. My thoughts are kind of eclectic but I just thought I would share. I think all three consoles do quite a few things right and have individual appeal. There is a reason to own all three.
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Max Power - 594 days 9 hours ago
1.5 - to "smoke and mirrors" and "too little too late"
Here is one you didn't say. "Better late than never." at least sony is doing something about it, and so far i have heard nada from nintendo.
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neogeo - 594 days 12 hours ago
2 - .
If I had to bet my life on a winner it would still be Sony. not because I'm a fanboy they just have more to gain.

Sony will watch MGS4 sales and then decide if they want to drop the price to $299.99

Socom will sell far more then what people understand.

A bluray pricecut and some LOTR's and Star wars will help for Sure.

I have a big bet on home. Home will be 100 times bigger then people think. more casusal gamers don't even know into the games hit first, then they tell there friends, then they buy it.
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KeiZka - 593 days 17 hours ago
2.1 -
If they again drop the price statewise but not europewise... Argh. 450e is still too damn much. For those out there who are unaware of conversion rates, it's almost $675 still... Insane.
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Superfragilistic - 594 days 12 hours ago
3 - I think the article takes too much PR as fact.
Sony knows they have to improve their online (hence Home) and third party publisher relations (Kaz admitted last week they got off on the wrong foot at the PS3's expense).

Microsoft, which if the strong rumours about motion controls are true along with the move to a more diverse first party software range, have clearly indicated through their actions (not so much their words) that they know they have to challenge the Wii for the casual market.

As for Nintendo? Well it's hard to tell. They still seem to be drumming their own beat and WiiFit will only make that louder. Are they actively improving relations with, and quality of, third party developers? I can't be sure. But given their large install base and the reinvigoration of EA and Ubisoft, in particular, to develop original titles for the Wii they may not have to.
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neogeo - 594 days 12 hours ago
4 - Online?
Last time I check PS3 online games have no LAG at all. True that live has better options but, LAG is something I hate and live has problems with there p2p network.

Most people that talk about Sony's online have never even tried it. I wont even bring up the free thing lets look at the games:

RFOM has 40 people in room games and run PERFECTLY.

Warhawk is arguably the best online game EVER MADE!

MGS4 is pure bliss online and will be huge.
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OOG - 594 days 7 hours ago
4.1 -
i must disagree with most of the things you said....

40 people in a game isnt anything extraordinary...hell pc has had this for ever??? lol and bigger is not always better.....

Warhawk is a good online game but best ever...um no....doesnt compare to Battlefield games for the pc and hell doesnt have close to the following of game like halo 2 and what not back in the day....its a fun game but not the best.....thats just too bold of a claim...

And LOTR and Star Wars mayb increase the sales of blu ray movies but highly doubt it making a major impact on the sales of systems...due to the fact these titles have new versions every few years now....especially the over done star wars
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edonus - 594 days ago
4.2 - Also remember Psn has nobody on it.....
Another thing, Lag is actually an affect of game design. Alot of ppl dont know this but I will begin to spread it. When a dev makes a game the things they do wil dictate the notice of lag. See some games are easy to adjust so lag doesnt affect them. Football games for instance, passig the ball is a push of the button then it adjust til the ball is in the area of the receiver. Its like a calculating auto pilot. Basketball traditionally much harder because its based on split second timing so 1 second of lag will throw the shot that you make 90% of the time offline off. Fps shooters have been almost perfected, they are designed so you dont feel the lag at all.

Example : in Gears 1 ppl complained about lag, that was their 1st time with a tps and they made the online to split second dynamic, you could actually see the delay from your controller to what was happening on screen sometime, like shoot the wall count 1, 2 then the explosion hits it ( that didnt happen all the time it ran perfect 90% of the time). Halo 3 does it differently so it seems like it lags less when in actuality the it just doesnt effect the gameplay because its built a little more forgiving (just about all FPS are the same way including Resistance). When H3 has a bad connection and it has to be real bad there a skip, like hes here one second then over there the next. This is why Gears 2 will seem to have less lag than the first. All of the Ps3 title online are less dynamically designed than Gears and there are less PPL on them, thats why you hear Ps3 fanboys saying there is no lag (well... there is nobody playing).

OH yeah..... Warhawk best online ever made.....not even in the top 30 maybe even fifty if youre talking all games. If youre talking consoles not even in the top 20-15. Its on par with Shadowrun, not saying its bad but not in the tops.
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Brainiac 8 - 594 days 12 hours ago
5 - Interesting...
Good article I think. There is too much mud flinging and sillyness this generation from the companies and gamers.

Good read though.
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jackdoe - 594 days 11 hours ago
6 -
Ugh. This guy is the same dumbass who said Sega should launch a new console. I don't take anything this guy says seriously anymore.
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aliveinboston - 594 days 11 hours ago
7 - Another clown
Yet another clown making a fool of himself online:

"Finally, we move to Sony. The company was barely beaten in hardware sales by Microsoft -- a mere 900 unit margin separated the two companies -- and it did relatively well in software sales. That said, it only captured 35 percent of GTA IV sales, which the company attributes to a smaller installed base. Of course, a more logical notion suggests the robust online component included in the Xbox 360 version was the main reason."

Study your arithmetic Reisinger, the more logical notion really is the smaller installed base. Obviously this guy thinks 288k:287k ratio is a better way to judge GTA IV attach rate than the total installed base.
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kingme71 - 594 days 11 hours ago
8 -
What companies say in their PR speak and what they say behind closed doors are totally different. All the things the author mentions that these companies don't have a clue about are shortcomings these companies are all well aware of but choose not to make public. If you listen to any of the 3 companies PR speak, they all think they will be the winner.

Sony knows it needs better online, but it making sure Home is done right and not something they want to rush to market.

Nintendo knows it has poor 3rd party sales and I'm sure they are doing what they can to improve that.

MS knows Sony is snapping at their heels, why do you think they are cutting prices all over the world.

Both Sony and MS no matter how they choose to spin it, can't do anything to downplay the beating they are getting from Nintendo so they choose to just ignore them as a competitor, at least in the public eye, yet they are scrambling to make motion sensitive controls and come up with more casual games.

It's rather useless to talk to the execs in these companies. You pretty much know what answers you are going to get from them, why bother.
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AclayPS3 - 594 days 11 hours ago
9 -
The PS3 may not have as much 3rd party support as the Xbox 360, but the Fact remains that the PS3 and Sony has MORE 1st Party Gaming Studios developing games.

People don't buy game consoles for 3rd party games, they buy them for First Party Game titles and Exclusives. Sony has bigger and better upcoming Exclusives than Microsoft does:

Killzone 2
Gran Turismo 5
Socom Confrontation
Resistance 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy versus XIII
Wardevil
Motorstorm 2
God of War 3
The Getaway 3
LittleBigPlanet
White Knight Chronicles and more.

Can someone tell me how the Heck Microsoft plans on competing with Sony with that impressive list of announced list of Exclusive games for 2008 and 2009? The Xbox 360 is in trouble because the First Party Publishing from Microsoft can't compete and they can't keep up.

The ONLY thing that is holding back PS3 sales is the fact that Sony hasn't even released a System Seller game yet. Once the PS3's system seller games start rolling out, Playstation 3 console sales will soar. Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the first Exclusive PS3 System Seller game, and I wonder what Microsoft will have to say about PS3 sales in June's NPD sales results after the PS3 outsells the Xbox 360.

The PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 worldwide despite the fact that the PS3 had "NO GAMES", was more expensive and hasn't had a highly anticipated game title out. Xbox 360 console sales will start to level off while PS3 console sales will start to rise as the PS3's anticipated games are released.
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ip-student - 594 days 11 hours ago
9.1 - I suspect it will pretty close in June
MS also has this little known exclusive coming out - another one of those hardcore gamer titles that people enjoy.

Frankly, I don't see Sony having as much of an advantage as I expected in the area of exclusive games (in part because of the PC/360 connection). Of course, you may not consider those exclusive games but since I couldn't play them on my PC (not enough juice) they are defacto exclusives for me.

In my mind the biggest thing going for Sony is bluray because when I look at each game for the PS3 I see comparable games on the xbox 360. And that makes it tough to really argue you need to buy the PS3 instead of the xbox 360. Sure MGS is special but if there are two or three other stealth action titles then it is not like you have to have MGS to play stealth-action. In other words, other than bluray it is basically a tie - IMO - when it comes to games (and third party games often look better on the 360 because it is easier to optimize). So I don't think either console is going to pull away from the other right now.
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fredy - 594 days 10 hours ago
9.2 - "Can someone tell me how the Heck Microsoft plans on competing with Sony with that impressive list "
Siimple the list is not so impressive..

you have 2 big franchises that are gaurenteed to sell

another on the ps2 sold like 3 million with 120 million users out there

the rest is fluff, not yet proven IP and mediocre games.
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Douchebaggery - 594 days 10 hours ago
10 - What a joke.
So many words and yet he said nothing.
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f789790 - 594 days 3 hours ago
11 - I'll say it once more
NOBODY WILL LOSE THE WAR THIS GEN!!!
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