Does Microsoft Have Any System Sellers Next Year? – Step Ya Game Up Podcast Episode 58

Step Ya Game Up Podcast is back from its one week break of Christmas. In today's show we have Blade206, Lex Yayo and WorseCase to bring you some of the latest news in the gaming industry.

- Sony Premium Service Details

- Project Natal Half Life 2 and Geometry Wars Impressions

- Uncharted 2 Game Of The Year ( We were right )

- Halo Reach Will look good for a Xbox360 Title

- Uncharted 2 Co-Op

- Microsoft Having No System Sellers Next Year

- Motion Sensor Future

- As Always we have a step ya game up and much much more

Side Note: We also give out ModNation Racers Beta Codes During the show

[PC_Enthusiast]

You guys are right thr halo fans have already bought their xbox 360 so it isn't a system seller anymore :D

[Sunny_D]

Well, that could be true. That is probably the only game that MS has that sells systems. But, with the majority of Halo fans already owning a 360, that doesn't look like it's going to work even with the big ad campaign.

[mikeslemonade]

The only things that can sell the 360 is price and natal. Great podcast there's a shortage of good video game podcast these days.

[Xi]

alan wake?

and just like COD:MW2 sold consoles I'm sure ME2, Fable 3, and Halo reach will all accomplish something.

[Darkeyes]

@Xi.. Alan Wake won't move 360s, sorry if you are expecting that to happen since there is hardly any hype around the game now and new IPs apart from few like Gears hardly sell consoles... ME2 also isn't gonna move 360s mainly cause the first 1 although sold well (2 million), didn't have much impact in moving consoles.

M$ as usual will bank on Halo and Natal in marketing. Halo won't move much since everyone who wants to play Halo has a 360. Natal might move 360s in NA so that is probably the only big system seller later in the year.

[Blaze929]

Next year? Sheesh, we just got into 2010. You can probably bet Gears of War 3 will hit 2011. If this podcast was created in 2009 then...how can you seriously ask that question when Halo: Reach is coming out 2010? Freaking Halo!?

[Persistantthug]

Because as is, the XBOX 360 has been $199 for like near a year and half.
Those who really wanted an XBOX over a 4 year period, they pretty much all have one. If you wanted to play Halo, you bought an XBOX 360 so REACH may be a great game, but it will sell to it's core audience.

Depending on how Natal is marketed and packaged, maybe it can sell units, but that's the only thing I can see that will gain back the ground that MS is now starting to lose.

We'll see.

[THE MAX SPEED 21]

Xbox360 Dont Even Need Games to Sell Well.

Xbox dint even have a big Lineup of exclusive in 09 and it still Sold a lot. SO whats the point of all this??????????????

I'm pretty sure that Alan wake , SplinterCell , ME2 , Halo Reach , Natal + Its "14" launch title games , Fable3 , Crackdown 2 will keep the xbox360 selling strong this year as well.

And Why do This Title Sound like something HHG would poop out?

[Bungie]

lewl there's Gears, Halo,Natal,Fable, and alot of stuff

the question is will there be any competition ?

[ReservoirDog316]

I wouldn't necessarily say that. I'm looking forward for ME2 and SC C. I would honestly buy a 360 for SC C, if I didn't already have one (love SC).

Plus the looming giant that "could" be: natal.

And Halo Reach. Can't forget that one.

edit: Oh and Alan Wake. So I'm getting at least 3 games (4 is Halo Reach is good) for my 360 this year. I only got one in 2009 (GTA episodes for christmas, L&tD is fun but I'm not sure why but the city has waay less cars than the full GTA IV on the PS3. Just an observation.).

So it's a step up from 2009 for me. That's all I ask.

[Tachyon_Nova]

Yeah I except perhaps a 20% increase in Hardware sales for Halo Reach's release week in NA and UK, but certainly nothing like FFXIII has done for PS3 in Japan. Natal will probably be a hit with new customers, but I can't see many current customers getting it, the market seems all wrong, as 360 is where most of the HC gamers are at allegedly, and Natal seems gimicky. Who knows, we'll have to wait and see. ME, Fable 3 and the next CoD will also give slight sales boosts i'd imagine, but again, nothing major. Biggest system seller will ultimutly be the Christmas holidays though.

[mikeslemonade]

Man... some of you "cats" don't know what a system seller is. The game doesn't even have to be good to sell systems. It just has to reach a new demographic.

No one that doesn't have a 360 is saying "I have to get a 360 for Alan Wake". Uncharted 2 look similair like Alan Wake as far as screen shots and videos, so if anyone was interested in Alan Wake they already bought the PS3 with Uncharted 2.

Natal is the most likely system seller because it's different and Microsoft will market like it is brand new even though the eye toy was the same thing essentially.

Modern Warfare 2 software sales were way better than the system sales. It was also a combination of things with the bundle, black friday, and the price discount of the 360.

Now on PS3 Gran Turismo 5 is a system seller in Europe and in Japan because the casual gamer knows what Gran Turismo is. Like Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy versus 13 will sell systems in Japan.

[ReservoirDog316]

That actually is a good point. Something new to attract new people. Good point.

+bubbles

But I would buy a 360 for SC C if I didn't already have one. So it would've sold a system right?

[mikeslemonade]

No, because you have a 360 already you answered the question yourself. And previous splinter cell games have been on 360 already. The guy waiting for splinter cell conviction already bought a 360 because splinter cell is already on the system. If a new popular franchise that debuts on a system exclusively then that would be a system seller.

[lowcarb]

"- Halo Reach Will look good for a Xbox360 Title"

It will look awesome for any system.

[insomnium]

will rebuy their broken and out of warranty x360 because of teh new Halo game. Halo will sell consoles just like banning a million consoles from live during holiday season+COD:MW2 release. MS knows their target audience. All it takes is to advertize the living sh*t out of it and bam there it is.

[Ninji]

No, but i'm sure that the xbots will post a bunch of multiplats to try and tell us otherwise.

[Udidntlistenpunk]

What do you think.

Alan "going to destroy KZ2 grappixs" Wake?

When they played that Luigi's mansion demo at E3 2009, all you could hear in the room full of xbots was utter silence and embarassment.

Over at the PS3 camp, people were laughing out loud.

"but, but, but the game really really looks good". No, it doesnt. Plain and simple. No, it does not fking xbots. Its an embarassment of a game. OWNED.

Splinter crappy cell? When they showed the first 10 minutes a few weeks ago, all you could hear in the street, was loud laughter. So even 2 years after MGS4, they could not do shiat. It was to be expected. MGS4 was hailed as game of the century. Splinter cell will be known as just another shoddy PC port.

Play the sales biatch. Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy will destroy your sales.

Get on your knees and start fking kowtowing bots. The 360 is inferior in every way.

FLOPza 3. OWNED.

Haha come on BOTS. Wave your hands in the air! Woooo!!! FAILTAL CONFIRMED. Go play geometry wars on FAILTAL. Hahaha

[Udidntlistenpunk]

Dantes inferno - poor mans God of war
Flopza - poor mans Gran turismo
Splinter cell - poor mans Metal gear solid
Lost oddysey - poor mans Final Fantasy
Alan wake - poor mans Luigi mansion? wtf
That other games whose name I forgot - poor mans Infamous
Avatar racing - poor mans modnation racers

Hahaha the facts are right here

[happy_gilmore]

those crap sell at the same price. so it's not a poor man's version; it's just a wannabe.

[Death2494]

it's going to be halo reach. I'm actually buying a 360 for this reason alone......ready to play on this huge MFer'

[Kamikaze135]

The fanboys can be heard from a distance running towards this article =O

[kraze07]

Lol, I have a pretty vivid image in my head of what this looks like.

[deadreckoning666]

I agree with mikeslemonade, but we should wait to see what happens in E3 2010. According to HHG, M$ has something to directly compete with GOW3. For now, Natal, mass marketing, and price will sell the 360 in 2010. Btw, Nogolis, did u just say that only programmed morons play Gears and Halo? Wow, just wow. Why do the hardcore always try to downplay anythg thats popular? Personally, I thk Gears is okay, nothing great, but okay. However, that doesn't give me the right to hate on a person that loves Gears.

[DelbertGrady]

Don't know if it's in direct competition with God of War but I think MS will reveal what Itagaki has been working on.

[Xi]

isn't this just HHG white and nerdy edition.

[acere]

between the banning rrod and other errors .
plus i dont tink they will sell much ,i don't need a 360,none of the games,that require a console for me to have them i like, none. cant really tink of 1

[HurstDarkStar]

*Click click* what was that! clint eastwood: Fanboy's i reckon my god....

[silkrevolver]

... Reach could be a system seller for people like me, whose 360 has died at some point after the warranty expired. I've been thinking about getting another one, considering I still have my whole library of 360 games. maybe ME2 or Alan wake will do it for me.... but I'm not going to buy a system for just 2-3 new games.

[playboi28]

Well, I can respect that. You will be one of the few though. Alot of people are sick of M$ and their crappy hardware, overpriced service, and the bannings. I have both systems and I used to be a huge Xbox supporter but with all of these problems, I have been leaning more towards my PS3.

[silkrevolver]

I've always leaned more towards my PS3, and I still doubt I'll get another 360 this far into it's life cycle. I think the newer 360 don't fail nearly as often as mine did (sent it in twice before the warranty expired,) but I still don't want to risk it.

[DevastationEve]

I think Natal will do plenty for 360 on its own.

God of War III is not a system seller since it's rated MA and parents will already know what it's about (violent hack n slash). Plus it's only going to be purchased by those who've played the GoW titles before.

Gran Turismo 5 can sell PS3 since it's for all ages...but the younger audience would prefer Forza Motorsport 3 for its much more community oriented features and for unbeatable customization options.

Halo...Halo...Halo. Halo gets purchased by all ages, even though it's MA. But Microsoft really has the advantage in that Halo is so well received in today's society that it's okay to buy it for kids. And Halo is one of the backbones that supports Xbox Live. It's mutual, and the gamers love it.

[shadow2797]

I agree and I disagree.

Yes, if it has good launch games and is marketed well, Natal will move systems.

I would consider God of War III a minor system seller, I think sales will see a boost, but not a major one. It is a popular PS2 franchise making the jump to PS3, after all.

Gran Turismo 5 is the juggernaut. However, I think Prologue's release will affect it's ability to move consoles. It'll be a system seller, for sure, but you won't see the increase you would expect from franchise that usually sells over 10 million per game. But I don't believe Forza will have anything to do with it. Most people don't know what Forza is, nor what kind of racer it is. So I don't see Forza's community features affecting GT5's sales.

Halo: Reach will sell, and it will probably break records, but I don't see it moving consoles UNLESS Microsoft releases a special edition bundle (perhaps with Natal?), and this will surely happen. I'd say a 100K - 200K increase in sales for the month of Reach depending on numerous factors that we can only guess right now.

I think GT5 is the most likely to be a system seller next year, at least of the GAMES we know. Obviously if Nintendo has an ace up their sleeve, they have the potential to move a massive number of systems. But for now, I'd say GT5 is the safest bet. However, Natal is the biggest wild card. If everything goes right, Microsoft has the potential to see a huge sales boost. I don't really see the same thing happening for Sony, based on their marketing style (though I prefer Sony's motion system).

Note: This is based on the ability to affect console sales only. This has nothing to do with software sales or giving a permanent console sales boost. Simply a piece of software's ability to sell systems (or add-on hardware in the case of the motion controllers).

[DevastationEve]

Well what I'm saying is that Forza has better appeal to that younger audience that leans more toward those kinds of features. Of course it has NO bearing whatsoever on GT 5's sales, I'm just showing how Turn 10 really aimed to please EVERYONE. Not just car enthusiasts.

[Odion]

That argument could be made for every systems line up.

the people who want GT5 have a system, same with GoW, and no one is going to buy a system for Heavy Rain.

The era of a single title pushing systems is over, you just have to be appealing to the consumer base.

Both systems have very strong line ups to say one is better then other is a little nuts at this point as each has a title that could go toe to toe with another.

[Xtremist]

I agree with everything you said except of the second part of your last sentence.
Overall -and not only for 2010- The x360 lineup is representing every important genre with franchises who are clearly stronger in the west or western oriented countries, than the ps3 line-up.
Which is basically what keeps Ms alive and kicking since they 're losing to pretty much any other department from Sony's ps3. (blue-ray, manifacture quality, free basic online gaming, quantity of franchises)

[Draperc]

Uh oh, I hear a bunch of fanboys from both sides running to this article.

[Mo0eY]

It's the year 2010, and another chance for Microsoft to woo me into their console. What games are coming out for it that are praiseworthy (from the fantards of course)?

- Alan Wake
- Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Halo Reach
- Crackdown 2

Nope, not a thing. Want to know why I bought a PS3? I saw a video of LBP and it blew my mind. Once Microsoft can bring a smidgen of what I see that the PS3 does, I'll consider buying it... maybe... naw, probably not.

[user858621]

only game in that list that i think would sell consoles would be splinter cell since its the only true next gen splinter cell game, alan wake a doubt would sell consoles due to horror genre and no multiplayer, if the 1st crackdown needed a halo beta to sell a doubt the 2nd would do any better, and whoever wanted to play halo bought halo 3 so I doubt that Halo reach would sell consoles either

[Udidntlistenpunk]

to suck gamers money.

Hahaha OWNED bots.

[dangert12]

natal any1?
casuals will buy a 360 cause of halo aswel

[TheBand1t]

I honestly doubt any single game on either system will push systems.

And no....I highly doubt Natal will have the same impact as the Wii. Don't think it'll sell systems the same way some people seem to think it will.

[Optical_Matrix]

You mean the way Xbox fanboys seem to think it will. Sony's Sphere and Microsoft's Natal will not make as big an impact as some think. They are add ons. Nothing more nothing less. And the Wii is already crushing them. I ask people this...casuals, who already only really take their Wii out at parties or dinners, are they really going to go out and rush to buy an Xbox 360 which already has the hardcore image attached to it?
No, because they hardly play games and spend money on games in the first place.

[tacomonster]

I all was feel like I'm on the playground during recess, reading these comments. makes me laugh. Go go Console war. I will make one comment. was there really a war until M$ got in the game?

[Pootangpie]

like the whole PS3 reaching 30 million mark 2 weeks ago

I can't imagine why

end of sarcasm

[divideby0]

Natal will sell hardware since it will be bundled.

Reach of course can but I think the Halo market is saturated by now.

[etownone]

1. Halo Reach - you guys may think all the Halo fans alreadu have a 360, but when MS rolls out that massive hypetrain, it will definitely get more Halo fans on board

2. Natal - will appeal to the casuals and will sell consoles, plus it will be like a relaunch for the 360 with many innovative titles to appeal to everyone.

3. Price drop - if the arcade drops to $99 or $149, it will obviously move consoles.

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

Every Halo fan either has a 360 or moved on to Mw2...you saw how ODST sold

[Sez]

We also seen how uncharted 2, KZ2,LBP,ect sold. So I guess the same could be said about the ps3. We all know that people that are buy ps3. Already own a ps3. Why you think ps3 game sales are so low.

[mac4u10]

Blades laugh is so funny lol

[blair_enigma]

confused

[V0LT]

I just wish MS would redesign the system and change it all up so it is more reliable.

[captainjy]

Plenty coming in 2010 for the Xbox, plenty! Natal for starters. Gears will arrive at the end of the year, Alan Wake, Fable III, Mass Effect 2 and probably tons of other cool Natal games. Natal alone will make the holiday sales huge, carrying tons of momentum into 2011. Should be an awesome year for the 360!

[collin1986]

One question i have when thinking of natal........ is natal a stand alone console? or do you need the x- box on to power natal ? because Wii is motion sensor out the box, i dont think natal will move 360's by much, its hd dvd attachment being sold seperately.

[jack who]

crackheads

[A LIVING LEGEND]

The 'Wand' or the 'Wiimote'.
Besides investor happy gimmicks that target the (strangely enough) uninformed,casual market what can gamers look forward to?
Well this um Natal is um pretty awes.....stop.
I mean games not gimmicks,rather new ' accessories'
Use Natal as a crutch if need be but a crutch it truly is...........

[horndog]

What is the point of having such an article concerning MS?? Insecured much??

[A LIVING LEGEND]

You know as well as I do why it is here........and it has nothing to do with insecurity.
Think about it,the real answer lays near amidst a veritable hotbed of insecurity.
It's why I (we) post.controversy breeds conversation or as it were,contradiction which thereby allows this site to continue.It has its moments but still remains no.1 in my opinion.They all do it,N4G simply copies and pastes.The true 'flame' often originated somewhere else and migrated here,whether by design or not....?.You know it as it exists now and as such must learn to accept it or move on to the 'source'. You have been warned....

[horndog]

I stand corrected

[mcnablejr]

only ps3 fanboys. simple.
not playing on their consoles.