This blog is not so much about the context of "war" as it is about the idea that the current console competition is simply a continuation of a long running race. Wow...that is a lot to say in one sentence. Anyway, some may get this, others not so much. It all comes down to how long you have been a spectator in one of the longest races in gaming history....Consoles.
Most like to refer to this as a war in the hopes that each side takes hits and losses like a real war to some extent. Losing exclusives and gaining sales but you need to really go back to the start of this race to understand. For that we take a trip back in time. A time where some remember and most weren't even thought of. The golden ages of video games.
If we were to put this into perspective from a race point of view. We would have Atari, Mattel and the Coleco. There were a few other participants like Vectrex and Oddessey but they really didnt make as significant an impact on shaping the current generation as much as (what I like to call) the founding three.
I am going to put the (then) three major players into a virtual relay race and take you on a run around the track of the gaming industry. As in a typical relay race we will have hand offs and drop outs but I will try my best to include every "major" player in the game. At the starting line you had the 2600, ColecoVision and intellivision. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses and each deserving of the respect they attained.
No surprise the 2600 was in the early lead as the amount of games was a sure fire selling point. Not far back was Colecovision and Intellivision both offering better experiences than Atari. Using sales as a placement on the track Atari had a commanding lead until it stumbled over its own feet. This trip caused a chain reaction right before the first hand off.
Coleco was first to their feet and handed off the baton to Nintendo (I know they really arent associated but it makes for good storytelling). Nintendo took the baton tightly and the NES sprinted ahead. Mattel handed off to Sega and the Master System tried its best to catch Nintendo. Atari dusted itself off and limped along trying to regain place with both the 5200 and 7800 but ultimately took to the side to catch their breath. Enter a new "third" competitor. NEC
The PC engine (TG16 US) gladly stepped in to keep it a three console race. Nintendo was steadily staying in front with the NES. Sega timed their hand off from the Master system to the Genesis with great care and knew it had much more to give as far as competition to Nintendo. Not to be taken over so lightly, Nintendo saw the rise in popularity of both the PC Engine and Mega Drive (Genesis US) and knew they had to pass the baton to their 16bit brother: Super NES.
With the Genesis passing the NES and PC Engine it knew that it wouldnt be long before they would be overtaken. NEC sought fit to try and push faster by releasing the SuperGrafx (in japan) only to have it slow them down further. SNES gained on the Genesis and ultimately passed it leaving the PC Engine in the dust as well. Sega tried to infuse more power into the tiring Genesis with 32x (like some sort of steroid) only to have it collapse right before the next leg.
NEC knew they couldnt compete and dropped out. Enter Sony (keeping it a three console race). Just to point out, there were a few last minute entries that only made it around the track once before stepping off. Panasonic (3DO), SNK (NeoGeo) and Atari (tried to get back in it with the Jaguar). Sega picked up the baton the Genesis/32x dropped and threw it to Saturn (who seemed as if it wasn't really ready to go).
So now you have Nintendo still in front with the SNES and Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation on the track trying to outpace one another. Nintendo again saw their position as dwindiling as the presence of "CD POWER" was taking over. Both Saturn and Playstation were gaining fast. Nintendo rested the strong running SNES and put N64 in its place. N64 had a bit of a hurdle to jump as it still used carts but it sure made up for the lack of space with heart and determination.
Playstation was just to fast. Even the Saturn was feeling winded and watched N64 pass it. Tried as they could, Sega knew they couldnt get much more out of Saturn. Taking a small breather while Dreamcast stretched only let N64 and Playstation get further and further ahead. On the next lap around, Sega was ready and Dreamcast bolted from the side with spirit and determination. Playstation and N64 didnt know what to make of this fast moving 128bit powerhouse but knew that it was a force to be reckoned with. Sega put everything they had into this little engine that could. Even betting the farm on it!
Sega had a little help from Microsoft. A little something extra in those running shoes sonic whore. Sony and Nintendo watched as Sega gave it their all to stay in this race. Sony felt it was time to release the might of Playstation 2 and try and lap the competition so many times it would take a miracle for them to catch up. Dreamcast (little engine that could) sadly dropped out after only running two laps. Playstation 2 was just to fast and Nintendo wasn't giving up just yet. Gamecube stepped in to run and both Nintendo and Sony were treated to an unlikely "third" console company. Microsoft
Having learned from helping Sega, MS created the Xbox to be the dominant racer. It certainly had the hardware to back up that claim as well as a company not willing to just test the waters and then jump out. With Sega out of the picture, Xbox ran in their place. The standings at the time were Playstation 2 with a commanding lead followed by xbox and gamecube.
Underestimating the competition, xbox quickly called for a replacement. Xbox 360 and gave the competition something to turn heads. Playstation no doubt had the lead and Gamecube felt tired. Nintendo pulled gamecube and rebuilt it. Better...Stronger...Faster. Playstation had pretty much lapped the competition but was being urged off the track to let Sony's newest racer take center spotlight. Playstation 3. Seems nintendo thought the same thing and both Nintendo and Sony pulled their racers at almost the same time. Gamecube and PS2 were replaced by Wii and PS3 while 360 was running laps to make up time.
360 saw it lead decreasing every turn by Wii and PS3. Wii however felt rejuvinated and took the front spot quickly. PS3 also is feeling reinvented and is gaining on the 360 position.
How this race ends is really anybody's guess. Although, it may never end so long as new consoles get released to take the place of tired ones. Like i said, this isnt so much a war as it is a race. A long continued race with one constant. 3 racers are better than two and more is to much.
Hope you like this funny little twist on console history.
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but it don't need rephrasing the console war is not the console race it contributes to the race for example
The war is mad up of so many different battales
Ms exclusive vs sony Exclusive vs Nintendo Exclusive
Xbox live vs Playstation network vs Nintendo Wifi
DVD vs Blu-Ray
Addtional features I.E DLC, headsets HDD'S etc
oh of course the libary
and price
In you're long windedness though I almost feel you short changed you're explanation of the last little bit of the race still though fun read. I loved ColecoVision. It's impossible but if I could I would like to go back in time with lots of money and support ColecoVision, 3D0 and dreamcast and see how things would be different now. But I always like the underdog :). Also ColecoVision and Deamcast should be added to any game websites dictionary.
It doesn't matter who wins the console race all that matters is that the support is there to make games for those platforms.
One of the many reasons I've always tended to buy Playstation as my main console of choice is because of the support and technology Sony offers in those machines they make.
(Do you really think Microsoft and Nintendo will support their older consoles like Sony is doing once they release a new console?)
Now I can't afford to buy all 3 platforms but I can find friends that do have more then one console and just play the games I want on there.
I think competition is good for this industry.
Hell just look at the amazing games coming out consistently on a month to month basis.
(Generations before this you had a tough time deciding which games to buy but now that we have internet sites and magazines we can better make our decisions then we could in the past about what to buy.)
Now I don't want to see any console fail or leave.
(It was a sad day for me as a Sega Gamer to see Sega leave the console business and just be a game publisher instead.)
All consoles have their pros and cons and to me I felt PS3 has more pros then cons when I bought the console.
Sure PS3 got off to a slow start but now the variety and selection of innovative is huge.
Honestly I don't know why people always said PS3 didn't have any good games when they had the same 3rd party support as Xbox 360 and Wii.
PS3 didn't have a lot of exclusives starting off but look at the main technical benchmark games being talked about right now a lot of those games are exclusives.
I thought Xbox 360 was a good console w/ great games but the pay to play online w/ Xbox Live, Lack of built in features, and hardware issues made Xbox 360 a big turn off for me.
Nintendo Wii also is a great console w/ lots of great games to choose from but to me I wasn't into the motion controls that much and just didn't feel like the investment I wanted to spend my money on.
Yes, I'm a PS3 Only user but I'm willing to buy more then one console if some games appeal to me on another console that's not on PS3.
Great article.
Keep up the great work.
PSN: dirtyd89
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