The future of the "next-gen" (current gen?) consol

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 10 Aug 2007, 03:29

Rather than do anything terribly long, I'll just share an observation. I haven't a lot of time.

Playstation 3 might just beat xbox 360. Their sales are roughly the same week by week: http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php

Crazy in'nit? PS3, despite everything imaginable going wrong with it press-wise, without any games, is still competing quite nicely, contrary to what you hear the fanboys talking about.

I also think that as soon as Wii sales begin to drop off, Nintendo will, of all things, "pull a Nintendo", and release an updated version. It will output 720p at the least. It occurs to me, Wii's graphics aren't amazing, but they're not bad either. The biggest problem is resolution. What prevents Nintendo from just doing what all PC users can do and upping the resolution while leaving the rest of the game untouched? It's theoretically possible, and I'd say, even likely. It might even include some sort of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD playing capability, but I doubt it.

In short, despite Xbox having a great head start, their main hardcore competitor is keeping up without apparently trying. I think that this is probably the reason they're willing to go to such a drastic measure as giving a 3-year warranty.

I love making fun of Sony, but I hate the alternative - Microsoft dominating yet another market - even more. Nintendo is currently doing very well, but I can't help but feel it could be temporary. I don't want it to be - I've invested heavily in them - but I can already see them becoming complacent in some areas. Nintendo needs to buy up some developers, start original franchises, and generally expand as quickly as possible.

Kind of off topic - Super Mario Strikers RULES. It starts off seeming boring and lame, especially during the tutorials, but it's crazy fun. It's fun on a par with Smash almost.

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 10 Aug 2007, 05:19

Nintendo has done better than anyone expected them to... even Nintendo. Quite literally, there has never been a console that has sold as fast and furiously as the Wii... If Nintendo was in trouble in previous generations they saved them selfs big time. No need to worry about the nindogs.

The PS3 is doing much better than I expected. I honestly expected it to sell worse week per week than the 360 for the most part. It hasn't been, it's been competing. The PS3 also boasts better hardware, more hardware features, and more potential features. As time goes on the reasons for buying the PS3 grow stronger and stronger, similar to how the Xbox was very nearly a must have console at the end of it's life span last generation, but in the beginning it was a joke as far as consoles go. I'd be surprised if the PS3 meets the standard set by the PS2 in the long run... but we shall still see.

NCSoft teaming with Sony is a HUGE deal. Sony will be the first console to support an MMO market, a market which has recently shown us it can pull profits with the best of them. The future for the PS3 gets brighter where it stagnates at best for Nintendo and Xbox.

Erom · Post by **Erom** » 10 Aug 2007, 16:46

The PS3 got off to a terrible start, which follows from the cluster-fuck launch. Just the same, you had to expect the PS3 to catch up eventually, over time, as things like prices and game libraries equalized and the better PS3 hardware got a chance to be more of a selling point. Thing is, the PS3 is already catching up a bit - much faster than I expected. I dunno, I think eventually the better hardware on the other two consoles will push the Wii out of the hardcore market - but I don't think Nintendo cares, it wasn't really designed for that market at the outset. It'll just be settling back into the niche market it was intended for in the first place. It's nice to see that Nintendo's willingness to experiment and innovate payed off though- hopefully with the bonus cash they made by selling so well at release, they can bring out cool new products in the future.

I really wouldn't worry about Nintendo vanishing from the console market, though I do expect the PS3's market share to grow and the Wii's share to decline as this generation of consoles ages.

AF · Post by AF » 10 Aug 2007, 17:15

The PS3 is intended to last at least 2 generations. Hence the hefty amount of hardware grunt and investment.

So when the xbox 720 and wii mk II are here well be seeing the PS3 still competing with them. Hence why sony hasnt been to worried that PS3 ha underperformed, ebcause in the longrun theyll eventually have the bigest userbase due to their stayign power.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 10 Aug 2007, 20:03

Still haven't seen anything compelling for the PS3 library, and nothing compelling announced. Of course, I was most disappointed with the PS2, so I'm harder to please than the casual gamers who make up 90% of console gamers.

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 10 Aug 2007, 20:09

are there any good games for ps3? ~_~

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 10 Aug 2007, 20:24

No. My point.

Post by **jcnossen** » 11 Aug 2007, 00:42

I'm even getting a wii, and I never bought got a console before.

Kixxe · Post by **Kixxe** » 11 Aug 2007, 02:12

jcnossen wrote:I'm even getting a wii, and I never bought got a console before.

Yea this might just be the Wii sales argument. A console for everyone.

Nintedo has stated that they will focus more on casual games. Im concernd if this will lead to the Wii just becoming the next gen board game. Hopefully the cheap devolpment prices and the whole "wii ware" might change that. I would really like to see small companies releasing some more hardcore titles to the Wii.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 11 Aug 2007, 02:13

AF wrote:The PS3 is intended to last at least 2 generations. Hence the hefty amount of hardware grunt and investment.

So when the xbox 720 and wii mk II are here well be seeing the PS3 still competing with them. Hence why sony hasnt been to worried that PS3 ha underperformed, ebcause in the longrun theyll eventually have the bigest userbase due to their stayign power.

We just finished saying it's not underperforming, yarr.

AF · Post by AF » 11 Aug 2007, 03:37

IIRC 360 sales are levelling out, whatever sony is doing isnt that spectacular, its about as meaningful as bars of soap sold per week, you dont hear the soap cmpanies talkign about their continuous performance improvement because a line on a graph rose above a rivals a little after a long shallow climb

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 11 Aug 2007, 10:33

AF wrote:IIRC 360 sales are levelling out, whatever sony is doing isnt that spectacular, its about as meaningful as bars of soap sold per week, you dont hear the soap cmpanies talkign about their continuous performance improvement because a line on a graph rose above a rivals a little after a long shallow climb

Soap doesn't have far superior hardware. Soap doesn't have increasing title libraries. Soap doesn't have developing feature bases. Soap doesn't have generational markets. And most importantly, no one cares about soap.

I dunno, I think eventually the better hardware on the other two consoles will push the Wii out of the hardcore market - but I don't think Nintendo cares, it wasn't really designed for that market at the outset. It'll just be settling back into the niche market it was intended for in the first place. It's nice to see that Nintendo's willingness to experiment and innovate payed off though- hopefully with the bonus cash they made by selling so well at release, they can bring out cool new products in the future.

You don't think the wii is basically already out of the "hardcore" market? I certainly am not interested in it's superior performance or enhanced style... This "niche" market you speak of... well apparently that's acctually the majority market...

KingRaptor · Post by **KingRaptor** » 11 Aug 2007, 11:26

Not planning on picking up any of the consoles.

SwiftSpear wrote:And most importantly, no one cares about soap.

What do you bathe with?

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 11 Aug 2007, 12:24

KingRaptor wrote:Not planning on picking up any of the consoles.

SwiftSpear wrote:And most importantly, no one cares about soap.
What do you bathe with?

Water. I wash with whatever is reasonably cheap. If you give a crap weather dial beats dove, or ivory is top seller... then you are investing in a soap company. As long as there is still someone around making soap my soap desires will be satisfied.

AF · Post by AF » 11 Aug 2007, 12:52

Soap doesn't have far superior hardware. Soap doesn't have increasing title libraries. Soap doesn't have developing feature bases. Soap doesn't have generational markets. And most importantly, no one cares about soap.

Soaps do have expanding feature sets. For example modern soaps leave a thin layer on the skin to help prevent more dirt from latching on, similair to newer toothpastes.

And soaps do use superior hardware, the newer ones have nanotechnology behind them.

And soap does have generational markets. Dove soap for example has several generations, the latest starting in their expansion phase into other areas such as the shampoo+conditioner market. There are always the old favourites, and there're always the cheap substitutes.

And plenty of people care about soap! Why else do we buy these thigns when we can just wash with water?

We live in a wonderful varied world!

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 11 Aug 2007, 13:24

AF wrote:
Soap doesn't have far superior hardware. Soap doesn't have increasing title libraries. Soap doesn't have developing feature bases. Soap doesn't have generational markets. And most importantly, no one cares about soap.
Soaps do have expanding feature sets. For example modern soaps leave a thin layer on the skin to help prevent more dirt from latching on, similair to newer toothpastes.

And soaps do use superior hardware, the newer ones have nanotechnology behind them.

And soap does have generational markets. Dove soap for example has several generations, the latest starting in their expansion phase into other areas such as the shampoo+conditioner market. There are always the old favourites, and there're always the cheap substitutes.

And plenty of people care about soap! Why else do we buy these thigns when we can just wash with water?

We live in a wonderful varied world!

Wow...

AF · Post by AF » 11 Aug 2007, 13:26

you can justify anything with logic ^_^

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 11 Aug 2007, 13:41

It's called "equivocation", and it's argumentative fallacy, not 'logic'.

That being said... I really shouldn't have entertained the horrible horrible analogy in the first place. The easiest trump would just be to point out that one market is entertainment and the other is necessity and that alone invalidates the analogy due to the two elements being too dissimilar.

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 11 Aug 2007, 14:26

if i wanted to buy a console right now what should i pick?

ps3 = zomg it performs well. . . BUT WAIT what games should i pick for it out of these 3 games available?

cost = 600├óÔÇÜ┬¼ in here

wii = its ok, has some good games to play with your friends when they come over (DRUNK WII BOXING FTW\o/)

cost = 299├óÔÇÜ┬¼

xbox = if anything, it has a lot of games to choose with, and the xbox live system is v.easy to use and get games going

cos = 299├óÔÇÜ┬¼

sure you may be right that people still buy more ps3's, but those people are IMO just stupid, with the price of ps3 you could get BOTH wii and xbox360 . . .

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 11 Aug 2007, 15:53

buy $600 worth of cheap canned beer

Spring RTS Engine

The future of the "next-gen" (current gen?) consol

The future of the "next-gen" (current gen?) consol