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I saw this excellent article on the what the best selling console was last year and the results are surprising.  The article is on msnbc.com by Author Kristin Kalning. I was wondering about this very topic last night when I dusted off an old copy of street fighter to see how rusty my skills had gotten...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16833561/

I won't spoil it by giving it away here, but I will say, I have an XBOX360, I bought it last year... and I haven't even opened it up yet, the only game I have even had marginal interest in being Chrome Hounds...

Anyone want to buy a new 360 with a new extra controller? heh.

Hadoken!

It's nice how they were able to write 3 pages of common sense. This happens whenever new systems comes out. It takes some time for the next-gen to become the dominant player, and it always happens about the time of the first price drop.

If it's a premium 360 and you give me a good deal I might be convinced to take it off your hands.

I loved my PS2. I thought about replacing my busted one and playing tactical
RPGs 24/7, but that would mean fewer visits to the hobby shop.

Neat article.

I especially like this one:

"The success of the DS can largely be attributed to quirky little titles like ?Nintendogs? and ?Brain Age.? Frazier says that Nintendo was smart to focus not only on their established audience, but on a market that doesn?t necessarily characterize themselves as gamers. ?Nintendo created innovative content that wasn?t necessarily core-gamer focused,? she says. ?But at the same time, they didn?t abandon their current audience.?

If only GW could follow that....boy...

I love my PS2 as well.

Unlike previous "next-gen" console jumps, I have a feeling the PS2 will continue to dominate. It's cheap, it has tons of great games for all genres, the tech is actually VERY good, and it has a huge following among gamers of all ages. This could be a signifigant shift in the console market, in that an older system has proven more popular and better selling than any of the new systems. I have a feeling that it's different than before and doesn't really have much to do with "establishing" the new consoles.

From what I've heard, the new consoles aren't that great anyway. It seems that there's a mindset among the console producers and the bigger game companies that "better graphics = better game". But that really isn't true - some PS and PS2 titles have fairly plain graphics but have proven to be instant classics (Metal Gear Solid, Katamari Damacy, Resident Evil, etc.).

The problem is that console producers have a tendency to drop "old" systems that are still both popular and useful. Sony recently stopped producing Official Playstation Magazine last year, which was (by far) one of the best, most unbiased game mags out there. The problem? It pissed A LOT of Sony fans (and potential future consumers) off. Couple that with a limited launch of the PS3, an exorbitant pricepoint, and lack of backwards compatibility and the PS3 is DOA.

Yea, that's what I was thinking too.

I think its like the music industry, a lot of people are looking for a new thing, but the best thing out there is probably the classics, unless there is earnest innovation.

Are there really any new innovative titles for the PS3 XBOX360 or WII? I suppose the WII has the best inovation, but like DDR, I have no desire to bring physical activity into my console expereince, it's so, Nintendoey (is that a word?) I want to sit on my couch and physically relax but be mentally engaged, not control real robots, play bongos, hopscotch to music or display my prodigious nun chuck skills... Their innovation is in the wrong direction IMO.

On the PS3, those with the scratch to foot the bill might as well play PC titles and get hooked up there.  I'm afraid the drawbacks outway the benefits for a PS3 too. Oh yea, and why would I pay twice as much for a Blue Ray disc, when my TV (or cable set) can't even handle the display... Anyone remeber HD tapes? Laser Disc? No one cared.

PS2 FTW.

(I even have a little skinny new one!)

Exactly what I thought when they first came out all the w/ HD/BluRay/etc. But, I thought, maybe the picture is really nice and its a big difference. After checking it out though (several times @ different stores), the picture is no different than what a good quality TV will already do (heck, my 6-year-old RCA looks exactly the same!).

It's a gimmick. A psychological trick of telling people (and advertising it extensively) that there really IS a difference - eventually people believe it. Reality is perception, I guess.

Yes! Reality is perception.

Maybe in a year or two, after a price drop, and when the library for the new systems are big enough I will consider buying a PS3. or a 360 again, but I sort of doubt it, for example:

Call of Duty 2: tried it out, online and Multiplayer...Not as good as battlefield 2/2142 etc.

Gears of war, loved it, right up until it turned into Tomb Raider, smash walls indeed, done.  Game play innovation about as intriguing as MGS and that's nearly a 10 year old game on the PS2...

Chrome Hounds, tried it out. but it's not as diverse or as well designed as Armored core 1, 2 , 3, 4 etc. on the PS2 Mechwarrior whatever been on the PC for years, already done...

Been considering any of the console Online Multiplayer games... None of them even come close to matching Blizzard WoW for depth, maybe if quick is what you want ok, but why not play Halo on the old one for a fraction of the cost?

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD do make a difference to those of use WITH HD TVs, though.  The picture quality is noticeably better, but the price premium for it is steep.

As far as regular TVs go, 480i is 480i.  Standard DVD is as good as you'll get on that.

I'm loving my 360, but I'm also a light user.  I like the arcade games, I thoroughly enjoyed Gears of War, and I'm piddling around with Dead Rising and Burnout - The Revenge.   I'm also using the downloadable TV content too.  For me it was a good buy, but I knew what I was getting into.

I think that the biggest benefit of HD comes in sporting events, especially football games.  The extra detail really does make a difference.

...the biggest benefit of HD comes in sporting events, especially football...

Ah ha! Here lies my problem. Football is what again? (I don't care even a little about pro sports of any kind, it's all just a money/advertising/beer selling machine, I'd rather watch paint dry, literally, on my figures, and college teams? Whatever, why bother with the amatures... As the Old Romans use to say, McDonalds and the Superbowl! Errr,... BREAD AND GAMES!)

Still, that doesn't address which console is best.  PS2 FTW!

I suppose downloadable classic arcade games sounds pretty intriguing with the online content! Hmmm...

I believe the actual winner of the "Next Gen" war will be the Wii60.

 

I already know several folks who have both.  The 360 for the serious gamer/Dad, and the Wii for the family  (and gamer Dad who needs his Zelda/Mario fix)

 

The PS3 is just priced way the hell out of the market. 

I jusy came from an EB Games accross the street from where I work, and there were 7 people there waiting in line for the shipment of WIIs to come in... The store manager said the shipping invoice was for 3, and that they were already in line, but the other 4 people stayed anyway.  I didn't stick around to find out what happened, but maybe you're on to something Russ.

I also think once again, microsoft is absolutely dominating in the Online console arena, basically defining it.  Simply put, I know an awful lot of geeks, and I have never once heard even one talk about how they are playing their PS'N' online... But I hear about 360 online stuff everywhere...

Hmmm...

I also found out that my favorite series of all time Armored Core(4), is going to be on the 360 first... It use to be a Sony exclusive, DANGIT

Augustus, my point was that HD in movies isn't really that much of a selling point.  That's all.

I'm not going to chime in on which console is "best"; I don't cotton to Sony's anus-hattery, and refuse to support them.  This, of course, means that I know nothing about their consoles.  I'm simply happy with what I have.  I was trying to add a bit of detail to the HD side of the discussion (since it seems that the recent posters hadn't seen it much).

Ok cool thanks.

and for the record: Like I know what the best console is? Nope.

I just thought the article was a big surprise, that the top seller last year was the PS2, but maybe thats loaded, because the other systems were only available in what Q4? So it follows logically that the criteria is biased, now if PS2 outsells WII, 360 or PS3 this year, well that'd be something.

Also I dont think HD anything in a console is really worthwhile, it's like a misguided feature, like a car with a potato pealer for the cook driver.  Don't people who want to spend their free time on a console not necesarily want to watch sports in HD or movies in HD?  (Maybe not, I guess Madden is a big franchise game, and technofiles abound..)

I don't know, just interesting stuff I wanted to share.

Posted By Augustus on 02/08/2007 1:12 PM

Ok cool thanks.

and for the record: Like I know what the best console is? Nope.

I just thought the article was a big surprise, that the top seller last year was the PS2, but maybe thats loaded, because the other systems were only available in what Q4? So it follows logically that the criteria is biased, now if PS2 outsells WII, 360 or PS3 this year, well that'd be something.

Also I dont think HD anything in a console is really worthwhile, it's like a misguided feature, like a car with a potato pealer for the cook driver.  Don't people who want to spend their free time on a console not necesarily want to watch sports in HD or movies in HD?  (Maybe not, I guess Madden is a big franchise game, and technofiles abound..)

I don't know, just interesting stuff I wanted to share.

The PS2 did not win the next gen war because it sold the most units this holiday. And it is certainly not the 'best system' because of this reason either. People didn't buy the PS2 because it has the best games, they bought it because it was cheap. When little Timmy screamed that he wanted a PS3/Wii360 and mom went to the store and saw those first two systems were sold out and how expensive the 360 was, she picked up a PS2 and a bunch of games instead.

Is that PS2 going to stop Timmy from crying for a PS3/Wii/360 next year? Nope. No matter what, the march of time continues on and people want newer, bigger and better things. While there are a few AAA games still coming out for the PS2, for the most part this last holiday season was it. From here on out you'll mainly get crappy ports of next-gen games and budget titles quickly pumped out from smaller studios in order to cash in on the PS2's massive isntalled base.

For a long time after DVDs were introduced VHS continued to dominate. Despite this dominance no one would have ever claimed people should go with a VHS as the 'better format' over DVD. There was never truly any doubt once DVDs started to pick up a little steam that eventually the format would dominate.

Although the sales for the PS2 were tops, the sales for all 3 new consoles were also very strong, letting you know that this was the swan song of the last generation. Like it or not, the next-generation is here and everyone will eventually move on.

 

At this point, the games and experiences found on the PS3/Wii/360 (well not so much the PS3 yet) are vastly better than those you can find on the original Xbox/Gamecube/PS2s.

For the 360 alone, the wireless controller, the HD picture, the user interface, Xbox Live functionality, the graphics, the sound. . .everything is just better. The Wii, of course, offers entirely new gaming experiences.

Next-gen is simply better, and if you can't find any games that interest you on the new consoles then you most certainly don't care for video games anymore.

 

The real hoopla about this holiday season was what kind of installed base each system could get going into this new next-gen war. Obviously the huge numbers for the Wii help to get it out of the basement with 3rd party developers (that shunned the Gamecube). Also, the shortage of PS3s combined with strong 360 sales have ensured that many former PS3 exclusives will now be appearing on the 360 as well.

So regardless of how well the PS2 did the big stories this holiday season were most certainly how well the Wii did and how poorly the PS3 did (which definitely solidifies the 360 in the next-gen race).

 

Finally, gaming is far too broad to assume that any type of person who plays games isn't into another type of entertainment and hobby. There is a huge selection of people who play games, watch sports and enjoy movies in HD. I am one of those people, in fact.

The only reason I probably won't get the HD-DVD player for the 360 is because I'm hopeful that they'll release a larger hard drive and then allow you to purchase HD movies over XBox Live (instead of just renting them as you have to do now). Basically, I'm hoping that the whole HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format gets skipped over and we go straight to downloadable HD content from here on out.

 

I'm with you on most of it, Yak, but not the high-capacity DVD part.  Whichever format wins (and honestly, I really don't care which one does), we'll still have a need for high-capacity disks.  Some people can't get broadband, and for some areas it's just not practical.  It's also a bit more stable storage medium than a Winchester drive.

I'm looking at this from a practical standpoint, though, as I really like having redundancies in a system for robustness.

The Wii is intreguing, I'll get my chance to fiddle with one soon, as  a friend of mine got one.  If his kids like it I may get one for mine too.

Augustus, you are bang on about the 360 online community.  That is my FAVORITE aspect of my 360.  Most of my miniature gaming group now also have 360s. on our weekly gaming nights, after rolling dice until 10-11 pm, we all head home and hook up online and chat away about the days activities while shooting the crap out of each other in Rainbow 6 Vegas, Gears, etc.

I've got a solid group of 10-12 local friends who all play regularly online, we coordinate which games we're getting, brag about latest achievements unlocked, etc.  The whole voice communication deal and online gameplay is AWESOME.

 

 

 

Posted By RussWakelin on 02/08/2007 11:27 AM
The PS3 is just priced way the hell out of the market. 

People are still going to pay for it. I thought AUD$700 was amazing for the PS1 when it came out over here in Oz, but people paid it, and people will pay AUD$999.99 when it comes out here next month.

I won't, but only because A). it'll be a few years until the good games are there and B). I'm not a console person, but a lot of people will.

Then again, I ran out and bought a PS2 after playing Tekken 5 once, so Tekken 6 may have the same effect. But, in the end, I'll probably just wait until all the games I actually want - Tekken 6, Heavenly Sword, Assassin's Creed - are actually out before I buy one.

And I personally hate the idea of competing formats. I already can see it at DVD stores. Three different releases of the same movie - standard def, HD and Blu-Ray. It's a waste of time, money and resources. Did we learn nothing from Beta and Laser Disc and all those other formats? Stick with on, and be done with it. Can you imagine if there'd been two competing CD types over the past 20 years? Our only hope now is a player that plays both... or for one of them to win. As for a winner? Well, Apple has sided with BluRay for their iPlay console (assuming it ever comes into being), and if the iPlay can be as big a success as the iPod, Blu-Ray could win.

BYE

Ah, but the porn industry has chosen HD-DVD. Game, set, match.

While some people ar willing to pay the price of a PS3, overwhelming the numbers show that more people are willing to buy a Wii or 360 by a huge margin. In Japan retailers are already giving discounts to try and move them. They only bought 32,000 copies of one of Japan's traditional favorites, Virtua Fighter 5. It was expected to move systems (it did a bit) but not like expected. When you are acting like 32,000 is a monster game you know you are having trouble, especially with a game that usually sells half a million or so in it's first week. Blue Dragon for the 360 sold better then that and it's on a western game system.

There are many stores here in the States that aren't moving PS3's; they're collecting dust on the shelves.  The demand just isn't there at the current price point.

The double standard isn't because some big agency decided to create two standards; it's because two different groups of companies support two different standards for different reasons.  If you can get the two sides to agree, HBMC, then bully for you, but it's not like it's one anus-hole CEO calling all the shots.  And this time it's not nearly as cut-and-dry as beta vs. VHS was (with Sony being pretty much the exclusive backer of betamax).

BTW, the porn industry is now ALSO producing Blu-Ray.  After an early lead, HD-DVD is starting to fall behind Blu-Ray.

Either way, I'm curtailing ALL of my DVD purchases until this calms down.

HD-DVD...do I really need to see hi-def rippled breasts?

Posted By malfred on 02/10/2007 9:07 AM
HD-DVD...do I really need to see hi-def rippled breasts?

Why, YES!

From Slashdot:

"If this is true, it's Beta vs VHS all over again and HD-DVD may be the foregone winner of the format wars. First, Heise reports (summarized from the German by sgknox.com) that Digital Playground, who were committed to Blu-ray last year, are now producing HD-DVD titles instead. No Blu-ray disk manufacturer would make their disks because Sony doesn't want porn on Blu-ray (just as with Betamax). Second, as reported by tgdaily, the porn industry overwhelmingly favors HD-DVD because it's much cheaper and easier to produce. As noted in the tgdaily article, porn was a huge factor in VHS winning the VHS/Beta format wars even though many people don't like to acknowledge it. Porn, like gaming, pushes tech adoption."

And from a more recent article on Slashdot:

"MSNBC Reports that the porn industry may be overstating their numbers and, as a result, may not be the decider of the next winning movie format. Even more interesting: Vivid Entertainment says that despite Sony's refusal to license Blu-ray to the adult industry, they've found a way to replicate the technology and will release Debbie Does Dallas on both formats. Film writer Jimmy Digiorgio states, in an email with MSNBC: 'In the past, porn embraced new technologies that were just gaining a foothold. DVDs are not new, and I don't think consumers perceive Blu-Ray and HD-DVD as new technologies. Instead, they see them as an evolution of an existing technology.... With Blu-ray [versus] HD-DVD, porn will go where the masses go.'"

Please, do your homework before making comments.  Spreading untimely info is... unseemly.

There are already some dual format discs.

There is at least one dual format player available.

The war is over before it started.