First of all this is not something I came up with. The buzz on the intertubes is out there. There is a growing belief that the Wii will meet it’s demise this year. Even Nintendo is saying that they expect sales to drop this year — they still think they’ll beat the PS2 as the most successful console ever? Ay but there’s the question — most successful according to what?
If we’re looking a raw sales data then sure (how much of those sales are the console and not the games) — and beating the PS2 is no easy feat. This behemoth was still selling years into the release of the PS3, it’s still out there and there are people, believe it or not, still playing PS2 games. Need I remind you God of War 2 came out for PS2 … and that was after the Ps3 was released. But I digress. Back to the Wii completely sucking this year.
It’s no secret that many refer to the Wii as the kiddie console. Some may call it the great equalizer bringing young, old, families, casual and hardcore gamers all into the fold of gaming. Marketing wise it’s one of the easiest consoles to market because if you’re running campaigns for something like Wii Resort or Smash Bros. you’re dealing with innocuous spots and trailers and something that resonates with a large audience. That then translates into parents buying games not just for their kids but for themselves or for “the family.” In fact that was one of the big things you heard this last holiday season — “We go a Wii” or “We got Rock Band for the Wii.” Yeah that’s great but here’s the thing Wii isn’t delivering beyond that point.
Think of it this way — We currently have three consoles.
Two of them are high-end multifunctional CPUs with advanced graphic cards that also play games. One of them — plays games. A majority of those games are gimmicky in the sense that they have some feature that panders to the Wiimote.
Two of them have evolved to a level of performance that allows us to see videogaming like we’ve never seen it before with unprecedented graphics and gameplay the likes of Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and Gears of War 2. Developers relish in pushing these systems to their extreme in terms of what they can produce. One of the consoles is not a big fan of third party software, doesn’t have the capability of running the aforementioned games on its platform and developers of these big budget games don’t even factor the Wii in their plans for a typical multiplatform release.
Back in the Gamecube days, the playing field was much more level because you had essentially three gaming consoles. Microsoft and Sony upped the anti in the next round (as did Nintendo with motion control) and having gone past the benchmark of the 5-year gap between consoles both Sony and Microsoft say, “We don’t need new consoles just yet,” knowing they can get a couple more years out of their machines. The Wii typically becomes a novelty shortly after it’s bought
All you Wii lovers and Wii-loving parents can raise your fists and yell about the last bullet point but that’s the truth. Anyone who owns a PS3 or 360 and a Wii will tell you — we play the Wii when friends come over or the kids use it. The rest of the time these gamers default to their primary console.
So why are Microsoft and Sony making motion controllers then? Good question. The biggest reason is to tap into that casual gamer/family market. Notice though that these are peripherals and not entirely new consoles. They know full well exactly how these device will be treated from the developer side. Sure there will be a whole slew of folks looking to make cool motion-control, fun games and figuring out how to retrofit old games to mod with the new device. But you’re not going to see a developer like Bioware spend time making Mass Effect 3 compatible with Natal or the Arc. You just won’t. That’s why the Wii gets left out so often for the A-list titles. And since they can’t match up to the caliber of games we have seen in the last year and are bound to see this year what’s left for Wii to do? Make more of the same, which ultimately spells — S U C K.
Nintendo’s sinking feeling that this year sales will slump is not far off. As the system consistently keeps getting left behind by developers or the last console you pick for your team, we end up with games that people want to play except not on the system that everyone can use.
Well well well. For all the RROD the Xbox has had over the last few years this beats all. Ps3s all over the world and I mean everywhere, had some kind of bizarro software glitch that caused all of them .. to not function. Apparently, a firmware bug essentially prevented the consoles from connecting to the PlayStation Network and also prevented anyone from using the console .. period.
In the realm of a videogame marketing nightmare — this is all 13 rings of Dante’s Inferno plus the RROD.
Problem one — a global PS3 meltdown — well that’s really amazingly bad
Problem two — how can you actually get a firmware update if your machine can’t connect online?
Problem three — how on earth did this happen in the first place?
Here’s the official statement that came out around the middle of the day today
“We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system…We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.” Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communication
Here’s what I see — we advise that you do not use your PS3 system
Apparently as of around 7:45 p.m. (EST) the word was that tings are starting to come back online according to CNET
Reports are slowly trickling in and after testing our own PS3, it seems that things are back to normal. All games appear to be running smoothly and no trophies or game saves are corrupted.
So almost a whole day with a broken machine — not a big deal? Well tell that to all the folks over on Twitter who have been tweeting nonstop since the glitch first occurred and “Ps3″ became one of the top hashtags of the day. The tweets ranged from mad to I’m going to throw my PS3 out the window.
This ps3 thing is pissin me off!!!
PS3 failures? Not like sony at all…..good thing I have a slim!
some say the PS3 is now operable. Unless it’s from SONY officially, I’ll wait until tomorrow thank you very much!
In the grand scheme of things, with this issue averted, life in videogame land can return back to normal but it leaves you to ponder if this sort of thing was intentional or if it really was some sort of WTF glitch that will be noted as the “Day my PS3 broke”
Nothing starts a new year of videogaming like rumors, speculation and possibilities of what might be exciting if it actually happens. And if the companies behind these supposed stories actually deliver then strap in and get ready for a crazy new ride into the new decade of gaming. Going against the grain of launching entirely new systems what we see this year are new things you can add to your existing system or get an improved version of what you already own.
PS3 I see you!
The Big News – 3D
Gaming: Out of CES today the big announcement was Sony will allow you to play 3D games. Yeah you heard that right. They’re going to fix up the PS3 so that gamers can get the closest thing we have to a holodeck so far. Oh there is a catch — you need a 3d TV. Who makes those you ask? Wanna guess? Sony Bravias will come with 3D glasses and are slated to launch this summer.
Sony’s Motion Control and Blu Ray tweaks. Sony motion what? Well since the big E3 announcement last year they’ve been mum and considering they’re looking to one up Microsoft by offering 3D gaming it’s a good guess this idea has been tabled. As for the Blu Ray tweaks well they’re definitely going to beef up the player to expand its disc storage capabilities.
Will we see more of this at E3? The 3D stuff ? We certainly hope so. Who needs to bring two Beatles out on stage when you have 3D games.
Remote? Man forget that
Natal — remember Natal? -The “we don’t need no stinking remotes” peripheral that wowed everybody at E3 ‘09 until we wanted to find out when it would be ready or how much it costs. Well the latest is that Microsoft plans to launch this device … sometime this year. We can only guess how they’ll market this but you can bet it will involve attractive families playing games together. As to how it will work with the existing library. Once again — we’ll have to wait for all the details.
Will we see more of this at E3? Yes but don’t expect any answers about the price point. While all the talk has been about making the existing systems better rather than making a while new system, a high-price peripheral may just go the way of the power glove
Wave your DS in the air like you just don't care
DS Motion Sensors: Yeah right. No really. Not that the DS needs to make more money for the company but the latest innovation to grace the Ipod of video game consoles is apparently motion sensors. Counting on the fact that people will drop more cash to buy yet another version of the DS word from the folks over at HQ is that there will be a new Zelda, improved graphics and some sort of technology to somehow read players’ movements. As to when this will happen? Suffice it to say we’ll see Natal before we see this.
Will we see more of this at E3? Maybe. July is a long way from now so who knows what to expect. The only thing we can expect is that whatever it is, it will be a big hit for Nintendo’s golden child.
One week into the new year and we’re already hearing about fantastical things like controller free gaming and gaming with 3D glasses on? It’s going to be quite a year.
So, you know that obscure game that I’ve been doing the marketing consulting for? Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2? From a little company called Tecmo and Team Ninja? Well, they’ve just released the launch trailer for the game.
If you pre-order this game now, you’ll get the prologue comic book: The Vampire War.
Two weeks ago — I wrote this right after NPD released their dour statistics about videogames having a mega drop in sales …
Speculation is also out there that this decline may spark another price drop from the big three. There has already been buzz about the PS3 unveiling a slimmed down version of their console much like Microsoft did with their non-hard drive model last year – published 8/14
So guess what? — PS3 had their price drop officially announced last week and now Microsoft, surprise surprise, has just announced a price drop on their Elite 120 gig model. The new price — $299.
In fact the old 20 gig models may not even be available anymore and they’re definitely phasing out the pro (60 gig) as well. This news was so big it even made it to the blips of CNN’s Headline News. Where’s my props CNN?
Interesting timing don’t you think? For one thing this once again evens out the pricing model with Sony and it then comes down to getting a gaming console with a great social media/online gaming element versus a really good blu-ray player and gaming console. Either way you’re getting a good deal if you’re just jumping into the market for buying a console. For the owners of older 360s that have suffered hardware failure time and time again, getting a replacement of the original 20 gig model, it seems, will no longer be an option. How will this work remains to be seen. Will they just keep sending out refurbished models?
The bigger bonus for both Sony and Microsoft though is with cheaper consoles going into the fall season both companies stand to garner a whole new customer base from gamers who will gladly pay a lower price to get more memory and less RROD or in the PS3’s case an affordable blu-ray player/gaming console.
Does this mean we’re looking at a good old fashioned console war that we haven’t seen the likes of since the last generation of machines? Possibly. With graphical capabilities pretty much the same on both systems and more and more non-exclusive titles (minus the Halos and the Resistances) outside the clear difference in terms of what these machines do, it’s really a matter of personal preference.
Where does Nintendo fall into all of this? It may not be a factor at all. Well the Wii was already the cheapest. Considering that the Wii is still not serving up the kind of games its two competitors offer in terms of depth and graphical quality, for all intents and purposes it becomes the family/kid/starter console. In the last round the Gamecube was a strong competitor on the gaming level but the Wii has yet to deliver a Gears of War or Uncharted that makes it a true challenge to what Sony and Microsoft have on tap. So for now we’ll have to wait and see if these price drops will spark a rise in console sales which have not been strong all year and how this will play into consumers then going out and buying all the new releases to play on their more affordable machines. Stay tuned
