This coming holiday season’s console videogaming champ, chimp and chump |
Loading ...It’s July and a little early for holiday season predictions, but that isn’t stopping Wagner James Au from declaring this holiday season’s PS3 to be the Xbox 360.
His reasoning is that because the editor of the popular videogame blog Kotaku is on his ninth Xbox 360 due to red rings of death problems. Au closes his Xbox 360 is doomed post with:
when it comes time to buy a console for the holidays, which one do you think gamers will buy? Call me crazy, but I’m guessing it won’t be the one that failed their friend Brian nine separate times.
Wagner James Au should stick to writing about Second Life and away from writing about console videogaming. With Halo 3 and the rumored IPTV connectivity, the Xbox 360 is virtually guaranteed a great holiday season. Halo 3 could be the most anticipated game ever and what moves game systems more than anything else? Games,
So yes, I’m calling you crazy, Wagner James Au. Don’t quit your day job to be a fortune teller.
The Xbox 360 has far and away the best online game system of all three consoles. It’s the arcade of the world, buy some vowels from Vanna already. The Wii is really, really weak for online gaming and their virtual store prices are laughable. The Wii is fun, the most family-friendly system around and the price is right for the system specs, but even Nintendo hasn’t tried to position itself as competition to the PS3 and Xbox 360. They’ve very smartly positioned themselves as a compliment to those systems.
The PS3 even with the $100 price drop is still too overpriced and with not enough games and don’t get me started on the issues with the Playstation Store. They don’t even have support for one of their most popular games — Guitar Hero on the PS3 yet! Things are getting better, yes, but even Sony admitted at E3 that they have much work to do. Once HOME is made available for the masses to try out (still in closed beta as of this writing) we’ll see if they can make a dent in the competition. In the meantime, they better keep focusing on the 118 million households that own the awesome PS2.
The PS3 doesn’t even have the most 1080p games.
Peter Moore leaving Xbox
Au believes that Peter Moore leaving the Xbox division for EA is some kind of major turning point. Peter Moore leaving for EA is a bummer, but no single departing employee is enough to tank the 360. EA’s strongest asset is their exclusive deal with the NFL, not Peter Moore.
Microsoft has been saying for some time now that the Xbox 360 will not be profitable until 2008. While I have plenty of doubts they’ll go from over a billion in the hole to profitability next year, they can say that knowing a few key events (Halo 3, IPTV) will come before their own profitability predictions.
Xbox 360 red rings of death not new
Now the hardware problems … yes, they are maddening and stupid and nothing new. The Xbox 360 has grown its audience despite tons of rings of death problems. We’ve had three of them go bad in our household alone, but the kids choose the 360 over the other systems almost every time. So far (crossing my fingers) the Xbox 360 Elite we bought in late April hasn’t tanked. If it’s as flawed as the other systems we’ve bought and at the reduced playing rate then it has awhile before it goes bad.
With all this said which system do I think most people will buy this holiday season? The same system people craved last holiday season: the Wii! The Wii is still in short display around here and we’re approaching August. However, Microsoft has a huge trump card: the price of the chips they’re using has been going down and they can drop the Xbox 360 another $100-200 and could do that to land a critical blow to the PS3. Imagine an Xbox 360 Elite for $299-350? That will happen, although it’s doubtful it will be this holiday season as Microsoft doesn’t fear the current incarnation of the PS3.
Which system will sell the least this coming holiday season? The Sony PS3. Again. I like the PS3 and am using it a lot more since we bought a 1080p capable TV last week, but this holiday season’s PS3 is going to be last season’s PS3. If/when Nintendo understands how important online gaming is and allow people to play in Xbox Live style with their vast library of great first party titles, they could seriously threaten to be #1 again.
Microsoft will be the monkey in the middle again this year selling a zillion Halo 3 games and continuing to improve the best online gaming experience out there making it that much harder for Nintendo and Sony to catch up on that front.
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When the PS3 comes around the $299 or $250 mark, I’ll be looking at it. Just too expensive right now although it still in my opinion has the best games. Of course, we’ve visited this before. 360 gaming industry is still stuck in the whole FPS/sports genre way more than PS3. Differece in systems just like the Mac and PC worlds. Just look at the import scene… PS3 is literally killing the 360.
Also, like we’ve visited before, the Home scenario and Playstation Store has to rock for them to compete online. I think it’s possible, but Sony needs to get their heads out of their butts to make it happen. I personally think Nintendo has a better chance at this.
Will I be buying a PS3 in the future? Definitely. 360? Nah. Only game I even am slightly curious about is Blue Dragon. Not worth my money for 1 single game.
PS3 will have it slow surge when RE5 and MGS4 come out. Just like the PSP is surging now that there’s a bit of superior games unlike the beginning. When it comes to lengthy cut scenes for RPGs, Sony consoles win out hands down.
Comment by darkmoon — July 24, 2007 @ 7:05 am PST
Don’t you like competing against other people or for high scores in the arcade of the world, darkmoon? Why can’t you and I play Wii Sports bowling for example? If competing against other players isn’t high on one’s list, then the whole Xbox Live scene won’t be a big motivator for those looking to buy a system. If/when you do buy an Xbox 360 and play over live, I think you’d have a different opinion. Microsoft is the closest to providing a complete social gaming experience of all three.
For me that’s the biggest draw of the Xbox 360 over the other two consoles. Very few PS3 games have this kind of across the world gameplay and last time I checked zero games on the Wii have this playability. It’s almost like Nintendo wants to keep the Wii games in your home only. The Mii thing has possibilities, but they haven’t fully tapped them yet. Maybe they will and if it happens soon enough, they could steal a lot of Xbox 360 thunder on the Live front.
Microsoft definitely needs a better presence in the Japanese market, which continues to be a huge feather in the cap of Nintendo and Sony. No disputing that.
But to the question by Au: do you think Xbox 360 will be this year’s PS3 during this holiday season? I don’t. Will it outsell the PS3? Yes. The Wii? Doubtful. Monkey in the middle.
Comment by TDavid — July 24, 2007 @ 7:18 am PST
I agree with the Wii thing. From what I’m hearing, rumors are that a lot of that could be possible soon. Who knows really. Without having a development system, and only having the enduser, I think the Wii has the capabilities and infrastructure built in, but they’re holding back (for whatever stupid reason). Yes, the bowling thing would be great…..
Microsoft’s online experience? ehh… So far, while there’s many good things about the Marketplace, I have to say that it would excite me as much as the flash game sites excite me. Which is about nihil. If I’m playing online, I want to play games that are graphically capable via the console. Like my latest online conquests has been Killzone: Liberation for the PSP. So far, marketplace stuff only has one thing that I might be sorta interested in: Geometry Wars… and even so, it’s only a fleeting thing at that.
I don’t think the hardware thing will be an issue for Microsoft like Au does (and much like your analysis). Just look at the stock. firmware hoses, and the price doesn’t even budge. No way in hell that they’ll be the lowball. PS3 might for one more year… when the good games start rolling though in 2008, you might be seeing a mighty surge. I won’t be rash and predict it’ll take over 360, not in North America where people actually like the genre that I prefer on PC… but I’ll say that I definitely would be curious to world-wide numbers.
I think that when it comes down to graphic intense games, 360 is the only competitor to PS3. And that makes a big diff in RPGs like Square Enix type games. Blue Dragon? From what I’ve seen you might be able to port that to Wii even since it’s much like … Valkyrie Profile style (can’t think of anything else off top of my head, but I think the point is made). Stuff like the new Killzone and Prototype and Assassin’s Creed will be the market that 360 and PS3 will battle on.
In the end, Microsoft still needs to get their heads out of their butts with hardware design. It’s sort of pathetic. I mean, there is such a thing called stress testing. But outside of all the rambling, you’re right. Monkey in the middle again.
Comment by darkmoon — July 24, 2007 @ 7:46 am PST
I think you are underestimating the ring of death problem. It is so widely reported now that consumers are going to start thinking of the 360 as a failure — which is amazing considering how many have been sold and the great games (Gears of War — way better than Halo, by the way). But MS needs a sustained megahit for the 360 to be profitable, not just a big seller or great games. Meanwhile, I see the Wii as a fad. Once you’ve played through a few games, you realize it is ONE GAME, sort of a console that just does Guitar Hero. I am in the minority I know, but I think the PS3 has the most power, corporate backing, and foreign fanbase to beat the 360.
Comment by jbrandon — July 25, 2007 @ 8:03 am PST
jbrandon - Your key problem with your point is this part: “..and foreign fanbase..” lol. Believe me. I don’t have a PS3, and I still think it rocks the socks off 360 when to comes to what I want to play. But in North America, sports and FPS reign supreme. Don’t ask me why since I’ve been a FPS player on PC since before Wolfenstein 3D and PC rocks the world of FPS. Console FPSes have always been pretty pathetic in my opinion due to the really linear shooting patterns coming from a joystick/gamepad versus a mouse.
And do I really want to own NFL 2007? Not really. lol. But that’s what drives this market on a whole.
Give me a japanese console any day. The only thing I have an issue with currently is… well.. two issues. 1) Price. 2) Sony doesn’t really listen to its players. It does well for doing that, but I think it’d be even better off if it actually paid attention to what’s hot and pushed towards that. Like the huge MMORPG realm in Asia. I think it’d do well in NA if Sony provided the right servers for it. Just look at the craze behind Killzone: Liberation. It’s incredible for a PSP game.
Comment by darkmoon — July 25, 2007 @ 10:05 am PST
[…] games on the way, I see a brighter holiday season for the PS3. It’s still going to be #3 (still a chump) this holiday season, but for gamers who already have the Wii and Xbox 360 and also a 1080p capable […]
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