I may have mentioned previously that, of the three major gaming consoles, Nintendo's Wii is the only video game console that is resulting in a substantial profit. Microsoft is breaking even pretty much, though I am not sure if they are in the red or black in regards to their Xbox 360. Sony is definitely in the red. Anyway, both Microsoft and Sony have made announcements about jobs in their respective gaming departments today, January 23rd.
First, Microsoft is expected to make over five thousand job cuts. They believe that the majority of these cuts will come from the Entertainment and Devices division, which is the division that brings the world Xbox stuff and Zune stuff.
Source
Sony states that most of their cuts will not come from their gaming department. Sony has predicted a greater number of PS3 sales, but that PS2 and PSP will get less sales than what they originally thought. To reduce costs, Sony will be doing many things to save even the smallest amount of money like what their employees eat and such.
Source
There's really not that much to say about Microsoft; they are doing a good job. These job cuts kind of go along with the wave of job cuts that hits every corporation. I was surprised by what Sony had to say. I may be wrong, but I think Sony is in a denial stage, they are still investing more time and money into the PS3.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg responds to Kaz Hirai's statements
This is one of those "Oh no you didn't!" kind of moments. Kazuo Hirai makes statements about 360's lack of longetivity. Here's a short article:
Source
Now, it's from The Bitbag, so it seems a hair biased toward Microsoft. Anyway, Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft then responded by saying that Microsoft is confident that they will defeat the PS3.
Now, I believe that Xbox 360 does have somewhat of a lack of longetivity. I believe that there will be a 360 successor and a Wii successor at about the same time. They both make you want to say "so what?". PS3 has longetivity, but those sales will only hardware sales will only rack up faster if more HDTV's are put in people's homes. I'm sure less than a fifth of the population watches TV via HD. Anyway, I am not that interested in hearing Hirai's response. It just seems like a fight in which we won't learn anything new...
Source
Now, it's from The Bitbag, so it seems a hair biased toward Microsoft. Anyway, Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft then responded by saying that Microsoft is confident that they will defeat the PS3.
Now, I believe that Xbox 360 does have somewhat of a lack of longetivity. I believe that there will be a 360 successor and a Wii successor at about the same time. They both make you want to say "so what?". PS3 has longetivity, but those sales will only hardware sales will only rack up faster if more HDTV's are put in people's homes. I'm sure less than a fifth of the population watches TV via HD. Anyway, I am not that interested in hearing Hirai's response. It just seems like a fight in which we won't learn anything new...
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Winner of the Console War is...
Which console on the market is the best console? I am not someone who can determine the best console, for I do not have a PS3 and I have not spent enough time playing my 360. I'm not going to give an opinion on which one I think is best, because I cannot say. However, I am going to denounce some statements out there.
The first question is, how do we determine the actual winner of a console war? The common perception of this question is that the console with the most units sold in a generation wins the console war. However, it can also be determined by the support of people who play the consoles. The seventh generation of consoles (360 v. PS3 v. Wii) is different from the previous generations with exception to the first generation, and I'll explain why the first generation is excepted later. In the second generation, the clear winner was the Atari 2600. It sold the most games and nowadays it is acknowledged as, pretty much, the only pre-NES console that is acknowledged as good for its time. The third and fourth generations both went to Nintendo's NES and SNES both in sales and fan support. The fifth and sixth generations both went to Sony's PSX and PS2 in sales with good fan support in both. Now, the reason why the seventh generation of consoles could be considered different is that Wii is currently the overwhelming leader in hardware and software sales. However, there are almost religious supporters of the consoles that believe that Wii does not cater to the hardcore fanbase, and that is why this generation is so different. Different people are now beginning to wonder what the answer to the above question is ("What determines the winner of a console war?").
Here's my question to those hardcore gamers: Why do only hardcore gamers count as gamers? Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo, said that hardcore gamers stem from casual gamers. People that are hardcore gamers now have had to find some way to get into gaming if they played games since the third or fourth generation. If people who buy the Wii enjoy the Wii and think they got the right thing for the right price of $250, and those people have never played games before, why shouldn't their opinions be counted? I'm just spit-balling ideas out there.
Statements about the Seventh Generation:
Wii doesn't count as a seventh generation console. It is a GCN 1.5 or 2.0, or whatever, so we don't count it as a console in the selling battle.
This is a very ignorant statement. Generations are determined by the dates in which events related to the console happen, i.e. release date, major releases, sales of 2 million or more per month. Wii is in the same generation as PS3 because they released the same year, for example.
Xbox 360 is the most expensive console because you need to buy all those hardware accessories. My PS3/Wii has all those online things built into it.
Xbox 360 is the cheapest console on the market for gaming purposes. Remember that we don't need to have online play to play games or any of those other things. An Xbox 360 Arcade ($199) does just fine for playing some of the best games on the market, i.e. Fable 2, Crackdown, etc.
PS3 has the most exclusives on the market. You've got MGS4, LittleBigPlanet, MAG, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, and Killzone 2.
I'm not stating that any of these games are bad or that the PS3 is not the best console on the market. However, it does not suffice to say that the PS3 has these titles if they haven't been released yet.
Major Predictions for this year
Wii: I want to see a Zelda game, but it's probably better if it comes out early 2010. The game that I think could possibly get Game of the Year 2009 is Madworld. The Conduit, Fatal Frame IV, and Cursed Mountain also look promising. A lot of GameCube ports will be used to buy time to get that Zelda game out while still keeping the core base busy.
360: Halo 3 ODST will likely be the best selling game of the year. Pray that Bioshock 2 comes out this year, but late, 'cause I have to get Bioshock 1 first. Alan Wake looks promising. Not that much going on for 360 as of now, but we'll see.
PS3: I don't have a PS3, but I want to see what Heavy Rain is like SOOOOOOOO badly! Sony may possibly try to speed production and give us some half-baked Wii-esque titles to get out of their big deficit. Sony had better do better than last year...
Suggestions for Success
Nintendo: Come out with more bridge titles. If you come with another Super Paper Mario game or a 2D platformer that will suck the casual gamers into a hardcore gamer lifestyle, then you can focus more on core gamers and get your hardcore fanbase to grow!
Microsoft: Basically, keep up the good work. If you come out with the same number of strong titles or more, you should get into the black.
Sony: Find ways to lower your selling price to as close as the 360 Arcade. Even if the price is $300, the Xbox 360 will still look more appealing. Don't try to capitalize off Blu-ray. PS3 was supposed to help Blu-Ray and it did, but it won't work the other way around.
The first question is, how do we determine the actual winner of a console war? The common perception of this question is that the console with the most units sold in a generation wins the console war. However, it can also be determined by the support of people who play the consoles. The seventh generation of consoles (360 v. PS3 v. Wii) is different from the previous generations with exception to the first generation, and I'll explain why the first generation is excepted later. In the second generation, the clear winner was the Atari 2600. It sold the most games and nowadays it is acknowledged as, pretty much, the only pre-NES console that is acknowledged as good for its time. The third and fourth generations both went to Nintendo's NES and SNES both in sales and fan support. The fifth and sixth generations both went to Sony's PSX and PS2 in sales with good fan support in both. Now, the reason why the seventh generation of consoles could be considered different is that Wii is currently the overwhelming leader in hardware and software sales. However, there are almost religious supporters of the consoles that believe that Wii does not cater to the hardcore fanbase, and that is why this generation is so different. Different people are now beginning to wonder what the answer to the above question is ("What determines the winner of a console war?").
Here's my question to those hardcore gamers: Why do only hardcore gamers count as gamers? Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo, said that hardcore gamers stem from casual gamers. People that are hardcore gamers now have had to find some way to get into gaming if they played games since the third or fourth generation. If people who buy the Wii enjoy the Wii and think they got the right thing for the right price of $250, and those people have never played games before, why shouldn't their opinions be counted? I'm just spit-balling ideas out there.
Statements about the Seventh Generation:
Wii doesn't count as a seventh generation console. It is a GCN 1.5 or 2.0, or whatever, so we don't count it as a console in the selling battle.
This is a very ignorant statement. Generations are determined by the dates in which events related to the console happen, i.e. release date, major releases, sales of 2 million or more per month. Wii is in the same generation as PS3 because they released the same year, for example.
Xbox 360 is the most expensive console because you need to buy all those hardware accessories. My PS3/Wii has all those online things built into it.
Xbox 360 is the cheapest console on the market for gaming purposes. Remember that we don't need to have online play to play games or any of those other things. An Xbox 360 Arcade ($199) does just fine for playing some of the best games on the market, i.e. Fable 2, Crackdown, etc.
PS3 has the most exclusives on the market. You've got MGS4, LittleBigPlanet, MAG, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, and Killzone 2.
I'm not stating that any of these games are bad or that the PS3 is not the best console on the market. However, it does not suffice to say that the PS3 has these titles if they haven't been released yet.
Major Predictions for this year
Wii: I want to see a Zelda game, but it's probably better if it comes out early 2010. The game that I think could possibly get Game of the Year 2009 is Madworld. The Conduit, Fatal Frame IV, and Cursed Mountain also look promising. A lot of GameCube ports will be used to buy time to get that Zelda game out while still keeping the core base busy.
360: Halo 3 ODST will likely be the best selling game of the year. Pray that Bioshock 2 comes out this year, but late, 'cause I have to get Bioshock 1 first. Alan Wake looks promising. Not that much going on for 360 as of now, but we'll see.
PS3: I don't have a PS3, but I want to see what Heavy Rain is like SOOOOOOOO badly! Sony may possibly try to speed production and give us some half-baked Wii-esque titles to get out of their big deficit. Sony had better do better than last year...
Suggestions for Success
Nintendo: Come out with more bridge titles. If you come with another Super Paper Mario game or a 2D platformer that will suck the casual gamers into a hardcore gamer lifestyle, then you can focus more on core gamers and get your hardcore fanbase to grow!
Microsoft: Basically, keep up the good work. If you come out with the same number of strong titles or more, you should get into the black.
Sony: Find ways to lower your selling price to as close as the 360 Arcade. Even if the price is $300, the Xbox 360 will still look more appealing. Don't try to capitalize off Blu-ray. PS3 was supposed to help Blu-Ray and it did, but it won't work the other way around.
I Real Gamer forum Coming Soon!
I'm just throwing this announcement out there: I am currently creating a ProBoards forum for console war debating purposes. I want to get it done as soon as possible. It's in maintenance mode, but you can visit the forum here. However, the main reason for posting this announcement early is that I do not own a PS3 or a PSP, and I just got my 360 a little while ago, so I haven't played many games on it. I am asking if there are any people that would like to be moderators for these individual boards. I can only take a PS3 board moderator, PSP board moderator, and 360 board moderator. If you are interested, just post that you are interested in the comments or send me an e-mail (bleg1992@hotmail.com).
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