| Megaoverlord12 said: First thread! Woo! Anyway... I have a question regarding the start of the 7th as compared to that of the 8th. Did the 7th gen start off as bad as the 8th has been? I ask this because I've only been intently paying this much attention to the industry as a whole fairly recently, as I honestly just didn't care for it as a whole as much outside of my bubble of Halo, Sonic, Kingdom Hearts, and Nintendo, and I'm honestly curious, as, at least in my opinion, this gen is off to a bad start, and considering how well the One and PS4 are selling, I wanted to know if it's just bad because I don't know any better, or if it is just bad. Here's my reasoning for why I'm not too impressed with this gen. 2 of the 3 consoles were executed in the worst possible way from launch. The One presented a wrong foot forward from the very beginning, from it's ideas of always online and required Kinect, to it's equally horrific marketing. Some of its ideas were good ones, several of which likely be standard in future consoles, but it tried too much too quickly, and its ideas were miscommunicated and drowned out by all of the bad. Simply put, when people buy a games console, they buy it primarily for games, not multimedia. If it launched as it as now, Kinect optional, disc required, and marketing focused on games, it would be doing at least as well as the PS4, maybe even better. Ah, Nintendo, how much I simultaneously love and hate you. I honestly and adamantly believe the Wii U could have been stealing the show this generation... if it released directly up against the PS4 and One... or maybe even this year. As backwards as that sounds, hear me out. The biggest two problems with the Wii U at launch was power and games. So much could have been accomplished with an extra year or two of development. They would have had extra time to make their console closer to, or if released this year, stronger than the One or the PS4. Especially if released this year, they would have had time to look and listen to what Microsoft and Sony were doing, and learn fron them what to push and what not to. They could have modernized their online infrastructure to closer match PSN and Xbox Live. And they could still keep the GamePad and Miiverse to differenciate their console even further, make the One and PS4 look boring in comparison. Finally the games. The One has one true exclusive and the PS4 two. The Wii U had New Super U, 3D World, Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, and New Super Luigi U (among others) in its first year. Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong, Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, and Smash in its second. Imagine having all of that at or at least promised from launch, in addition to the titles releasing next year. They would also have third party support from the getgo like the Wii U did at launch, so it would also be getting stuff like CoD and AC. It would be hard to justify not owning it. Finally the PS4, The winner from the getgo because they were smart enough to do nothing. They capitalized on the horrific ordeal that was the One's reveal, advertised it as a game machine first and foremost, and is currently dominating this gen despite barely having anything that can't run on a One, 360, or PS3. Absolute geniuses, Sony's gaming division. However, even they are not without hardware faults. The Vita, like the One and Wii U was a good idea, horribly executed. They expected a $250-$300 handheld to sell in this day in this day and age, against smartphones and the $170 3DS, on top of needing to buying overpriced proprietary memory sticks. Get real. This is not helped by the fact that, unlike Nintendo, who sees the Wii U floundering and is doing all it can to fix it, Sony is perfectly intent on letting the Vita be a haven for indies you can mostly elsewhere and obscure JRPGS. They have all but given up on the poor thing. And for my final argument, the games. Each and every title that was supposed to be the herald for the new gen has fallen flat on its face in some way shape or form. Rise, Watch Dogs, Destiny, and Assassin's Creed Unity were generally all agreed upon to be disappointing, in addition to the fact that Watch Dogs and Destiny can run on 8 year old machines. Halo: The Master Chief Collection, in addition to consisting of titles that can all be played on 360 (yea, I know, no online for 1 and 2, but still the campaign for them can be played, as can local multiplayer) is literally broken at launch. LittleBigPlanet 3, in addition to being playable on PS3, is littered with bugs. DriveClub's multiplayer is STILL broken. Several games, like Batman, Evolve, and The Order have been delayed, some, like Watch Dogs, several times. I got a 3DS Christmas 2011 for Kart, 3D Land, Zelda, and the promise of Kingdom Hearts and Luigi's Mansion. I got a Wii U 2013 for Wind Waker HD, 3D World, and the promise of Kart, Smash, and Bayo 2. I was planning on getting a One this year for Halo: MCC, AC: Unity, and the promise of Evolve, Batman, The Witcher 3, Halo 5, Kingdom Hearts III, and Final Fantasy XV. but after seeing how broken Halo is and how underwhelming Unity is, I think I'll wait until more titles I want come out for it. So, am I completely wrong and the 8th gen is off to a wonderful start? Did the 7th gen start off just as bad, or is this only growing pains for this gen? Please let me know. |
Last gen was pretty bad too. It was Nintendo who had the flawless execution, but both MS and Sony made huge mistakes.
Sony's Hubris had caused them to launch a $600 console, despite delaying the release of most of their anticipated franchises. During that period, people had to rely on inferior multiplats and then received some high profile disappointments (i.e. Lair/Haze)
Meanwhile, MS launched early, launched cheaper, had way more games, and seemed poised to dominate... but then the obscene failure rate of early 360's severely damaged consumer confidence. MS went out of their way to make sure people were taken care of, but the damage was already done.
So the Wii sold like hotcakes while the 2 HD consoles did damage control.
