I really don't think library size will matter all that much this season, atleast not nearly to the extent it's mattered during pswii's first 10 months. it's my opinion (uh oh) that people will be watching the titans wrestle rather then counting foot-soldiers. I'm sorry, i realize it's distressingly unfair for me to say "well it's my opinion so that's that". |
I couldn't disagree more with this statement. The library size is the primary thing that matters when you are looking at the PS3 vs. 360. This is what made the PS2 so successful despite the fact that there was not that much to differentiate it from the xbox. Halo 3 is important for the 360 obviously (and for MS profitability), but in the long run, it is not going to matter nearly as much as all the rest of the software.
Honestly, I am pretty shocked at the severe lack of diverse software for the PS3 at this point. MS carved themselves a very strong niche with the shooter market last gen and has managed to carry that over to this gen in a big way. But that niche is of limited value unless they can also deliver on a wide variety of other genres. MS appears to be trying their best to expand on that niche, albeit with limited success, but the quality racing, rpg, adventure, strategy type games that they have put out are extremely important in building their platform into something that appeals to a wider user base. Sony appears to be focusing a lot on competing in the shooter market with their most popular 2006 (Resistance) and 2007 (UT) games likely to be in this category - but IMO that is kind of a trap since they are not going to unseat MS in that genre and they have not been able to capitalize on MS's mediocre success in other genres. Seriously, Sony should be downright ashamed that the best RPG experience this gen is on the 360.
Sony needs GT5 and FF asap!
I also don't think it is a good idea to underestimate the 360's 2008 lineup. We have limited information about it at this time, but we know games like Fable, LO, Halo Wars, NG2, GOW2 are likely exclusives and should be the best games in their respective genres when they are released. I also think GTA4 will be very critical... this will be a platform seller so if either side manages to dominate sales on this game, it could have a pretty significant impact on the future (IMO Sony is very lucky this game got delayed as I don't think they would really be able to compete this holiday season as a 3rd party platform).
Of course, through all of this, you can't ignore the affect the Wii is having. With the mass market moving to the Wii, the market for many genres is going to be severely limited on the PS3 and 360.
