daroamer said:
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Can't the two things happen separately and add up in the total? XB360 has both a cheap unit without Kinect and a more expensive one that for the price of PS3 includes also Kinect. Obviously you can't have both ways at the same times, but both happen separately and each one helps boosting sales. Then add Halo: Reach, Black Ops, in USA Forza bundle too, then add 500M advertising for Kinect (that several weeks managed to sell more than XB360 itself, in fact), then add even more things I'm surely forgetting now. The end result is that XB360, and even more Kinect, did wonders, but it's quite obvious that PS3 got lower, but still very good results, even more considering that Sony kept a quite lower profile this Xmas, even about Move and GT5. Well, anyhow, it looks like you're right saying the reasons of current MS success are more than just two and more complex too, and also that Kinect played a bigger role than low entry price but IMVHO Skeeuk wished more to praise Sony results, rather than downplaying MS ones. And thinking about it, downplaying the opponent downplays a possible victory against it or makes a defeat against it a lot less honourable, I'd say that Ninty strong Xmas reaction against competing motion controls makes both MS and Sony results look better, and in return, at the same time MS' strong attack makes Ninty's victory look better too, despite the YoY decrease, but that Kinect sales and 360 YoY increase are the most noteworthy events is undeniable, Ninty resistance on the top comes second, Sony WW results come a honourable third and the only really sad major events are Balance Board and PS3 defeats (not as absolute numbers, but comparing them respectively to Kinect and XB360) in America and GT5 underperforming in Japan. While Kinect can record a relatively good performance in Japan too, if we compare it to 360 sales there. And if we want to talk about victories, we must not forget Black Ops, that counting all versions, has already beaten most 1st party exclusives and has some chaces to beat even Mario Kart Wii, not to mention that even just counting single platforms it could beat anyway most MS and Sony exclusives (but not Nintendo ones). And Black Ops victories too shine better if we give due credit to its opponents' worth.
About Sony's relatively low profile, I suspect that Sony chose not to attack frontally either MS or Nintendo this Xmas for more than one reason, it wished MS had least possible temptations to start next gen too early, it wasn't ready to fight a price war yet and, finally, it must be very happy about MS and Nintendo fighting each other now (Kinect is hitting directly Balance Board, and Ninty was forced for the first time to start regularly bundling it in some regions) and leaving it alone. Did it work? I think so, MS dealt just one blow below the belt to Sony during the last quarters, while Ninty fought very fairly, with Sony it looks like there's almost a truce, concentrating its might to defend itself from Kinect. And both PS Move and WiiMote Plus are so underutilized that a de facto cooperation could easily start between the two, as their similarities and their respective user bases adding up could boost 3rd party development for them, although multiplatform, not exclusive.
Essay Pro