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loves2splooge on 17 April 2011
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HappySqurriel said:
Darc Requiem said:

Simply put. If MS and Sony give Nintendo two years on the market without releasing a competing console they are screwed. Nintendo completely dominated the market with the NES to the point were the average consumer thought anything video game related was Nintendo. They let Sega establish the Genesis for a couple years before the SNES launched and it took them most the generation to regain the number 1 position in market share. Even then Sega retained a sizeable portion of the market.

Nintendo is number one in marketshare. Giving them two years to court 3rd parties and "hardcore" gamers would be foolhardy. Neither Sony nor MS could claim to have the most powerful console any longer. Some developers are already complaining about the "limitations" of the HD consoles. They'd be playing right into Nintendo's hands.

There was reason that Sony rushed the PS2 to the market a year early. Even though Sega was in financial ruin, Sony knew that giving the Dreamcast two years on the market unfettered would be a mistake. They saw what happenend with the NES and the Genesis and chose not to repeat the mistake.

It should also be added that one of the core reasons that the Playstation was able to dominate the N64 was that Sony had an 18 month head start; and the timing of the release of the PSP seemed to be intended to be 12 to 18 months before you would expect Nintendo to replace the GBA. Sony has demonstranted repeatedly that they are aware of the advantages of releasing a system early, and seem to try to use that advantage when it suits them.

Even if the N64 was released in 1994 or 1995, the N64 might have been doomed without CD-ROM media. The high production cost of cartridges put off third-party developers and the practice of passing on the cost to the consumer pissed off gamers. My memory is a bit hazy but I remember some N64 games being pretty darn expensive. Whereas the PS1 games mostly debuted at $50 (or less if a budget title).

Back on topic, If the PS4 and Xbox 720 are rushed out, they're going to be like $500-600 and it's going to piss off a lot of people who just paid $300 for their PS3/Xbox 360. When you release a console early to try to win some console war, you risk pissing off your customers. Just look at Sega. They pissed off Genesis gamers by pulling the plug on the Genesis and releasing the Saturn to beat Sony to the punch and then Saturn gamers by pulling the plug on the Saturn and releasing the Dreamcast to beat Sony to the punch again. And look how that worked out for Sega.