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JWeinCom on 24 August 2012
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teigaga said:
JWeinCom said:
teigaga said:
Crono141 said:
teigaga said:

I think the truth about the wii was that nintendo simply were'nt confident enough to compete with the 360 and ps3 on power, Had the gamecube been a success and sold 40m+ I think the wii would have been closer to the strength of the 360. I think with the wii U they may possibly be of the mind set that  all 90m wii owners are patiently waiting for nintendo to release a system in HD as opposed to simply buying a ps3/360. Either that or what you suggested. 

The problem is the success of the ps3/360 (140m combined) is largely down to more traditional/core gaming titles. I don't think a 0.5 upgrade in graphics is going to convince the guys who buy these games (COD, Assasins Creed, Halo, GTA, Uncharted, Final fantasy) to buy a new system, so I think they (sony especially) have no choice but to take that full Leap towards HQ CGI quality visuals, and I feel the Wii U will be left out. Sony/MS could try and innovate as nintendo did with the wii but I can't see what they could really bring to the table. Xbox has Kinect, so there  is potential kinect 2 will blow our minds but I think we will likely just see higher accuracy, which I don't think is needed for most of the games which use kinect. And sony have nothing.... the point is I think Sony/MS will realise this and max out the power of their consoles. Which by late 2013/2014 that may not be as expensive as one imagines it to be now.


That is a fair point, but I disagree with your conclusion.  I think that Microsoft in particular is dead set on targeting the casual market.  Look at their E3 conference.  When you watched that, did you see a company who was interested in cutting edge gaming technology, or did you see a company who is more interested in selling you a machine to play your netflix on?  Microsoft at least is leaning just as casually as Nintendo, with a few legacy shooting franchises.

As for Sony, can they afford to max out the power of their consoles?  Sony is in rough financial shape, and they're counting on their gaming division to help pull them out of this slump.  Sony can't afford to make an insanely powerful console and take a beating on it.  Nintendo could survive another Gamecube.  Sony can't survive another PS3.

I agree on both points, Microsoft are definitely trying to broaden the market, but I think that will happen more through the media space and I'm not sure how much of marketing push that is for the 360 vs the 720. Could they possibly support 2 consoles at the same time, each with a different market in mind? I don't think they will use bleedy edge tech by 2013 standards but by todays. Next Gen is going to be an even longer investment then this one, so I wouldn't be suprised if Microsoft are willing to bleed money for the 1st year on 2. On the other hand, they will likely be recovering alot on Xbox 360+ Kinect sales which I think will continue throughout 2014. 

Its true about sony being in a difficult position, but to me they have no other option. Everything points towards them releasing after 720, if they don't have the technilogical edge what will they have? One thing I have briefly considered (do not judge), If the wii U and 720 only took half steps could sony hold out on the ps4 for even longer and have the ps3 compete against WiiU/720 with new incentives and rebranding?

Either way, I'm still very confident the consoles will represent a huge leap. If I'm wrong, then the Wii U truly is in a good position


I don't think having two different consoles would be a very good idea.  Fragmenting your market is a poor strategy because it halves your install base.  If Microsoft is trying to go for the casual market, how can they do that with a very expensive high spec console?  I think that 300 dollars is about the upper limit for a new console to a casual gamer.  $400 puts you solely in the hardcore range.  As for the next generation being longer than this one, it's hard to say, but I'm not sure about that one either.   I think that new hardware is essential in keeping people interested and engaged in your brand.  I think you need a new console every 5 or so years to energize your fanbase.  With new technologies popping up, a trend that will continue in coming years, I don't think that a long lifespan is necessarily a good thing.

With Sony, I think it's really a matter of survival.  I just flat out don't think can financially afford releasing another PS3.  Holding out a little longer is an interesting idea, but it could lead to some of the issues that they saw with the X-Box 360.

But, let's say theoretically that the consoles do go for specs approaching top of the line PCs.  How much better will the graphics look?  They'd probably look about as good as modern PC games on the highest settings, and I don't think that leap will be enough to really grab gamers' attention.  Moreover, I don't think that even that kind of jump will prevent competent ports to the Wii U.  

I guess we'll see sometime next year who's right and who's wrong, but I don't personally see the Wii U being blown out of the water.  I'm expecting a PS2-X-Box style gap.  Maybe DC-X-Box at most.