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Squilliam on 27 December 2012
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HappySqurriel said:
Squilliam said:
Sony needs to really do things which neither Microsoft nor Nintendo are doing. Nintendo did Wiimote so they did Move, Nintendo does SSBB so they did PSAS, Nintendo does Mario Kart so they did LBK and Nintendo has Mario so they tried to make Sack-boy a mascot.

@ Happy Squirrel I would say Microsoft will push Kinect 2.0 as a point of uniqueness and leverage their networks and software/OS talents to make the Nextbox stand out whilst using things like Smartglass to ape Nintendo's Wuu Pad.


That sounds like a very disjointed strategy ...

Kinect and a 3D eye-toy are essentially the same idea, smart-glass has more in common with PS-Vita/PS3 connectivity than it does with the Wii U tablet, the PS4 and XBox 720 are likely going to retain conventional controllers for "core" games, Sony and Microsoft are likely going to continue focusing on online gameplay and ignoring local multiplayer, and both systems will likely be more powerful and more expensive than the Wii U. Essentially two companies executing the exact same strategy against another company that has a different vision.

 

It is a disjointed strategy but it makes sense from the perspective of a western business manager trying to be more inclusive of different market segments with the same product. You have the premium product (Elite/250GB console) the bait and switch product (original Xbox Core) the core product (Premium) the value added product (Live) the loyalty inducements (achievements/non standards compliant network + subsidy with Xbox Live) and the differentiator (Kinect) all coming from the one company. I'm not making a judgement about the validity, I'm agreeing that it is disjointed. It does however make sense to be disjointed in some ways however so this isn't necessarily terrible.

I think your opinion of what Microsoft have been doing is wrong. Microsoft has not ignored local multiplayer given the fact that all their headline/big titles have included it such as the 3 big shooters; Call of Duty, Halo and Gears of War all have it as well as their racing games, their RPGs and their 'casual offerings' all offer it as well. Sony has been the one whom hasn't really thought about the metrics like latency, local play etc. Microsoft's multiplayer is infact the most casual friendly given the fact that they include a universal match making system which means that people aren't likely to get hammered in every game they play because skill is measured and ranked overall and people are matched against like players.

Edit: In regards to Kinect 2.0. I believe it will be a good product because it has the opportunity to allow the console to do things which other consoles cannot do which are valuable on their own to enough people to be worthwhile. Whilst it looks very similar to Eyetoy the scope of the product and the potential which can only really be unlocked by putting a lot of time/effort/money is an order of magnitude in difference. They can leverage it as a tool for communication, video with avatar, teleconferencing, education, clothes shopping, multi media integration, augmented reality, voice recognition and motion gaming. It is 'good enough' to match or beat the Wii mote for the big genres which utilised motion; sports, dance, fitness etc without compromising the core functionality of the consoles controller. The Wii mote is a much much larger compromise than Kinect + controller is which is why Nintendo moved away from it.



Tease.