By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

I promised this major post back in February on my Wall (February 13, 2014) in a reply to Metalheadgamer.
It was designed to be part of the ongoing debate in my UNITY topic before UNITY was suddenly locked down.
I then decided to make it a standalone topic but soon my work schedule intensified & I could no longer concentrate on the forum.
Real life takes priority always.

But it turns out that the unexpected delay gave me more fuel for more exciting arguments.
More & more developments in the gaming world unfolded that would make my original FACTS vs. FICTION seem small.
It was a blessing in disguise.
FACTS vs. FICTION would no longer just be confined to the UNITY discussion but would stand as a topic covering the entire gaming industry at once.

Every time I wanted to deliver this post a new development would give me more & more things to talk about.
I kept pushing back the delivery month after month.
After awhile this topic would be WAY TOO LARGE to put down all at once (and that’s saying a lot for a wordy guy like me).

So in the end I decided to break FACTS vs. FICTION into volumes to be released piece by piece as I dismantle commonly-spoken myths & replace them with the truth.
These random observations are delivered in no particular order & all of them are not solely about Nintendo & this 8th Generation race.

This New Year’s Eve of 2014, I deliver to you all at VGChartz: FACTS vs. FICTION – Volume 1.

**************************************************************************

FICTION: Becoming everyone’s Second System is a nice consolation prize when you’re unable to become the First System.
FACT: Becoming everyone’s Second System automatically makes you the First System.


If every PlayStation 4 owner bought a Wii U & every XBox One owner bought a Wii U as their Second System, then that’s TWO Wii U’s for every ONE PS4 & XOne.
And you have to figure that some people will pick Wii U as their Main System so that would make THREE Wii U’s.
Also take into account the PC gamers—even those of the so-called PC Master Race. If they buy a Wii U, that’s FOUR Wii U’s.

Is it more likely for PS4 owners to buy a XOne or XOne owners to buy a PS4 when the libraries for both are virtually the same?
Is it more likely for the PC Master Race to buy either a PS4 OR XOne when PC’s are more powerful, more customizable & have the same libraries as the PS4 & XOne (and beyond)?

Differentiation is key. Exclusivity is key. Wii U has games you can’t play ANYWHERE ELSE.
PC Master Race gamers will buy a Wii U for its uniqueness & diversity & so will PS4 owners & XOne owners.
The same thing happened to a little console called Wii. Remember that suck-up campaign called “Wii60”?

**************************************************************************

FICTION: It was smart for Microsoft to unbundle Kinect from XBox One to improve sales.
Nintendo should do the same with Wii U & its Gamepad.
FACT: It was stupid for Microsoft to unbundle Kinect from XBox One to improve sales.
Nintendo should never & WILL NEVER do the same with Wii U & its Gamepad.


You don’t make standards by allowing something to be optional. It DOES have to be forced on the buyer by default.
It DOES have to be ready out of the box.
Microsoft showed that they don’t really believe in their Kinect by unbundling it from the package.
By doing that, they have effectively KILLED Kinect for the XBox One.
Now they can no longer have games with Kinect functionality built into the design since most of the userbase won’t have the peripheral.

Nintendo HAS ALWAYS forced their control standards onto the public & that is the RIGHT way to do it. I’m sure there were people complaining about the plus-sign shaped Control Pad on the NES preferring to play with an Atari-style joystick.
Oh Nintendo gave you the joystick LATER—the NES Advantage—but first they want you to get familiar with their Control Pad first.

There were those who were uneasy with the L & R shoulder buttons along with the extra X & Y buttons on the SNES controller.
But Nintendo created games that compelled you to use those buttons in order to play: Super Mario World, F-Zero, Star Fox.

There DEFINITELY were those wary of the N64 controller with its scary 3-pronged shape, analog Control Stick, Z trigger, & C button cluster.
But Nintendo forced you to use that Analog Stick, Z trigger, & C button cluster in games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, & GoldenEye 007.
The Control Pad was still there but they forced you to learn those new sticks & buttons first.

Some complained about putting Control Stick in primary position in the simplified Gamecube controller.
I’m sure they also complained about the new C stick, the Z trigger becoming a second shoulder button & the button-size differentials with big button A, small button B, bean-shaped buttons X, & Y.
Luigi’s Mansion & Super Smash Bros. Melee help to quiet those complaints.

We definitely know of the STILL-ongoing complaints of the Wiimote & Nunchuk.
Making a controller that can handle the growing complexity in game design without putting that complexity on the face of the controller itself.
Motion control & pointer control.
Gamecube’s button size differentials still intact with big A, trigger B, shoulder C, trigger Z, small 1 & 2.
Control Pad on Wiimote, Control Stick on Nunchuk. And it was all forced on buyers through games like Wii Sports, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, & Mario Kart Wii.
They would give you a Classic Controller LATER but first they want you to explore every aspect of this control revolution (including the source NES style when you turn Wiimote sideways).

Wii U is no different as they force you to use that Gamepad (UPad) even with the co-star controller Wiimote & the secondary Wii U Pro controller.
Getting rid of that Gamepad would keep it from becoming standard & would be a direct insult to Nintendo’s long tradition of creating new standards.
Just like they did with DS & its stylus despite all the gripes & complaints from visionless gamers, they will continue to force players to expand their horizons.

In Microsoft’s penchant to one-up whoever they think is the leader, they have conceded this area of gaming to Nintendo.
And that will hurt them.

*********************************************************

FICTION: Nintendo should go back to making traditional controllers.
FACT: The “traditional controller” is Nintendo’s tradition.


Who’s tradition? All of today’s controllers are based on the NES/Famicom standard of 1983 INCLUDING the Gamepad.
Yes. ALL controllers. That includes your DualShock & your XBox controllers. Even those Logitech controllers.
They are all built upon standards introduced by Nintendo themselves.

The Game & Watch version of Donkey Kong from 1982 is where it all began.
That compact handheld device would not be so compact if there was a big joystick hanging out so the brilliant Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi created this plus-sign shaped, cross-shaped control that would fit such a device.

It was decided that Yokoi’s Cross would be the perfect controller for the upcoming Nintendo Family Computer of 1983.
Not just Yokoi’s Cross but Yokoi’s entire Game & Watch shape as well.
A compact device you could hold in your hands just like Yokoi’s Game & Watch except that you play it on your TV screen.

This transformed controller standards OVERNIGHT.
Atari’s joystick standards & Mattel Intellivision’s telephone/calculator standards would now be out of style.
Sega who launched their first home console, the SG-1000, on the same day as Nintendo’s Famicom (July 15, 1983) originally had a controller that resembled the Atari 5200 & Colecovision. When they released the SG-1000 Mark II revision in 1984, their controller was patterned after the Famicom’s. And with the Sega Mark III revision of 1985 (AKA Sega Master System), Nintendo’s influence was apparent.
The same thing happened to the Atari 7800 of 1984 when you see its original Atari Pro-Line Joystick compared to the Nintendo-fied European Atari 7800 Joypad.

But Nintendo’s standard-making didn’t end with the Famicom & its international equivalent the Nintendo Entertainment System.
After the secondary controller, the NES Max, added grips to the NES standard, Nintendo added more ergonomics with the smooth dogbone shape of the Super Famicom/SNES controller.
They also added L & R shoulder triggers, a diamond-shaped action button layout (A, B, Y, X), & color-coded action buttons in Red, Yellow, Green, Blue (seen in Japan & Europe).

They then added analog sticks, Rumble feedback, grip triggers, button size differentials, offskew analog stick layouts with their Nintendo 64 & Gamecube controllers. Gamecube also added reliable wireless control through Wavebird.
They then added motion control blending it with pointer control, TV remote ergonomics, internal speakers, stackable accessory design & a relaxed broken-plank controller holding style with Wii.

When you see the PlayStation controller, you see a controller that has not essentially changed in 20 years!
And what you see of that controller are just iterations of Nintendo’s standards.
Down to the SNES’s diamond button layout & color coding on Sony’s Circle, X, Square, Triangle buttons.
Sony made a reactionary move to N64’s controller first adding a second analog stick becoming DualAnalog then adding Nintendo’s Rumble to become DualShock. They then made a reactionary move to Wii by adding tilt controls to become Sixaxis (DualShock 3). DualShock 3’s Bluetooth wireless follows both Gamecube’s Wavebird & Wiimote’s wireless design.
DualShock 4’s Light Bar is a reaction to Wiimote’s pointer controls while its internal speaker mimics Wiimote’s internal speaker.
And DualShock 4’s Touchpad is a reaction to both Nintendo DS’s touchscreen & Wii U’s touchscreen.
At its root, the PlayStation controller is just a doubled up SNES controller with N64, GC, Wii, & DS touches.

The XBox controller derived from Sega’s Dreamcast controller which itself followed Nintendo’s standards.
You still see that SNES diamond button layout as well as that SNES color coding on the action buttons.
You see Gamecube’s offskew analog stick layout. Like with N64 you see grip triggers (also seen in Dreamcast).
When you see Wii U’s Pro Controller & want to say they copied XBox, recognize that these are all of Nintendo’s standards to begin with. That very shape derived from the NES Max.

Once again, who’s tradition?

***********************************************************

FICTION: The Japanese market is irrelevant to the videogame industry.
FACT: Japan is the CAPITAL of the videogame industry.


There is one key reason why Japan is THE MOST important market in the videogame industry. It’s not because of population size since both the American & European/Rest of World regions have larger populations than Japan.
It’s not because of consumerism since no one beats the United States of America in consumerism.
It’s because Nintendo’s home base is in Japan. And since Nintendo is the ruler of the console videogaming market—the largest & most influential videogaming market in the world—what happens in Japan affects the rest of the world markets.

To those who dispute that Nintendo’s the ruler of consoles, take a quick look at the best-selling games of all time & see who rules that list. Furthermore take a look at it by single platform to make it even starker. Check them for best-selling franchises of all-time.
Check them as a developer & publisher to see how many diverse franchises & game genres they produce compared to other prolific best-selling developers & publishers who make just one or two.
Then consider that NO OTHER CONSOLE MAKER IN HISTORY has EVER been able to keep up 2 viable platforms—both home console & handheld console—at the same time. Not Atari, Not Sega, Not NEC, Not SNK, Not Sony.
Then look at who changes controller design & game design & see how many others follow suit.

Since Nintendo, the ruler of the videogame industry, lives in Japan it must be concerned with its hometown market & serve it.
Like the saying goes, you can’t sweep somebody else’s front porch before you sweep your own.
But there’s ANOTHER reason why Japan’s the CAPITAL market.
TWO out of your Three console makers—Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft—are based in Japan.
This reason FURTHER UNDERLINES why Japan is the Capital of the videogame industry. Also add the fact that many of your influential developers & publishers come from Japan like Capcom, Namco, Sega, Square-Enix, Konami, & so forth.

Nintendo recognizes Japan’s importance & will always start their strategies THERE first.
They know that the hierarchy of markets goes #1 Japan, #2 America, #3 Europe & the rest of the World.
They know that “The West” follows the influence of “The East”, that what happens in Japan influences America & what influences America influences Europe & the rest of the World.
Sony on the other hand is forgetting this truth & is trying to follow “The West”.
They are getting caught up in the competition against American Microsoft, a “Western” company, & are neglecting their focus on “The East” Japan.
The blockbuster Call of Duties & Grand Theft Autos made by the American/European developers who ultimately come from the PC world have Sony catering to those markets at cost to the Japanese one (does THAT explain PS4’s weak performance in Japan perhaps?).

But Nintendo knows where the Capital is. HELL, they’re the ones who PUT it there!
30 years ago in 1985 when the Nintendo Famicom went international as the Nintendo Entertainment System & permanently crippled the PC gaming market to this day. The ones who kept the videogame console from going extinct in the face of the multi-purpose all-in-one Personal Computers which could do gaming & everything else you could think of. The ones who created a market so powerful & so lucrative that the PC gamemakers had to exit the PC market one by one & go to the consoles just to be able to make a living. The ones who created such a powerful market that OTHER Japanese entities jumped on the bandwagon to eat off the meal Nintendo created—Sega, NEC, SNK, Sony—further entrenching Japan as the Capital.

The ones who inspired Microsoft employees Alex St. John, Craig Eisler, & Eric Engstrom to create The Manhattan Project later known as DirectX to BOMB the ever-strengthening influence of Japan in the videogaming industry & return focus to the Western platform of choice, the Windows PC.
The ones who inspired the DirectX team to create Project Midway later known as the DirectX Box later known as the XBox to be the vehicle to turn that tide just like 1942’s Battle of Midway turned it for the Americans in World War II.

Nintendo knows what Microsoft’s here for.
Microsoft tried to buy them out in 1999 & when they couldn’t do that, they bought out who they thought was Nintendo’s essence, Rare. Microsoft thought they bought Donkey Kong out from under Nintendo’s nose. They thought they bought Nintendo’s gamemaking prowess by buying Rare.
They saw Nintendo as another Sega since PlayStation 1 had the record sales. Sony was the leader in Microsoft’s eyes & Nintendo was child’s play.
Microsoft would crush these Japanese competitors & restore gaming prominence under the “Western”/American PC banner.

Nintendo knows that Microsoft tries to outmuscle whoever they think the leader is in the business.
To one up them & beat them at their own game.
Microsoft out-PS3’d the PS3 with the XBox 360 & then when they saw the TRUE leader of the business show itself through Wii, they tried to outmuscle the Wii with Kinect & the whole New XBox Experience (Avatars replace the Blades dashboard).
Then Nintendo trumped their efforts in 2010 with a simple red paint job & confused them with a sudden exit from the generation in 2011. “We won the gen!!” thought Microsoft foolishly.
Wii U abruptly starts the 8th generation so Microsoft tries to one up the leader again:
“Gamepad? Ha! SMARTGLASS! AND Kinect! Beat that!”
Then Wii U lulls & Microsoft sees PS4 swell. “Oops, Sony’s the leader again. Drop the Kinect.” And thus that leads to the strong price drops & the recent American sales victories against PS4 in the everlasting XBox vs. PlayStation wars.

All part of Nintendo’s Master Plan: Microsoft as Sony’s foil. Nintendo knows Microsoft’s intent & sees Sony’s distraction.
XBox is nothing without America (as Japan shows) so Microsoft uses its muscle to overpower whoever threatens ITS home market, USA. Nintendo knows Microsoft HAS to fight for this place, the place it’s trying to restore as the Capital of the videogame market.

OF COURSE Sony doesn’t recognize the importance of Japan. They’re a bandwagon jumper anyway.
They didn’t create this phenomenon in the first place.
And they have become so “Westernized” that they’re forgetting where they come from.
That’s why instead of fighting Nintendo with a Vita, they’re fighting them with a PS4.
“Japan’s a handheld country,” they said. Who do you think MADE them a handheld country in the first place?! Hahahahaha!

So Nintendo rightfully recognizing Japan as the Capital makes sure that the 3DS kills the Vita before it’s even born.
Vita Est Mortis. Ironic. That way Nintendo has Sony fighting with only ONE vehicle instead of Two.
And a vehicle (home console) that is weaker in Japan, a handheld/portable-focused marketplace.
Then Sony, a tech-focused company, will dismiss the old-tech Vita since it sells nothing in “The West” & put all their chips on their PS4 home console trying to upstage Microsoft’s XBox One.
Sony at E3 2013: “We don’t do what Microsoft does!” Audience: “YAY!!!”
But that’s the worst thing Sony could have done since they don’t have financial muscle to go toe-to-toe with a desperate muscle-minded Microsoft. Putting the squeeze on Microsoft in America will only ruin Sony in the long term.

Meanwhile Nintendo UNIFIES Japan & prepares to bring a UNITED Japan to “The West” & split BOTH Sony & Microsoft in half.
Microsoft’s dumb & Sony’s distracted. Neither one of them sees it coming because they don’t recognize or respect the fact that JAPAN is the Capital of the Videogame Market & will be that way as long as Nintendo, the ruler of the videogame industry, exists.

**********************************************************************************

FICTION:  PlayStation 4 will win the console wars.
FACT: The strongest console NEVER wins.

“This time will be different!” you say? You will be wrong once again.
If raw horsepower decided the outcome of marketplace dominance then the PC would be the dominant platform & no console would ever exist.

In the ENTIRE 42 going on 43 year old existence of the videogaming industry, the strongest platform has NEVER won a generation.
And I do mean NEVER.

♦ The 1st Generation was the pioneering generation that laid down the foundation & general structures of the industry.
♦ But it was in the 2nd Generation that we would see the first REAL Console War.
1977’s Atari 2600 vs. 1979’s Mattel Intellivision.

Despite Intellivision’s superior 16-bit technology & superior graphics, it only sold 3 million consoles in comparison to the 2600’s 30 million. Only a TENTH of 2600’s sales, only 10%, only a dime to 2600’s dollar despite all of its technological prowess.

♦ The 3rd Generation brought us the fight between 1983’s Nintendo Family Computer/Entertainment System vs. 1985’s Sega Mark III/Master System.

Sega’s 3rd revision of the SG-1000 (which launched on the same exact day as the Famicom in Japan—July 15, 1983) was stronger than the NES & was the strongest home console of that generation.
Yet that still didn’t stop the NES from trouncing its technologically superior competitor with nearly 62 million in sales compared to Master System’s nearly 15 million.
The NES even initially halted the efforts of incoming 16-bit 4th Gen competitors like NEC’s PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 & Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis!

♦ The 4th Generation had TWO major console wars: 1989’s Nintendo Game Boy vs. 1989’s Atari Lynx vs. 1990’s Sega Game Gear AND 1988’s Sega Mega Drive/Genesis vs. 1990’s Nintendo Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

It’s here in the handheld console race that we see the CLEAREST proof of this maxim as non-backlit black & white (pea soup green) Game Boy tombstoned the backlit full color Atari Lynx & Sega Game Gear & made them Rest In Peace!
Not even the later 16-bit handhelds, NEC’s PC Engine GT/TurboExpress & Sega Nomad, could overcome this little handheld that could despite pretty much being a portable TurboGrafx-16 & Genesis.
Game Boy would go on to rule the entire 1990s with various revisions (finally adding non-backlit color 9 years later in 1998’s Game Boy Color) selling almost 119 million.
Game Gear took a distant 2nd place with 11 million. Lynx was actually 5th place with UNDER 1 million behind TurboExpress’s 3rd place 1.5 million & Sega Nomad’s 4th place 1 million.

In the home console race, it was actually SEGA GENESIS who had the advantage over the SNES most of that generation despite its 512 color palette compared to SNES’s 32,768 color palette & superior Sony sound chips.
Despite being weaker, MUCH weaker, the Genesis gave SNES a run for its money having 65% of the 4th Gen market by the start of 1992. It could very well have happened that SNES would have been outsold by Genesis if Sega didn’t get so schizophrenic later on in that generation (Sega CD, 32X, Neptune, Saturn).
In the end the SNES edged out the Genesis selling over 49 million vs. Genesis’ 40 million.

Wait a minute, John. You just went on this long spiel saying that the most powerful console never wins yet you show that SNES won.
This disproves your theory, idiot!
Does it really? The SNES eventually outsold the Genesis…but the SNES wasn’t the most powerful console of that generation.
That honor goes to the SNK NeoGeo with its 1:1 perfect arcade conversion.
The NeoGeo was the strongest. SNES’s Street Fighter II wasn’t a 1:1 perfect conversion but NeoGeo’s Samurai Showdown WAS.
NeoGeo sold nearly 400 thousand with its $700 price tag.

♦ The 5th Generation fight was between 1994’s Sega Saturn vs. 1994’s Sony PlayStation vs. 1996’s Nintendo 64 since there’s no need to mention the lopsided handheld fight by dominant Game Boy.

32-bit Saturn & PlayStation faced off against 64-bit N64 (redundant). Yet PlayStation dominated the dual-core Saturn & all-out stronger N64 by a LONG SHOT!
Over 102 million PlayStations sold compared to nearly 33 million N64’s & over 9 million Saturns. An utter TROUNCING!
Why couldn’t these superior consoles stop PlayStation’s onslaught?
N64’s cartridges are an excuse since that cartridge was able to run Resident Evil 2.
Saturn’s purported lack of 3D rendering ability was not true since the magic resides in the programming.
Maybe just maybe raw horsepower is not the key to victory in the videogaming medium.

♦ The 6th Generation saw the battle of 1998’s Sega Dreamcast vs. 2000’s Sony PlayStation 2 vs. 2001’s Nintendo Gamecube vs. 2001’s Microsoft XBox. Nintendo’s 32-bit Game Boy Advance of 2001 had no real competitors & Nintendo was competing with itself.

Dreamcast’s failure was not due to its power but Sega’s management & if Sega hadn’t sabotaged themselves in the 4th & 5th Generations, this race might have turned out entirely different.
But with Sega & its Dreamcast out of the way, the PS2 became the weakest of the consoles compared to pound-for-pound strongest Gamecube & outright strongest XBox. DESPITE its vaunted Emotion Engine.

Still didn’t stop the PS2 from cold-blooded MURDERING the Gamecube & XBox becoming THE BEST-SELLING HOME CONSOLE OF ALL TIME with over 155 million compared to Dreamcast’s nearly 11 million, Gamecube’s 22 million, & XBox’s 24 million!
This console proved this maxim so strongly that it even held off the 7th Gen XBox 360 & PS3 on the sales charts for years after their launches much like NES did to its 4th Gen upstarts.
It proved it so strongly that it sold brand new PS2’s & PS2 games off the shelves for the entirety of the 7th Generation!
A 12 year store shelf life span! 2000 to 2012!!
Power sells consoles??? HA!! Tell me another one.

♦ The 7th Generation ABSOLUTELY proved this on Two Fronts: 2004’s Nintendo DS vs. 2005’s PlayStation Portable AND 2005’s Microsoft XBox 360 vs. 2006’s Sony PlayStation 3 vs. 2006’s Nintendo Wii.

Sony’s Kaz Hirai at the January 2005 Consumer Electronics Show: “PSP will elevate portable entertainment out of the handheld gaming ghetto and Sony is the only company that can do it.”
Sony rubbed Sega out in the 6th Generation but Nintendo was still hanging around with that infernal SNES-reminiscent handheld the Game Boy Advance.
“We’ll teach these chumps,” thought Sony as they created a handheld designed PRIMARILY to stop Apple’s iPod (the Sony Walkman destroyer) & SECONDARILY to finish off the last stubborn cartoony-mascot game company, Nintendo.
It was supposed to be the Walkman of the 21st Century with its PS2-level of power & vast array of multimedia features.
It’s even got its own Universal Media Discs!

What was Nintendo THINKING putting up this N64-equivalent flip-top handheld with a stupid touchscreen & microphone against a behemoth juggernaut like the PSP?!
Nintendo finally remembered Gunpei Yokoi’s principle: Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology AKA making old tech feel new.
3 generations in a row chasing the power dreams had not quite paid off for them.
President Hiroshi Yamauchi gave this last suggestion of DS to his successor Satoru Iwata that would raise Nintendo to heaven or sink it to hell. Leave luck to heaven as Nintendo goes.

Nintendo DS = nearly 154 million, Sony PSP = 80 million.
Nintendo beat their VERY OWN RECORD of Best-Selling Handheld of All Time as it trounced the old one set by the legendary Game Boy.
Sony not only failed to stop Apple’s iPod but they also didn’t “elevate portable entertainment” despite being the best handheld challenger Nintendo ever had.
PSP’s were bought more to bootleg & play old Nintendo games & watch porno than sell Sony UMDs or PSP games.
And its failure cost Sony GREATLY in the financials.
Damn! Nintendo’s so ghetto!

In the home console race, Sony & Microsoft were in the middle of this arms race for technological dominance.
It makes no sense for Sony since both PlayStations dominated WITHOUT the power advantage.
But money-laden Microsoft’ll make you do things you normally wouldn’t do.
HD HD HD! High Definition graphics! Blu-ray vs. HD DVD. The power of the Cell, Gohan. Elite! Hardcore! Premium!
599 U.S. Dollars! Elegant System! “PS3? We’re not less than Sony. It’s not XBox 2. It’s XBox 360!!”

Nintendo knew that DS was litmus test for this new Revolution they would lay on the gaming industry.
Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2004: “The time when horsepower alone made an important difference is over.”
WHAT IS THIS CONTROLLER?! WHAT IS THIS NAME?! Wii??? Hahahahahaha! Good one!

No. GREAT one.
With a power differential comparative to Genesis vs SNES, Standard Definition Wii ENTIRELY DOMINATED the powerful HD Twins XBox 360 & PlayStation 3! Dominated them with its celestial Cloud 9 sales that wouldn’t show Wiis ready on the shelves for 3 years straight! Dominated them so bad that they changed their entire market direction to copycat Wii (Kinect & Move)! Dominated them so bad that they had to entirely redesign & relaunch themselves!

Wii was the Little Console That Could in all its SD glory.
It broke so many of PS2’s records that it was inevitable that Wii would become the Best-Selling Home Console of All Time.
A simple red paint job gave them record-breaking feats. It was only when Nintendo let up on them choosing to strategically jumpstart a new generation that the 360 & PS3 were allowed to catch up.

So far, Wii = over 101 million, X360 = 84 million, PS3 = 84 million.
And Wii pretty much sold that 101 million in 5 years while it has taken the 360 up to 9 years & the PS3 up to 8 years just to get those 84 million (and billions of financial losses to get them).
The only reason Wii didn’t break PS2’s console sales record is because Nintendo didn’t allow it to. FACT!
Nintendo. Just So Ghetto!

♦ Now here we are in the 8th Generation & somehow despite decade upon decade of this maxim’s proof we have people still out here with the power argument.
To give you a preview of how this home console race will end up, first take a look at the handheld console race so far.

2011’s Nintendo 3DS vs. 2012’s Sony PlayStation Vita.
Nintendo saw Apple & Google horning in on its handheld turf & suddenly pivoted from the vibrant DSi revision to make a full step with the 3DS.
Microsoft & Sony were whipped at this point & getting sales trophies over them was not worth the effort anymore.
Nintendo had to make emergency maneuvers for the future of their business. THE HANDHELD MUST BE SECURED AT ALL COSTS!
Japan is the Capital after all & we must fight with a handheld to offset these NEW multi-purpose all-in-one personal computers known as smartphones & tablets.
Gamecube-level power is good enough with our glasses-free 3D & StreetPass/SpotPass functions.
Put it out even if we don’t have the games ready yet. Timing is everything!

Sony’s Next-Gen Portable was not gonna end up like PSPgo. UMD’s are not the answer & neither is all-digital.
Ironic that Nintendo changes Sony into cartridges (cards)—PSP to Vita—much like Sony changed Nintendo into discs a few generations before—N64 to Gamecube.
The PlayStation Vita will have PS3-level of power inside & THIS time we will focus this as a game device PRIMARILY. It will also have 3G!!
Alright, not bad. Good ideas there. I don’t know about that AT&T thing on the 3G though.

How did this race turn out?
So far at the time of this writing, VGChartz has Nintendo 3DS at 48.5 million & Sony Vita at 9.3 million.
Vita was essentially stillborn at launch & will come nowhere close to matching what PSP did against Nintendo’s handheld empire.
No matter if they repurpose & redesign the handheld into a microconsole called the PlayStation Vita TV (AKA PlayStation TV), it won’t change a damn thing.

POWER DOES NOT SELL CONSOLES.

And the same result will happen in the 8th Gen home console race.
The PlayStation 4 is the most powerful console of the 8th Gen & that will be its downfall.

 

More to come in Volume 2...

John Lucas



Words from the Official VGChartz Idiot

WE ARE THE NATION...OF DOMINATION!