Final-Fan said:
Apologies for the sarcasm, but that is just completely counterfactual. It is true that a Cell-based PS4 will be much easier to develop for than the PS3 was at first, since they will have grown more used to what was literally an all-new type of processor. But that doesn't mean that they'll necessarily want to. Perhaps you misunderstood me when I spoke of "developer confidence and support". In the months -- indeed, years -- before the new systems launched, it was Sony's system that got all the attention. It was the golden boy, the heir to the throne. Only the yearlong head start of the 360 gave it the software advantage it now enjoys. Only Nintendo's amazing marathon effort has given the Wii its superior load of stellar titles -- as someone pointed out today (yesterday?) on a thread I can't be bothered to identify right now, the PS3 actually has more "pretty good" games, despite the Wii absolutely crushing the PS3 ever since launch -- ever since E3 2006, really. The PS4 will not have that advantage. The Wii is king, and the PS4 is certainly not going to be its prince. |
The XBox launch had disinguishing features: MS as a completely untried player, and a larger PS2 lead than 360 had over PS3, right?
My edited post said "initial dev support", meaning just that devs can get good games out of the gate faster if the architecture is a familiar one. True. Will they want to? That question depends on 1, most importantly, whether the architecture is familiar, because then they can bring games out cost-effectively for a new system with a small install base, and 2, whether the system/brand is a monster with legs. Playstation is. Xbox wasn't, but after 360 it might be. Wii wasn't at launch, but is now and no one will doubt its successor. It was the fact that Xbox 1 and Wii brands were unknown that limited initial 3rd party development. Familiar architecture would have helped them even more initially if the devs had faith in them. Enter PS4.
Don't throw Nintendo success at me like it hurts me. I own Nintendo stock. Bring on the shovelware. $$$.