binary solo said:
Thanks for actually replying on topic, so I will do you the respect of responding. I disagree. If you only focus on those then you can never put PS3 sales in Japan into their proper historical context. Besides, the only unknown out of those 4 sales comparisons is vs PS4 and PS4 doesn't exists. So none of those comparisons is really worth discussing. OK vs Wii there is perhaps some interest in seeing what the eventual end of generation gap will be, but that PS3 will be behind Wii is not really up for debate. SO again of fiarly limited interest. What is the measure of a successful generation in term of sales for a console in Japan? How many consoles do you need to get into the homes of consumers to make it a good generation? You can't just set the benchmark as vs the best ever selling console, and the best selling console of the current generation. And how is Japan's 360 sales any sort of yardstick by which to measure success? There is certainly nothing to be gained by comparing to anything Xbox when it comes to Japan. Success may be defined by some arbitrary number, but another way of assessing success is to measure console sales relative to past consoles. What console currently represents the border between a successful generation and an unsuccessful generation. If you sell less than console X then you've had an unsuccessful generation, if you sell more then you can count your generation as a success. Again profitability aside. Currently I'd argue that the N64 represents that border between success and, maybe not failure but certainly disappointing sales. Perhaps when this generation is done PS3 will become the historical benchmark between what's a good level of sales and what's a not so good level of sales. |
PS3 vs predacessor, successor, current generation leader and current generation languisher. Just because they don't all paint the PS3 in a positive light doesn't mean they aren't worth discussing. It will always be relevent to compare the current console with what came before and what will come after. It will also always be relevant to the Wii how much distance it puts on the successor to the previous generation champion. They each have a relevant context with which to compare. The Xbox 360 is still important here as its still outcompeting the PS3 so far in overall world wide sales.
In the 5th??? Generation there were 3 competent competitors for this market, not the two we have now and the market has changed in that there are 5M fewer consoles sold LTD. In addition to this the market dynamic has changed. The same dominance by Nintendo on its platform still applies however Sony took games away from the N64 in a wholesale fashion by means which are lamented on these forums to this day as money hatting. So in the context of adversity can you argue the N64 faced less pressure than the PS3 did from competitors?
What is the measure of a successful generation? Well when it suited them, people called the N64 and SS failures, so in this context, selling roughly the same number LTD is a failure. Does that make you feel comfortable? Every generation is expected to do better than the one before. Even if there are excuses to give the differences a context, selling fewer consoles will generally be considered a failure even if there is a stronger competitor. It didn't save the N64 from that label so why ought it save the PS3 from that same label?
Do you know what its like to live on the far side of Uranus?
They must hold a patent on the process... 
