WoW (if you permit)

In fact, to say the truth, u are underligning the path I hesitated to take, so finally, I will take it.

hum,

yes, Mario, Sonic, are both assciated to nintendo and sega.
For everyone, even the casual gamer
You are right for the cartoon or for the movie based on Mario universe.
I agree.

But the main problem is that they were not sufficient to catch
the late-tennager/pre-adult gamer that choosed to buy a PSX rather that just another Mario on the N64/GC that was not done for them. In other hand, the name Mario/Sonic appeal a lot but mostly to young people (or hardcore that love it since the NES generation).

At the opposite, Sony doesn't have a mascot character. Not so many people know Snake, Dante, or Cloud. I agree.
But possess a special brandname that is sufficient by itself and that simply killed and continue to kill right now : "Playstation".

Let's imagine, u take a console, u make it very expensive, u choose a complex hardware difficult to use, u make a lot of delay, u make it lose exclusivity on some big games, u add a BR player that "nobody" wants, u add a strong hardcore competitor possessing very good games, another one extremely appealing to casual. At the end, after 1 year, the console will never succeed to sell 6M WW.
Except if it is called "Playstation" ...

And to conclude, Nintendo with Mario would never have done a such thing
Remember that Mario is not selling the Wii (SMG sales not so amazing), the Wii is selling because of the Wiimote and Wiisports ...

@WOW&Solidarii: You are both dumbasses. Happy? But seriously. Nintendo had entertainment before Service Games, Sega had electronic entertainment before Nintendo, Nintendo had electronic entertainment for homes before Sega, Sega had electronic entertainment with interchangeable cartriges for homes before Nintendo. Now happy? Which one was first, depends only where you want to put the line.

"""Um, MGS, as in Metal Gear Solid? That is NOT a mascot, that is a game. Maybe you meant Solid Snake. None of the characters you mentioned are Sony mascots, since Sony did NOT make them. They were made by third party developers..."""

you are right, I meant "snake", not MGS
but overall, this serie is strongly associated with the PSX brandname, even if they were not done by Sony.

Saying a series doesn't count because it is not made first-party fails right there. Smash Bros. is made by HAL Laboratories, Halo is made by Bungie Studios, the Metroid Prime games were made by Retro studios, Gears of War was made by Epic Games, Ratchet was made by Insomniac (don't quote me on that one?)

They still count for that system because they are associated with it.


That said, I was mainly talking about brand appeal. When you think about Nintendo, you instantly think Mario and Zelda, and then after a few seconds the others start to come. When you think about Microsoft, you think Halo first, and then you remember Gears of War, Forza, etc. Sony doesn't have any games that are basically synonymous with them--the games people have mentioned here fall into the category of 'thinking for several seconds' first. At least, they do for me and a few people that I've asked. But as I said, it's my opinion only, and everyone gets one.

Sure they do - Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, and God of War, for starters.

The American Anti-Sony sentiment is nothing new. This generation, Microsoft gets a free pass to lie or what ever they want to do. They can say their failure rates are only 3-5% and get away with it. They retracted that when they were seeing message boards and how people were considering their other option. The real Anti-Sony sentiment started when they took over Columbia pictures a long time ago and were labeled as the Evil Foreign Corporation. Even though not too many were affected by the rootkit compared to Windows Genuine Advantage, the Anti-Sony sentiment gained alot of ground. Again Microsoft - halloween documents (huge FUD operation), WGA, failure rates and outright lies about it, monopoly charges - it's all ok. It's got Master Chief - right - A symbol of American patriotism and nationalism (war hero).

The American media tried to stop Sony with the PS2. "You don't need DVD, Dreamcast has everything a gamer needs, etc." That was a failure and the PS2 train rolled on through. Sony had the third party connections - Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft didn't.

Now, the media had much more success in slowing the PS3. In English-speaking countries it is really showing. However, in non-English speaking countries like Spain, Japan, Germany, etc., they still seem to view Microsoft as the bad guy. Maybe because they are less exposed to American media?

I'm an American, and while most people were with the attitude - "Why should I get a PS3 when everything I want to play is on the 360?," I had the exact opposite feelings - "Why should I get a 360 when everything I want is on the PS3?" I do have a 360, but only because I am a Hironobu Sakaguchi fan. I could care less about Halo and Master Chief.

I've never had a problem with Nintendo at all and I always got their previous consoles when they came out. When the Wii came along, I was alot less enthusiastic. I'm just one that prefers high definition and real time physics over waggle. I've played the Wii alot with friends, and it doesn't provide me with more than the PS2 and Gamecube provide, except that I get to shake the controller instead of press a button. I did like Super Mario Galaxy and I'll probably get a Wii when Mario Kart and SSB come out.

I agree that MS has made some terrible mistakes as well, like the RROD and covering it up, but for some reason (warranted or not) there is a palpable hatred of Sony in some places.  Of course, you seem to know more about exposure in other countries than me, so I can't say anything about that part.

By the way (not trying to change your opinion at all, just stating a couple of facts) only the very shoddily-made games simply change a button press for waggle.  The games that use the controller well, like Trauma Centre and Mario, are greatly enhanced by it.

Welcome.

I like a lot of your thoughts but disagree with your assessment of the Gamecube.

People such as myself bought it as a party box. When it comes to 4 player games where everyone is sitting around 1 TV the Gamecube really shined. If you look through their library:
*Mario Kart
*Mario Golf
*Mario Tennis
*[Roster update sport] Sports games
*Monkey Ball party games
*this list goes on

Anyway, one of its key strengths was in the social aspect. That ability to pick up and immediately be at least somewhat familiar and easily enjoyable. Nintendo has a monopoly on that.

Never gone to or thought of a console as a hardcore experience, so I definitely won't agree with that :P

Sony simply had too many different characters to get one mascot, but they have several.

I think though that Final Fantasy (main series) has been the most closely associated with Sony as of late. Oh ya, a game called Gran Turismo also comes to mind.

One fact that people seem to forget -- Sega beat Sony to the market by a few months.

There were expectations (and some would say an agreement) that both consoles would debut in November.

But at E3 in 1995, Sega announced it was going to allow selected merchants to beginning selling its $399 system six months before allowing everyone to do it. This was not a popular decision (and is why you never saw Saturn stuff at some retailers, most notably KayBee Toys).

The next day, the head of Sony beings his E3 keynote. He walks to microphone and says "Two-Ninety-Nine."

With Nintendo still pushing the SNES as the Ultra 64 (later to be released as the N64) more than a year away, that single statement won Sony the console war.

Mike from Morgantown