Interesting conversation by the IGN people, I'd say it matters to Nintendo the most at this point, either way, this will be an interesting year!

I think that exclusive games mean more today than they ever have. And that's why Nintendo -- despite the doom and gloom -- is in a strong position.

Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Madden, Fifa, and The Elder Scrolls sell a lot of copies, but they belong to no system. They cannot be relied upon. Whereas games like Halo, Gran Turismo, and Super Mario will always be available and exclusive.

Exclusives are most useful early in a console release, when there aren't many third-parties on board and the hardware needs some titles to differentiate and display the platform. Exclusives are less important once the system has critical mass and in fact are competing with third-parties.

yes but mainly near the beginning of a generation

Exclusives are still the most important part of a console purchase to me. I hate that the thought of anything else taking center stage over the ACTUAL GAMES is even something to consider. Kinda pisses me off actually. I don't care about what apps the system can perform lol, I just want to play awesome games.

People who like Sony IPs are going to buy the Playstation 4
People who like Nintendo IPs are going to buy the Wii U
People who like Microsoft IPs are going to buy the Nexbox

That's all that seriously should manner. This whole media hub "taking over the living room and meeting all your needs" should be a complete afterthought. I hated the slight focus of it in this gen and i'll be pretty upset if the focus is more on "look what we can do" rather than "look what games we have" for next gen.

Hear, hear.

The problem is that some of the numbers point to the opposite. I think Microsoft especially will push entertainment on its next console. Remember that people spend more time on Xbox LIVE watching movies and TV than they do playing games. At least as of last year.

I recall the PS3 launched as a media hub with Sony's "it only does everything" campaign.

I know it's a growing thing, it's just really frustrating. It really doesn't make sense to me that a videogame console should do well based on criteria that has nothing to do with videogames. That's like buying a specific car over another one because you like the air freshener that's hanging off of the mirror.

I use Netflix on my PS3 but if I couldn't would I still prefer PS3? Of course. I hope to dear god I don't sound like an elitist prick, but I cringe whenever I hear "gamers" say they like one console over another for some stupid app that has nothing to do with gaming.

That killer apps line was gold.

Exclusives get me to buy a console, but they don't stop me from buying other consoles. I buy Nintendo consoles for Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, etc. I buy MS systems for Halo, Halo and Halo. I buy Playstations for Team Ico games.

I really wish I could buy one machine that plays it all. Why can't the big three get together and make one console to rule them all. Sony could make the hardware. MS could run the software. Nintendo could manage the games. It would be a Win, Win, WIN.

Oh and please don't tell me to buy a PC. I built my own kick ass gaming PC. But it doesn't play Halo 4 so I still need an Xbox 360