| Riot Of The Blood said: @Squilliam: It is being outsold 75k+ a week. The Nintendo Wii is smoking it, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Microsoft had high expectation with the 360. I don't know if you remember, but there was an article were Microsoft wanted 90 million Xbox 360's sold. The console is doing fine, but it's not pulling in profits and it's not selling the way they hoped. Some may say they only wanted to kill of Sony. However, that's not true at all. Microsoft, like every other company, want to be the market leader. The 90 million consoles Microsoft wanted sold is a market leading number. Despite Microsoft's best efforts in Japan, the console still will not sell there. The console is also being outsold by both of it's rivals in it's strongest market, America. Soon, the Wii will over take overall; the PS3 is around 6m behind, which is a small number in the grand scheme of things. As shown by the Wii, that number can be surpassed very quickly. The PS3 will increase the rate it's outselling this holiday season. Furthermore, the media is no longer on the 360's side. People have seem to favor the PS3. It should also be noted that the PS3's exclusives have very large following behind them, much like the way Nintendo's first party titles do. This is something that the 360 just doesn't have outside of Halo. Another thing to consider: The 360 lacks a consistent gimmick. Without a gimmick, you're console will never have mass market appeal. Due to Blu-ray, Sony has a much better chance at reaching the mass market than Microsoft does. There are more people out there that want to watch movies with their family than people that want to play a FPS online. Games have never been enough to carry a system, and they're not now. The 360 chances in reaching the mass market are slim to none. Therefore, the console is certainly finished. It was a good effort in building up the Xbox brand, but not good enough to make it a force in the industry and become the market leader, which is what Microsoft wanted. |
All console makers have high hopes for their consoles, im sure that Sony expected to be in front of the Wii at this point also. Furthermore, the PS3 outselling the Xbox for one week does not indicate a trend. All the Xbox has to do this year is maintain parity with the PS3, the year may look favourable to the PS3 in comparison... But it doesn't mean that the Xbox doesn't have anything to offer this year.
PS3's exclusives are mostly niche in terms of gathering more people to the console. MGS, Haze, KZ are all hardcore and as has been shown so far... In the FPS arena multiplayer is king. If they are all competing for gamers that have already purchased the PS3 or will purchase one anyway. Otherwise they just make the overall PS3 offering stronger. In this area the Xbox has live which is still much better than Sony's offering. You also have the possibility that Sony will be forced to pay a penalty for Blu-Ray or have the import of the PS3 suspended. But on Bluray they really should include a remote in the box so they can better capture the Blu Ray market. Most people don't want to use a controller to play movies! They would find it intimidating unless they are already gamers. If that isn't an issue and someone does want Blu-Ray, the PS3 is currently a no brainer choice. That probably only is valuable to Sony when they also play games, most people don't and they obviously don't have the same draw that the Wii control has for getting reluctant people into gaming.
The interesting games on the PS3 side are probably GT and Little big planet.
Lastly, there are different areas of "Mass market" Guitar hero is an example of Mass market that the Xbox has captured. I believe that the same people were also the type to purchase GTAIII so they would probably purchase GTAIV. I have a lot of friends like that, and I've known a lot of people with GTA, they seem like the kind of people to play GTAIV. If im right, you'll see GH and Rock Band sales spike in the same week as GTAIV's release. Microsoft has a few MMO games it can coerce onto the Xbox to broaden the audience. Age of Conan for example. I don't think that Sony will be competing with the Xbox for mass market apeal as much this year. Next year is all up in the air though. One thing they do have is PRICE. They have a few games to apeal to everyone, older kids and a few younger kids can all enjoy the console. That alone will make them competitive this year.
Tease.
