I think Nintendo changed their strategy this gen too, just look at the consoles design. Its not a plastic toy anymore.

They key is that their software is still for everybody, always has been.

Microsoft hasn't taken anything from Sony. Sony has lost a lot of market share, but it's been picked up by Nintendo, not Microsoft. Even in this supposed "HD Console War," Microsoft is not going to score a decisive victory.

That being said, barring a series of serious errors on the part of Nintendo, Microsoft will not be able to compete with them. Microsoft is not a very creative or innovative company at all, so the idea that they could come up with something that would have the kind of impact that Nintendo's offerings(Wii, DS, etc) have had on the market is absolutely nil.

The only way I ever see MS being market leader is if both Sony and Nintendo make some huge gaffes. Even then, MS probably wouldn't even have a majority market share, just a plurality as they wouldn't bring anything new to the market to capitalize on the situation.

HappySqurriel said: 1) Over the years I have noticed that Microsoft is a dangerous company primarily because they’re really good at learning from their successes and failures, and the successes and failures of their competition.Over the years I have noticed that Microsoft is a dangerous company primarily because they’re really good at learning from their successes and failures, and the successes and failures of their competition. 2) While I could be wrong, I suspect that Microsoft might be focusing on being in a similar price, performance and form-factor range as Nintendo was with the Gamecube while incorporating a (then fairly inexpensive) Blu-Ray player and using an modified version of the Wiimote and Nunchuck; in my opinion, their focus with the Wiimote modifications will be to included most of the buttons of the XBox 360 onto the Wiimote. When you combine this with the software and services provided by the XBox 360 already, this will be a very compelling package for many (if not most) consumers.

1) Is that why Microsoft's only real success over the years has come in the OS and office tools markets? If it's one thing that I've noticed, it's that Microsoft never does too hot when it ventures away from these markets because it doesn't have an already existing monopoly that it can exploit.

2) Something like that would a) be seen as a blatant rip off, b) make whatever Nintendo offers look even more lucrative, and c) alienate their existing userbase, most of which has shunned the Wiimote since the Wii was released. There's also Microsoft's software approach. They spend all of their time trying to buy up big-name exclusives that only appeal to core and hardcore gamers all the while failing to realize that it takes a strong, standing library of games that appeal to everyone in order to capture the market. Microsoft also doesn't deal very well with paradigm shifts. They've become so used to being able to ride their windows and office monopoly and pay everyone off that they weren't prepared when Nintendo rendered this nigh-useless.

 

M$ should not worry about Nintendo, Sony , apple or any other company. They should focus on themselves. Spend the time and money to properly develop there product instead of rushing everything.

The real question is does Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo have the right stuff to excite the market once again? If not then it comes down to who plays the game better during the next generation. In a straight up brawl, Nintendo has %20-30 of the market locked up by just showing up. Then its up to the other console manufacturers to do much better than Nintendo to prevent that 20-30% from translating into another unassailable lead.

They have the one card they haven't played yet.

• Microsoft Windows

Which is probably stronger than Blu Ray was for Sony and it doesn't cost them a cent to play it. Why let Sony develop a Linux box in the next generation when people 95* out of 100 will pay for a Microsoft product over something which is free.

The opportunities that exist to excite/expand the market that I can see exist in these fields.

• Innovative, interactive educational software.

Consider the success of Brain training, if they can make the console relevant to everybody by giving them a new way to learn and interact with software to aid in that learning. It can both excite people and reach a whole new market of people from different ages and backgrounds.

1. Languages
2. Grade school level work, imagine 5x subjects x $30 x 5 years of school.
3. Music

• Naturalised voice recognition.

One of the longest held dreams for the computer interface is being able to go "hands free" and command the computer in a naturalised fashion. Obviously this requires a massive investment but its something which gels with the direction their Windows OS is going anyway. They could for example use it to help bundle the console into TVs to improve their interface and turn Samsung and Co into another group of OEMs for them.

• 3d visual interfaces

Allowing people to use a naturalised interface similar in principle to the Wiimote in a visually 3d space completes the chain of immersion and will take the human/console interface into the next level beyond what is currently possible. This is one step backward from virtual reality, another as yet unrealised dream which has the potential to excite the market.

Nintendo cannot be beaten at their own game, now they are coming off some major success, they are unlikely to throw it away. You can't throw money at them to beat them, you have to pull the rug out from under them. If you cannot pull the rug out because they have anchored themselves too deeply then they will run away with yet another victory.

 

Nintendo will not make the mistake that Sony did thus they will not offer an opening for MS to exploit.

Microsoft can only keep their head above water in gaming by buying support and strongarming the market. Even looking at this generation they really aren't doing that well all considered. It's really only through the looking glass of the PS3's failure as a console and the choice of developers to back HD gaming that we see the 360 as any kind of success.

Microsoft is in all honesty doing a very poor job of strengthening its position as it encourages bottlenecking of the game genres and franchises as a means of maintaining its stronghold over the fickle hardcore gamer market. The most that can be said of Microsoft's attempts for branching out boil down as such:

- In regards to family oriented gaming they simply just bundle and hype the mediocre multiplat family games that can be found on any console this generation while putting a half hearted effort toward in house teams like Rare in hopes they'll produce anything even remotely similar to the calibur they pumped out during the N64 days.

- In regards to Eastern oriented gaming they simply just buy exclusivity or shared rights to JRPGs, a genre all in all in decline (especially in the west) of which its offerings on the 360 are either mitigated by the lack of 360's appeal to that audience (Anything by Namco-Bandai), Mixed efforts or just Mediocre new IPs (Anything by Mist Walker), or just Western Targeted side projects produced by independent developers hired by a larger company (Any by Tri-ace games)

Quite honestly, by default of Microsoft's strength in the hardcore western gaming community that has made them so prominent this generation, they cannot successuly expand into any of the markets/genres that they require to compete realistically. They can't even create in-house game studios on par with that of Sony's formidable harem.

In fact, the more you look at it, the more apparent it becomes that Microsoft's sheer success this generation is due not in any real degree to their efforts but due more so if not solely to Sonys fall through the failures of the PS3 and PSP. And even then PS3 still manages to sell as well as it is (aligning launches, even better than the 360) inspite of all of this showing just how tenuous and fragile the 360's stronghold is this generaiton.

So Onimusha you're saying that Nintendo and Sony should just ignore Microsoft, they're no threat and they'll sooner destroy themselves than be a threat to them?

^^^ That's what it sounded like to me, and that would be more than a little foolish. MS has too much money and drive to succeed for anyone to ignore them.

He's saying that Nintendo and Sony should just focus on improving themselves instead of trying to counter Microsoft.

Seriously, if MS's money is such a threat, then why is it that the best they've managed to do is a distant second?

As I've said, Microsoft is not a creative or innovative company. With no monopoly to exploit and with their cash reserves largely irrelevant, they don't pose a real threat. This is why they don't do so hot when they venture away from Operating Systems and Office Tools.

They're only where they are right now because of Sony's mistakes, and they really haven't done too great a job of taking advantage of them as they've only outsold the PS3 by about 3 million units since it launched.

Squilliam said: So Onimusha you're saying that Nintendo and Sony should just ignore Microsoft, they're no threat and they'll sooner destroy themselves than be a threat to them?

 

Not necessaraly.

As Lord N. said. What I'm saying is that Microsoft is only where they are right now because of Sony's mistakes, and they really haven't done too great a job of taking advantage of them as they've only outsold the PS3 by about 3 million units since it launched.

It was only Sony worrying too much about Microsoft as a threat that allow Microsoft to actually become such a threat to Sony. It was Sony's fear of the 360's mutliversitility and power that prompted them to make the PS3 a ludicrously overengineered machine that was too expensive and complex to program for. It was Sony's fear of the Xbox brand's growing influence in the Western market that made them turn the Ps3 into a Western targeted console thus killing their appeal. Blu-Ray was a foolish decision all on Sony's part, though the Ps3 may not have been launched as early as it was (making Blu-Ray as big a problem as it was in 2006) had it not been for the 360.

Certainly Microsoft had targeted Sony, but outside of succesfully creating a multiplatform market, Microsoft has failed in every other way to enact anything by their own efforts to secure this tenuous victory.

That said, it would be foolish to simply ignore any threat no matter the circumstances, but at the same time we shouldn't fear Nintendo making a mistake like Sony did that would allow MS an open door into thier market share, nor should we anticipate Microsoft having any chance of successfully expanding into the family/casual or Eastern markets.