E3: Winner of E3? Surprisingly, Nintendo
Published: 14 hours ago; 8:37am PDT
by Marcus Lai
Microsoft Corp.'s Project Natal dazzled media briefing attendees. Sony Corp.'s Playstation Motion Controller and franchise titles wowed fans. But Nintendo
Co., with a conservative media briefing, ultimately won over the Electronic Entertainment Expo audience with a mix of core and casual titles that will translate better to the video game economy than either rivals' lineup.
The Wii MotionPlus, a peripheral to provide improved motion-sensing for the Wii Remote, is a cost-effective product that will see wide user distribution through bundles like the Wii Sports Resort SKU and EA Inc.'s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.
Wii Sports Resort, the follow-up to the pack-in Wii Sports, and Wii Fit Plus, an expansion to the best-selling Wii Fit, are strong titles that should see steady sales from casual buyers in 2009 and beyond.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 will crossover to both core and casual buyers with classic Mario gameplay. The franchise character hardly ever disappoints at retail.
Third-parties are now awake to the Wii economy of 50 million plus units and provided great new product for the hardware.
EA Inc.'s Dead Space: Extraction is an on-rails shooter with depth, crafted from the original Dead Space team. Konami Corp.'s Silent Hill: Shattered Memories allowed users to explore in horror using the Wii Remote as a flashlight. And Capcom Co.'s Tatsunoko vs. Capcom offers a hardcore dream match fighting game to Wii owners.
A look at the Nintendo E3 Booth solidifies how broad the company appeals to all market segments. Core users flocked to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, men in slacks and shirts waved their arms up and down in a Wii Fit Plus mini-game, and women spent time in the virtual sun in Wii Sports Resort.
By comparison, both Microsoft and Sony demonstrated nearly all hardcore product for 2009, which is unlikely to expand their respective male-dominated user base in the near term.
Microsoft has sold 30 million Xbox 360 units worldwide to date, while Sony has moved about 23 million PS3 units globally.
For Microsoft, Halo 3: ODST will be a strong-seller to the core Xbox 360 base, as will Forza Motorsport 3, and third-party titles like Activision Inc.'s Modern Warfare 2 and Ubisoft Inc.'s Splinter Cell: Conviction.
But with Project Natal a year away, mostly all Xbox 360 titles will require intimate knowledge of the wireless pad that will keep the barrier-to-entry too high for casual users.
Likewise, Sony's PS3 lineup of franchise hits, including Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, MAG, and God of War III will likely yield strong launch sales that may not relay long-term results. The fantastic Killzone 2, with 677,000 units sold as of May 2009, fell outside the top 20 game sales after four months of release according to NPD Group Inc.
The largest barrier to the casual segment is the PS3's price, which at $399 is still too expensive to expand the hardware's audience.
This year, it's still Nintendo's game to beat. After disappointing with Wii Music in 2008, the company and third-parties are locked and loaded with new and franchise product from summer to year-end. While the company can rest comfortably as the only mass market motion-sensitive device, next year, it will be everyone's game.
http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=8017&page=2
_ Reminds me of what Patcher said following E3. Nintendo have to satisfy both, which as we will probably see from 2010 onwards this is difficult to achieve.
“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata - This is why corporate multinationals will never truly understand, or risk doing, what Nintendo does.
