http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3544039.stm
Apparently Informa Media Group has a crystal ball that they refuse to share with others.
Why can’t they give us something useful, like Super Bowl winners?
A statement like “But Sony can expect a fight on its hands from Microsoft, as they both aim to win over the hardcore gamer.” is kinda silly. Sony didn’t sell 70 million Playstation 2s to hardcore gamers
Where do you get a job as an analyst? Because as far as I can tell there’s no actual work or research involved in that job and no consequences when you are wrong for the millionth time. Plus every assinine report you issue gets published on major news sites.
Aren’t these the same people who said that Microsoft’s online plan and appeal to the tech-savy crowd would sell 2 or 3 XBoxes to every GameCube? The twelve-year-olds on the IGN forums are better at predicting sales than these guys.
So you guys disagree with them? You think Sony won’t win the next round of the console wars? If I had to pick a winner, it would probably be Sony. What do you guys think?
I think that it’s going to be closer next time around than it was this time around. I would not be surprised in the least to see a relatively close second by MS.
And depending on how hard sony makes it for developers, you might even see a small lead by MS.
Worldwide or North America? A lot depends on the exclusives that Sony ties up. If the next gen iteration of GTA is a PS3 exclusive, that helps Sony quite a bit. Same with the EA sports games and online play, if online is important to consumers. Microsoft has done a poor job of developing hot franchises other than Halo and maybe KOTOR.
Either or I guess. Maybe more north america, since there is more brand loyalty over in Japan.
I do agree that it’s all about the exclusives though. But I’d expect MS to be throwing around a lot of money to steal exclusives.
Sony is a safe bet, it’s the rest of their predictions and the reasons for them (see Gunmetal’s post) that I disagree with. And they still seem to be convinced that online gaming is going to move hardware, which I just don’t agree with at all. If online gaming was that important the XBox and Gamecube would not even be close, but they are, contrary to what the analysts predicted four years ago.
And really, where are these “hardcore” gamers that don’t have all three consoles? Except the PC-only crowd, of course. Those fools.
It’s pretty wacky to make predictions with those numbers with almost zero facts so far to base them on.
The one huge boost I’d give PS3 over XBoxNext, though, is compatibility. Sony has a draw to keep people in the family by allowing them to keep their existing PS1 and PS2 libraries. And XBox upgrader can jump to any platform, since they library isn’t going to go with them anyway.
As always, it’s going to depend more on exclusive launch titles than anything else. If Sony locks up a new FF and a new GTA for launch or close to it, they’ve got even more of a head start than they already will. At this point, predicting that the PS3 will win the next console generation is like predicting that it’s going to rain in Seattle sometime in the next week.
I think it’s really going to depend on the “killer app”, MS has said as much. Hardcore gamers are impressed by tech stats, but everyone is impressed by games. Whoever gets the quickest jump and the biggest bang will have a lot in their favor. I don’t think Sony can afford a lackluster North American launch this time around.
From the latest I have heard the PS3 will be compatible with most PS2 titles, but not PS1. So, people that have a large library of PS1 and PS2 games will still need a PS2.
Yeah, I think that’s what Kuturagi said - each new Playstation will be backwards compatible one generation only. So the PS3 won’t be able to play PSOne games. That makes for an interesting problem of input evolution for Sony though. Microsoft and Nintendo would have greater freedom to add/remove inputs
If Sony keeps having the worst controllers, the lamest games per capita and the worst hardware I think this will be a lot closer.
The only thing my PC can’t give me that I want is a decent fighting game, and for that I just play with a friend who is a happy console owner, which is fine by me since fighting games are only fun if you play against friends. The single-player Fighter experience is not reason enough for me to buy a tv and a console.
They also have the largest library of games, and quite a few of them are exclusive AND very good. And if the dual shock was actually the “worst” controller, it’s mighty strange that the Xbox controller is evolving into one.
I can think of two good exclusive games. As for the largest library: quantity equals quality. The second XBox controller was really great, but both controllers are pathetic compared to the GC. Anyone want a PS2 really cheap?
For the size of my hands and the games I play the Xbox-S is the best, the PS2 next and the GC a distant last. I dislike the GC controller immensely. As for games library, yes the PS2 has more but I won’t ever bother with most of them. If a game is cross platform I get it on Xbox, the other 2 are for exclusives.
Other than controllers I agree. And I do love the S, but I really like the cube controller.