28th September 2006, 2:09 PM
DC was pretty much dead within six months... another six months and the PS2 came out, and in under six months more Sega had given up; some more games did come out over the final six months of its life, but it really never had a chance... but yeah, right at launch it did actually do well. It just dropped off fast.
I don't think casual gamers have heard about all of the complaints the hardcore have about Sony, though... they see "Playstation" and think it means gaming, really. Perhaps Nintendo can change that, and the price on the PS3's box will deter some, but it'll be a lot harder than you suggest.
The PS3 does have one thing going for it: really nice graphics. Well, two... it's also got at least a minimum of gauranteed support from the major Japanese third parties, which to many people means a lot... the "it might be a three-way split" people might be the most correct, actually. All of the bad press and price issues of the PS3 will vanish in many people's minds once they see some of the games... Nintendo will have to do a good job of showing how gameplay is more important than graphics and how the Wiimote truly is a change worth paying attention to to get Sony out of the casual gamer market.
Of course, Nintendo doesn't really look like that's what it's going to try to do... they are instead going after longtime Nintendo fans, children, and nongamers primarially it seems; while they do say that they'd like to win (or they do now anyway), their game lineup is not the sort that's going to convince PS3 and X360 gamers to buy a Wii, I think -- "innovative controls" vs. awesome graphics? Too many gamers will choose the latter... so Nintendo needs to succeed in the nongamer/casual gamer market first, where people care less about graphics (else they'd have bought one of the other consoles...). They could do it. We'll see...
Quote:With sony in such an awkward situation are experiencing Newton's law first hand. Talking about PS2, in japan and even here the top ten lists read like DS release schedules with one or two PS2 games. You know that scares Sony and MS, in fact the DS has almost caught up to installed bases that the PS2 have in about a quarter of the time, and you know that scares them too. Sony may want to view the upcoming launch as a repeat of DC's, but the factors are just too different. The DC wasn't the talk of the town like Wii nor did it generate as much interest or positive praise, the PS3 is being considered a joke unlike how the PS2 was then the end-all must-have console. Those two major factors, i'm willing to bet anyway, are on the minds of sony, and i'm willing to bet that they see Wii as a serious threat.
I don't think casual gamers have heard about all of the complaints the hardcore have about Sony, though... they see "Playstation" and think it means gaming, really. Perhaps Nintendo can change that, and the price on the PS3's box will deter some, but it'll be a lot harder than you suggest.
The PS3 does have one thing going for it: really nice graphics. Well, two... it's also got at least a minimum of gauranteed support from the major Japanese third parties, which to many people means a lot... the "it might be a three-way split" people might be the most correct, actually. All of the bad press and price issues of the PS3 will vanish in many people's minds once they see some of the games... Nintendo will have to do a good job of showing how gameplay is more important than graphics and how the Wiimote truly is a change worth paying attention to to get Sony out of the casual gamer market.
Of course, Nintendo doesn't really look like that's what it's going to try to do... they are instead going after longtime Nintendo fans, children, and nongamers primarially it seems; while they do say that they'd like to win (or they do now anyway), their game lineup is not the sort that's going to convince PS3 and X360 gamers to buy a Wii, I think -- "innovative controls" vs. awesome graphics? Too many gamers will choose the latter... so Nintendo needs to succeed in the nongamer/casual gamer market first, where people care less about graphics (else they'd have bought one of the other consoles...). They could do it. We'll see...
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