The Video Game Critic

[QUOTE=Steerforth]
 However the improved quality in graphics hasn't helped push sales of the 360 all that much - JLH

Exactly. So why would it help the PS3, especialy when as you also mentioned most games are being made for both anyway, because they are so early in their lives? So why are we fed this persistent myth that the 'underpowered' Wii will run into a wall and sales will fall out?  Why does Sony automaticly get to decide what will move systems tommorow, especially when everything today says they are wrong?

Considering how fast the Wii is selling and how they will eventually have the largest 'new' installed base, you will see the largest variety of games on it. If Nintendo truly is 'letting down' their traditional users, it is just an oppurtunity for a 3rd party to pick up the slack. But realisticly, things won't change much. Established franchises and my hated 'liscensed' games will continue to dominate, because that is what mom and dad and grandma buy for  Billy because they can at least recognize it. I still think that "Nintendo's converts" is overstated, too, at least so far. If it took the Critic 6 months to get a Wii, Grandma ain't got much of a chance, unless the VGC was knock over in the aisle by a 30 pound purse. 'Hardcore' gamers are the biggest buyers of Wii, and the biggest buyers of non-trad games, because it truly is something different.

Wii has momentum, that is the most important thing in attracting games.
In the battle for subsidised multimedia centers, 360 has a year lead and is still outselling PS3, the main reason is price, and a drop won't help much. Look for MS to drop in response and negate the whole thing. What do they care, they are a 'not for profit' videogame company anyway. I doubt Nintendo will drop until sales really start to slip. I refuse to buy into the propaganda, but maybe I'll be proved wrong.
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First off I just want to be clear that I'm not trying defend the PS3 because its my favorite...far from it.  The Wii is clearly the system I play most right now...but I still see oodles of potential games coming out for the PS3 that makes me optimistic.

Anywho, graphics aren't gonna help sell the system anymore than they already do.  Its the price point and the games.  However, when I said that system was hard to make games for I wasn' just talking about graphics.  I was talking about overall quality.  If developers took the time to make better games [graphically & gameplay wise] it would help drive sales.  Having excellent ports/3rd party stuff would help them out greatly.   Thats all I meant with that arguement.

I'm not all that worried about the Wii and traditional games.  Right now I own enough single player stuff to balance out the party/mini games.  However, I want Nintendo's first party stuff to be deep and engaging instead of shallow and party based...Basically I don't wan't the next Zelda to be aimed at the casual audience.

I would say that Hardcore gamers are the biggest buyers of the 360 and PS3...not the Wii.  I have waited in over 6 lines (spanning 4 months since launch) for a Wii and I've seen every type of person purchasing them.  I've seen kids, moms, teens, grandparents...everyone!  Its crazy...

Finally, the 360 has the lead right now, but Nintendo will probably overtake them by years end.  The 360 might be outselling the PS3 in America, but with the exception of the UK it is doing awful everywhere else.  I'm willing to bet that the PS3 is almost neck and neck with the 360 in terms of global sales, despite the higher price point.  Microsoft and Sony really have a tough few years ahead of them.

microsoft can easily match any small price drop sony makes with the PS3. If sony wants to get back in the game before the end of this year, they will have to go big, and risk annoying the fans that spent 600 dollars on hardware in the first year.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]Finally, the 360 has the lead right now, but Nintendo will probably overtake them by years end.  The 360 might be outselling the PS3 in America, but with the exception of the UK it is doing awful everywhere else. [/QUOTE]

I've been saying that since September.  I don't even think we'll need to wait until the end of the year.  The Wii will be on top worldwide with 360 in second place and the PS3 trailing slightly for third.

I think the PS3 is dead no matter what. Looks like the PS9 might not get there.
This is off-topic but can't the PS3 handle seven controllers? If so, I don't get why anyone hasn't taken advantage of this innovation yet.

[QUOTE=Steerforth]

Speaking of PS3 innovations, it was going to support 2 T.V.'s with one system (Basicly splitscreen but on 2 t.v.s). Now that IS cool, I would take that over wireless LAN anyday. Did they deliver on that? Is anyone making a game to take advantage of it yet?

[/QUOTE]

Sony opted not to include that feature.  It has a lot to do with people buying large HDTVs.

[QUOTE=Steerforth]

Speaking of PS3 innovations, it was going to support 2 T.V.'s with one system (Basicly splitscreen but on 2 t.v.s). Now that IS cool, I would take that over wireless LAN anyday. Did they deliver on that? Is anyone making a game to take advantage of it yet?

[/QUOTE]

Cool but not practical. The PS1 and PS2 both had system link support and no one cared. Why would they now. One system for two t.v.'s is more economical but if the original link was hardly supported and had little users, nothing would have changed that now which is why is probably another reason why it was dropped. An old EGM magazine had a feature of encasing your tv in a octagon box with mirrors inside for each quarter of the screen in perfect dark multi-player. At four points of the box was another mirror for that player to see through to have four players have their own screen with no peeking cheating.

[QUOTE=BanjoPickles]Why would a third party continue to support a platform they are bombing on anyway? How tempted is Eidos going to be to support the Wii when Escape From Bug Island inevitably bombs? [/QUOTE]

Well, Eidos will probably realize the game is crap. Also, third parties aren't bombing on the Wii. Raving Rabbids did very well; well enough to justify a sequel.

One more thing you're forgetting is if there are 20 million Wiis (pure what ifs here), and 5 million PS3s, and 80% of PS3 owners get a 3rd party game, while 25% of Wii owners get the same game on Wii, more copies sold on Wii. So, if Wii continues to sell as well as it has, and PS3 continues to barely slug along, for just a little while longer than it will have a base large enough that not as large a percentage of the owners needs to buy a certain game for it to still sell more on Wii than it would have on PS3.

Man, we keep hearing this "3rd party games don't sell" stuff over and over again. Who has sold the most games outside of Nintendo themselves? Ubisoft and EA! 3rd party games are selling. Especially the ones that are made from the ground up for Wii, or are great reinventions of established and popular franchises.

3rd parties that supported Wii from the get-go are enjoying plenty of success. The situation is already so much different than N64 in this regard.

Another thing that makes that a poor comparison is development cost. I would hazard to guess that the N64 had the highest development costs of its generation, if only because of using carts. The Wii is very cost effective. Therefore, you don't need to sell as many games to make a return.


-Rob