Who will win the Next Gen console war????

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Source

Limp Gawd
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I apologise if this subject has been covered already, but it's hard to find subjects these days that aren't based around Oblivion :p (I AM loving the game though ;) )

So.... Who, for your money, will win the battle of the next gen consoles?

Obviously, success for a console can only come from certain areas. You have the marketing/business side of things and then you have the games side.

Who, in your opinion, will have the best games and perhaps more fundamentaly, will have the more effective marketing to throw the brand into the public eye?

For the record, I believe that the 360 will win over in the end and would say so for the following reasons. I believe that the Xbox was a better console than the PS2 in terms of games and had gained alot of respect from gamers because of the quality of the games on the Xbox. I'm not saying that the games on the PS2 were rubish, I just think that when the PS2 came out it was a very under-optimised machine.

Also, I realise that Sony are a global company, but I believe that Microsoft will continue a trend carried forward from the Xbox to the 360 of either buying out 'big name' developers or signing agreements to exclusively have companies produce games only for the 360. IMO Alot of the success of the Xbox was down to such deals.

Perhaps I am sayiing that Microsoft will simply outspend Sony to ensure that the 360 finishes in top spot, but that would really depend on how good the PS3 will be when it's released and how easy it i to develop for

I have not mentioned Nintendo yet, I realise.... That is because I believe it doesn't stand a cat in hells chance of beating the current 'top two' as it simply does not have the money to compete on a marketing scale. I am partially sad to say it, but I believe that this will be the final home console release from Nintendo before they go the way of Sega (I still believe however, that Nintendo can have a successful run against Sony in the handheld market for years to come and it is a battlefield that it can still compete/win in).

So, your opinions please :cool:
 
Source said:
I have not mentioned Nintendo yet, I realise.... That is because I believe it doesn't stand a cat in hells chance of beating the current 'top two' as it simply does not have the money to compete on a marketing scale. I am partially sad to say it, but I believe that this will be the final home console release from Nintendo before they go the way of Sega (I still believe however, that Nintendo can have a successful run against Sony in the handheld market for years to come and it is a battlefield that it can still compete/win in).

So, your opinions please :cool:
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Completely disagree. Nintendo (who has 6+ billion in the bank, so they aren't aching for money) isn't aiming for the "either/or" market, they are aiming for the "and" market.

People will have either have xbox360 OR ps3, AND will also have revolution. From a marketing standpoint, its pure genious. Hypothetically, xbox360 will get half the market, ps3 the other half and revolution will have both halves in conjunction with the other two.

In theory, it should work. In reality, we will find out if it does.

I think Nintendo has a long life ahead of them. This definately isn't the last.



P.S. Get ready for a ten page flame war. :rolleyes:
 
I want 360 to win, i always felt sony consoles were shit(i hated ps1 over my n64, xbox>ps2 and i doubt i will like anything about ps3)


saidly though sony has the zombie fanbase that will buy there product no matter what, and sadly that fanbase is the largest on this planet
 
there is no console "war"
brand loyalty killed any notion of that
especially when owning more than one became the trend after the genesis/snes "war"


this thread wont last long
 
Nintendo may lose this round but, you know, the whole ds record-breaking sales, there's no way in hell they're going under.

As far as the three consoles, I think it's between the Rev. and the PS3. The PS3 has a shot based on brand recognition, and Rev could very well end up being revolutionary.

However, all of the coolest people know that the Dreamcast is still the best console :cool:
 
The PS3 will sink Sony as a company because of the large amount of red they are already in... Nintendo (with like 6-8 billion in liquid assets, and actual profit on hardware on every system) will "go the way of Sega" and sink as a company, as has been predicted by 8 gazillion people on the internet... and Microsoft will lose 100 billion instead of 4 on the XBox this time around.... and sink as a company. /THE END
 
steviep said:
The PS3 will sink Sony as a company because of the large amount of red they are already in... Nintendo (with like 6-8 billion in liquid assets, and actual profit on hardware on every system) will "go the way of Sega" and sink as a company, as has been predicted by 8 gazillion people on the internet... and Microsoft will lose 100 billion instead of 4 on the XBox this time around.... and sink as a company. /THE END
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...and hence |MaguS| wins!
 
I have a hard time imagining either the PS3 or Rev being a better console than the 360... It's almost perfect in every way. (Sure there are things that COULD be a little better...but most issues there were are a memory)

Obviously I have to play the other two first...
 
Yes, since the 360 is absolutely perfect, Microsoft will be the last one to sink and be destroyed as a company :rolleyes:

We should make these threads after all three consoles have been out for a couple years. As it stands right now, we don't know enough about the PS3 or the Revolution to make any judgments that are worthy.
 
Slartibartfast said:
As far as the three consoles, I think it's between the Rev. and the PS3. The PS3 has a shot based on brand recognition, and Rev could very well end up being revolutionary.

However, all of the coolest people know that the Dreamcast is still the best console :cool:
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The Rev. seems very different compared to the 360 and PS3, not just with its controllers but with some of the game ideas. Their marketing plan is different as well combining old school titles with new hardware, that will draw an audience.

If Sony can harness the power of the Cell and the Blu-ray discs we will see some awesome looking games, but how will the play value be?

I agree Dreamcast is still the best.
 
i root for nintendo.. it will be the first ''next gen '' console ill own and maybe the only one... just to play excitebike :D

but seriously , if nintendo make avaible their whole library of games.... i just cant see a mainstream gamer pass the opportunity to own this
 
If Sony releases it for the ~$800 price range (as might be possible according to recent comments by Sony Europe), then it will definitely fail. The problem is that they're banking on the fact that people will buy it as a cheaper Blu-Ray player. People bought PS2 because it was a cheaper DVD player, but DVDs had much greater market penetration at that time and people were actually starting to buy them when PS2 came out. At $700-$800, I only really see enthusiasts buying the console. $400 is like the max I'd personally ever spend on a game console, unless it suddenly had the best game that could ever possibly be made released for it as an exclusive. And I'm actually willing to spend a lot more than some other people I know on a console, some people are only willing to spend $200 or $300. So while Xbox 360 and Revolution will be priced competitvely, I don't see how this works for PS3...

Unless Sony's just working up the hype so when it comes out for $400, everyone goes, "Wow, Sony, you're amazing!" :rolleyes: I don't really see that happening though with the 7 processors, Blu-Ray player, 40GB hard drive and all the other junk it has in it...
 
Who will win the next gen console war?


The consumer.

Competition ALWAYS benefits the consumer. Right now, Nintendo and Sony, by not having a product on the shelves, are inadvertently hurting the consumer.

Once all three consoles are on the shelves, the price wars will start. The competition for your $$ will make them offer better incentives and reduced prices ion order to win market share.

So the one that wins ANY "console war" will be the consumer in the long run...as long as one company doesn't kill the other two off completely.
 
steviep said:
Yes, since the 360 is absolutely perfect, Microsoft will be the last one to sink and be destroyed as a company :rolleyes:

We should make these threads after all three consoles have been out for a couple years. As it stands right now, we don't know enough about the PS3 or the Revolution to make any judgments that are worthy.
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You actually think Microsoft is sinking or going to? You must be joking. Out of these three companies MS has the smallest chance of going anywhere. There's literally no chance of it. I didn't say absolutely perfect...I said almost perfect in every way...which I stand by. This is an opinionated statement and not factual... Agree or don't....
 
It was sarcasm... read my other post :p
steviep said:
The PS3 will sink Sony as a company because of the large amount of red they are already in... Nintendo (with like 6-8 billion in liquid assets, and actual profit on hardware on every system) will "go the way of Sega" and sink as a company, as has been predicted by 8 gazillion people on the internet... and Microsoft will lose 100 billion instead of 4 on the XBox this time around.... and sink as a company. /THE END
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The XBox360 is far from perfect though. The other 2 consoles won't be anywhere near perfect either. To believe so would simply be wrong on anyone's part, though I agree everyone is entitled to an opinion :) Personally, I will own a Rev at launch and one of the other 2 a year or two later (feeding the "and" philosiphy mentioned previously), when their cost (hopefully) has become somewhat reasonable and there are actual killer apps around. Spending more than $500 on a system with an additional controller and a couple games is ridiculous, no matter how rich you are, IMO.
 
Well, we've seen what the 360 does, and will be doing, and obviously the imagery will scale up as the developers grow with the console, and this is, yes, going to be pretty impressive. I wager it'll be on par graphically with the PS3, at least as far as what you and I can see.

I'd predict similar results from the PS3, but after the very late release, I think it is pricing could be a serious thorn in Sony's side - Either creating slow sales, or the unit cost is going to rapidly widen their financial asshole. Especially if the Blu-Ray format war doesn't go their way. Let's not even open that can of worms here. (for that matter, MS totally missed the boat on including an HD-DVD drive in their 360, and as far as I can tell it was soley for the purpose of beating Sony to the punch.)

Nintendo's the only one doing anything "interesting" with their platform, and the pricing is going to undercut their competition, and as said in a billion other threads, everyone's going to a buy a Revolution, whereas the same "everyone" is going to buy either a 360 or the PS3.

We'll still see the same rehashed genres of games on the platforms, though, that cycle of FPS/Racing/Fighting/Platformer/RPG that we've been stuck in for the past 10 years as an industry isn't going away anytime soon. I'd expect the same sort of content on all three consoles. Microsoft's big 'killer app' is of course going to be Halo3, and Sony's is, to me, still unknown. Either way, for me, "another FPS," be it a great FPS or not, just doesn't define killer app anymore.

I don't see either Sony or Microsoft with a real 'killer app' for their console outside of more raw power and prettier pictures. You can make Frogger look as good as you like, it's still Frogger, if you will. At least the Revolution has a new and interesting dynamic available to it by it's very unique controller implementation. That is N's killer app. It makes every game different (from what we're used to playing) via the UI, and provided we see some games really take advantage of this, it should be exciting. Has Nintendo ever let us down on this fun gimmicky stuff? Excluding the Virtual Bastard, not to my knowledge. :D

So, after the smoke clears on the pricing and the Blu-Ray fiasco-in-progress, if Sony can deliver it at all, it's going to have to deliver a hell of a lot to keep buyers from spending what they've saved on the 360, as it seems right now they are going to be similar in many aspects. So if we're betting on the existence of the Xbox 720, the PS4, and the... the... Whatever Nintendo calls it... I'm betting on MS and Nintendo as still being in the game, unless Sony does something amazing.

Now, it sounds like I'm a rabid Nintendo fan here, but before you go saying that: The NES obviously rocked, I went Genesis instead of SNES and have always been happy about it, the N64 was half-assed and boring, and the GC controller makes me want to eat babies. There's a PS2 out in the living room, too, despite my loathe for all that is post-1990 Sony equipment.

Thanks for reading. :) Anyone think I'm hitting anywhere near the mark on this one?
 
I'm not sure who will win. I am not really wanting any specific platform to win, but we will see.
 
steviep said:
It was sarcasm... read my other post :p


The XBox360 is far from perfect though. The other 2 consoles won't be anywhere near perfect either. To believe so would simply be wrong on anyone's part, though I agree everyone is entitled to an opinion :) Personally, I will own a Rev at launch and one of the other 2 a year or two later (feeding the "and" philosiphy mentioned previously), when their cost (hopefully) has become somewhat reasonable and there are actual killer apps around. Spending more than $500 on a system with an additional controller and a couple games is ridiculous, no matter how rich you are, IMO.
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I guess if you look at the individual components

Obviously all of these items are my opinion

Controller: Near Perfect. I'd say perfect but at some point someone will do better I'm sure. But best controller I've ever used

Game Selection: Obviously with any launch it's not going to be great. But since then the lineup has been pretty good. With the titles coming out I can't imagine they won't get even better.

Online system: Unrivaled... I would say it's perfect.

Other stuff: The arcade, the marketplace, the HD support, the interface, the multimedia support, etc etc. It's all damn near perfect in my opinion.

Cost wasn't an issue for me. $60 games aren't a great thing obviously but it's where we're going in gaming. But with more and more $40 and $50 games coming this will be less of an issue.
 
Yeah, overall, I'd say the Xbox 360 has something good going on. As the above poster said, the online component is damn near perfect. The launch game's weren't incredible, but this WAS the only system I've bought more than one game for at launch. There are great games out and coming out for it, and the controller is pure joy to hold.

I really want all the systems this round. The Xbox 360 has a healthy balance of form and function, especially with the online marketplace. The next Nintendo system will be something fresh and new to try out, and seems like it'll be very fun. Then there's the PS3. A system which any person who needs to have "the newest tech" will want to get their hands on.
 
Sony I hope, as the PS3 will most likely be the only console I buy (Sony gets the best games in my opinion, and the built in blu-ray is great too).
 
A previous poster commented that the real winner is the consumer because of the competition between the manufacturers. Absolutely, this is right and there is no denying the fact. Competition can only ever be seen as a good thing.

Going back to the point on the Revolution and my opinion that this could be the final 'home' console they produce and the fact that they obviously have quite a bit of money in the bank as mentioned by some previous posters - On the home console front, and lets be honest about it, Nintendo hasn't done anything truly amazing since the days of the SNES. Don't get me wrong, I loved my N64 and in my opinion the console had better games than the PS1, just not as many good games as the PS1. I'm sure most people on here can agree that the N64 had some classics that were unique to the platform such as Goldeneye, Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, ISS 64, Zelda OOT & MM, as well as a few others. The problem was that there simply wasn't as many good games as on the PS1. The only thing that kept Nintendo going at that time was the phenomenon that was pokemon and its handheld system. The same thing could be said also for the Gamecube, a few killer games (Metroid Prime, Zelda, Monkeyball - which has since been released on Xbox and PS2) while there have arguably been better games come out on both PS2 and Xbox and there was more of them.

I would hate to see Nintendo cease to exist as a home console manufacturer and have owned nearly every Nintendo console since the Snes (the only exceptions being the Virtual boy and the DS) and also plan on getting a Revolution even though I would begrudgingly admit up to not liking my Gamecube anywhere near as much as any other console I have ever owned. I simply think that perhaps Nintendo should look to what happened to Sega and maybe get out while the going is good and concentrate on developing for their own portable consoles and also probably for Microsoft (I'm assuming that Nintendo still hate Sony and vice-versa because of the whole SNES CD rom thing that eventually turned into the PS1). Nintendo could then quite honestly claim to be the company that would establish microsoft in the east and Nintendo would be taking on alot less risk for more reward. That is unless Nintendo has the next killer game up its sleave that it isn't telling us about.... Nintendo's 'Kittens in space' red and blue editions anybody???? I'm sure that there will be alot of people interested in that one :rolleyes:
 
I don't think Nintendo's done anything for console gaming since the SNES. Standardizing analog sticks, rumble motors, and bluetooth wireless controllers that actually work well I'm sure don't mean anything to Sony or Microsoft :p

In all seriousness, Nintendo being out of the hardware race would mean they would be out of the software race too (according to them). They would never develop for Microsoft either, since it would neuter their creativity immensely. Not a knock on Microsoft, just the fact that Nintendo developing their own hardware means they don't have a "ceiling" to work when it comes to hardware. As an example of what I mean, please see "Sega" and what not developing their own hardware has done to their software. Nevermind that it would be horrible for consumers, since Microsoft and Sony don't have nearly the balls that Nintendo does in most aspects either. That's not necessarily a knock on them either, since they do evolve their technology as well (see: amazing X360 gamepad)... however, aside from a few examples of devs thinking out of the box (EyeToy, Katamari, Guitar Hero, etc) Nintendo consistently tries new things and pushes the industry forward. Their loss would fuel further stagnation of this industry. Their liquid assets will keep them in the console hardware game for a long time, even in the unlikely case that the Revolution bombs completely.

Microsoft is bleeding money, but has almost unlimited funds in the bank and they've also established themselves a decent system... except in the east. Obviously their software does not at all cater to most in the east, but MS does well in the west. Sony is in the most danger, however... if their system tanks (unlikely) their entire business could face trouble (as it already has). With all that said, the Playstation brand is currently the strongest one. So this so-called "war" will be interesting. We won't know how it pans out until all systems have been out for a while, however, so this discussion is almost moot :p
 
I think the main problem Sony is going to face is the high price. If the whole 360 or PS3 AND Revolution thing pans out, the 360 will have a massive advantage. It will be hard to convince someone on the fence to buy a PS3 when they can have a 360 AND Revolution for roughly the same price. I think that the 360 and PS3 will be nearly even in terms of sales. A lot of the Sony sales will be fueled by mindless fans who will buy anything with the Sony name on it and fall for stupid marketing schemes. This will probably hold true for the 360 also, but not to the same degree.
 
dotK makes an interesting point. One that could be either offset completely OR completely correct, depending on how BluRay does in the market. The major cost difference (if there is any, depending on how much money Sony wants to swallow) the price difference will be refletive of the included hard drive and the blu ray disc drive as well.
 
The unconfirmed Turbo Grafix 128 with a new Bonk game :p

edit : Mac Mini
 
steviep said:
...and Microsoft will lose 100 billion instead of 4 on the XBox this time around.... and sink as a company.
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It would take more than $100 billion lost to sink MS...
 
paranoia4422 said:
shit bill gates donates half that a year to school and shit :p
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People really don't understand that lots of these mega huge corporations often do things because they simply have the disposable income to do it. Microsoft probably has as much money as there is water in the Pacific ocean, and then more in liquifiable assets than all off the world banks combined(okay, i'm exxagerating).

Even if Microsoft loses a bundle on the sale of consoles, don't forget all of the money they make on the sale of accesories and in royalties from game publishers and developers.
 
People will have either have xbox360 OR ps3, AND will also have revolution. From a marketing standpoint, its pure genious
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Yeah people said the same thing about Gamecube. It was the AND console. Xbox and PS2 were said to offer the same experiences, FPS, Racers, Shooter, Sports games, etc aimed at the adult market. Whereas GC was "something different", colorful offbeat games, Nintendo games.

People were well known to own EITHER a Xbox or PS2, then a GC as a second console. But you supposedly wouldn't see someone to own a PS2 AND a XBOX but not a Gamecube very often.

Point being after all that, Gamecube wasn't very succesful. So I think it's a poor argument for success of Nintendo consoles. I think people mainly want one main console for all their needs.
 
Sharky974 said:
Yeah people said the same thing about Gamecube. It was the AND console. Xbox and PS2 were said to offer the same experiences, FPS, Racers, Shooter, Sports games, etc aimed at the adult market. Whereas GC was "something different", colorful offbeat games, Nintendo games.

People were well known to own EITHER a Xbox or PS2, then a GC as a second console. But you supposedly wouldn't see someone to own a PS2 AND a XBOX but not a Gamecube very often.

Point being after all that, Gamecube wasn't very succesful. So I think it's a poor argument for success of Nintendo consoles. I think people mainly want one main console for all their needs.
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Gamecube, from what I remember, was not marketed as that. It entered the competition with hardware specs that could compete. At that time, Nintendo had the success of N64 behind them - they didn't want to be an AND competitor.

As a Nintendo fanbo1, lemme say that GCN was less than what I expected 4 1/2 years ago. But Nintendo has realized this also, and (hopefully) are trying to learn from their mistakes.
 
rayman2k2 said:
Gamecube, from what I remember, was not marketed as that. It entered the competition with hardware specs that could compete. At that time, Nintendo had the success of N64 behind them - they didn't want to be an AND competitor.

As a Nintendo fanbo1, lemme say that GCN was less than what I expected 4 1/2 years ago. But Nintendo has realized this also, and (hopefully) are trying to learn from their mistakes.
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the N64 was successful??? i disagree....

however.. i agree.. i don't recall the gamecube being advertized as the as the "AND" company either..
 
The PS1 beat the N64 in numbers. And the Gamecube did (and is) a lot better than many give it credit for. Sony SHIPPED 100mill PS3s (that number includes all the defective ones), Microsoft SHIPPED 23 million units, and the Gamecube SOLD 21 million units worldwide up 'till the last time I saw numbers. If that isn't a 'wash' I don't know what is. Nintendo, believe it or not, is (I believe) the only company to ever reveal actual sales numbers to NPD and MediaCreate and such, wheras the others only talk about units shipped to stores, regardless if they're sitting on shelves or not.

Aside from the Dreamcast, the Gamecube is the most underrated console ever. It doesn't have the amount of games that the PS2 had, nor the advertising power that Microsoft has... but it had a lot of great experiences and games that you just can't get anywhere else. The same could be said about the N64, which also had a drought of titles in between the huge bombs. Regardless, if you can't see the differentiation between the Revolution and the other 2 consoles, go get yourself a PSP with some UMDs :p

I still don't know who is going to ship the most units this time around, though. The past tells me the PS3 due to brand loyalty and the Playstation name. But that hasn't helped the PSP much, and the PS3's focus is similar to what Sony is doing with their PSP. Microsoft has all kinds of monetary assets, so if the PS3 bombs, Microsoft sits in a great position. If the PS3 doesn't bomb, Microsoft will continue to sit where they are. And Nintendo... Nintendo is the wildcard here, especially with the price advantage. If the Revolution truly succeeds in becoming the "and" console and the controller (and their other unannounced secret) delivers as promised, they could find themselves with double the units sold. On the other hand, if the Revmote sucks despite every gaming journalist and most developers singing its praises... or people just don't buy it, Nintendo could continue to sit where they are as well. BUT... whereas Sony has everything to lose, Nintendo has everything to gain.
 
I'm not sure what constitutes a "win", but I am really only interested in a Nintendo.
 
This is my prediction:

The 360 has the early lead, and it is a very solid console, I am growing more fond of XBL (it was Battlefield2 that got me, that game is like crack), and well, it is the only next-gen console out, so consumers don't really have a choice when it comes to them right now.

Sony, however, has the most loyal fanbase, and in the past has had the biggest and best game library. While the original Xbox was superior on the hardware front, the PS2 just had better games (opinion I know, depends what kind of games you are into, but the only thing the Xbox was really superios in game-wise was FPS games, which, let's face it, aren't a consoles bread and butter).

Nintendo has always had a very good game library (great exclusives, but not as wide as Sony's, definately better than MS's), but has failed in the marketing hype department.

I worked the launch for the Xbox and the Gamecube back when I worked at Circuit City (I took off the day of the PS2 launch so I could camp out in front of K-Mart and get my own on launch day). The PS2 launch was obviously huge, the Xbox one was pretty big too, not up to PS2 levels, but big. The gamecube launch was very underwhelming, a customer would come in for one every 5 or 10 minutes when we opened, then it dwindled, we still had half our stock of them when the day ended, the other two were sold out by the line waiting outside from the moment the store opened.

The PS3 is going to win the next round for a couple reasons. First off, the Sony loyalists will all buy one, I know I will, Sony has always put out great games, they still have a stranglehold on Square-Enix, and that alone is enough for me to pick one up. The second is blue-ray, even if only 5% of the homes in the US have HDTVs, and only half of those want a cheap blu-ray player, that is still a million or two extra consoles sold at or near launch. Also, Sony has promised something that equals XBL, plus all the features of the iTunes and iMovie service, we'll have to see how this pans out.

MS will do better than they did last time, but they have have already been proven to be a failure in Asia in this second round, and that is a big gaming market. Sony and Nintento are both garaunteed successes over there.

Nintendo I think will sell the least consoles, but make the most profit in this round. Their hardware is less advanced, but cheaper to manufacture. They will lose less in the early months, and start turning a profit much earlier than the other two. The ability to play old Nintendo and Genesis games will be a big deal. I already know I will pick up a Revolution at or near launch as well. I see the new controller thing as being gimmicky, but the online game library is a great idea.
 
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