Sunday, February 05, 2006
At a precipice, we stand.
It would be a bit too easy to talk about the games. I could bitch about how the monotonous minutia in Animal Crossing will ultimately be it's undoing for me (well, it's all minutia, but I'm mostly speaking about unnecessarily repetitive menu navigation and such). I could mention how goddamned fantastic Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is looking, or how excited I am about Oblivion being three fortnights away - but then so is every other gamer. I would rather talk about the Big Three, and where they stand right now for me. I think things could potentially change quite a bit next month with several huge 360 releases, but take this for where things stand right now.
Firstly, NOW is the time for Sony to spit out some PS3 details, and I'm stunned that they haven't taken advantage of the situation yet. If they were to hold a press conference tomorrow and announce a firm fall launch, $500 price tag and a peak at a new game, half of the people still waiting for 360s would wait that much longer and pop down a PS3 pre-order within the week. Microsoft got a lot of things right with their launch, but considering how severe the production droughts have been we're still now done with it as far as I'm concerned. March is going to be big for them, but everything is a gamble at this point. I'm going to say now that GRAW will be THE killer online app, but you can't really have a system-seller when you don't have any systems to sell. As good as the lineup will be, it will really only justify the system on the software end for early adopters like myself. It might confirm for the public that a couple of their favorite franchises from last gen are coming to the 360, but again, it won't sell systems.
Oh, quick tangent - it REALLY frustrates me that The Outfit is coming out a week after GRAW and the day before Battlefield. I understand it's the end of the fiscal year, but that's one of the worst long-term business decisions I've ever been witness to. It's bad enough that they're all military games, but a new IP sandwiched between two proven franchises? I've been psyched about the game since it saw it at E3, and they're releasing it the week that I'm LEAST likely to buy it. If someone looking forward to it might not even pick it up, what chance does it have among the masses? Very frustrating.
Back on topic. Tom and I were talking yesterday, and he made a good point about Sony and Nintendo playing the waiting game with each other. Not that they are even serious competitors at the moment, but mindshare can be a powerful thing. If Sony DID have a press conference tomorrow to bite the 360, Nintendo could very well hold one a week later and show the world how they will truly evolve gaming, not just make it cooler. They wouldn't sell any fewer PS3s are a result, but they would be at the recoiling end of having to prove part of their relevancy again. The portable battle could be affected as well depending on the connectivity options available. If people know that they'll be able to Tivo their shows through their PS3 for their PSP on the go, they might think twice about picking up a DS between now and Thanksgiving. And visa versa with whatever crazy crap the DS will no doubt do with the Revolution.
Hmm, I'm tired. Let this be part one. Part two will be addendumed (bam! new word - I'm like the sexy lovechild of Emeril and Webster) tomorrow.
Firstly, NOW is the time for Sony to spit out some PS3 details, and I'm stunned that they haven't taken advantage of the situation yet. If they were to hold a press conference tomorrow and announce a firm fall launch, $500 price tag and a peak at a new game, half of the people still waiting for 360s would wait that much longer and pop down a PS3 pre-order within the week. Microsoft got a lot of things right with their launch, but considering how severe the production droughts have been we're still now done with it as far as I'm concerned. March is going to be big for them, but everything is a gamble at this point. I'm going to say now that GRAW will be THE killer online app, but you can't really have a system-seller when you don't have any systems to sell. As good as the lineup will be, it will really only justify the system on the software end for early adopters like myself. It might confirm for the public that a couple of their favorite franchises from last gen are coming to the 360, but again, it won't sell systems.
Oh, quick tangent - it REALLY frustrates me that The Outfit is coming out a week after GRAW and the day before Battlefield. I understand it's the end of the fiscal year, but that's one of the worst long-term business decisions I've ever been witness to. It's bad enough that they're all military games, but a new IP sandwiched between two proven franchises? I've been psyched about the game since it saw it at E3, and they're releasing it the week that I'm LEAST likely to buy it. If someone looking forward to it might not even pick it up, what chance does it have among the masses? Very frustrating.
Back on topic. Tom and I were talking yesterday, and he made a good point about Sony and Nintendo playing the waiting game with each other. Not that they are even serious competitors at the moment, but mindshare can be a powerful thing. If Sony DID have a press conference tomorrow to bite the 360, Nintendo could very well hold one a week later and show the world how they will truly evolve gaming, not just make it cooler. They wouldn't sell any fewer PS3s are a result, but they would be at the recoiling end of having to prove part of their relevancy again. The portable battle could be affected as well depending on the connectivity options available. If people know that they'll be able to Tivo their shows through their PS3 for their PSP on the go, they might think twice about picking up a DS between now and Thanksgiving. And visa versa with whatever crazy crap the DS will no doubt do with the Revolution.
Hmm, I'm tired. Let this be part one. Part two will be addendumed (bam! new word - I'm like the sexy lovechild of Emeril and Webster) tomorrow.
// posted by Nick @ 8:29 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]