Which Game Console Will Dominate

[Sean Beeson]

For 600$ I could buy an Xbox 360 and a Wii, or I could buy a computer to put samples on. Unless the PS3 makes me ~~~at myself when I play it, I can't say I will get one. By the time you pay taxes on it, and put some kind of extened warranty on it, because Lord knows that I don't want the system overheating or something , and then add a game, which will most liely retail around 60-70$. It is not just a 600$ investment. It is more like a 700+

I wasn't going to buy a warranty for my PS2, but luckily I did, because my console had a lot of problems going on with it.

[Sean Beeson]

BTW, what is other ? PC? There are some great games that are coming on the PC and have been released in the last few months.

[Ian Dorsch]

I voted for 'other' because I don't believe any one console will dominate. I think Sony and MS are going to pretty much split the pie, and Nintendo is no longer directly competing with them. They're attempting to carve their own niche, which I think is very shrewd.

Exciting things are happening on the PC as well, with digital distribution picking up steam (no pun intended) and the Games for Windows from MS.

[astrt4]

I voted for X-Box 360 but would now change that to the Nintendo. Looking at various polls around the net, the Wii is just mopping up. I think people are scared enough that Sony isn't going to dominate that they aren't going to rush out and purchase one like they did in the past, for fear of ending up out $600. Developers are doing the same - even EA introduced far more for the Wii than they did for the PS3.

PS3 doesn't have the units in stock for this holiday season (0 for Europe and much fewer in the US and Japan than expected), and Sony doesn't have the confidence of the market or the industry right now. That was its edge a year ago, and it's simply gone. At $200 - $250, the Wii looks like a very attractive safe buy to a customer who isn't willing to take a chance on a pricier system before seeing which company really does win. Sony, with its legal troubles, financial troubles, computer-like price, and push for a Blue Ray standard which the market isn't confident will dominate (and doesn't have use of), looks like a mighty risky buy to many people.

If Nintendo can deliver on making this new gaming style fun, I think we'll see the polls' predictions come true.

[Symbiotic]

I think the only system that is 'mopping up' right now is the DS (Lite to be specific). It has been #1 on US and Japanese sales charts for months - and I think broke some kind of sales record here in the states. But I guess it isn't a console, so it isn't among the aforementioned.

At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the Wii, though I think Nintendo may have priced it a bit high considering their target market. But they do have a reputation for lowering prices on their systems, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it come down to $199 within a year or two.

[dwdonehoo]

My feeling is that XBOX 360 will take a good sized chunk out of the Sony market share, but the huge install base of the PSn line will insure that Sony keeps the larger share of the sales pie. The quality of the content that is available is another issue, and does not guarentee better sales in the short run. Still, with a years head start, the XBOX has made some movement towards parity, and will keep heading in that direction with quality and quantity of available content. The next gen in a few years will be most telling.
The WII is in a catagory of its own I think, going after those people who want a second console.

[Elfen]

I tend to go for the 360, althought I might be biased since I own one. But the format war, the change of controllers design and rechange and the high price tag of the Ps3 didn't do good on the launch. Still Sony's aficionados will remain but these things slow down the Ps3 success.

[groovyone]

I dunno, but I'm getting a Wii. I chose gamecube over the PS2 XBox battle simply cos I couldn't choose a which was better. The PS2 had a large selection of games, the XBox had a nice HD and could run emulators and be a media center.

The GameCube had games which ROCKED and weren't released on Xbox or Ps2.

So I go for Wii as my first new console. That will give some time to wait for prices of the other 2 to not be so insane and leave a bit of time to decide which other to get. Wii can play all old gamecube games!!

[tgfoo]

I bought a 360 and so far I've rather enjoyed it. I'm definitely interested in both the PS3 amd the Wii. All 3 systems coming will have games that I absolutely want to play on them, so I see myself probably picking up all three if money permits. (I didn't get the Gamecube, so I've been itching for a new zelda game bad...). As far as market share, I think the 360 has a huge advantage because of it's head start. I still think that the PS3 will probably win out, but both the Nintendo and Microsoft will gain ground on Sony.

[Cobalt Katze]

My personal guess is this:

PS3 will start off slow, but eventually gain momentum in 6mos.-1year when its heavy-hitting titles start coming out. It's got a lot of franchise momentum built up, and with its new processing horsepower there's going to be a lot of developers looking to do brand new things with the system as well. I'd say there's a ton of potential, and in the end the big chunky games are going to gravitate towards it.

Wii will likely lead the pack in Japan and possibly the US from the get-go and grow the gamespace world-wide tremendously. More people will start gaming, which will also help out the other consoles if people start looking for other types of gaming experiences other than what the Wii will offer. There's currently a stigma in developers that seems to think that the Wii is for light, casual, and party games. It certainly is a great place for them, but for the Wii to completely dominate the realm of games, the same level of deep gameplay will need to be focused on by certain developers to round out the playstyles of people that would buy the system. However, as many things such as the DS Touch Generations games or even World of Warcraft have proved: Getting non-gamers to game means tremendous success, and Wii looks like it will devliver on that front.

Xbox360 on the other hand, wants to do a lot of things. It wants to involve every gamer, as they said in press conferences leading up to the console's launch. They talked about getting people interested in gaming because of their Live! service and gamertags, but so far it seems to be doing the same old as the Xbox before it. That's not bad, because the Xbox is still a success in the US. But it's not going to grow the gamespace as much as the Wii will. The 360 also wants to appeal to Japan and get their support. And so far it has the attention of one developer, Mistwalker, which is certainly comprised of heavy-hitters but is also developing its debut games for the 360. This means one of two things: Either the games it develops will be a huge success and get Japanese gamers hooked on the console, or they will be a mild success due to low interest in the system and then Mistwalker will move on to other things. They're certainly banking a ton on the quick-selling success of Toriyama's art style, reminding potential buyers of the success of Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest (a coincidence that the game is called Blue Dragon? I don't think so). If it succeeds, then there's definately going to be some good competition driving forth progressively better exclusives between the PS3 and 360, which will likely be healthy in the longrun.