Category: Console Wars (Page 2 of 5)

Exclusivity Makes the World Go ‘Round

March 21, 2007 / Damion Schubert

When you think of a console, you are most likely to think of its most emblematic games: the Dreamcast had Soul Caliber, the XBox had Halo, the 360 has Gears of War. These games have something in common other than all being exemplary games – they were all hardware exclusives – at least for a while.

The flip side of it, of course, is that the developers of these titles are heavily incentivized NOT to have an exclusive game — unless they’re guarunteed to be as emblematic as Gears of War. For the most part, we want our games on as many platforms as possible. The 3 big companies want to fund games, but only want to fund exclusives. When I was running a startup, we actually walked away from a deal with Microsoft because they wanted our MMO to be an MS exclusive (not even a PC Port!) but weren’t willing to pay us the difference. “The difference” looked like the difference between a thin but healthy profit, and being in indentured servitude. Continue reading

Wiis and HDs

February 6, 2007 / Damion Schubert

My wife got me a Wii for my birthday. This is the same woman who got me a 360 for Christmas. This may, ultimately, explain why I married her. Continue reading

Here’s VGCharts

January 3, 2007 / Damion Schubert

Whose winning this generation’s console wars? According to VGCharts, a site I just found, the answer is the XBox 360. Unless you count the DS, in which case the DS is winning handily. Take a looksee.

Also of interest is their top games of 2006 in North America. While these numbers do not include December yet (which should vastly inflate them, as Christmas is prime time for the games industry), a quick glance at the numbers shows the industry as being in quite a slump. In 2004, 13 games sold more than a million copies, with 4 besting the 2 million mark. In 2006, by comparison, 8 games bested the million mark, with only Madden crossing into two. Consider: GTA San Andreas was, according to this list, the 10th best selling game of the year. It shipped in 2004.

Hopefully we’ll see a rebound this year, as all three new consoles hit their stride.

All I Want For Christmas Is True Plug ‘n Play Functionality

December 28, 2006 / Damion Schubert

I hope everyone out there had a merry Christmas. Our Christmas was the fairly standard trip to the Schubert ancestral home, complete with opening some presents and watching the Dallas Cowboys choke on national TV (which is fast becoming a holiday tradition).

The big Christmas gift for me was the XBox 360 – yes, I am finally part of the next-gen generation of gamers. Normally, my gaming habits are more PC based, but as a designer, you gotta keep relevant. Although I swear to god, I will never be able to play a shooter on a console. Last night’s Rainbow Six episode was almost comical, with me taking about five seconds to line up every shot, as bad guys rained hellfire upon me unmolested. Continue reading

This is Not the Pre-Christmas Press You’re Looking For

December 17, 2006 / Damion Schubert

Compared to the PS3, the Wii is getting insane buzz from both the hardcore and the mainstream press. So much so that the fact that people have been maiming each other throwing the controller around is considered someone of an amusing joke to most gamers (see Wii Have a Problem). So much so that everyone seems to have forgotten how disgusted and appalled they were when they heard the thing was being called the ‘Wii’. Continue reading

Why Wii Wins

December 5, 2006 / Damion Schubert

Kotaku points out this hilarious interview with a Sony executive, that illustrates quickly everything that’s wrong with Sony’s PS3 strategy.

The Wii-type functionality is more just a sub-element of what the PlayStation 3 offers.

Distributed Computing Comes to the Console

November 25, 2006 / Damion Schubert

In this age of hypercompetitiveness, it’s ever more crucial to have an angle, or an edge, to hang your hat on. Wii launched with their unique control schemes, which was clearly an edge. The 360 is banking most of its success on its online capabilities, which has proven quite popular with the gamer’s set. One thing that has troubled industry observers is that it lacked a similar edge — until now: PS3 is the console that will cure cancer. Continue reading

Bill O’Reilly Gives His Opinions on Video Games

November 20, 2006 / Damion Schubert

Who knew that when Bill O’Reilly would kickstart the annual ‘War on Christmas’, the first battle would be with… all the cool toys this Christmas!

Not content to leave the video game bashing to Democrats like Hillary and Joementum, Bill O’Reilly has decided to turn luddite, and open fire on gaming and technology, in the process demanding that all of you kids get off of his lawn.GamePolitics has the story, complete with money quotes:

Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality – ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…

More PS3 Notes

November 15, 2006 / Damion Schubert

As expected, Kotaku is all over the latest in the console wars.

The PS3 has launched in Japan and so far…. fewer games have sold than consoles. The clear winner so far… RIIIDGE RACERRRR, with 21K units sold. Continue reading

The Ongoing PS3 Debacle

November 14, 2006 / Damion Schubert

It seems like a good time to point out this very good, albeit old, article about the Playstation 3, and how Sony is pinning all of their hopes on it. Wired is pretty gloomy on PS3’s prospects, as am I, but you know the console wars have gotten wierd when Slashdot and Wired start rooting for Microsoft as the ‘agile’ one.

The article came to mind reading some of the comments around the web about the PlayStation’s launch. If you think the FANS are mad about the PS3 launch, consider who else has reason to be pissed off: Continue reading