Hey everyone, my name is Dedicated to Gamers. I know we're all excited about the next generation of consoles but I wanted to bring everyone back down to earth and talk about the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii.
Now, these are just my personal predictions, but I'll do my best to support them with facts. I really think that Sony is going to go for another landslide victory. There are several reasons why I think that.
Gaming hardware
Okay, this is a pretty big deal. I've seen a lot of comments about the hardware power between the PS3[1] and the 360[2]. Yeah, the 360[2] has a more powerful GPU. So what? Yeah, the 360 has a unified pool of RAM. So what? The PS3[1] has The Cell[3] inside! This thing is gonna give the PS3[1] some crazy power.
Price
I know a lot of people are complaining about the PS3's[1] price. I see all the internet pictures with "599 US dollars"[9] on it. Yes, the PS3[1] is $100 more (it's unfair to say $200 more because there's a basic model, too), but think of what you're getting. Not only are you getting The Infinite Power of the Cell™ with PS3[1], but you're also getting a Blu Ray[4] player, too! Yes, it's unproven technology, and yes Sony[5] is forcing you to purchase it, but just think of the FUTURE! Besides, price won't matter because...
Brand loyalty
Have you not heard of such a thing as brand loyalty? C'mon. This is SONY[5]! It doesn't matter how expensive it is. Everyone is going to trade their Xbox 360[2] in to EB Games and Gamestop to get a PS3[1]. Are you not aware of the PS1 and the PS2? Sure, Sony[5] made a few arrogant comments, but the general public doesn't care about that. All they care about is that Playstation brand! You think they'll switch to 360[2]? Yeah right! Think about that huge PS2 library of games[6] that they've built up for years! You think they'll be so quick to abandon their games[6] when the next generation comes around? Yeah right!
Games
Okay, so some people are remarking that PS3[1] is going to lag behind in the number of games because it's launching a year later than the 360[2]. Um, have you SEEN Resistance: Fall of Man[7]? End of conversation. There are so many amazing games coming out for PS3[1], it's not even funny. The TimeSplitters guys are making Haze (footage looks so sick), Square Enix is making FF13 a PS3 exclusive, and of course we'll be getting Gran Turismo 5 in the next year or two. I'm just pointing out that even though the libraries seem unbalanced NOW doesn't mean that they will stay unbalanced. Sony[5] is...Sony[5], and they have so much money from the PS1 and PS2 that they could just buy up a ton of studios if they wanted. Let me repeat that: Sony has so much money and they're investing so much money into gaming right now that Microsoft has no chance to succeed. It'll be just like the Xbox 1[8]...they only sold 25 million and the PS2 is still selling strong.
[1] Xbox One
[2] PS4
[3] The Cloud
[4] Kinect
[5] Microsoft
[6] huge list of Achievements, Gamerscore, Friend's List, etc
[7] Titanfall
[8] Xbox original
[9]499 Euros
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This transcript has been edited with helpful numbers, in case it wasn't painfully obvious what I was implying.
We've been down this road before. We've seen these boasts before. I've heard "price doesn't matter" before. I've heard "brand loyalty is king" before. It's funny to see companies repeat the mistakes of others, but it's even funnier to hear gamers parrot the exact same talking points from nearly a decade ago.
"30XX is one of the best roguelikes out there, combining the tight platforming action of the Mega Man X series with the challenge and randomization that roguelike fans crave. Batterystaple Games has done lots of refinement through updates since 30XX first appeared on Steam Early access a few years ago. The latest such update adds a new character for free, one who combines the best attributes of the two existing characters. Also, the Steam version is on sale, making it a great time to travel to the distant year of 30XX!" says Co-Optimus.
"Hammerwatch II's journey to Xbox has been long and perilous. After first launching on Steam in the fall of 2023, the game finally turned up on PlayStation 5 last December. Since then, Xbox gamers who enjoyed the original Hammerwatch and the sublime Heroes of Hammerwatch have been anxiously awaiting their turn at the long-promised sequel. At last, the wait is nearly over because Hammerwatch II will hit Xbox and PlayStation 4 on April 23," says Co-Optimus.
Joe 'Three Sheets' Neate (Executive Producer): "As I’m sure you can imagine, when it comes to Sea of Thieves my days are full of numbers. Development costs, active servers, days until the next update… Sometimes, though, a truly extraordinary number stands out – a number like 40 million, which I’m incredibly pleased to say is the number of pirates who’ve now set sail in Sea of Thieves!"
Garrr... more people to walk the plank and send to Davey Jones locker.
would have been funny to release this on talk like a pirate day.
40 million have set sail...that's great. How many are sailing now? Monthly active users....when it actually matters. How many people purchased the game is another important number.
40 Mil across Stream, Windows 10, and Xbox. Healthy numbers for sure, but when PC is the biggest platform, I expected more. It’ll be interesting to see how it does on PlayStation. Very well could be double that player count in 6 months with PS too. It’s crazy for developers to skip the most popular platform, not sure why they’d want to, but they must have had their rea$ons.
Funny blog. It's interesting to see those who actually bought into teh cell and how silly the early adopters look now.
For the sake of gaming, I hope no company crashes like SONY crashed their gaming biz with the PS3. Microsoft has already backpedaled on always online, let's see what else they change before release.
Personally, if I keep seeing Steam like sales on Xbox Live, my transition to next gen might take a while. I've got Alan Wake ($5), Dragon Age: Origins ($5), Bulletstorm ($5), Crysis ($5), C&C ($5), Hitman Absolution ($10), and Witcher 2 ($10). This is all within the last 2 months and I've only started one of those games. The many games this gen that weren't worth my $60 look real good at $5.
It could be a while before I have to choose PS4 of X1.
It's like I said before, history repeats itself but with a twist.
There is a difference though. Yeah, Sony were arrogant with the PS3, but in their arrogance by using the Cell to force developers to have to work hard and bring exclusives to the PS3, their interest in doing so was to make the best games come to the PS brand. Games.
Now MS has taken up that arrogant position Sony had with the Xbox One but their arrogance has nothing to do with games or gamers. Their focus has been clear for years. I honestly can't understand how anyone can think they are going to be good for gaming and the gaming industry when they themselves have stated they are all about living room entertainment first.
I suppose lessons have to be learned hard no matter who it is.
But the funniest thing is definitely the media. Fanboys on all sides are bad, but the media is the worst.
i think this blog is hilarious. you do a good job of picking the most biting topics.
i have seen so many arguments and so many people flipping on their opinion over the last few days. it is so funny. people forget so fast.
nice to see someone who has a memory that lasts more than a few weeks...
While I don't agree with all of what you wrote (and obviously you don't agree with it all either) I like the references to past arguments. One of my pet peeves is people that are inconsistent in their arguments. For example, people railing against MS for charging for XBox Live but haven't said a peep about PSN now being fee-based. Or saying you hated the PS3 because the controllers were too small but then not giving them props for making them bigger on the PS4. It's generally people that have picked one side for whatever reason and no amount of logic is ever going to move them. Kind of like hard-line conservatives and liberals. There is really no point in talking to them. You will learn nothing. I prefer to listen to moderates...people who actually consider each side before reaching a conclusion...and can admit when they've been wrong. Unfortunately, that seems to be harder and harder to find these days (both here and IRL.) While I'm leaning towards the XBox One, I am interested in both consoles and may buy both. I'd like insight into them but all I find here is silly squabbling and the same "talking points" repeated ad-nauseaum. Why on earth anyone who says they like games would root for either system to fail is beyond me.
People really have short memories. My favorite is ... "You get what you pay for"