2008 Overview - Nintendo steady, Microsoft fades, Sony picks up the pace

Mark Androvich writes, "Making predictions is a risky business - especially on the Internet, where every thoughtless statement can end up preserved for eternity (or at least long enough for someone to taunt you with it for the rest of your life)."

"Realising that I'm in a no-win situation then, I am nevertheless offering the following insights on the upcoming year. While reading, keep in mind that if I truly knew the future, I would be a lot wealthier than I am right now."

[lynx1halo]

hmmmm ... i actually completely agree

[marinelife9]

That sounds pretty cool an RROD tattoo. That could be then new Grim Reaper or Skull and Crossbones.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

if PS3 doesn't make up ground in 2008
Then they lost, it's as simple as that.

[unlimited]

So many of the biggest games are cross platform that the burden will fall upon first-party software to capture the public's attention.

Sony got lots of first-party games and a few third party games that is exclusive this year!! Its going to a big year for SONY..

[TANOD]

FF13 and
MGS4 are global PHENOM

you saw HALO3 impact

You will witness MGS4 impact which will expand to EU and JAPAN as well as NA

Ofcourse not to mention the GOD OF ALL GAMES OF THIS GEN -----FF13 will be unleashed in 2008 exclusively on the PS3

[CeruleanSky]

Make up ground? LOL!

There are still some 120-125 million PS2 owners out there who need to upgrade to 1080p TVs and finish their enormous backlog of PS2 games.

The PS2 is still selling at an insane rate and it hasn't even dropped to 99 dollars yet and will most likely end up in the 150 million range when it goes out of production in a few years. Five to seven years from now when all of those PS2 and former PS1 owners have migrated to the PS3 and HDTVs no one will give a damn that back in 2007 the 360 was still outselling the PS3 in one of the three major console regions.

But, hey, I'm sure Sony appreciates your concern...LOL!

[Xbox is the BEST]

I bought 3 PS#2 last gen, 2 were defective. So I basically helped Sony reached that goal along with millions of other people.

[CeruleanSky]

"I bought 3 PS#2 last gen, 2 were defective"

Making up lies about other consoles isn't going to make the 360 hardware any less defective.

You're an embarrassment to gamers on all platforms.

[FungLip]

I bought one 7 years ago and another 5 years and they're still up and running. I don't know; did you play swap-discs with them?

[Nasim Shmee TANOD]

GeOW2
GTA4

the list goes on

you saw HALO3 impact....POWERFUL

You will witness GeOW2 impact which will expand to EU and JAPAN as well as NA

Ofcourse not to mention the GOD OF ALL GAMES OF THIS GEN -----Halo 4 will be unleashed in 2008 exclusively on the 360

[Xbox is the BEST]

guys don't have to believe me
Play Beyond

[FungLip]

They're releasing this year? Thanks for the great heads up news, mate.

[NegativeCreepWA]

I like how Sony fans cant accept the fact ps2 had laser problems for the first two years. The ps2 is the reason I buy a warranty with every console I buy. I got my third a week before the xbox released. I also had three xboxs, the last one died a month before the 360 came out. Next month when I can use my store warranty i'll be getting my third 360. None of my 360's died from the prod. Thats nine console's that all died from disc read error. What it comes down to, is ever since consoles switched to disc drives quality has went down hill.

[The Brave 1]

Did this guy just say that Gears of War 2 will expand in japan?Dude your smokin something thats making u crazy!

[Greek99]

You were helping sony by buying 3 ps2 and NOW your helping microsoft by buying defective 360 along with millions of other. Nice one.

[dragunrising]

Your logic is pretty flawed. Sony has sold 100 million plus PS2 hardware systems...yes. However, if you look at the software sales data, 100 million plus consoles isn't making quite an impact. Many individuals are not that lucky to have one that hasn't been replaced (I own a two year old slim). Also, many people whom own a PS3 (like me) still buy PS2 games to play on they're new system. Take home point: 100 million plus people purchased a PS2 BUT many if not most are neither played (because of upgrade) or do not work.

You can be a Sony fanboy without being stupid.

[Meus Renaissance]

"The fact that PS2 software regularly charts above 360 and Wii titles in a lot of countries seems to indicate that a lot of people haven't made the switch to the new hardware generation - at least, not in great numbers. If and when these PS2 gamers "trade up," I think it is likely they will stay loyal to the Sony brand. That is, if they haven't become interested in a Wii or an Xbox 360 by now, they probably never will."

This is what I've been saying. The 360 is a great games console, has great games, great price, it's definitely right now at the top of the popularity brand (if you dismiss that Wii thingy), yet its current sales don't seem to indicate that those PS2 users are buying into it. Are they waiting for another price drop for the PS3?

[Darkiewonder]

^^

Price drop if it happens won't happen until 3rd quarter of the year.

[Salvadore]

I believe the majority of PS2 owners haven't picked up a PS3 because they are waiting for titles like MGS4, FF12 and GTA 4.

[Funky Town_TX]

was going to die in nov 06. Well, that is what millions of Sony guys said. The fact that the Wii (is was said to be nintendo's last console) is killing everyone says that most of us (gamers) don't know sh8t.

[GIJeff]

lots of 360s did die in 06....
sorry, i just couldnt resist! happy new year!

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

No one with logic said the 360 was gonna die on November 06.

If You remember correctly, the PS3 starting getting a lot of negative energy once the launch became clear.

Once the announced $600 price tag, everyone was saying they shot themselves in the foot, it's was too expensive, no games at launch. online service was crap. The onslaught started.

And people were right, PS3 was crap and Sony has had to work real hard and cut the prices to make up for their mistake.

The only surprise was the Wii, nobody could see it was gonna be this kind of success.

Now just by looking at the games and the price that Sony is gonna probably cut down to. Most people predict that the PS3 will be better off this year.

[FungLip]

You made me laugh! great job.

[SilverKiller]

in fact a lot of people said that the ps3 was launched to be doomed for the price tag, and now is selling pretty good world wide

[MUNKYPOO]

alright high five!!!

[Bladestar]

lol.. sure.. only Sony can do well... the xbox 360 does not have a chance.... I mean look.. how many people predicted that the xbox 360 would fail misserably in 2007 and that Sony would catchup... and they were all right... mmm... the xbox 360 only sold 500 consoles in 2007 and microsoft was forced to quit the console race... the xbox 360 didn't have any good games nor games that sold more than 1,000 copies... [Sony fanboys wakes up].... ohh no it was just a dream! eww... what's this! why are my pants full of sperm! ohh noooo! did I have another xbox 360 death wet dream!?

[Clinton514]

Always crying about "fanboys".

[xplosneer]

It's so bad I'm forced to put you on ignore Bladestar.

[Jandre02]

Pending games like GTA MGS4 Socom and FF

Those are still the reasons the PS3 will catch up and pass the 360, along with a price cut. If you had said that Halo 3 would release, and the best title on the PS3 would be Uncharted (which I never heard of until E3) then I would have said it wouldn't catch it.

Right now, Halo fans are buying Xbox360's and PS2 owners are either buying a Wii, or waiting for price drops/ big AAA titles.

The PS3 is already outselling the 360 by 100,000 a week coming off of Christmas. As soon as the PS3 hits 299 its game over for the 360, in terms of winning the whole console war.

[Funky Town_TX]

no one wanted the first xbox to even come out. I remeber before it launched there was like tones of Sony gamers saying "i wish M$ would never launch the console. There would be too many to choose from".

[power of Green]

The 360 is always suppose to die or fade off into oblivion.

#2, Still has Gow2?(thank god gamers usually buy the 360 because of the promise of new Ip's etc. rather than just a few titles/sequels). lol

EDIT: Below...

Stand up for *show and tell* you should have shown your pet Hamster.

Everbodies opinions are based from Sony having to market their last place PS3 with games that will be released months to a year from now(the same ones too!, the same ass titles from before PS3 even launched). Assuming how a year will play out because one company has to boast games when other companies do not! due to selling just fine is foolish on the part of Sony fanboys.

[gamehendge]

"The 360 is always suppose to die."

...well, 33% die.

[Funky Town_TX]

the 360 was suppose to die before it came out. All support for it was said to stop once the mighty PS3 launched.

[Clinton514]

When is the media going to be honest about Nintendo's third party issue. We can throw all the praise their way for selling the most consoles in an amazingly short amount of time but where's the games?

Two faced.

[jack who]

Nintendo steady? still outsell ps3 everwhere

Microsoft fades?still has the best games anywhere...selllin morre games than ps3 + wii

Sony picks up the pace? plays booray porn in 1080p

[Clinton514]

That is a European site.

I'm sure many crying kids will overlook that to jump into a heated argument over things they can't comprehend.

[jack who]

i can see it now *looks around*

[chelseafc]

WHY DOES THIS SITE POST SOO MUCH CRAP JEEZ N4G GIVE IT A REST LET EVERYONE HAVE PEACE STRANGE HOW SO MUCH SONY STUFF GETS ALL ATENTION WHEN ITS SH1T

[FungLip]

Everyone has been jumping all over Sony and take a piss while they're at it. WTF?

Same goes for Microsoft's softwares a few years back till now tho less than Sony picking. WTF??

[power of Green]

Those people you speak of are just casual trend consumers Nintendo can't make the Wii fast enough thats why PS2 owners have not upgraded.

You think those people are loyal to the PS brand lol. Nintendo is slowly taking back the casual majority Sony won over from Nintendo in the first place. This time MSFT will split the original consumer bulk Sony won over from Nintendo with Nin.

LOL Fades.. The 360 will be in the mass market price range with a secret line-up of games etc being announce from here on out, not to mention IPTV will be selling consoles by default as well with some software to go along with them.

[Clinton514]

To some extent they are "loyal" to Sony products. Don't ask me why, but Sony has connected with the market there even though they usually catch the tail end of the games. Europe still loves Sony.

Nintendo has an established foothold in Europe as well, it's MS who has to most work to do over there. Will they split it? Who knows but current sales trends aren't showing them picking up the pace fast enough to do so.

[jack who]

and you talk bout ppl crying what are you doin?

[MaximusPrime]

this is the beginning for Sony. 2008 will be interesting.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

cuz he's an xbot that does nothing but post negative PS3/positive 360 news...

..wait a minute...

[MaximusPrime]

he posts more xbox news and less ps3 news (positive news)

he just want points.

[crck]

It seemed pretty fair to me, pointing out problems with each console. Interesting read I guess for those that bothered.

[Nameless]

This guy is a fan boy for sure. Funny how he fails to mention the Wii & PS2 outselling the PS3 when he only mentions the PS2 outselling the 360 & in some cases the Wii. Whatever hes just another Sony Droid its like DJ or StupidGanja wrote this or the stupid azz Droid here hahahahaha Fake Gates & that annoying Sniper user.

[sak500]

Yeah right all those millions of ps2 owners, who paid around 120$ for a modded ps2 to play 5$ games will suddenly cough up 400$ and pay 60$ for 6 hour games on BD. Stupid retarded predictions.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

In my opinion the PS3 has some bigger games this year. That's what they needed so badly in 2007.

My prediction is that Sony knows how bad they need to make up ground in 2008.

I would be pissed if I don't see aggressive price slashing for PS3 all this year. PS3 should cost the same as XBOX 360. PERIOD!! If 360 cuts it's price, too bad. MATCH IT OR LOOSE IT.

If they don't make up ground in 2008, with games like MGS4, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo 5, maybe a Final Fantasy. Then they lost.

PERIOD!!! Disagree with me, I don't care.

PS3 fans because they still refuse to think the PS3 is in trouble, 360 fans because they know I'm right and are afraid that Sony might actually do that.

It doesn't matter, that's just the way it is.

[SilverKiller]

for is an uphill, they need to do better marketing and have good promos, one way to win, is going to be a special bundle with "MGS4 + price cut" and maybe MS is going to offer XBL for free :D

[power of Green]

Xmas is done We'll see if the trend remains the same or goes back to the way it was, yes we'll see spikes in console sales from tittle releases.

[Raptors]

I think the key to 2008 will be games and price drops. I think all 3 systems will have a price drop at some point. Whats interesting is gonna be how big of a price drop its gonna be...

[kalle]

PS3 in it's first year have seen 2 pricedrops and still dont sell any good.

PS3 is a fact of dissaster.

[heyheyhey]

that was the first professional article i have seen on n4g in ages and i agree with it- there is no denying that sony is picking up but if xbots wanna keep their head buried in the sand and deny it then you can if you want- i will remember to pull you out when vg chartz show the ps3 outselling 360 in every region and the amount of AAA exclusives skyrocketing- you cant rely on gears of war 2 to save you by itself, undoubtedly it will be an amazing game but it doesn't interest japan and the hype will die down eventually

[kalle]

.

[wiizy]

damn microsoft. why are you letting that garbage ps3 come close to you. i know they are basically giving ps3 away for free taking loses to show that they are selling... oh well wii will still crush the competitions as long as we have enough wiis in stock

[Sez]

well if you consider that sony is giving a free ps3 with the purchase of a sony HDTV.sony could also use this to claim that people are buying the ps3 when in fact they are giving them away.

[power of Green]

How Sony fans think that PS3 can catch up and pass the 360 in 2008.

The 360 has to sell *0* consoles this year or PS3 has to sell more than double all year at least.

[TwissT]

That may be true but I think that 2008 will be the year when the PS3 will narrow the sales gap between it and the 360, to a very competitive margin. Where we will be seeing tons of price cuts.

[captainpwn]

Captain PWN is confident that with titles like Gran Turismo 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, and Little Big Planet, the PLAYSTATION 3 Computer Entertainment System will outsell the Microsoft corp. XBOX 360 Video Game and Entertainment system.

[FungLip]

I personally think Littlebigplanet will be the next big thing in the gaming world.

[kalle]

You know GTA4 is comming to 360 too right? and we all know for a fact that MGS4 will end up on 360 too.

You only have FF13 left, and i bet you that will also come out on 360 in a superior version then the PS3 just like MGS4.

Tanod MGS will never beat Halo in sales, you know it and the rest of the world know it. It's more realistic to say that you sometime in your life will get a girlfriend.

[mistertwoturbo]

Why is that when you people think Halo is superior to other Series you go and say it's going to your system? All it shows is that you're not happy with Halo, and you want real big titles like MGS4 and Final Fantasy. Oh and note that it's not just FFXIII, there's also FFvsXIII. Two titles, that even at the end of the trailers say "Playstation 3 Only"

If that doesn't give you a hint. Nothing will.

[TwissT]

Oh yeah and Bioshock will go to the N-gage. /end sarcasm

[sanjay09]

how do you know MGS4 is comning to 360?? The game creator himself said that its a ps3 exclusive stop dreaming. It want sell much as Halo 3 did in its relase date but it may sell more over its life time .

[IntelligentAj]

I think it's highly unrealistic to think the PS3 can match the 360 in install base by the end f 08. I think it will sell more consoles and reduce the 360's lead but pass it? You know how many PS3 would have to be sold to catch up the 360(don't forget that it'll still move units)? Let's be serious and think about our statements people.

Edit: If you're going to disagree with me at least state why.

[mistertwoturbo]

Yeah I expect the worldwide install base of the 360 by the end of 2008 to be somewhere near 25 million. While the install base of the PS3 to be somewhere around 20 million. I agree, while the PS3 will have big franchises coming, there's no way it's going to pass the 360's install base.

[AceLuby]

Yeah right... But what is going to happen is that PS3 sales are going to increase from last year (I would say around 10 Mil sold next year) while 360 sales stay stagnant for the most part. They won't catch up, but the gap will be closer. That's good because then we 'might' see some innovation instead of generic shooters rehashed over and over again.

[vloeistof]

why are xbots so pissed now .. o yes its 2008 and you know what year its is. the year almost all titels that made playstation huge are comming out this year

[Kazzik]

Hey i love my Ps3 as much as my 360 and i think Sony does have the better line up this year but you really cant say that MGS4 has the kind of impact halo 3 does it just does not and that goes for FF13 as well!