E3: Wii, PS3 forecast clear; Xbox 360 cloudy

Nintendo Co.'s Wii focuses on casual, Sony Corp. defines a home entertainment hub, and Microsoft Corp. tries to expand outside the core audience in the latest E3 battle.

[PoSTedUP]

sorry I had to say that.... i couldnt hold back.... please forgive me.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

You wouldn't be lying.

The 360 is definately cloudy right now. Not sure which direction they are heading in but time will tell. There are still a lot of unanswered questions with the new dashboard and what exactly MS has in the form of AAA exclusives coming. I think it was a huge mistake for them not to show a glimpse of the future of their games, since it is like MS say, all about the games.

[Tmac]

I believe Microsoft is changing their slogan to:

"We want some casuals".

[u got owned]

I think the hardcore gamer already have moved to this generation of consoles, at least the majority. Now is up to the casual to decide who wins this war.

[Greysturm]

It is the casual machine by definition if anybody want a reminder look at e3 at tell me what wasnt casual about that.

[PoSTedUP]

yea you right.

[juuken]

I agree with you Crab for once.

[Playstation Man]

The analysts all seem to agree the X360 is in trouble. But to the gaming media, no other console exists BUT the X360. It's a confusing dilema and one we gamers can get caught in tug-a-wars about. I understand that FFXIII going multi is a big blow, but media make it sound like it's the end of the PS3 even though in Japan it's still PS3 exclusive. Analysts all seem to point out that now it'll just be GTAIV all over again.

I'm not sure what to make of this contrast in opinions anymore as the analyst has also spelled doom for the PS3 and failed to be correct. Plus, the media is becoming a little less biased thanks in large part to Resistance 2, Killzone 2 (kinda) and their american hardcore thirst for AAA FPS games. The situation is just all over the place and I really don't know who or what to believe anymore.

Being a business grad myself, I enjoy analyzing this situation. You don't have to have a degree though to tell that the numbers look more favorable for Sony right now in A LOT of ways as compared to what they were before and that the 360's loss of momentum and lack of a solid game line-up for the next year may be a major turning point in this console war. But that said, how can I believe any of these numbers coming out when such discrepencies exist between NPD, VGChartz and other major "trackers"

I'll end my little column here, just saying that this media circus and the PS3 vs X360 coverage they provide is really inconsistent and hard to pull together and come up with a truly correct answer to the whole situation. It wasn't like that last-gen at all.

[dachiefsman]

Nice post.

I think MS has more tricks than those that were offered at E3. It would be illogical to think that MS has no first party games for release next year. The PS3 will start to roll once they are able to push out more of there hotter games on a consistent basis. Sony needs to stop talking and start delivering.

The media creates controversy cause that is what they do. More controversy the more hits to their site, which so evident by the garbage articles submitted to this site. As far as the analysts, they look at numbers and most of them don't know their a$$ from a whole in the ground <IE: Michael Pachter>.

Just my take on it.

[PoSTedUP]

if your a fan of a console your gunna think that console had a better E3. plain and simple. E3 doesn't even matter cause its almost DEAD. yup E3 is pretty much dead. the way i see this E3 is that sony was more about business and they didnt really care too much about wining E3 cause they know it doesn't matter who wins it cause SALES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES ya know. MS had a good E3 but the way i see it is they put off their spring update just so they can have somethings for E3 like avatars, new dash board, netflix etc. which in my mind is pathetic. besides for FF13 the only thing i thought was cool was the 1 vs 100 thing. to say who won E3 is just an opinion ya know.

[beoulve]

I doubt it. With the way they spent money on buying exclusives, RROD still come back as profitable year, I doubt that they really put more money in expanding first party games. If they do, they will be on red. Keep in mind, unlike Nintendo and Sony, Microsoft first party are relatively small.

[Genesis5]

What baffles me the most about MS is how can a company of that size and wealth not come up with an original idea of their own. Why all the stealing and the paying off? I mean really they must have an R&D division why not use it.

[PooPooPlatter]

"But that said, how can I believe any of these numbers coming out when such discrepencies exist between NPD, VGChartz and other major "trackers""

You can't be serious.

NPD is a very large retail tracking firm that is used by the entire console industry. They have been doing console retail sales for a long time and would not still be getting paid for their services by virtually every developer and publisher with games in the US. The same goes for Media Create, Chart Track, etc. in other regions.

vgchartz is a site run by a teenage Xbox fan.

[Playstation Man]

NPD figures aren't very consistent with Sony announced figures at events like E3 and TGS. It's hard to get concrete agreed upon figures.

[PooPooPlatter]

"But to the gaming media, no other console exists BUT the X360"

Gaming media changed back around the death of the Dreamcast, launch of the Xbox timeframe.

There were a tremendous number of insanely bitter Dreamcast fans and Xbox fans who saw gaming media not as something to disseminate information to gamers but as a weapon to extract revenge upon Sony for killing their favorite consoles.

By the end of start of the current gen a huge portion of the gaming media had been overrun by bitter ex-Dreamcast/Xbox fans. Sites like EGM, 1Up, Eurogamer, Kotaku to name a few were almost entirely filled with people who thought the 360 was going to be the long awaited revenge against Sony and they went batshit insane with the trashing of the PS3.

Every PS3 exclusive was reviewed with absurd criteria applied to no other platform's games or just outright trashed. 6/10 LOL!

Every bit of Sony news was to spun in the most absurdly negative way possible.

Side by side comparisions for cross platform games were rigged on sites like gametrailers by the Xbox fans working there.

Companies like Epic were given a free pass at passing off absurdly fake Unreal Engine marketing shots as 'in game' to try to give the impression the 360 was massively more powerful than it really is

The RRoD and other 360 hardware problems were ignored as much as possible.

Vgchartz was constantly putting out inflated 360 sales numbers and deflated PS3 sales numbers.

Those days are coming to a close though. Vgchartz is a joke to everyone now, gametrailers has been shown to be frauds, many of the most hardcore Xbox fans at sites like GameSpot and 1Up have been fired.

There are some 125-130 million PS2 owners out there and they are not going to put up with the garbage that went on the last couple of years. Trashing everything related to Sony and the PS3 just doesn't sell anymore to anyone but a very niche audience relative to the overall console fanbase.

[avacadosnorkel]

I was thinking the same thing...

"The analysts all seem to agree the X360 is in trouble. But to the gaming media, no other console exists BUT the X360."

You should be a fortune teller if you know how to explain it.

[macalatus]

@poopooplatter,

You have the best post I've read in a while! Bubbles for you!

[Playstation Man]

I agree, those devoted to the Dreamcast that jumped to the XBOX brand inspite of Sony have been taking a hit as of late and their numbers are declining. Still, it's hard to overlook the constant defense that some sites like IGN with their NGII review and Too Human preview are providing to protect X360 game flaws. Especially exclusives.

I'm finding some media to be a little less biased with equal coverage of the big three, but too many times I'm seeing these random and completely unjust articles ripping PS3 performance and games popping up still. Hence my stance that the media is still a little one-sided.

[1stKnighT]

Looks like poopoo is still whining and throwing excuse after excuse.

[macalatus]

Looks like 1stKnight doesn't have anything intelligent to say to counter poopooplatter's post. Translation: 1stKnight got owned...big time!

[harrisk954]

The media keeps forgetting that FF Versus XIII is still exclusive to the PS3.

[thewhoopimen]

I would say i have to disagree with your point about MS having more under its table. My reasoning is simple. E3 is an American convention where MS NEEDS to shine. This is where the American Media, American Software Developers, etc are spending their hours making a decision on who's going to be big this year and who they should be spending their money on. For MS to keep anything under the tables at this event would be silly because nobody could care about MS's announcements in a convention like TGS (Tokyo Game Show... where there isn't much of an Xbox market). On the otherhand, Sony's biggest convention is TGS (and maybe Leizpeg but that applies to both MS and Sony) where they need to wow the Japanese Home Market. So my take on this whole show was that Sony was keeping many things under wraps, waiting to unveil at TGS.

@i Don't mind disagrees... but I'd enjoy a discussion :)

[flexbox360]

just show me some frikkin new games

[name]

I think Microsoft is trying to break into the casual market, but don't understand that the 360 will NEVER be a casual console. All they're doing is making their userbase face palm. Casual people want the wii. All they will ever want is the wii. There is nothing that can be done about it.

[SeNiLe911]

either M$ or SONY could become the next casual gamers console of choice with the right games and experience and M$ just might have that this fall. Rip off or not, the casual games and avatars coming this fall look very appealing if you can step back from being all hard core and all and look at it from a casual gamer aspect.

Kids and families will have fun with making avatars, then taking them into games like the Wii does. Lips will defiantly score big with all the karaoke fans allowing them to bring in all there DRM free music instead of having to download whatever gets licensed and charge an arm and a leg for it.

Once people start playing these few new casual game that look to be fun for a casual gamer, the Wii effect could possible take effect. Not saying it will be as great as the Wii numbers but you never know. Once the price comes down a little and the word starts spreading that the Xbox 360 has a cool looking dashboard and avatars and casual games we like playing every day or weekend or whatever, it could be a instant classic.

We’ll just have to see.

Oh, I forgot, then they will be able to hope over and watch a movie with there Netflix account from there Xbox 360, Nice.

[toughNAME]

Unfortunately, games don't cut it in the gaming industry

[Tmac]

Yeah, blatantly stealing your competitors ideas and then saying you did it first is the new wave of the gaming market.

[Grown Folks Talk]

all we heard was "Shooters, shooters, shooters. All they have is shooters." People complaining that they didn't expand their appeal beyond the hardcore crowd or have a diverse enough lineup. Now when they try to show an effort to broaden their scope, people complain & have doubts about that too. They aren't abandoning the Halo/Gears/COD crowd, they are just opening up to a wider audience. They have, & will continue to have, something for everybody this time around.

[SeNiLe911]

I agree! I have friends and family that just don't get into gaming as much as I do if at all but with Lips coming for the 360, my brother and his family might have to get a 360 just for that since they are huge karaoke fans along with all there friends around them. Just the shear fact that you can sing to your own DRM free music is HUGE with all the functionality of the game in tack!

Sure, I might not be into it but I don't feel like I was left out with whats coming out this fall, there is way more then my pocketbook is going to want to see.

[fufotrufo]

My 360 future looks bright ..veryy bright :)

[Tmac]

Yeah... Almost like a semi-circle of red flashing lights kinda bright.

[silverchode]

i was gana say the same thing lol.

[Panthers]

They really dont have a 09 line-up do they? I mean I guess they have a new Halo, but I dont feel that excited about that.

[u got owned]

Well that's your opinion. But I'm very excited about that new Halo game.

BTW anyone thinking that MS doesnt have a 09 line up needs a reality check.

[Tmac]

I checked up with reality and they really don't have an 09 line up.

[u got owned]

I wouldn't expect anything else from your reality. ;p

[DJ]

And the fact that they showed nothing for '09 is scary. Back at E3 2007, people were saying "Oh, they're just holding back all their 2008 titles for TGS." But those dreams never materialized, and here we are in 2008 with only 2 big exclusive games for the 360. Gears of War 2, and Fable 2.

I know a bunch of Halo titles are on the horizon for 2009, but i know 360 owners want more than just Halo over and over. Right now, some people are still being really hopeful and saying "Well of course they didn't show any plans for 2009. They're holding those back for later."

[macalatus]

@DJ,

WATCH OUT, DUDE! 360 fans will come out and say that the PS3 lineup is "all quantity and far less quality"!

[DJ]

That's cool.

[macalatus]

Ah...crap...wrong reply!

[SeNiLe911]

and everyone said 2008 was the year of the PS3. Funny how things happen. M$ knows what there doing for the most part. Maybe that's why there in the black this month.

[fufotrufo]

Yeah... Almost like a 1 good game 400 dollars console kinda bright. jajaja

[Aclay]

Microsoft is trying to attract casual gamers, but here is where they fall short:

Microsoft focuses on it's hardcore titles the most and pushes it's hardcore titles like nothing else, but on the other hand, you've got Sony and they are pushing LittleBigPlanet just as much as Resistance 2.

Sony has said time and time again that they think that LittleBigPlanet is one of their biggest titles for the rest of this year, but I have yet to hear Microsoft say such things about one of their "non-hardcore" games.

But, I can see why the Analysts favor the PS3 so much, and it's because of the huge PS2 userbase that Sony still has and they are more potential candidates for a PS3 purchase. The Xbox 360 will always remain more expensive than the PS3, but I think that those PS2 users will be willing to pay more money for a PS3 to experience some of their favorite PS2 franchise games on the PS3 such as: Tekken 6, SOCOM Confrontation, God of War 3, GT5, and many others.

[sajj316]

From the article ...

"The defect of Final Fantasy XIII to the 360 was the mother of all coups to the core audience, though an uncertainty of a Japan release for the title potentially hammers yet another nail into the coffin of the 360 in Japan."

Although the news of it coming for the 360 is big. This is as big. Why? An RPG for the 360 not released in the biggest RPG arena? This tells me that Sony knew about this and made this this will never happen (just a thought). This game will sell systems in Japan. Both 360 and PS3 (if it were released for the 360 in Japan).

Coming off a great June NPD, Sony is on an uptick. Look at their YOY (year over year). It'll only go up.

[beavis4play]

sorry, wrong reply

[SixTwoTwo]

What direction Sony is going in. GAMES. The fall lineup is enormous and rolling into the new year it continues with Killzone 2 in Feb and inFamous and MAG in the Spring. And thats not counting multiplats like Resident Evil 5. Sony is bringing heavy hitter after heavy hitter after heavy hitter after heavy hitter. While Microsoft will have to resort to relying on multiplatform title to stay alive the first half of next year.

[avacadosnorkel]

and I hope the delays on Sony made games don't get out of hand while all the 3rd parties release games for the 360 every other week regardless of how good those games are.

Right now all I can count on for release is Resistance 2, LBP, and Motorstorm 2 for the rest of the year.

Disgaea 3, Naruto, and Valkyria are all the 3rd party exclusives I know of.

EDIT for the guy under me...
"but what happens when MS keeps doing what they are doing, and say Final Fantasy XIV goes exclusive to the next xbox. And capcom keeps up the tricks so they start releasing more Dead Rising xbox only games (well with the Wii too, and the mobile phones, and the PC...but no PS3)

another EDIT...
I don't own a 360 anymore so I can't give you exact title names but I have checked Gamestop's release list and there are always more games coming out for the 360. Maybe they might be ports of PS2 games or whatever, that's not my point. But if you want to argue with me you go check the gamestop list and tell me which system has the most games coming out...not including the Wii.

And I made no mention to MS first party.

[beavis4play]

somewhere along the line ms execs made a decesion to not try and grow their in-house game development. this i don't get. if they make their own games; naturally their getting exclusives at the same time and don't have to throw money hats to 3rd party devs for exclusives. this was the decesion that ms will regret.

edit:AT 11.1....what are all of these 1st and 3rd party 360 exclusives "every other week" for the rest of the year you're talking about? 1st party 360 games for the rest of the year are fable 2 and....what? and you really believe those 3 ps3 exclusives are all that's coming for the system the rest of the year? go to gamestop and get a release schedule for ps3 to see why i'm so surprised at what you're implying.

[DJ]

Delays can be beneficial, but I think there's a certain point where you just have to release the damn thing. Case in point: HOME.

[MaximusPrime]

cloudy = negative.

[getheledout]

I have a hard time listening to all these postings about how the 360 isn't mainstream or has a cloudy future. I have a 360, have had one since day 1, because I didn't want to spend $800.00 for something I didn't consider worth it. So now the prices have been so-called cut. Lets get to the games...
For me, My argument is this... first off I've played both XBL and PSN. I'll take XBL over PSN any day. We attempted to play Killzone when it first came out at my brother-in-laws but we had to have some sort of file for it or something, this never happened when I put HALO in. Plus, are people still playing killzone, because people are still playing both HALO 2 and 3.
Resistance lost steam when Gears came out, and I hate to say it, but I think it's going to happen again. Can you say - HORDE. Can't wait. MGS4 is awesome, I'll have no complaints there, a great game is a great game, and Little Big Planet looks fun, but so did the wii I had it but got board quick, ended up selling it. It might be just me but I also see alot of games converting to multiplatform, but not because 360 is better but because Sony had them all to itself, but developers are realizing they can make more money on 2 systems with lots of support. It hurts when you have something for so long then you are made to share it. No one likes change.
There's still 5 to 6 months left this year and I know I'm not the only one buying Too Human. Played the demo - AWESOME!
Call of Duty 5 looks great. Been playing COD4 since day 1.
Definitely buying Gears of War 2, Must have...
Fable 2 will be fun to explore.. Loved the first one
Halo Wars, not up my alley, but because the Chief has never done me wrong, I'll be checking it out forshore.
LOTR:Conflict will be different, but has my attention.
Be buying Madden, still mad about 2k. I love football, first time buying A Madden product.
MK vs. DC looks fantastic, definitely buying
and don't forget Star Wars: Unleashed. I can't wait...

I know alot of these are cross platform but they're still under the Xbox 360 flag, and like I said," I'm not the only one."

[avacadosnorkel]

Resistance was better than Gears
Killzone 2 will sh1t on PC shooters (360 isn't in the running)
Socom will be better than COD5

[DJ]

Microsoft had this whole console war in the palm of their hands. They launched early, had an enormous amount of exclusive software that made PS3 titles look like crap, and the 360 version of Xbox Live was amazing. AMAZING.

But just two and a half years later, they're millions of units behind Nintendo, and only 4 million ahead of Sony. PSN is matching every single feature of Xbox Live, while Microsoft pretends that their online service is still second-to-none. And on top of that, their amazing lineup of exclusive titles has morphed into a perpetual ghost town.

They keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars on exclusive DLC content and grabbing new multiplatform titles, but have effectively shut down or lost most of their core studios. The worst part is that they're afraid of the brand they represent. Avatars? Lips? In The Movies? 360 owners are (for the most part) pissed that not a single new Xbox exclusive was announced at E3. And no, not that casual crap that belongs on the Wii. I'm talking something within the ranks of Mass Effect, Halo, or Bioshock. Something that appeals to the 19 million people who bought a 360, and will expand that audience throughout the console's lifetime. Y'know, a real game?

The 360 is falling behind because of a lack of compelling exclusives. Not the size of the hard drive. Not the disc format. Not the price point. And definitely not because it doesn't "appeal to the Wii audience." They've handed off 2008 to Sony and Nintendo like a bunch of wussies, and if they don't pull themselves together for 2009 the console really has no future.

[TheExodus]

Microsoft simply wasn't aggressive enough last year when they had the opportunity to knock Sony out of the console race. They should have cut $100 off the Pro SKU instead of $50 & launched the Elite SKU with a built in HD DVD drive for $399. Yes, they would have continued to lose money, but they needed to strike hard & they certainly could have afforded to wage a proper war.

Instead Microsoft decided to play cat & mouse with Sony by keeping the 360's price tag hovering near the PS3 long enough for RRoD to reach epidemic proportions, the Wii to pass the 360 in worldwide sales & consumers to begin viewing PS3 as an outright bargain compared to the 360 with it's 33 percent failure rate.

[1stKnighT]

Yet the gaming division for Microsoft has seen huge profits. The 360 has been a huge success and has made a huge dent in the debt of the original xbox. While Sony's ps3 hasn't seen profit yet and from the looks of it, it will never make a profit this gen.

As a 360 owner, I don't really care about watching useless teasers for games that will come out in 2009. I want to see gameplay videos for games that come out this year. Gears 2 and Fable 2 rocked my world. I am so excited for these games.

[TheColbertinator]

@1st Knight I agree with you that Gears 2 and Fable 2 looked great but the PS3 is already with its own title.Franky,DJ was right that as a hardcore gamer,I want to see 360 games of 2009.Where was Alan Wake?Mass Effect 2?The new Halo game?Forza 3?Project Gotham 5?

[strotee]

My mini prediction:

Starting late 2008/early 2009, with warranties running out, people will have a decision on their hands, buy another 360 or PS3 (with hopefully a smaller price).

There will be a lot of pissed off people with a paperweight of a console. A part of me also thinks MS will think of possibly extending the warranty (for RROD, again) or offer some kind of discount. They don't want current 360 owners to contemplate the PS3 in any fashion.

If 15% of owners have a broken console by then, and assuming there are roughly 25 million 360's, then about 3.5 million people will have a decision, buy another 360 (and deal with that headache) or get a PS3 (at comparable price). It will be interesting to say the least.

[Speedy180]

The only real games that the 360 has that i can brag about exclusively r Gow2 and Fable 2. Onces there out they don't rly have much to show off aside from there multi platform games, but can u rly brag about that? XD

[juuken]

YOU HEAR THAT YOU STUPID XBOT FANATICS?

My God, open your freakin' eyes. The sales of the 360 are slowing down and MS are running out of tricks. Unless MS does something about their system, they won't get anywhere in this new age of technology.

[slayer8]

Why such negativity against the 360's future? I see nothing but great games now and in the future and I don't see major game producers suddenly stop making games for the 360 when this system sells more games than the PS3. I guess these people have nothing better to say and want to stir up some controversy.

If anything Sony should be worried, their PS3 might turn more into a multi-medi hub rather than a games machine, unless that was their intention all along.

[getheledout]

To Avacodosnorke
Ignore12.1 - Look I'm trying to be nice....
Resistance was better than Gears
Killzone 2 will sh1t on PC shooters (360 isn't in the running)
Socom will be better than COD5

1. When Gears came out not only did it get better ranks in all major mag. but it sold more copies on less machines. That's saying something. Are you still playing resistance? I doubt it!
2. Killzone 2 looks great, but they managed to screw up the first one so we'll see. Lair and Haze were supposed to be Halo killers and look were their at. Bottom of the trash can.
3. Socom is a joke... Hell COD4 looks better than Socom and I actually got a killer story with it.. Go ahead and pay 60.oo for an online only title. LOL
What is it with Sony lately, first they make you pay for a half finished gt5 prologue and now a half title like Socom. What's up... Maybe they didn't want to push back more titles then they already are. What a great system to develop for?

[rockleex]

Most of these analysts were spelling out doom for the PS3 just a year ago. There was absolutely no way the PS3 could even come in second place, its price is too high, BluRay will fail, PSN can't compete with Xbox Live, no games, etc etc.

Now just one year later its suddenly the year of the PS3. Most of these analysts have said the PS3 was doomed back in 2006, but now they're quickly changing their minds. Now suddenly the 360 is doomed.

You know what I see? They're all shortsighted. They're like the people who are rooting for the football team that currently has the upper hand, and will change their mind the moment the other team makes a good move.

The only thing that exists in their mind is short-term cause and effects. None of them have the visionary ability as Phil Harrison or Ken Kuturagi. Hell, even Sony doesn't understand Phil or Ken. And now, everything is happening exactly as Ken and Phil had planned.

I could go into details about everything Ken and Phil has said and point out how they were right all along... but it would take up too much space. Just take my word, but if you don't believe me, go back to those keynote speeches and compare them to the reality now... its all going according to plan.