Personal Oppinion on Why I believe the Console War Will be Close

Personally after lots of pondering I believe the race will be very close between all three. I see strong points already of the three.

I'll simply give a few reasons why each will sell well and i'll probably even give an estimate. Remember this is personal oppinion and i'm not *** so I can't predict the Future..

I'll start with Sony the two time Defending Champion. Sony has outsold it's opponents with both of their consoles. The Playstation was brought a huge crowd in. Using Discs instead of cartridges Sony had plenty of support. More support than Nintendo or Sega could bring to the table.

The Playstation 2 also has a ton of Support. More than the Xbox or the Gamecube. However I personally believed there was a Decline of fun Gaming. I loved the Playstation and I enjoyed playing most of the games, but the Playstation 2 lacks a great library. It has it's fun games but most of my favorite Playstation 2 Games are well on Xbox or Gamecube as well. However the Playstation 2 is undisputedly the Champion of the Console War for this round. Easily outselling Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony Gained many fans over the time.

However with the Future holding that the PS3 will most likely be the most expensive, many will look in the other direction for a 360 or a Revolution. The Playstation 3 packs powerful hardware. Hardware that will outdo either the 360 and the revolution. Which is mainly why the PS3 will be so expensive. I see a problem however. A lot of the support over the years from Capcom and SquareEnix has suddenly shifted. As most of you are aware Microsoft is finally getting both the Final Fantasy Series and the Resident Evil Series to the 360 which could hurt the PS3. Why buy a PS3 for lets say $200 more than a 360 when they carry the same games?

Lets Look at Microsoft now shall we? Microsoft came into this war later than both Nintendo and Sony and had an uphill battle. Many were skeptical of what the Xbox could do and what games they would bring to the table. Now it is a respectable system gaining 2nd place in the Console war. Bill Gates made a decision. He knew he'd lose money on the Xbox to keep up with Sony in the Price War. But he didn't hesitate. He wanted loyal fans to be on his side.

The Xbox for the most part when released didn't have much. A few decent Games like Fusion Frenzy and Munch's Oddysee and One great game.. "Halo." However the Xbox wasn't so hot at first. XBox Live launched eventually down the road and more Games started to come out. Finally Microsoft gained more Support from Fans and Support from Companies. The One Genre of gaming I believed Microsoft lacked was the RPG. The Xbox didn't have many but the few they had were enjoyable. KOTOR, KOTOR II, Jade Empire, Fable, MorroWind. I believe for success Microsoft is going to need to have more RPGs for the 360 and not just more but more enjoyable ones.

I see the Price being decent. $300.. Thats what the First Xbox released at. With a fairly beasty hard drive and wireless controllers. According to the E3 Video I watched, Microsoft promises the Controller to be the Most Comfortable Controller you'll ever hold. And this time around they don't charge for Online Gaming.

With Microsoft having Loyal Fans, the Console coming out first, and a decent Price it should sell every bit as well as the PS3. But it's too soon to tell.

Now lets look at the Nintendo Perspective.

For a very long time now.. Nintendo has had a Legacy of Gaming. With some of the most Famous Series of Gaming like Mario and Zelda. The NES Revolutionized Gaming. With 2D Graphics there weren't many households without one. The SNES Later Came out but it had Competition, which was the Sega Genesis. Still Nintendo had great support. A now Huge Fanbase and many companies producing Games for their console.

A few years down the road Nintendo made the N64. A decent console, obviously named N64 for having 64 bits. I had a 4 controller port which was brilliant and fun for games like SSB and 007 Goldeneye. The N64 didn't have so much Game Support but still had a Large Fan Support. The N64 didn't have a lot of games but the games it had were Excellent. SSB, Mario 64, Zelda OOT, Majoras Mask, 007, Perfect Dark, Conker etc etc. However Sony was a huge threat and gained more support. And somewhere in there Sega died out of the race.

With the Playstation 2 already out, Nintendo was to release the Nintendo Gamecube. Being launched a little before the Xbox the Gamecube didn't do too bad at first. However they didn't sell like the previous systems. Nintendo kept the console small which was a good idea. Faster and Better graphically than the PS2 and fairly equal to the Xbox. Nintendo had great games such as Windwaker, OOT MasterQuest, Mario Sunshine, SSBM etc etc.

However Nintendo failed in one aspect. Online gaming. Though many don't play games online or have the access to, Many Xbox's and PS2's were purchased to play online. It also lacked a DVD player which in my personal oppinion didn't matter, but when many went to purchase a console, they wanted the Package.

Now the fun part. The Revolution. Sure we don't really know a whole lot about it. We predict that it'll be the cheapest which will definately help the sales. But the best part of all.,, Drummeral Please.. It can play some if not all the Old Games. From the NES, SNES, N64, and the GC. Plus having new games released. One for example I think will be Mario 128. Being able to play the Older games will be a huge plus. I'll definately have a Revolution. It should bring back a lot of the old Fans. It really will revolutionize gaming.

Lastly I'd like to pull a prediction on Sales Numbers. Of course I want you oppinions on the matter. I'm sorry this was so Fricken long. Most people probably don't have the patience to read through.

My prediction is a close race.

PS3 will sell: 27 Million Consoles
360 will sell: 25 Million Consoles
Rev will sell: 25 Million Consoles

Sony has a huge support base and thats probably why it'll pull out on top. I don't prefer sony but honestly many people do. It'll be a close race and will probably shorten sony's lead for the future.

Remember this was all oppinionated and not factual. And I have no biased oppinion on the matter. Just personal Beliefs on how the console war will end.

Nice opinions, backed by good evidence. This thread will probably break out in a big argument, but, I see your point. :O

It remains to be seen how powerful the ps3 really is. We know the processor is powerful, but the ps2's processor was also very powerful in its day, yet the rest of the system was incapable of using that processor to the best of its capabilities. If sony has made the same mistake, I think the X-box 360 will be at least as powerful, comparably. And few know what Nintendo's got under the hood. I think sony's brand name carries so much weight with their fans that any setbacks the ps3 suffers will go unnoticed as millions of them clamber all over each other to get their hands on the things. I have very little faith in sony's main userbase as thinking, bleeding consumers.

I predict Nintendo will continue making the games I love and making a good-sized pile of dough from them. Their days of winning the popularity contest are over, though. As I said, neither rain nor sleet nor slew of games they'd never buy if they didn't have the sony logo on them can shake sony's fans, at least not for a generation or three. Suits me fine. I'm perfectly willing to continue giving the Metal Gear Solid fans buying their fifth iteration of MGS 2 and 3 with new VR missions the finger as I pick up my copies of the sweet, sweet new Zelda games.

Microsoft I predict will do about as well as they have this generation. They're hoping for more, with the momentum of the original X-box, but I don't think their fans have the passion of Nintendo fans or the lemming-like qualities of sony fans. They're out there, and they love their Halo and KOTOR, and I'll certainly be picking up a 360 for the likes of Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo, but I don't think there's much room for growth on Microsoft's end.

Wow, I just read through all that. What a waste of time.

You're horribly misinformed. "Console wars"? Console sales are close to meaningless, as they sell for a loss. The PS2, the Xbox, and I believe even the Cube sell for a loss. The PS3 will be selling for one, and the 360 will be selling for one. Numbers of consoles sold helps games sell, but it's almost meaningless in terms of profits.

PS2 may have tons of support, but that doesn't help Sony all that much. The profits they make off third party titles are nowhere near what they make off first party ones- or rather, what they would make if they had many good first party titles. This is why Nintendo does so well, because they make most of their own games and get 100% of the profit. Saying the PS2 is undisputedly the champion is entirely misinformed. You haven't seen Nintendo profit reports, apparently.

SquareEnix supporting the 360? Barely. Everyone went crazy when SquareEnix turned their gaze to Nintendo, and what did it get? Crystal Chronicles, and a couple GBA games; nothing that will stop you from buying a PS2. It will be the same way this time around, the PS3 will get all the big name SquareEnix titles.

Online gaming isn't a huge seller, just yet. Nintendo didn't miss out on much by avoiding it. Infact, they didn't avoid it, it's right there and always has been. They simply stopped producing network adapters because nobody bought them, despite games existing for them.

Your sales predictions show how little you know about the industry. The PS2 has already sold over 300 million consoles and the PS3 is supposed to have twice the shelf life of the PS2. Yeah, that's going to pull in 27 million console sales. Right.

Necrololicon it's Oppinionated first off. I don't really care if you think it's a waste of time. Console Sales may seem meaningless because they do sell for a loss. However if I had the money I would target Sales and loyal fans over Cash. Because in the later run Cash will flow in once everyone enjoys playing your console. Lose money now, Gain money later sort of deal.

So you say online Gaming isn't a huge seller? I'm debating if I should de rep you Noob. Online Gaming is huge now. Millions of Xbox Live subscribers, Millions play PS2 online, and not to mention the Millions that play PC online.

Show me where Sony sold over 300 Million Consoles. Lets see.. At a rate of 6 Billion people on the Earth, 300 million being approximately 1/3 of a Billion.. Not to mention Countries like India and China have a billion to their own and the Millions in Africa and what not. You mean to tell me Sony sold 300 million consoles? Everyone in the U.S. and Japan. Every single Person purchased a PS2? I don't buy it. The number seems too high. Last I checked about last year Sony had sold a little over 60 Million Consoles. I lessened the number for the future console by figuring Pricing into it along with Competition. I rose the Number of Microsoft and Nintendo Sales and lessened Sony but still having Sony as the leader.

Theres a few million Xbox Live subscripters now. There was 1 million Subscribers a couple years ago before there was really any great Online Gaming for the Xbox.

It is huge.. There are millions playing Online Consoles and more and more are going Online everyday. It's hard to say it's not a huge seller when Millions are Going Online. Honestly it went from Little to many overnight.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/7/21/778

Xbox live has exceeded over 2 Million. I'm having a hard time however finding Sony Online users. It's a growing thing. It is huge because it's becoming larger and better.

sony just reported 90 million, Necrololicon.

"About 100 million" covers that.

Not all sales are reported? Well calculate in all of the sales made to people who just had their old ps2 crap out on them, and I think that makes it more than even.

Right, but rather than saying that ps2's are in 90 million homes, it could be said that 30 million ps2's are in homes, and 60 are in landfills.

Speaking of landfills, I'm using the GC right now so it won't get too dusty for when Twilight Princess comes out.

No I didn't mean that the industry will shrink. i was unsure of Number of Sales so I guesstimated. It'll be larger if anything. I was trying to just throw out numbers to make it look fairly even.

This is the Way that SomebodyRandom uses Capitolization.

This is the correct way. You dont jsut make random words uppercase. Thats not the way it works. Learn the English language, then try again.

Oh, and your "opinions" are about the worst formulated, most inaccurate piles of tripe I've come across yet. You suk at teh pr3d!cti0ns

I think it's going to go this way:

Playstation will win most of the buyers and Microsoft's XBOX will get it's fair share of buyers too. While Nintendo will suck, as usual, by making games that way to gimmicky, short or stupid and I will cry in the corner about it because I bought their system, hoping that they changed.

Looks like someone has a little bit of John C. Devorak in them.

Take that as you will.

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Wow, there's a lot of bickering going on in this one.

I've been thinking about the alleged low power of the Revolution compared to that of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Obviously, if the Revolution is significantly weaker, developers won't be able to port games across all three consoles unless they set the standard at the Revolution's technology, which they're not likely to do. So folks looking for multi-console releases aren't likely to pick up the Revolution, and sales will suffer.

But folks looking for multi-console releases never really bought the Gamecube either, and it was more powerful than the PS2, king of all ports. So there's not likely to be a decline in sales from Gamecube to Revolution.

Finally, if the Revolution is significantly weaker than the other two consoles, that doesn't mean developers are likely to just drop it. They know they've got a market in Nintendo fans, of which there are many. So there are likely to be more Nintendo exclusives from third parties this time around, things along the lines of The Twin Snakes and Kingdom Hearts and all that. This could draw fans of particular companies and series who normally wouldn't take much interest in Nintendo. For example, the only reason I got a PS2 was so I could play Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Mega Man. Also, if the Revolutionary feature ends up as good as it's been hyped, developers will really jump on the bandwagon for Nintendo exclusives. So sales might actually increase due to this.

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but that's my prediction. And I'm really smart.

Yeah basically what happend with the N64. It was way easier to make games for Discs, than it was to make games for Cartridges so Sony obviously old sold and probably made way more money than the N64 had.

I love the Revolution and the idea's behind it, but I don't expect it to win the Console war. Eh tis too soon. We'll find out later I guess.

It's not more difficult to put games on carts, you tit. They're a frickin storage medium.

Hey, that's hurtful, and we have a no put-down policy in place here. Say you're sorry.

But seriously, I think what he/she/it (I can't be bothered to check the profile) meant was that designing games for cartridges could be harder, as with the increased graphics and sound capabilities, there was a lot less storage space on cartridges than CDs, so you had to get creative.

Carts are a lot more expensive. That's all.

Let's not forget the Xbox 360's separate equipment you need to buy to play old Xbox games. PS3 allows free play of PS1 and PS2 games. Revolution? I don't know. But this could play as a huge factor in the sales and popularity.

The Revolution is backward compatible with Gamecube games, and will have an online database allowing you to download many, if not all, old N64, SNES, and NES games. It might even have Gamecube downloads, but that seems a little unlikely considering that the download size would be massive, and wouldn't fit on the memory card, and I don't think the Revolution is supposed to have a hard drive.

Game companies from back then have either died, merged, or don't have good relations with Nintendo anymore. For now, Nintendo-only games would be released. Don't get your hopes up if some Rare games don't make the cut.