The Age Of Console Gaming Is At An End?

[Verran]

Yeah. How about we get a little more specific here...

 

Sony and M$ may be worried about the investment of their next console, but Nintendo is too busy laughing their genius rear-ends all the way to the bank. It's so funny how "hard-core" consolers get so wrapped up in their little worlds that they have no idea what's going on outside of it. Nintendo is mopping the floor with all competition except in the "ultra hard-core" gamers category (which they didn't seem to have any intent on battling over to begin with). And they're making a poop-ton of money as they do it.

 

The mega-explosion-blow-your-anti-aliased-face-off-in-HD software and hardware is hurting. Yup. Too little innovation, too much investment, not a big enough market to cover the R+D. Those people are such a tiny demographic in comparison to what's out there to be tapped. That's what Nintendo's figured out. And if you hate Nintendo or the Wii, I'll submit to you Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Two more instances where innovation and creativity have triumphed over "next-gen" performance AND have breathed new life and more importantly new -customers- into a dying console landscape.

 

As long as consoles can continue to capture larger demographics with games like Rock Band or Wii Sports, they will do just fine.

[Neo]

Until they make GTA IV for computer, the life of consoles ain't over!

 

Seriously this title alone and the sales we have seen over the past month is enough to indicate that console gaming is going nowhere. It's more popular than ever in my opinion and most people hate the idea of fiddling around with their PC to play games and try and make them work. Note I said most people not myself or other members of this site.

[SMeeD]

Until they make GTA IV for computer, the life of consoles ain't over!

 

Being as loyal to computer gaming as I am, that game alone led me to buy a console.

[Sabmac]

Being as loyal to computer gaming as I am, that game alone led me to buy a console.

Which ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

[CanadaGUY]

Yep, wii really went in the right direction for making a "fun for everyone" console.

[InCrYsIs]

I have a XBOX 360 and barely use it. i play baseball games on it only because of the lack of baseball games on PC. I can't imagine playing strategy games and RPGs on a console. When Madden comes out every year I play it on PC. I came into the XBOX in a trade for a laptop or I would never have bought it. PC gaming is the best. Pisses me off that they release games on console and wait half a year to release it on PC. PC gaming has a broader market in age for sure.

 

DEATH TO XBOX AND PS3!!!

[kingdingeling]

Which ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

Are you kidding me?? Dude, GTA IV is one of the best games in existance gameplay wise! You should really have a go at it!

[Puck]

Get your girl to play some Counter-Strike, and get on the opposite team and spawn camp her for 10 straight minutes.

Rofl.

 

IMO the future line will be much finer between "console" gaming and "PC" gaming. Every gen console becomes more and more like a normal computer. There may be a time when we get M$, Sony, and Nintendo branded computers masqerading as just new gaming consoles...much like how currently low/mid range pc's have been reborn and resold as "media center" PC's to handle the living room audio/video duty. Instead of fancy and expensive dvd players, digital "tivo" recorders, and other boxes near your tv, you just have a media center PC interfacing with your HD television and maybe surround sound. It is still a computer, just sacrificing some features for others to play a more specific role.

 

Now, imagnie if these new "console PC"'s all followed the same basic rules and archetecture, or ran on compatable OS'es. It will be much easier for developers to make and port their blockbuster titles to different platforms instead of worrying about reprogramming everything for the vastly different structure of the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. Life would be easier for all of us.

 

Will that mean traditional console gaming will be dead, or just evolved? Depends on who you ask.

 

 

 

Orrrrr, maybe I'm just crazy

[Fogel]

Well in March both the PS3 and 360 sold in the range of 200k units. The Nintendo Wii sold over 700k - thats why i said the Wii is stomping the 360. That's a lot of sales in just 1 month.

 

Video Game Console Sales 2007:

 

* Nintendo DS - 8,500,000

* Wii - 6,290,000

* Xbox 360 - 4,620,000

* PlayStation 2 - 3,970,000

* PSP - 3,820,000

* PlayStation 3 - 2,560,000

* Game Boy Advance - 1,120,000

 

But even more interesting, check out the sales for the actual games:

 

Overall Video Game Console Sale Stats for 2007:

 

* PlayStation 2 - 41,120,000

* Game Boy Advance - 36,240,000

* Nintendo DS - 17,650,000

* PSP - 10,470,000

* Xbox 360 - 9,150,000

* Wii - 7,380,000

* PlayStation 3 - 3,250,000

 

Ref for above numbers.

 

Tally to date on console sales. For those too lazy to click...

 

* Nintendo DS - 72.44M

* Sony PSP - 34.12M

* Nintendo Wii - 25.99M

* MS Xbox 360 - 18.98M

* Sony PS3 - 12.72M

 

Worldwide Top 5 Console Game Sales (Currently)

 

1 360 - Grand Theft Auto IV 1,086,916

2 PS3 - Grand Theft Auto IV 682,348

3 Wii - Mario Kart Wii 647,093

4 Wii - Wii Sports 309,538

5 Wii - Wii Fit 281,109

 

 

For 2007, PC retail game sales was 14% of total retail game sales.

 

PC Game Sales 2007:

 

1. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (Blizzard Entertainment) - 2.25 million

2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) - 914,000

3. The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack (EA Maxis) - 433,000

4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward) 383,000

5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (EA Los Angeles) - 343,000

6. Sim City 4 Deluxe (Maxis) - 284,000

7. The Sims 2 (Maxis) - 281,000

8. The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack (Maxis) - 271,000

9. Age of Empires III (Ensemble Studios) - 259,000

10. The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack (Maxis) - 236,000

 

Console Game Sales 2007:

 

1. Halo 3 (Bungie, Microsoft Game Studios, X360) - 4.82 million

2. Wii Play with Wii Remote (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.12 million

3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward, Activision, X360) - 3.04 million

4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Neversoft, Activision, PS2) - 2.72 million

5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, Nintendo, Wii) - 2.52 million

6. Pokemon Diamond Version (Game Freak, Nintendo, NDS) - 2.48 million

7. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts, PS2) - 1.90 million

8. Guitar Hero II (Harmonix, Activision, PS2) - 1.89 million

9. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft, X360) - 1.87 million

10. Mario Party 8 (Hudson Soft, Wii) - 1.82 million

 

Not even below a million in sales for 10th place console game and PC reached that in 2nd place.

[Fogel]

Biggest thing people are concerned with when it comes to console gaming is how long is it good for before the next generation comes out and makes the now old version obsolete. Angry says I have to take into consideration that the Wii costs less when it comes to sales, well sorry, I got no sympathy for Microsoft or Sony. Both MS and Sony decided to go for the prettier graphics so they cost more. Nintendo decided to go for functionality. Not comparing Oranges to Apples here, all consoles are in the same generation. And the price difference isn't exactly like comparing a Ferrari to a Honda Civic.

 

But yes, money talks and that is exactly why I said what I said. PC Gaming will never top Console Gaming with its current strategy. How many people worldwide are willing to upgrade their computer every year, every two years ...every 3yrs? Hrm, better luck aiming for every 5yrs and even then you're still NOT aiming for the masses ...even in the "rich" countries.

 

 

You think that PS3 is expensive? Compare it to a new computer and now that PS3 doesn't look so expensive. That $400 PS3 will play all the latest games for 3~5 years. A computer worth $1000 today will play the latest computer games for 1~2yrs. After that you're sacrificing heavy on graphic settings.

 

I don't see the Big 3 (in Console Gaming) quitting any time soon, but Microsoft could prove me wrong. Sony got a big fat head after doing so well with the PS1 and the PS2. Microsoft is just plain cocky and thinks the PC Gaming Strat works in Console Land - bzzzZZZzzzt WRONG! Sony can take the loss and forge ahead and so can Microsoft - question is, is one of them really that bad of a sore loser?

[UkJenT]

Not too mention that many video cards are even more expensive than a console system. I mean, that's usually what we upgrade first when we want to meet newly released PC games.

[red930]

you can't just include hardware sales. If you look at it from another viewpoint, the software side, you'll see a difference that generally evens (balances) everything out. Look at how many games the average 360 or PS3 owner has and then the average number of games a Wii owner has. I am probably about average...I've got 3 retail Wii titles (not counting the Wii Sports that comes bundled) and had it about a year after I bought the 360. My 360 I have something like 25 games for. Same for my Xbox previously, I've still got over 20 game discs in the drawer and it hasn't been plugged in since I got my 360.

 

Most Wii owners don't have a lot of games for their system. I'm not just going by a couple of dudes that might live near me (or dr_bowtie haha), I'm going by a good chunk of players in our Old Dudes (almost 300 members) Guitar Hero Group who play GH3 on a Wii, and they don't have many games for their system (and those that do have a PS3 or 360 tend to have a much larger number of games).

 

I don't see anyone "winning" in the console war. Each camp has pretty much staked out their claim on the demographics they are targeting. It's like saying Nvidia is crushing ATI when that might be in a small segment of the market, but in a different (and larger) segment, ATI has a bit of the upper hand because the majority of computers are either laptops with integrated graphics, desktops with integrated graphics (and Intel is the king here), or desktops with low-end budget graphics (7300GS, X300SE). <shrug>

 

The most beautiful thing about it is that each system has a particular strength and I actually enjoy each for a different reason, as well as my PC for a third alternative. I hate FPS games on a controller. I can and will only play them with mouse/kb on a computer because of the precision of control (and doing it with a controller gives me a very nasty headache, whether I do it on the pc or on a console+tv).

 

My 360 is my hardcore sports box with Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and online multiplayer and friend lists and voice chat all thrown in. I love it.

 

My Wii is the "fun" little machine that I let momma crush bowtie in Mario Kart racing. It's the machine that everyone feels is a novelty and "fun" to play and mostly "easy" (like Wii Bowling). And it has the Virtual Console. That's the biggest plus in my book.

 

I'm looking forward to one day (in my wet-dream-fantasy most likely) that some nerds sit down and say "ok, we will make a pure gaming OS based around Linux and we'll make proper ratings on the hardware so people will know the minimums but because the OS is dedicated mostly to gaming, it won't have peripheral functions that are not necessary like printers, tablets, scanners, cameras, etc, but it will have "generic" devices like flash memory cards or usb sticks or cameras that can read jpg or whatever. It will mostly focus around games and game peripherals. And because it won't do everyday Windows things, it will be able to install itself in a dual-boot config so you can easily switch to it when you want to game."

 

of course, that's like wishing Mac would man-up and release OSX for all hardware and give Microsoft something to sweat about (but as soon as that happens, all the flaws in Mac OSX on an open-hardware platform would become apparent because when you create an OS and it has to be able to function with a combination of hardware that probably numbers in the trillions...you find out you aren't really any better than Microsoft).

 

Or better...Google would. I love too many things about my PC to give up gaming on it. I love too many things about my consoles to give up gaming on them as well. I don't see console nor PC gaming dying anytime soon. In fact, I see both growing as game developers start learning how to tap the largest untapped market: women.