For the heck of it, these were my resposes to his point (my replies are in bold)
"spirit, polls are almost completely rubbish before the system comes out. Look at GameFAQs polls archive. The GameCube was predicted to be the second biggest seller of this generation. We know exactly how well that occurred. Also, the Dreamcast was polled as being one of the biggest successes of this generation. Now you can buy them for around $6.50. The old saying goes "85% of all statistics are false."
Gamefaqs is and never will be a reliable source for polls, if you can show me something in line with Famitsu's respect, then go right ahead. The point is that Famitsu, a highly respect gaming magazine has shown Wii's lead WIDENING not shrinking in terms of anticipation.
"As far as Nintendo's "failure" with the Nintendo 64, the system was their biggest seller to date (excluding handheld systems). It outsold the SNES and certainly outsold the GameCube, both in terms of hardware and software. The reason? The market share had increased almost tenfold after the advent of the PlayStation. This isn't to say that Nintendo's incredibly stupid decision to stay with the cartridge format didn't seriously hamper the system. But saying Nintendo had a strangehold on the industry is just falsified nonesense. Nintendo had over a 99% market share during the NES years. However, during the SNES generation, the Genesis completely trounced the NES's successor. Nintendo had less than a 20% market share at this time. Taking this into account, comparing Nintendo's reign as head console with Sony's reign really doesn't have any merit."
Funny I don't recall saying anything about N64 being a failure but stated it was the beginning of Nintendo's decline. They lost 3rd parties and mainly lived off first parties. SNES beng trounced by Genesis? I believe SNES sold 49 million while Genesis sold 35 million worldwide. Doesn't seem like much of trounce to me. Perhaps you can give where you got these statistics along with the 20% market share (You are telling me that Sega had 80% of the market share? Don't make me laugh). Nintendo 64 sold 30+ million worldwide, once again I have no idea where you are getting these numbers!
"As far as Sony getting arrogant, I couldn't agree more. However, recently both Microsoft and Nintendo have gotten just as bad. Nintendo's vice president of marketing, Perrin Kaplan, blatantly informed Nintendo's consumers that no matter what, the Revolution was going to be renamed Wii. In so many words, she basically said that no amount of complaining would change the name and that people were going to buy the console no matter what. This sounds almost exactly like Sony's current rhetoric."
Perhaps they felt it was the best marketing move? That isn't arrogance it is a move that is marketing based, and the Wii controvery gave the console more publicity than any good news at the time provided.
"As far as the rather unimpressive lineup of launch titles for the Wii:
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - most WWII shooters are abysmal
Blitz: The League - there hasn't been a good NFL Blitz game since the first
Cars - Movie games are almost always atrocious
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - This game appeals to only one demographic
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronciles revisited
Elebits (exclusive) - I have no idea what this is
Far Cry - A game that's been available on multiple platforms for the past three years
GT Pro Series (exclusive) - Gran Turismo 4 destroys this on every level
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (exclusive) - Doesn't look impressive at all, especially considering this is an "updated" GameCube game
Madden NFL 07 - This will be a big seller, but the 360 version will ensure it's not a system seller for the Wii
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Interesting as always, but also a bit too formulaic
Metal Slug Anthology - There hasn't been a good Metal Slug game since ... well, there hasn't ever been a good Metal Slug game
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (exclusive - This will be a system seller for a few (namely, me) but not enough people played the first two to really make it widely appealing
Monster 4X4 World Circuit - Please
Need for Speed Carbon - Again, good, but not a system seller by any means
Open Season - No idea what this is
Rayman Raving Rabbids (exclusive) - Possibly a system seller for a few fans of the first sequel, but it's just not as widely appealing as the rather lackluster Crash Bandicoot or Spyro
Red Steel (exclusive) - Looks intriguing
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab - This will be awful if the other SS games are any indication
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - Fun, but not a system seller and it's available on other platforms
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - I don't understand the appeal of TH games whatsoever
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (exclusive) - Another example of Nintendo's failed attempts at originality
Wii Motor Sports Airplane (exclusive) - Not a big seller
Wii Sports (exclusive) - Again, not a big seller"
That is all your opinion, there are many who would disagree. Tell me, what launch lineup will PS3 have? Let's see, Warhawk, Ridge Racer, Sonic, Call of Duty 3, and a bunch of multiplatformer games, what do you think is the big system seller that isn't "formulaic? The Wii will have Twilight Princess, MP3, Wii Sports (this WILL be a system seller, the praise it got at E3 was astouncding, Red Steel, Rayman (has potential). The other games you cannot pass much judgement on either way because it will depend how efficiently and creatively the controls are implemented (even those that played Madden 07 had a blast with the new control scheme) Funny you mention Trauma center as a failed attempt at originality, at least Nintendo TRIES to innovate. While Sony has been sucking off the same gameplay hardware since they "borrowed" the N64 analog stick and threw in a second one (that and possibly the eyetoy are the limits to Sony's creativity). Now they are trying to suck off the Wii controller motion control.
PS3 unconfirmed launch lineup
# Warhawk
# MotorStorm
# Ridge Racer 7
# Fatal Inertia
# Full Auto 2: Battlelines
# Blade Storm: Hundred Years War
# flOw
# Sonic the Hedgehog
# Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
# Call of Duty 3
# Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
# Need for Speed: Carbon
# NBA Live 07
"I guess the closest thing to a system seller will be Twilight Princess. But, honestly, it's a GameCube game that Nintendo tried to upgrade into a Wii title. It looks like a GameCube game in terms of graphics and framerate. Make no mistake, I'll be the first in line to get it, but I'm not nearly as excited about it as I was for Ocarina of Time or even Wind Waker (shudder)."
This may or may not be true, we don't know what the final product will look like. All I know is that TP has been in production longer than Ocarina, so I have a ton of hope for it. Even if worse comes to worse and the graphics aren't up to par, there is still the Wii control and really gameplay is all that will matter in the end.
"As far as Sony having an uphill battle, since when has any system not had an uphill battle? Sony's recent arrogance plus their gigantic price tag for the PS3 will hinder them, but their exclusives make up for it. The 360 has absolutely no system sellers whatsoever, but then there's always Halo 3 on the horizon. The Wii is inferior in terms of hardware, but the virtual console and the Wiimote are gathering lots of attention. It's going to be a very interesting (and pricey) next generation."
I agree this will be an interesting and pricey generation (I have just repurchased a 360). Honestly I think you are underestmating 360 which has exclusives like Project Gotham, Forza, Gears of Wars (has potential), and of course Halo (which I am not a fan of). Once again I will state that if Sony starts to struggle (I don't doubt it will sell out at launch but after that I don't know) then you may see those exclusives start to evaporate due to the tremendous development costs.
Topic: What is your opinion of this analysis of Wii and PS3? (Read 11252 times)
