Microsoft has a couple questions for Sony (Good read)

[bkfount]

Quote: Originally Posted by Altimus GTR

A little over exaggerated no? With the head start MS had, they should have a way bigger lead but they don't. They will lose the console war in Japan and Europe. They might and probably win US but the Sony base is still large.

While we all have our opinions on the console "war", let's not also forget that while console sales number show something right now, most of the consoles sold in a generation are when the price drops down to a level where most people don't have to think hard about a purchase when they see a commercial on tv or read about a game. $350-$499 is still a lot of money to lots of current ps2 and xbox owners and other potential customers who really only care about it as a toy to play games on. These are the same people everyone mentions when saying how huge the sony playstation brand following is.

One would think the 360 could tap into that pool first, although MS has been slow on price dropping the 360 so far. At least MS is in the best position to do that, as they have been revising and refining the manufacturing of the 360 to make it cheaper to produce and run cooler. If they could sell the 360 in the $250-$275 range, they would run away with it.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkfount

While we all have our opinions on the console "war", let's not also forget that while console sales number show something right now, most of the consoles sold in a generation are when the price drops down to a level where most people don't have to think hard about a purchase when they see a commercial on tv or read about a game. $350-$499 is still a lot of money to lots of current ps2 and xbox owners and other potential customers who really only care about it as a toy to play games on. These are the same people everyone mentions when saying how huge the sony playstation brand following is. One would think the 360 could tap into that pool first, although MS has been slow on price dropping the 360 so far. At least MS is in the best position to do that, as they have been revising and refining the manufacturing of the 360 to make it cheaper to produce and run cooler. If they could sell the 360 in the $250-$275 range, they would run away with it.

IMO MS would have run away with this given their lead, but even casual people who aren't gamers have heard the system dies a lot. This has been in tons of news coverage, etc and I think for the casual group MS and Sony are fighting over this could hurt MS.

MS opened the door for Sony to come back because MS put out a hugely unreliable product. MS would have won this gen, but now it's up in the air.

[ExtremeGamer]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

IMO MS would have run away with this given their lead, but even casual people who aren't gamers have heard the system dies a lot. This has been in tons of news coverage, etc and I think for the casual group MS and Sony are fighting over this could hurt MS. MS opened the door for Sony to come back because MS put out a hugely unreliable product. MS would have won this gen, but now it's up in the air.

Best comments of the entire thread. Also the truest.

[bkfount]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

IMO MS would have run away with this given their lead, but even casual people who aren't gamers have heard the system dies a lot. This has been in tons of news coverage, etc and I think for the casual group MS and Sony are fighting over this could hurt MS. MS opened the door for Sony to come back because MS put out a hugely unreliable product. MS would have won this gen, but now it's up in the air.

The RROD is bad no doubt, however, all MS had to do was eliminate Sony's playstation brand lead that was built up over 2 generations. They've done that so far, which was a main goal of launching a year earlier. They are also able to beat Sony on any price drops, although they've been lazy on this due to how they're paying for the RROD. Regardless of who wins either way, this generation already looks to be much closer to a draw than the last one.

[Altimus]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkfount

The RROD is bad no doubt, however, all MS had to do was eliminate Sony's playstation brand lead that was built up over 2 generations. They've done that so far, which was a main goal of launching a year earlier. They are also able to beat Sony on any price drops, although they've been lazy on this due to how they're paying for the RROD. Regardless of who wins either way, this generation already looks to be much closer to a draw than the last one.

Not so much. MS is still losing money while Sony will be gaining money. Financially the difference will be big. Fan base wise it will be closer. I still don't think these price drops are fair because everyone always looks at the Core/Arcade as the main platform because of the lowest price. The Core doesn't sell that will so the real console here is at $349.99. Currently $50 difference with no WiFi, smaller HDD, no HD format and reliability problems. To the average consumer this $50 goes a long way. I do not think many people buy the Core. I don't even see them on sale in some places.

But the real question here though is why do we care? Why is this generation so financially involved for us hardcore gamers? I remember when you used to log on to GameSpot and you would see actual gaming news. Not Sony outsells MS in Europe or MS outsells Sony in US for March. Why this deal so much more important this generation? The media seems more interested in writing articles about business than actual gaming.

Either way both brands are too strong to lose and both have too big of a fan base to walk away

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkfount

The RROD is bad no doubt, however, all MS had to do was eliminate Sony's playstation brand lead that was built up over 2 generations. They've done that so far, which was a main goal of launching a year earlier. They are also able to beat Sony on any price drops, although they've been lazy on this due to how they're paying for the RROD. Regardless of who wins either way, this generation already looks to be much closer to a draw than the last one.

Oh, definitely...this gen is now even. I'm just saying that MS was running away with this gen and I personally doubt Sony would have recovered. Instead of winning this gen MS just tied it up, leaving a pretty even battle for next gen. It's tough to restore consumer faith in a product if you lose it. Once people don't trust you it's not easy...

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by Altimus GTR

But the real question here though is why do we care? Why is this generation so financially involved for us hardcore gamers? I remember when you used to log on to GameSpot and you would see actual gaming news. Not Sony outsells MS in Europe or MS outsells Sony in US for March. Why this deal so much more important this generation? The media seems more interested in writing articles about business than actual gaming.

It's like this with a lot of things now. Online media allows almost anyone to become a "journalist" and gives individuals items to discuss.

Why should the average person care that a game is in 640p and not in 720p?

The increase in casual reporting has led to anal individuals who can't be secure in their purchases and decisions. It's sad.

[bkfount]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

It's like this with a lot of things now. Online media allows almost anyone to become a "journalist" and gives individuals items to discuss. Why should the average person care that a game is in 640p and not in 720p? The increase in casual reporting has led to anal individuals who can't be secure in their purchases and decisions. It's sad.

Well, it's not like this is new. While we used to just go on 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit, etc., now it's all about identifying with HD or what's in your console. It's new numbers, but people have been defending and hyping their consoles for awhile, pretty much since the industry went multiplatform. I had a genesis, and my friends would show off their prettier SNES games. I loved my Dreamcast, yet all I heard was Sony's technical hype about the ps2 which never came true.

It obviously works with some people.