Console Predictions

[TrinireturnofGamez]

 I hereby lay down my predictions for the future :
   The Wii will drop in price to 150 USD by 2008-2009 . The Graphics for the Wii will be about twice as good as the 1st Xbox at least.  The Wii 'only' has a 700mhz processor, but it is alot more efficient per clock than the Xbox's Celeron, so the actual performance could equal at least a 1.7GHZ P4 , maybe even 2ghz depending on how advanced the chip is over the standard PowerPC design, and how good the programmers are.
   It also has more and faster RAM and a more advanced GPU, probably DX9 vs DX8 in the box.
    The Wiis graphics will still be great, relying more on good  , simple art design than tons of textures and lighting.  Think Lego Star wars , or WoW .
 
 The PS3 won't  extremely sell well until :
   1. Price drops by at least 100 USD
   2. Big games like Final  Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid etc. release
   3. Blue Ray movies become more mainstream.
 PS3's graphics won't be much better , or any better than  the 360 until probably 2008. The Blu Ray disk itself will allow Sony higher resolution textures and more variety,  lots of in game cinematics in high def etc. in short , 20-30 gig games on one disk. Final Fantasy on the PS3 would be heaven... imagine all the cinematics looking like advent children!
 
   The 360 will be the dominant console for the hardcore gaming populace , thanks to low cost  and abundance of titles .  The Wii will be number two, or may outself all of the above as it is aimed at the mainstream ''people who don't play games'' . The Original Nintendo sold over 60 million, the SNES 49 million, as they were simple enough for anyone to pick up + no competition in that market . The Wii will bring nintendo back to that level of success eventually .

   

[Kaizen]

teh hardcore gamer is and always will be the
"pc gamer" <not includin that air fart game dota or sof o.O>
ps3 will get eased up hopefully consoles get cheaper and games , wii will have a good run cause of its cheap pricing and innovation , the 360 will remain the king of the hill for online gaming <xbox live>

[W1nTry]

I agree with Kaizen's take. And I also believe the Wii may very well do what Nintendo hopes it does - widen the gaming market. I think the PS3 will eventually start to pick up (as Trini pointed out, with the right titles) and yeah the 360 will remain king of the hill for online play. With any luck we'll see an updated/refreshed Wii supporting slightly better 720p graphics.

[Red Paradox]

I agree with you guys....I heard PS3 has lots of bugs....notably the backwards compatibilty issue....there are tons of games that I haven't played on PS2 (or even the first PS) as yet and I don't want to have to buy multiple consoles.....Other than that you're right when games like Final Fantasy VII, MGS 4 and (my highly anticipated game) Resident Evil 5 comes out....as well as a drop in the price.....PS3 will dominate all.....

Long Story short SONY will win the war once again....their past products haven't failed yet.....

(and for those of you who's priming up to bash me...PSP doesn't suck )

[TrinireturnofGamez]

 Sony still has a chance to win , it all depends on how fast they can increase PS3 availability and drop the price,  and get those big name games out . For myself the PS3/ Wii are the only real options . Alot of the games for the box are available for pc, or will eventually be available , plus i suck with FPS on a gamepad.
     My currant plans are :  mod PS2 + TV for 2007 , to play all those RPGs that i missed . A wii in 2008 , and a PS3 in 2009 if prices are low enough , and blue ray becomes more mainstream .

[Crixx_Creww]

Ive heard from a reliable source that  sony doesnt look at the ps3 as a gaming system that plays blue rays, but rather a blue ray system that plays games. The ps2 is the bread and butter of their software department, so they still gonna keep pushing that as their gaming platform of choice, and the ps3 is gonna be the blue ray player that can play ps3 and ps2 games "as well"

Of course i think this is an insane move, but oh well ,i never liked them anyways.

Its kinda sad that the 360 is gonna be the "king of the hill" cause it isnt that great... oh well. Gears of war and halo 3 right.... yayy... fps on console.. >.> whhooppee.. *grumbles, wheres my keyboard and mouse and my glasses to squinge up on de screen to see*

[W1nTry]

GOW is a 3rd person crixxx

[Synchronomyst]

The PS3 is a platform for pushing Blu-ray. Not for gaming, as such. They're trying to integrate a new technology into their gaming division (their only profitable division currently) in order to secure some semblance of financial security. However, blu-ray is a format, just like all other sony formats, i.e. Quality Garbage. No one is interested in Blu-Ray. In fact...not that many people are interested in HD-DVD either seeing as DVD is still an insanely strong format. X360 has a lead on the market and there is a mass exodus of 3rd party developers from Sony's camp. All they have left are the two system selling franchises, which, unless they come out after a price drop, won't warrant purchasing a PS3 or make enough of a dent into the market to make Blu-ray a viable format. Do the math.


I can think of one thing that can save Sony...



Now if Sony can perhaps get their hand on one of these and possibly STOP their competitors sales and development for three turns then they have this in the bag. GG Sony.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

I'm still worried about the Wii's hardware a bit , research shows it only has 88mb of RAM... Hopefully the graphics chip is at least 8 pipeline and supports DX9... The graphics for Red Steel look pretty good besides the aliasing,  so there should be some hope.

[Kaizen]

@ ur wii/ps3 statement
i dont think much gamers have the freedom to make a choice until they have actually seen xbox live in works.i havent even touched xbox live fully as yet but knowing from other ppl the greatness of this feature its what really keeps ppl on the xbox train.
hence i strongly go forth saying no trini gamer has not fully utilized the power of online gaming even with our little 256 a-DSL black box we can get alot of the hitting in<yep i jus subscribed to gamespy got some games goody pc>_> for now>
and no trini you wanna wait what? 3-5 years for a xbox 360 title to release on pc <halo2> be my guest lol.
as for me hell i love video games to much thats why eventually i get all of em o_O...<besides handhelds for now>
but being my roots as a pc gamer i stick by my pc ..2007 is looking even better for pc gamers ..2006 was a great year for us and hence moving even greater id say from what was supposedly the end of the pc era?
hats off to everyones arguments
<yes im a xbox fan eh , u can see me runnin round with ma halo 3 jersey!^_^> but i dont push into a 2d mind saying this system will rule i preach over and over every system hsa there advantages and we should all be greatfull we have 6 choices <pc,xbox 360 , ps3 , wii , ds ,psp>to pick from than just one ...

hats off to a new gaming future for 2007
to the annoying fanboys
the elite pc ninjas XD
the brainwashed sony dudes
the geeky white boys from microsoft
the handheld junkies
hell if i missed out anyone beside the serial nintendo bombers tell me rofl

oh right and at crixx
THOSE ONE SIDED AFRAID TO BUY A CONSOLE ..PC WIGGAS! XD

[rb]

poor trini still judging a system by the size of its memory thing.... >_> i sorry if you see snk games yes..

[Crixx_Creww]

afraid to buy a console lawl

i not gonna spend money that i could put into a pc on a console

ill sweat soul calibur an tekken and naruto on whatever it on
halo doesnt match up to pc fps for me so i have no gripes about not being on xbox live

i have wow and lineage and guildwars and fear and soo many other online games to choose from on my pc
iam really thinking of getting a wii for the fun factor, for the possibility of being able to play a star wars title with the wiimote
and for the cool sports titles, gaming +activity+fun in one small package. sounds great to me.

[rb]

just so you know crixx naruto gnt EX coming for wii, theres a mega thread on shoryuken.com forums

[Kaizen]

yeah thas why u got the same pc for 2 years or so ..
and stuck playing mmorpgs and "dota"
o_O way to go man!

[TrinireturnofGamez]

poor trini still judging a system by the size of its memory thing.... >_> i sorry if you see snk games yes..

  Also on the games i'v seen thus far , alot are  hold overs from the Gamecube so its hard to tell, but Call Of Duty 3 looks like 1 did on a weak pc , Red Steel looks okay ...
   
   I won't mind bad graphics if they release an uber game for it , or if i can get those games FREE

 @ kaizen , alot of the games are multi platform like Cod 2 , Quake , Oblivion , the box is alot easier to program for , and alot easier to port games to and from .
   Halo 2 is an exception , its microsoft's big game , they need to keep it Xbox exclusive long .

[W1nTry]

This is just an update of the present state. Helps give some grounds for the predictions no?

2006 console sales figures explored

Gaming round-up Everyone's a winner

By Dean Pullen: Monday 15 January 2007, 09:45
Click here
CONSOLE NEWS has flown out this week, here is your weekly glut of gaming information and games related linkage.

Wii/DS
Coming hot on the news that the Wii was the best selling games console over the Christmas period, Nintendo have raised Wii and DS sales forecasts for the year ending March 31st 2007.

Sales expectations of the handheld DS have risen 15% to 23 million units, with software growing 22% reaching 100 million units. Wii hardware targets remain at 6 million units, but Wii software expectations have raised, with Nintendo expecting to reach 21 million games for the new console, compared to the original guess of 17 million units.

Nintendo expects sales of ¥900 billion, up from the originally estimated ¥509 billion.

Eurogamer has the low-down on the Virtual Console games the UK should expect in the upcoming months.

If you fancy splicing your Wii to your Gameboy Advance, for miniature viewing check out this Doom on your iPod via a NES pad. Or maybe not.

No confirmation on whether this game is entering our ports just yet.

PS3/PSP
Sony also had good news regarding the sales figures of the Playstation 3.

Sony has sold 1 million consoles in North America since the launch of the console over six weeks ago - outperforming the Xbox 360 which managed only 600,000 units.

Unfortunately for Sony, last year the company had insisted on worldwide sales figures of 2.4 million PS3s, by the end of 2006, and having sold under 500,000 units in Japan, Sony have fell short by some margin. More analysis of the figures at 1up.

Arstechnica also report that Sony is still not having a good time with the PS3, stating that many stores in the US have significant stock, something that is unheard of so soon after a large console launch.

A few more console classics are heading to the PS3 courtesy of Midway. Mortal Kombat II, Joust, Gauntlet II, Rampage World Tour, Rampart and Championship Sprint, are expected to be available to download sometime early this year.

Before we end the PS3 coverage, check out the expected European advert for the eagerly anticipated console. PS3fanboy have it here.

The advert seems to be a little better than the much maligned 'third place', but a lot of us would prefer gaming companies to focus on the gaming content and software features, as opposed to several twenty-somethings playing with cups.

Sick of the Sixaxis pad already? Try a 360 pad instead, with this driver.

Xbox 360
More on sales figures from Microsoft. The Vole announced that 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles were sold last year, exceeding the originally stated target of 10 million units. Robbie Bach also said that Gears of War has sold 2.7 million copies worldwide in the two months since it went on sale.

Gamesindustry.biz adds that the 360 boasts a software attachment rate of 5.3 - a significantly high ratio for Microsoft.

More for GoW fans comes from Epic Games. The games company released a Gears of War patch and two new downloadable maps, as well as an "introductory video" starring lead designer Cliff Bleszinski.

The announcement of IPTV over the Xbox 360 came as a bit of a surprise, with industry speculators expecting the IPTV and video-on-demand services to not arrive until much further into the product's life-span or on the next console release.

Microsoft revealed international deals already in place with AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsch Telecom and Swiss Telecom already having signed up as partners, with another 11 companies trialling the console's new features.

The new service will allow 360 owners to use their console as a digital PVR, with crossover features such as the ability to record while playing Xbox 360 games, and chatting to users on a friends list while viewing TV channels.

You can catch a gallery of the new IPTV interface, and further commentary over at Gizmodo.

Furthering the speculation of the HDMI-based Xbox 360 revision, Microsoft have denied reports of an upcoming refresh of the console's hardware, stating that the 360 with HDMI does in fact exist, but is only a 'lab' project with no expected release. We'll see about that.

PC
A quick glimpse into the PC gaming world today, a world which has been very quiet over the last few months.

Sam and Max Episode 2 is now available.

Fans of Geometry Wars can look forward to a PC version, reports Joystiq. This hack is eagerly awaiting the release of the third version of Command and Conquer on the PC (despite this title being release on consolse, this sort of game needs the instant response of a mouse), and EA have announced a launch date of March for a collector's pack for Tiberium Wars, which will be released alongside the standard PC version.

Lets hope PC gaming hots up as the year goes on, after a fairly lacklustre 2006. µ