The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
It's a well-known saying that two makes company, but three is a crowd.
It's also been proven many times in history - including during the Console Wars of the past.
Whenever 3 consoles have gone head-to-head in a 3-way tug of war, one's come out ontop, another has come in a respectable 2nd place, while the other comes in last, also ending the company's future in Games Console Developments.
Let's go back to the 80's to find our first example....
In the 1982-87 period, a fierce and bitter rivalry was fought between the Sinclair Spectrum, the Amstrad 464, and the Commodore 64 (aka C64).
To sum it all up briefly, the C64 came out ontop after selling a whopping 15 million units worldwide - in less than 5 years!! There's a goal for you Sony, with your PS2!
Despite all this, 2nd place was still up for grabs.
And so the Spectrum, with it's high UK popularity simply walked up and accepted the Silver Medal in style with it's range of innovative games.
And so, the Amstrad was left behind in last, with nothing to show for the world except a few friendly simles from Spreadsheet fans.
3rd place wouldn't normally be considered as 'all that bad', but when you look at the facts, you'll soon see why we've heard nothing more from those little guys who were behind the cassette-playing mess.
And if we now jump ahead a good few years we'll come to 1995 - the year the Sony PlayStation (aka. PSX) was launched in the UK.
Little did they know it, but the CD and Media Player giants were to knock Sega's 1 year old Saturn back into extinction. But the real competition was to come 2 years later - in the form of the Nintendo 64 (aka. N64). Nintendo, a company famous for innovation and games that can be enjoyed by anyone, coudln't withstand the power of 32-bit CD's despite their 64-bit essence and their continuous use of the high-priced cartridges.
So that was Nintendo out of the picture, next came Sega, with the Dreamcast. A console with next-gen. specs and an on-line capabillity - something promised with the dissapointing Saturn.
But not even something around 4 times as powerfull could take the throne from Sony's PSX, as it all went down to the age range of games.
The ugly but lovely Sony console proved us all wrong and even continued to go-on strong into the early 21st Century with a more comapct PSOne design soon being released. That'll teach Nintendo that they should try and compromise with the big-names if things start to go pair-shaped - when you look at the fact that Nintendo wanted to use Sony to develop a SNES add-on. But they both failed to come to an agreement and Sony stormed off.
And here were are today, another new Console War with 3 more competitors looking to win. Surely the most highly-anticipated battle to date - seeing of the likes of the Battle of Hastings easily! This will be historic!!
Speaking of history, when you look at the facts of both the present and past, you can only hope and fear that one company will end up on the wrong side of things and dissapear from Console Developmen, forgotten in time as 'the first to go in the new millennium'!
But who will it be???
Sony - The PS2 is not only Sony's second console to date, it is also the highest selling console to date so far (excluding handhelds) in a 2 year period. It may be getting old now, but with games like Final Fantasy 11 and a new GTA on the way, I wouldn't say it'll fade away anytime soon!
After all, what are the chances that such a huge name in the electronics market will suddenly dissapear under the power of 2 others!
After all, we all know about the PS3 plans, and some rumours are flying around that they're even planning well-ahead for the PS SIX!!!
Microsoft - Will Bill Gates in control and a back catalogue of PC's to show for success and power, it seems highly-unlikely that the new boys on the block with little console experience will soon dissapear after just one attempt that has already been given a £100 price slash.
If anything, with an affordable price and high-expectations for the future (eg. Halo 2) it seems that Microsoft will still be around for a while.
Unless of course it all goes drastically wrong, and with such in-experience, they fail to release a huge line-up of exclusive AAA titles - missing from their launch line-up.
AAA titles have helped keep Nintendo and Sony at the top, no Console can survive without them!
There's also word of an X-box 2 in the near future, or some kind of X-box upgrade. Seems like they've got plans for the future.
Nintendo - A company that has been around for over 100 years, while only producing the gaming goods in the last 20 years. Could this be the end for the 'old guys' who have given us so much inovation from such a simple mind??
That's something you can never dream of. After good times in the 'Golden Age' with Mario, Zelda and co., up looks to be the only way for Nintendo when you look at just SOME of the future titles they have lined up for the small but powerfull GameCube.
But we al said the same about Sega and the Dreamcast 3 years ago.
"Sega wille be around forever!" "We need Naka's ideas out in the open for gaming to survive" - that's what was being said.
And where are Sega today?? Well, they're still making multi-format games, but the late '90's console war finnished off their future plans.
Could the same really happen to Nintendo????
It seems that they are favouites to enter Console Extinction once the PS2 has been given the Gold Medal it is well on course for.
Sega and Nintendo have always been close rivals untill now - mainly due to the strong simillarities in the work they produce - even since the late 80's/early 90's.
Maybe it's time for Miyamoto and co. to go head to head with their old friends at Sega at a different level - Games Development.
Well, what do you think??
Do you too fear this could be the last time we see Mario as we know him???
And if not Nintendo, who do you think will go down in the 5 years time??
Someone has to go, the past speaks the truth!
It's also been proven many times in history - including during the Console Wars of the past.
Whenever 3 consoles have gone head-to-head in a 3-way tug of war, one's come out ontop, another has come in a respectable 2nd place, while the other comes in last, also ending the company's future in Games Console Developments.
Let's go back to the 80's to find our first example....
In the 1982-87 period, a fierce and bitter rivalry was fought between the Sinclair Spectrum, the Amstrad 464, and the Commodore 64 (aka C64).
To sum it all up briefly, the C64 came out ontop after selling a whopping 15 million units worldwide - in less than 5 years!! There's a goal for you Sony, with your PS2!
Despite all this, 2nd place was still up for grabs.
And so the Spectrum, with it's high UK popularity simply walked up and accepted the Silver Medal in style with it's range of innovative games.
And so, the Amstrad was left behind in last, with nothing to show for the world except a few friendly simles from Spreadsheet fans.
3rd place wouldn't normally be considered as 'all that bad', but when you look at the facts, you'll soon see why we've heard nothing more from those little guys who were behind the cassette-playing mess.
And if we now jump ahead a good few years we'll come to 1995 - the year the Sony PlayStation (aka. PSX) was launched in the UK.
Little did they know it, but the CD and Media Player giants were to knock Sega's 1 year old Saturn back into extinction. But the real competition was to come 2 years later - in the form of the Nintendo 64 (aka. N64). Nintendo, a company famous for innovation and games that can be enjoyed by anyone, coudln't withstand the power of 32-bit CD's despite their 64-bit essence and their continuous use of the high-priced cartridges.
So that was Nintendo out of the picture, next came Sega, with the Dreamcast. A console with next-gen. specs and an on-line capabillity - something promised with the dissapointing Saturn.
But not even something around 4 times as powerfull could take the throne from Sony's PSX, as it all went down to the age range of games.
The ugly but lovely Sony console proved us all wrong and even continued to go-on strong into the early 21st Century with a more comapct PSOne design soon being released. That'll teach Nintendo that they should try and compromise with the big-names if things start to go pair-shaped - when you look at the fact that Nintendo wanted to use Sony to develop a SNES add-on. But they both failed to come to an agreement and Sony stormed off.
And here were are today, another new Console War with 3 more competitors looking to win. Surely the most highly-anticipated battle to date - seeing of the likes of the Battle of Hastings easily! This will be historic!!
Speaking of history, when you look at the facts of both the present and past, you can only hope and fear that one company will end up on the wrong side of things and dissapear from Console Developmen, forgotten in time as 'the first to go in the new millennium'!
But who will it be???
Sony - The PS2 is not only Sony's second console to date, it is also the highest selling console to date so far (excluding handhelds) in a 2 year period. It may be getting old now, but with games like Final Fantasy 11 and a new GTA on the way, I wouldn't say it'll fade away anytime soon!
After all, what are the chances that such a huge name in the electronics market will suddenly dissapear under the power of 2 others!
After all, we all know about the PS3 plans, and some rumours are flying around that they're even planning well-ahead for the PS SIX!!!
Microsoft - Will Bill Gates in control and a back catalogue of PC's to show for success and power, it seems highly-unlikely that the new boys on the block with little console experience will soon dissapear after just one attempt that has already been given a £100 price slash.
If anything, with an affordable price and high-expectations for the future (eg. Halo 2) it seems that Microsoft will still be around for a while.
Unless of course it all goes drastically wrong, and with such in-experience, they fail to release a huge line-up of exclusive AAA titles - missing from their launch line-up.
AAA titles have helped keep Nintendo and Sony at the top, no Console can survive without them!
There's also word of an X-box 2 in the near future, or some kind of X-box upgrade. Seems like they've got plans for the future.
Nintendo - A company that has been around for over 100 years, while only producing the gaming goods in the last 20 years. Could this be the end for the 'old guys' who have given us so much inovation from such a simple mind??
That's something you can never dream of. After good times in the 'Golden Age' with Mario, Zelda and co., up looks to be the only way for Nintendo when you look at just SOME of the future titles they have lined up for the small but powerfull GameCube.
But we al said the same about Sega and the Dreamcast 3 years ago.
"Sega wille be around forever!" "We need Naka's ideas out in the open for gaming to survive" - that's what was being said.
And where are Sega today?? Well, they're still making multi-format games, but the late '90's console war finnished off their future plans.
Could the same really happen to Nintendo????
It seems that they are favouites to enter Console Extinction once the PS2 has been given the Gold Medal it is well on course for.
Sega and Nintendo have always been close rivals untill now - mainly due to the strong simillarities in the work they produce - even since the late 80's/early 90's.
Maybe it's time for Miyamoto and co. to go head to head with their old friends at Sega at a different level - Games Development.
Well, what do you think??
Do you too fear this could be the last time we see Mario as we know him???
And if not Nintendo, who do you think will go down in the 5 years time??
Someone has to go, the past speaks the truth!
Consoles Wars
Attack of the sequals....
Maybe I should write a topic on that! Cheers for the idea:)
Attack of the sequals....
Maybe I should write a topic on that! Cheers for the idea:)
Nintendo are expecting to ship 12 Million GameCubes worldwide this year.
And they also expect to ship 19 Million Gameboy Advance's as well...
Ninty's profits may dip becasue of the current price war with Sony/Microsoft but they will still be doing fine.
And they also expect to ship 19 Million Gameboy Advance's as well...
Ninty's profits may dip becasue of the current price war with Sony/Microsoft but they will still be doing fine.
I wouldn't necessarily say this is an instance where you could look to the past and predict what's going to happen because the console market has changed to an almost unrecognisable beast. It now out grosses the film industry, and if there is that much money floating around then there is more than enough for the three consoles makers to turn a profit. That’s what we’ve got to remember, if they manage to get above break even with these consoles (which all three will do – I’m pretty sure Sony will have already) and start making money then it will be a success in their eyes. Sure, Sony won’t be happy if they loose market share and Microsoft will be disappointed if they don’t reach their targets – but break even pretty much guarantees they’ll all take a shot next round.
The main difference we’re going to see this round is a global differentiation (something you didn’t take into consideration when looking at the 80s especially). The pattern is pretty easy to see – Japan will go for the PS2 and Gamecube and the US and maybe Europe is where Microsoft will make their cash. This way each company should make a healthy profit, the battle will be to see who makes the most, not who will survive.
The main difference we’re going to see this round is a global differentiation (something you didn’t take into consideration when looking at the 80s especially). The pattern is pretty easy to see – Japan will go for the PS2 and Gamecube and the US and maybe Europe is where Microsoft will make their cash. This way each company should make a healthy profit, the battle will be to see who makes the most, not who will survive.
So no-one's scared of the fact that the console you've just spent a load of your hard-earned cash on could be the last to come from that particular company???
You could be saying goodbye to Nintendo before you know it! :(
You could be saying goodbye to Nintendo before you know it! :(
It's a well-known saying that two makes company, but three is a crowd.
It's also been proven many times in history - including during the Console Wars of the past.
Whenever 3 consoles have gone head-to-head in a 3-way tug of war, one's come out ontop, another has come in a respectable 2nd place, while the other comes in last, also ending the company's future in Games Console Developments.
Let's go back to the 80's to find our first example....
In the 1982-87 period, a fierce and bitter rivalry was fought between the Sinclair Spectrum, the Amstrad 464, and the Commodore 64 (aka C64).
To sum it all up briefly, the C64 came out ontop after selling a whopping 15 million units worldwide - in less than 5 years!! There's a goal for you Sony, with your PS2!
Despite all this, 2nd place was still up for grabs.
And so the Spectrum, with it's high UK popularity simply walked up and accepted the Silver Medal in style with it's range of innovative games.
And so, the Amstrad was left behind in last, with nothing to show for the world except a few friendly simles from Spreadsheet fans.
3rd place wouldn't normally be considered as 'all that bad', but when you look at the facts, you'll soon see why we've heard nothing more from those little guys who were behind the cassette-playing mess.
And if we now jump ahead a good few years we'll come to 1995 - the year the Sony PlayStation (aka. PSX) was launched in the UK.
Little did they know it, but the CD and Media Player giants were to knock Sega's 1 year old Saturn back into extinction. But the real competition was to come 2 years later - in the form of the Nintendo 64 (aka. N64). Nintendo, a company famous for innovation and games that can be enjoyed by anyone, coudln't withstand the power of 32-bit CD's despite their 64-bit essence and their continuous use of the high-priced cartridges.
So that was Nintendo out of the picture, next came Sega, with the Dreamcast. A console with next-gen. specs and an on-line capabillity - something promised with the dissapointing Saturn.
But not even something around 4 times as powerfull could take the throne from Sony's PSX, as it all went down to the age range of games.
The ugly but lovely Sony console proved us all wrong and even continued to go-on strong into the early 21st Century with a more comapct PSOne design soon being released. That'll teach Nintendo that they should try and compromise with the big-names if things start to go pair-shaped - when you look at the fact that Nintendo wanted to use Sony to develop a SNES add-on. But they both failed to come to an agreement and Sony stormed off.
And here were are today, another new Console War with 3 more competitors looking to win. Surely the most highly-anticipated battle to date - seeing of the likes of the Battle of Hastings easily! This will be historic!!
Speaking of history, when you look at the facts of both the present and past, you can only hope and fear that one company will end up on the wrong side of things and dissapear from Console Developmen, forgotten in time as 'the first to go in the new millennium'!
But who will it be???
Sony - The PS2 is not only Sony's second console to date, it is also the highest selling console to date so far (excluding handhelds) in a 2 year period. It may be getting old now, but with games like Final Fantasy 11 and a new GTA on the way, I wouldn't say it'll fade away anytime soon!
After all, what are the chances that such a huge name in the electronics market will suddenly dissapear under the power of 2 others!
After all, we all know about the PS3 plans, and some rumours are flying around that they're even planning well-ahead for the PS SIX!!!
Microsoft - Will Bill Gates in control and a back catalogue of PC's to show for success and power, it seems highly-unlikely that the new boys on the block with little console experience will soon dissapear after just one attempt that has already been given a £100 price slash.
If anything, with an affordable price and high-expectations for the future (eg. Halo 2) it seems that Microsoft will still be around for a while.
Unless of course it all goes drastically wrong, and with such in-experience, they fail to release a huge line-up of exclusive AAA titles - missing from their launch line-up.
AAA titles have helped keep Nintendo and Sony at the top, no Console can survive without them!
There's also word of an X-box 2 in the near future, or some kind of X-box upgrade. Seems like they've got plans for the future.
Nintendo - A company that has been around for over 100 years, while only producing the gaming goods in the last 20 years. Could this be the end for the 'old guys' who have given us so much inovation from such a simple mind??
That's something you can never dream of. After good times in the 'Golden Age' with Mario, Zelda and co., up looks to be the only way for Nintendo when you look at just SOME of the future titles they have lined up for the small but powerfull GameCube.
But we al said the same about Sega and the Dreamcast 3 years ago.
"Sega wille be around forever!" "We need Naka's ideas out in the open for gaming to survive" - that's what was being said.
And where are Sega today?? Well, they're still making multi-format games, but the late '90's console war finnished off their future plans.
Could the same really happen to Nintendo????
It seems that they are favouites to enter Console Extinction once the PS2 has been given the Gold Medal it is well on course for.
Sega and Nintendo have always been close rivals untill now - mainly due to the strong simillarities in the work they produce - even since the late 80's/early 90's.
Maybe it's time for Miyamoto and co. to go head to head with their old friends at Sega at a different level - Games Development.
Well, what do you think??
Do you too fear this could be the last time we see Mario as we know him???
And if not Nintendo, who do you think will go down in the 5 years time??
Someone has to go, the past speaks the truth!
It's also been proven many times in history - including during the Console Wars of the past.
Whenever 3 consoles have gone head-to-head in a 3-way tug of war, one's come out ontop, another has come in a respectable 2nd place, while the other comes in last, also ending the company's future in Games Console Developments.
Let's go back to the 80's to find our first example....
In the 1982-87 period, a fierce and bitter rivalry was fought between the Sinclair Spectrum, the Amstrad 464, and the Commodore 64 (aka C64).
To sum it all up briefly, the C64 came out ontop after selling a whopping 15 million units worldwide - in less than 5 years!! There's a goal for you Sony, with your PS2!
Despite all this, 2nd place was still up for grabs.
And so the Spectrum, with it's high UK popularity simply walked up and accepted the Silver Medal in style with it's range of innovative games.
And so, the Amstrad was left behind in last, with nothing to show for the world except a few friendly simles from Spreadsheet fans.
3rd place wouldn't normally be considered as 'all that bad', but when you look at the facts, you'll soon see why we've heard nothing more from those little guys who were behind the cassette-playing mess.
And if we now jump ahead a good few years we'll come to 1995 - the year the Sony PlayStation (aka. PSX) was launched in the UK.
Little did they know it, but the CD and Media Player giants were to knock Sega's 1 year old Saturn back into extinction. But the real competition was to come 2 years later - in the form of the Nintendo 64 (aka. N64). Nintendo, a company famous for innovation and games that can be enjoyed by anyone, coudln't withstand the power of 32-bit CD's despite their 64-bit essence and their continuous use of the high-priced cartridges.
So that was Nintendo out of the picture, next came Sega, with the Dreamcast. A console with next-gen. specs and an on-line capabillity - something promised with the dissapointing Saturn.
But not even something around 4 times as powerfull could take the throne from Sony's PSX, as it all went down to the age range of games.
The ugly but lovely Sony console proved us all wrong and even continued to go-on strong into the early 21st Century with a more comapct PSOne design soon being released. That'll teach Nintendo that they should try and compromise with the big-names if things start to go pair-shaped - when you look at the fact that Nintendo wanted to use Sony to develop a SNES add-on. But they both failed to come to an agreement and Sony stormed off.
And here were are today, another new Console War with 3 more competitors looking to win. Surely the most highly-anticipated battle to date - seeing of the likes of the Battle of Hastings easily! This will be historic!!
Speaking of history, when you look at the facts of both the present and past, you can only hope and fear that one company will end up on the wrong side of things and dissapear from Console Developmen, forgotten in time as 'the first to go in the new millennium'!
But who will it be???
Sony - The PS2 is not only Sony's second console to date, it is also the highest selling console to date so far (excluding handhelds) in a 2 year period. It may be getting old now, but with games like Final Fantasy 11 and a new GTA on the way, I wouldn't say it'll fade away anytime soon!
After all, what are the chances that such a huge name in the electronics market will suddenly dissapear under the power of 2 others!
After all, we all know about the PS3 plans, and some rumours are flying around that they're even planning well-ahead for the PS SIX!!!
Microsoft - Will Bill Gates in control and a back catalogue of PC's to show for success and power, it seems highly-unlikely that the new boys on the block with little console experience will soon dissapear after just one attempt that has already been given a £100 price slash.
If anything, with an affordable price and high-expectations for the future (eg. Halo 2) it seems that Microsoft will still be around for a while.
Unless of course it all goes drastically wrong, and with such in-experience, they fail to release a huge line-up of exclusive AAA titles - missing from their launch line-up.
AAA titles have helped keep Nintendo and Sony at the top, no Console can survive without them!
There's also word of an X-box 2 in the near future, or some kind of X-box upgrade. Seems like they've got plans for the future.
Nintendo - A company that has been around for over 100 years, while only producing the gaming goods in the last 20 years. Could this be the end for the 'old guys' who have given us so much inovation from such a simple mind??
That's something you can never dream of. After good times in the 'Golden Age' with Mario, Zelda and co., up looks to be the only way for Nintendo when you look at just SOME of the future titles they have lined up for the small but powerfull GameCube.
But we al said the same about Sega and the Dreamcast 3 years ago.
"Sega wille be around forever!" "We need Naka's ideas out in the open for gaming to survive" - that's what was being said.
And where are Sega today?? Well, they're still making multi-format games, but the late '90's console war finnished off their future plans.
Could the same really happen to Nintendo????
It seems that they are favouites to enter Console Extinction once the PS2 has been given the Gold Medal it is well on course for.
Sega and Nintendo have always been close rivals untill now - mainly due to the strong simillarities in the work they produce - even since the late 80's/early 90's.
Maybe it's time for Miyamoto and co. to go head to head with their old friends at Sega at a different level - Games Development.
Well, what do you think??
Do you too fear this could be the last time we see Mario as we know him???
And if not Nintendo, who do you think will go down in the 5 years time??
Someone has to go, the past speaks the truth!