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Consoles started out as a games machine made for one thing. Which is obviously playing games. It stayed this way for years until Sony decided to be smarty pants and make the PS1 using a cd drive and hey presto, you now have a cd player too.
This doesnt seem too impressive now, but at the time I, and most of my friends, didnt have a cd player in our bedrooms. This was a great way of marketing the console with an extra feature. Granted, it was a crap cd player and I didnt use it much but it initially sounded like a decent feature that would appeal to most people. Especially parents who could kill two birds with one stone when buying a present.
The PS2 (and Xbox) did the same thing only with a DVD player. This was a greater sucess and I know of several people who's only DVD player is their games console. Yet another two in one console. You could get two pieces of consumer electronics for the price of one.
This works as a great reason to buy a console. If you wanted a DVD player, why would you buy one when you could get a PS2/Xbox for a similar price?
This "two-for-one" deal seems some what lacking from the new range of consoles. The PS3 will play blu-ray disks, but that doesnt seem like such a big deal to your average customer. We can already get our movies on disk in really good quality and blu-ray isnt exactly being hyped up that much at the moment in the rest of the market compared to the way DVD was. Blu-Ray players arent available and therefore have no price tag.
Only if consumers can see the price of a Blu-Ray machine on the high street and only if they take off and become desirable will they then think to themselves what a good deal buying the console will be.
This doesnt seem too impressive now, but at the time I, and most of my friends, didnt have a cd player in our bedrooms. This was a great way of marketing the console with an extra feature. Granted, it was a crap cd player and I didnt use it much but it initially sounded like a decent feature that would appeal to most people. Especially parents who could kill two birds with one stone when buying a present.
The PS2 (and Xbox) did the same thing only with a DVD player. This was a greater sucess and I know of several people who's only DVD player is their games console. Yet another two in one console. You could get two pieces of consumer electronics for the price of one.
This works as a great reason to buy a console. If you wanted a DVD player, why would you buy one when you could get a PS2/Xbox for a similar price?
This "two-for-one" deal seems some what lacking from the new range of consoles. The PS3 will play blu-ray disks, but that doesnt seem like such a big deal to your average customer. We can already get our movies on disk in really good quality and blu-ray isnt exactly being hyped up that much at the moment in the rest of the market compared to the way DVD was. Blu-Ray players arent available and therefore have no price tag.
Only if consumers can see the price of a Blu-Ray machine on the high street and only if they take off and become desirable will they then think to themselves what a good deal buying the console will be.
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Consoles started out as a games machine made for one thing. Which is obviously playing games. It stayed this way for years until Sony decided to be smarty pants and make the PS1 using a cd drive and hey presto, you now have a cd player too.
This doesnt seem too impressive now, but at the time I, and most of my friends, didnt have a cd player in our bedrooms. This was a great way of marketing the console with an extra feature. Granted, it was a crap cd player and I didnt use it much but it initially sounded like a decent feature that would appeal to most people. Especially parents who could kill two birds with one stone when buying a present.
The PS2 (and Xbox) did the same thing only with a DVD player. This was a greater sucess and I know of several people who's only DVD player is their games console. Yet another two in one console. You could get two pieces of consumer electronics for the price of one.
This works as a great reason to buy a console. If you wanted a DVD player, why would you buy one when you could get a PS2/Xbox for a similar price?
This "two-for-one" deal seems some what lacking from the new range of consoles. The PS3 will play blu-ray disks, but that doesnt seem like such a big deal to your average customer. We can already get our movies on disk in really good quality and blu-ray isnt exactly being hyped up that much at the moment in the rest of the market compared to the way DVD was. Blu-Ray players arent available and therefore have no price tag.
Only if consumers can see the price of a Blu-Ray machine on the high street and only if they take off and become desirable will they then think to themselves what a good deal buying the console will be.
This doesnt seem too impressive now, but at the time I, and most of my friends, didnt have a cd player in our bedrooms. This was a great way of marketing the console with an extra feature. Granted, it was a crap cd player and I didnt use it much but it initially sounded like a decent feature that would appeal to most people. Especially parents who could kill two birds with one stone when buying a present.
The PS2 (and Xbox) did the same thing only with a DVD player. This was a greater sucess and I know of several people who's only DVD player is their games console. Yet another two in one console. You could get two pieces of consumer electronics for the price of one.
This works as a great reason to buy a console. If you wanted a DVD player, why would you buy one when you could get a PS2/Xbox for a similar price?
This "two-for-one" deal seems some what lacking from the new range of consoles. The PS3 will play blu-ray disks, but that doesnt seem like such a big deal to your average customer. We can already get our movies on disk in really good quality and blu-ray isnt exactly being hyped up that much at the moment in the rest of the market compared to the way DVD was. Blu-Ray players arent available and therefore have no price tag.
Only if consumers can see the price of a Blu-Ray machine on the high street and only if they take off and become desirable will they then think to themselves what a good deal buying the console will be.
Ninty might finally have a chance again.Though I highly doubt it.
They frustrate me so much.
They frustrate me so much.
What amazes me about Nintendo is that, for all the accolades that should go with being the longest serving games hardware manufacturer, they get it all wrong so consistently.
Sticking to limited and expensive cartridges, when everyone else was moving to CD; failing to 'grow up' with their audience, allowing them to be tempted away by others; and now being so secretive about their next-gen system that - in all honesty - no-one but their die-hard fans gives a hoot about it.
If they fudge it up this time, I really think we could see them going the same way as Sega - i.e. out of the hardware market, and making games for all remaining systems. If it were not for the continued success of the various GameBoy incarntions over the last several years, I think Nintendo would have been out of the hardware market after the N64.
Now that there's a serious threat to the dominance of the GameBoy/DS on a global scale, Nintendo may find themselves needing more from the Revolution than any previous home system. If the system technically challenges the PS3 and 360, they need to be pushing it now. If it doesn't, then I fear it's already too late.
Sticking to limited and expensive cartridges, when everyone else was moving to CD; failing to 'grow up' with their audience, allowing them to be tempted away by others; and now being so secretive about their next-gen system that - in all honesty - no-one but their die-hard fans gives a hoot about it.
If they fudge it up this time, I really think we could see them going the same way as Sega - i.e. out of the hardware market, and making games for all remaining systems. If it were not for the continued success of the various GameBoy incarntions over the last several years, I think Nintendo would have been out of the hardware market after the N64.
Now that there's a serious threat to the dominance of the GameBoy/DS on a global scale, Nintendo may find themselves needing more from the Revolution than any previous home system. If the system technically challenges the PS3 and 360, they need to be pushing it now. If it doesn't, then I fear it's already too late.
WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Now that there's a serious threat to the dominance of the GameBoy/DS
> on a global scale
I'm going to have to disagree with you there, mainly because the DS is doing so stonkingly well and isn't looking threatened at all. In fact I think Sony have given Nintendo a helping hand by revitalising interest in handheld gaming again. Almost every report you see on the PSP release in the UK mentions that it'll be competing with the GBA Micro which inevitably gives free marketing for that. Also the fact that the GBA and the PSP and the DS can all coexist selling the same amount of consoles as they would without each other: the GBA appeals to people on a budget, the DS to those looking for something different and the PSP to those looking for something more like a fully feautured home console.
And Nintendo have never been really successful because of their hardware, it's alwys been because of their games. They've only been in the industry for so long because their games are so good that people will buy consoles for them.
> Now that there's a serious threat to the dominance of the GameBoy/DS
> on a global scale
I'm going to have to disagree with you there, mainly because the DS is doing so stonkingly well and isn't looking threatened at all. In fact I think Sony have given Nintendo a helping hand by revitalising interest in handheld gaming again. Almost every report you see on the PSP release in the UK mentions that it'll be competing with the GBA Micro which inevitably gives free marketing for that. Also the fact that the GBA and the PSP and the DS can all coexist selling the same amount of consoles as they would without each other: the GBA appeals to people on a budget, the DS to those looking for something different and the PSP to those looking for something more like a fully feautured home console.
And Nintendo have never been really successful because of their hardware, it's alwys been because of their games. They've only been in the industry for so long because their games are so good that people will buy consoles for them.
I don't think Nintendo are in as much trouble as most think. Their handheld sales are more than adequate to keep them afloat and as long as the Revolution doesn't turn out like the Gamecube, they'll be alright.
I really can't see Nintendo being stupid enough to make the same mistake twice anyway. They should have learned from the Cube's short comings and they'll know where they went wrong and what they can do to improve it.
If, and it's a big if, if the Revolution flops then I think we'll have a reason to say Nintendo are in real trouble. After all, they won't be able to rely on handheld sales forever.
All of this talk about Nintendo being screwed just seems like people are capitalising on and exaggerating the fact that the Gamecube didn't turn out as well as we'd all hoped.
I really can't see Nintendo being stupid enough to make the same mistake twice anyway. They should have learned from the Cube's short comings and they'll know where they went wrong and what they can do to improve it.
If, and it's a big if, if the Revolution flops then I think we'll have a reason to say Nintendo are in real trouble. After all, they won't be able to rely on handheld sales forever.
All of this talk about Nintendo being screwed just seems like people are capitalising on and exaggerating the fact that the Gamecube didn't turn out as well as we'd all hoped.
Well, I agree with you to an extent in that all machines can probably co-exist in the market. But I would put the Nintendo portable machines as vying for sales off of each other.
Comparisons with any of the current Nintendo hand-helds are largely irrelevant. As you say, the PSP has pretty much created a market of its own. In hand-held terms, there isn't really a competitor for it.
If you were going multi-format in hand-held consoles, you've got the PSP "and one of the others", in the same way that you might have a PC and one of PS2/Xbox/Gamecube.
I still feel Nintendo may need to be cautious, though.
Comparisons with any of the current Nintendo hand-helds are largely irrelevant. As you say, the PSP has pretty much created a market of its own. In hand-held terms, there isn't really a competitor for it.
If you were going multi-format in hand-held consoles, you've got the PSP "and one of the others", in the same way that you might have a PC and one of PS2/Xbox/Gamecube.
I still feel Nintendo may need to be cautious, though.
The blu-ray may not be amazingly popular at the moment, but it IS still an improvement. Think about it, since the PS2 and Xbox came out, there havn't been any big steps up from the DVD, therefore there hasn't been anything new to put into the PS3. If, for example, they had come out with the DVD-2 or something, and that had become popular, I think it very likely the new consoles would play them.
It's not like we've gone backwards. The PS3 is still backwards compatible and will still play DVD's etc. If you've cheked the specs, you will know there's almist no data disc in existence that can't be run on it! Here's a quote from the SR FAQ's on the PS3:
"Very much so. Although Sony are going with a new, larger capacity format for the PS3 - BD-ROM, based on new Blu-Ray technology - the PS3 will play both PS2 and PSone games too. It's also very multi-format, and will play - deep breath - CD/DVD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD DualDisc, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE. Pretty much everything you'd want to play on it!"
SO, by the looks of things, there isn't really ANYTHING the PS3 doesnt have!
It's not like we've gone backwards. The PS3 is still backwards compatible and will still play DVD's etc. If you've cheked the specs, you will know there's almist no data disc in existence that can't be run on it! Here's a quote from the SR FAQ's on the PS3:
"Very much so. Although Sony are going with a new, larger capacity format for the PS3 - BD-ROM, based on new Blu-Ray technology - the PS3 will play both PS2 and PSone games too. It's also very multi-format, and will play - deep breath - CD/DVD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD DualDisc, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE. Pretty much everything you'd want to play on it!"
SO, by the looks of things, there isn't really ANYTHING the PS3 doesnt have!
Lukeman wrote:
> SO, by the looks of things, there isn't really ANYTHING the PS3
> doesnt have!
It doesn't have an ice dispenser.
> SO, by the looks of things, there isn't really ANYTHING the PS3
> doesnt have!
It doesn't have an ice dispenser.
Could be available as an add-on, powered by USB...
lcarus wrote:
> Could be available as an add-on, powered by USB...
Very true..but then again you'll probably get an Ice despenser on the next Nokia phone, I think that's all that's left for them to build into it. Except maybe wheels.
> Could be available as an add-on, powered by USB...
Very true..but then again you'll probably get an Ice despenser on the next Nokia phone, I think that's all that's left for them to build into it. Except maybe wheels.
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