Why everyone is failing

If you're a Nintendo fan(boy) right now, you've probably got a Nintendo Wii somewhere around you. And, not surprisingly, many people do- something to the tune of 2 million or so people. That's a damn lot, especially considering that the Wii still has yet to be released in many ?smaller? markets (China, Taiwan, parts of Europe). So, of course, PS3 and XBOX 360 fans are going ?what??.

Let me begin to explain the current situation before I launch into a discussion. As it stands at this immediate point, the XBOX 360 is the king of next-generation systems, both in immediate sales and in long term sales. This may simply be because it's had a year or more on the market to establish a userbase. As for the ?other? consoles, Nintendo seems to be the victor, the PS3 emerging at a close third in game sales.

This is exactly the opposite of what the majority of users thought. First, no-one expected the Microsoft XBOX 360 to go ANYWHERE Q4 of 2006, especially to the top of the list. To make matters worse, the Playstation 3, generally accepted as the ?most advanced? system on the market, is now sitting in the doldrums, only having sold around one million consoles nationwide. Should Sony fans look to pawn off their systems for used 360 consoles? Should Nintendo fans expect to own the market by Q3 2007?

No and no. In this article, I'm going to try to explain ?what's going on? and ?where we're going?- not so much in the immediate realm, but show you why this is happening. Unlike what many are thinking, this is not death to Sony or Microsoft- in fact, this may be the best thing that ever happened to them.

Fact One: Nintendo played a price point like a pimp plays women

If there was any winner of Q4 2006 (that is, Christmastime of 2006), it was Nintendo. By developing a system absolutely identical to their Gamecube system and re-naming it with new features and dropping the price to an insanely cheap price point, they essentially conquered the Christmas market. Whereas parents usually had issues with purchasing game systems for Christmas, the Wii price point (Something like $250 nationally, though the average consumer purchased about $350 worth of Nintendo merch, accounting for games and accessories) was ?the sweet spot? for most gamers.

For those of you who still don't understand, let me explain it this way. Nintendo, unlike other tech-savvy developers, realized one key thing: the Gaming market, especially on the Nintendo end (statistically younger and less tech-savvy), doesn't really give a flying crap about the technology in a system. By taking all their old parts and reworking them slightly and tagging on a slight upgrade for the processor, Nintendo was able to pull the fleece over the average gamers eyes and tell them ?you don't care about graphics?. And it worked.

And the sweetest thing about this trick was that it wasn't a trick, and it wasn't a scam. Nintendo fully intends to enter 2007 and 2008 with a system that is already technologically trumped by the average computer, and they will do well doing it. It's going to be cheap for everyone, and gamers everywhere will buy it up.

But yes, for those Sony and Microsoft fans, there is something about Nintendo that has to be said- their users would buy a litterbox if it had the Nintendo label on it. The nice thing about the Nintendo fanbase is that they are willing to bend it over and take it up the rectum for Nintendo, no matter how bad Nintendo does in any given time. Nintendo makes great games, and for that, their fans are willing to put up with years of stupidity (such as putting out the DS Lite when the DS was still out of it's mothers womb) to enjoy pure greatness (Elite Beat Agents, Phoenix Wright, etc).

Fact Two: The PS3 isn't selling well because someone from Sony Marketing needs to be fired

I know it's a little harsh, but it's true. Sony messed up big time. For some reason, Sony opted for strange advertisements and stupid tag lines for their system instead of actually playing the system's strong points. Instead of ensuring they had all their eggs in a basket, Sony attempted to generate a false demand on the systems, and ended up ?crashing? the market because of it. Smart, Sony.

For those of you not in the United States (or those who just don't watch TV), Sony opted for some really odd advertisements in Television in Print media. Instead of playing the system's strong points (like Nintendo did and showing people playing the system), Sony opted for odd-as-hell advertisements with the system tilting around in a cube-like room. No display of the graphics. No explanation of how powerful the system was. Nope, all it was doing was talking about the DUALAXIS controller.

Not only that, but the fake demand thing was stupider than hell. Sony has been known to do this on occasion- restrict console sales to create demand- but this time, it was just stupid. When you have gamers lining up for the system, the best thing to do is give 95% of them consoles and let the other 5% go crazy for them, not give 20% consoles and leave the rest to go home and buy Wii systems. Nor do you do that and then release all of your stock after the major buying date. That could be considered the most stupid ?Whoops!? in gaming history.

The PS3 is going to sell in the future, but Sony is going to have to gear down and actually do some old school marketing. I have a sneaky suspicion they hired some fresh-out-of-college Marketing student to handle this job, and the stupidity and obvious failure shows. When you sell a gaming system, you have to actually SELL it- not try to look hardcore or techy. Maybe Sony should hire one of the Apple marketing guys for that kinda thing.

Oh yeah, and footnote: I also hate those ?find me? commercials for the PSP. It's a damn gaming system, not some sort of PDA/GPS.

Fact Three: The 360 is doing better than you think.

I know that your average website will tell you differently, but the 360 is actually doing a lot of good things right now. Like, a ton. Not only has Microsoft finally gotten some Japanese developers on the scene, but they also have managed to get an astonishing amount of good games on the system- and beyond Halo 3 this time, too. From Dead Rising to Lost Planet and beyond, it seems as if Microsoft is finally getting settled so far as the gaming industry is concerned.

I know well that I have often bashed XBOX Live, but it has finally become worth it. With the Live Arcade upgrading at every moment and the many games for it becoming more and more online-oriented, it seems as if XBOX 360 gamers have a lot to play with in the future. Many movie studios are even going so far as to put their movie trailers on the XBOX Live platform- a sign that many companies see promise in the platform.

And that's, at least in my opinion, the ?big reason? why the 360 is doing so insanely well. Microsoft is playing their cards right. Instead of wasting their time on stupid advertisements or programs, Microsoft is simply going back to the basics, selling systems based on games and features. Now that the console has a huge library of games, it actually DOES deserve the top spot for the next-gen consoles. A lot of good things are going to come from that little white system.

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