The Console Wars: Month 17

Long time no see... all 2 of you that read this ill-maintained blog of mine.

Nintendo's Wii and Sony's Playstation 3 have now officially been out for 5 months and have finally started cutting into Microsoft's marketshare (The Xbox 360 launched 17 months ago). The Wii has exploded onto the scene as this year’s hottest Christmas gift and Wii consoles are still impossible to find, while the PS3's sales have been struggling amid a whopping $599 price tag. The Xbox 360 still owns the market, selling almost 11 million units (Wii is at just over 5 million and PS3 is still slightly under 2 million).

This generation looks like it’s going to be a split between Nintendo and Xbox 360, with the main question still hovering over the Wii's ability to last for the duration (the next wave of consoles is expected in 2010 or 2011), but as of right now it’s still too early to tell. The PS3 started quickly, selling out the first shipment within the first hour of its release (but what new console doesn't?) and has since tapered off, mostly due to a relatively high price tag in comparison with the other two consoles and a general dislike of the console by much of the gaming community, not to mention the fact that Sony execs still refuse to own up to their own mistakes and keep sluffing the blame for everything on the consumers. Blaming the Customer, always a good way to win the hearts of the masses….

However, there have been a few new developments that have the capacity to really shake things up. Microsoft is poised to keep the sales crown, with the unveiling of the Xbox 360 Elite, a black 360 with an HDMI port and a 120 GB hard drive. They stay poised to win the battle of games as well, with one of Sony’s AAA titles, Devil May Cry 4, officially going multiplatform, and rumors of a second AAA game, Final Fantasy XIII, also going the route of DMC4. Exclusive support for Sony’s console is dwindling, and other than their first party companies and a resilient Konami, most publishers are eager to put their games on multiple platforms. Ex: Capcom (DMC4), Square Enix (FFXIII), Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed), Electronic Arts (Mercenaries 2), just to name a few of the formerly exclusive games that the PS3 has lost, not to mention Sony’s idiotic business decision last generation not to continue their exclusive contract with Take Two/Rockstar, the creators of GRAND f***ing THEFT AUTO. Gee, what could have made Sony let a franchise that sold better than any other PS2 franchise get away? Just another stupid business decision by a company plagued by stupid decision makers.

Nintendo execs, on the other hand, have been business geniuses, giving us the first system everyone and their grandmothers want to play (literally, nothing is more satisfying that seeing your 70 year old grandma own everyone else in your family at Wii Bowling). While the post-launch drought for the Wii has been pretty bad (Wario Ware: Smooth Movies, WiiPlay and SSX Blur are really the only titles we have received since launch), but upcoming games should bolster the Wii’s otherwise flaccid lineup (ba dum ching!). Super Paper Mario releases in a week, followed by summer/fall/winter releases of Nintendo-developed titles Mario Party 8, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, not to mention a myriad of other games from dev’s other than the Wii’s creator. After that, however, the future looks pretty murky for Nintendo’s “new way to play” console.

Final Sales Predictions for the 5^th Generation:

Nintendo Wii: 27 million
Microsoft Xbox 360: 25 million
Sony PS3: 15 million