This week probably has the most shocking and industry moving news of the week, as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo start to play nice — and their players get to play together.
This week’s news includes:
Let us know what you think.
Microsoft recently announced their price cuts on the Xbox 360, effective today, but what is motivating them? Microsoft’s not going to make much additional money by passing off the savings to the customer but they will, more than likely, sell a bunch of great new Xbox 360‘s to a new crowd of gamer.
Motivation? Sony.
“I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” says Don Mattrick, senior vice-president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Indeed, Nintendo is likely to run away with the lead in the current generation of console gaming, leaving Microsoft and Sony to battle for second place. (businessweek)
Who would have thought Sony and Microsoft would be battling out this generation for second place while Nintendo breezes through with their Wii console and a handful of games with mediocre game reviews? Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. If you saw this coming and you’re not on the marketing or project planning for one of these console makers you better prep your resume!
The battle isn’t cooling, Microsoft drops their price to compete with their big competitor Sony which also brings it closer to the price tag on the Wii getting two bird with one stone. The reason Wii is winning is clearly due to its broad demographic of grandpa and grandma non-gamers along with hardcore gamers who have to collect all the consoles and younger gamers that want to fit the trend.
Microsoft’s clearly shooting for second place by installing more units into the consumers home as possible. They’ve got a great library of first person shooter titles, a few RPG’s and RTS titles and the typical contraversial titles like GTA and Saints Row with more hot blockbusters (read: Gears of War 2) arriving soon.
I see this as a great opportunity for casual game developers to get into the Xbox Live Arcade market and start making themselves (and Microsoft) some money off the new gamers that will buy their first Xbox 360 for $199 and up. Microsoft’s getting closer to the low-budget gamer crowd with their price cuts so it would be great if they can take advantage of that market with lower cost titles as well.
If you’re a game developer looking for console stick time and you want to grab the attention of a large pool of gamers, the Xbox 360 isn’t a bad start!
While Microsoft isn’t aiming at Nintendo just yet, there is no doubt Nintendo will be in their sights if they can smoke the pants off Sony in the near future (by this holiday).
The TD Gaming Podcast heads to an uncertain future, as the TD Gaming Podcast will be closing its run with this cast. Derrick Schommer explains the reason that he and Jennifer will no longer be able to support the podcast, and thank the fans for their devoted support.
So, for old time’s sake, Derrick and Jonah Falcon cover the past week’s news:
We also cover the reader feedback over the past couple of weeks, and the Question of the Week is: what would you like to see happen to the podcast?
If this is the truly the last Gaming Podcast, thanks for your support and praise.
This weeks gaming podcast flashes back to Yo! Noid, for the NES and a bit of gaming history on Accolade while touching on some hot news topics:
Nintendo considering changing accelerometer chipsThis week’s soap box we’re asking you if you believe social networking and new media techniques will help or hinder the gaming industry.
