Apparently the war is in full force and Microsoft’s Don Mattrick is ready to poke the flag in the ground and call it a sure fire victory (in so many words). He said he’s “willing to declare here today that Xbox 360 will sell more consoles worldwide this generation than PS3” (eurogamer)
They’re either not seeing the Wii as a competitor or are trying to avoid that evil word considering the growth of the tiny little console in the market. After telling the audience the Xbox 360 has already outpaced the PlayStation 3 and Wii he failed to mention the one-year head start the 360 had over its competitors.
There are, of course, bonuses to talking figures when you were first out of the gate. The interesting facts, which won’t present themselves for years now, will be the end unit sales figures for Wii, 360 and PlayStation 3 when all boxes are end-of-life’d. We’re sure to hear each side declare victory when they’ve decided when the war actually ends. In Microsoft’s eyes, the console war will probably end when they release the next-generation box, barring the fact that they should wait at least one year before claiming the title.
You can’t argue with the facts, Xbox 360 is doing very well in the United States (if we ignore Japan). The Nintendo Wii has sold 8.8 million units to the Xbox 360‘s 10.3 million units. How many units did the Xbox 360 have sold around the same time Nintendo boasts 8.8 million? Probably a bit less.
Press can be a great thing when you have numbers to play with and figures to skew. Oddly enough, if some of us are any indication, we’ve purchased multiple Xbox 360’s because of dead systems. Sure, we’re stupid for actually doing it, but those figures will work into the total units sold for the Xbox 360 hardware sales. Imagine, their failing systems may have actually boosted sales figures a bit; probably not statistically significant but funny non-the-less.
We can’t wait to see what type of numbers Sony and Nintendo are going to fling out. If we ask each competitor, we’re sure they’ll say we’re going to win the console war. Nintendo may just ask, “what console war? We just make game hardware” and you can’t fault them there!
Merry Christmas guys!
@ Patch for AC Unity: They really do need to stop rushing games out that aren’t finished, a positive is they at least addressed issues. I never understood the need to rush a game before it was done, the people wanting to buy it are still going to do so even if you need a few more months to fix things. It does looks pretty bad if you have to redo the whole game that’s already been shipped.
@Blizzard gold for time: It does sound like a nice idea for players to pay for their time with the in game money. The article did have in it’s quote that it would cover some of the cost, I’m sure they will limit how much gold you can give so it’s not an entire month free. I’m sure someone will find a way to abuse this though.
@Hatred: Games like this always make me uneasy. Where is the line between artistic trying to get people to experience things and just being gratuitous because you want to be. Should games like Custard’s Last stand be allowed on Steam along with those Nazi games that Jonah mentioned? I think Jonah does have a point with the consequences, if your shown that this is not acceptable behavior, maybe even go so far as to show just how these actions affect the lives of those victims.
I just feel Hatred is more about the killing than trying to get you to see how terrible a thing that is. At least in GTA V when you did the torture scene you were given a speech about how useless and terrible such acts are. You are hunted by the police when you get wanted ratings, you are shown consequences for your actions.
@ last QotW: I’d like to choose the Tarrasque from Dungeon’s and Dragons, the ultimate middle finger to players when the DM wants to tell them they are royally screwed. This mammoth is roughly the size of Mount Everest, spews acid, has massive claw/bite/tail damage. He is the Godzilla of the Mystical realms.
@ This week’s QotW: Yes I have used Humble bundle, and I’m glad it has helped to raise so much money.
Hey Guys, with regards to the questions about connectivity options for older consoles. If it has a RF connection then they will need an RF Modulator. If they have older composite or S-Video (Yellow RCA, or 4 pin connect) then they can check out these product from StarTech.com. They offer both basic converters and up scalers. Yes up scalling will not make the image look better but might enable support with some TVs that do not normally support it.
http://www.startech.com/AV/Converters/Video/