Metal Gear Solid 4 was a solid release for the PlayStation 3, the exclusive title that gives Sony an edge over the competition. This was Sony’s Halo 3 title and it needed to be a big success in order to keep gamers confident in the Sony brand.
Sony is reporting a 300% increase in PlayStation 3 sales over last month, mainly due to the desire for people to own Metal Gear Solid 4. Remember, this isn’t an increase in game sales, this is an increase in console unit sales, providing evidence that MGS4 sold consoles.
While Grand Theft Auto 4 seemed to sell a few consoles but, overall, didn’t impact console statistics during its release, this exclusive PS3 title has done just the opposite. Perhaps because of its exclusivity? Xbox 360 consoles have been in the hands of the consumer for a few years now, most of those consumers actually purchased GTA IV (as expected and reflected in sales) but not a lot went out to purchase the console. They already had it or didn’t care to own it for a game like GTA IV.
While many people purchased Metal Gear Solid 4 because it’s “Metal Gear,” you can see from the trailers that the game looked impressive, felt complete and contained a lot of great action. You’ll get a great sales pop the first few days on a title with a huge fan base but to sustain the growth and sell consoles you’ve got to provide a well known title that doesn’t suck.
MGS4 doesn’t suck by any reviewers score; it’s not perfect, but what game is? MGS4 delivered what it was said to deliver with very few bad experiences and that’s all you can ask for a console moving title.
So, what next? Sony has promised us that MGS4 is just the first of many titles to blow our minds. Resistance 2, Little Big Planet and what of that MAG game they showed off at E3? 256 players? We won’t hold our breath for that title, but Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet, combined, may move a few more units.
It may not be about the games today that move the next round of PlayStation 3 consoles, it’s about the promise of the games tomorrow with titles like MGS4 to hold us over until then.
(more…)
Going for the sex sells eh? Not that anyone would know the difference either way.
“Companies spend money like fish” Doesn’t sound like any company I’ve been at. I have at two work places that had several computers still on XP, they take a long time to upgrade anything. I’ve seen old plotters still be used from decades ago. I think companies tend to the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Paul if you have a spare Windows 7 computer why don’t you see if Grim Fandango works on it? Or have you already tried?
@Windows 10: Yeah it feels like a real desperate attempt at good will for the Windows OS in general. I think giving it away free for a year they feel will garner some slack. Though if you upgrade I don’t know if you can go back to Windows 7 or 8.
@Kojima: I think Metal Gear is becoming one of those games that need to be retired now.
@Tempest Debacle: Looking at the screen shots I feel like I have seen this game mechanic before in other games. Having never played these two I can see it’s a ship that spins around a “pit” shooting at things in the center. I feel that that was a very old Atari game at some point. However he’ll probably have to pay a settlement for this as it does look like he is trying to remake the game that belongs to Atari now. There’s making a game that uses certain mechanics and then there’s just making what looks to be a clone of what they did previously. If I made a game where you jump up and down a large block pyramid with a little orange dude named Q’bort I’m sure Atari would see through that as well.
@Xbox for sale: If it’s for sale maybe a former console company could buy it to bring its self back like Sega or Atari. Though I don’t know if anyone would want to buy it. With the way they’ve been talking about integrating Xbox and Windows gaming I don’t think they would sell that then.
@Nintendo’s NX Gen: I’m intrigued what they will do, if nothing else we’ll have a new name to have fun with the NX Gen.
Since there was no QotW, I thought I’d ask something: “What do you think is the future of Old Games?” To give more context anyone who wants to read an old book, see an old movie or listen to an old song can easily do so. However with Games that will become difficult, especially in cases of games that are Online only and once servers are gone so too is the game. Later generations of people may have a hard time playing games that are no longer workable on current gen consoles or even computers. I wanted to know what your guys thoughts are on this.