A lot of this episode revolves around the 30th anniversary of the classic fighting game in this week’s Gaming Flashback, Street Fighter II. The episode also looks at a lot of the hot news around the industry.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
This is a Gaming Podcast lite episode, it’s got less calories because we’re right in the middle of travel plans heading to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail (conference). This is also the reason the show is going out late this week as I’m posting it from a hotel room with crappy wifi, but we did it… we got it done. I’m keeping the show notes simple this week because we’re rushed for time.
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).
Xbox 360‘s been seeing success in Europe, but nothing compares to the success they’ve seen since the recent price cuts. Sales for the 360 are up 214% which is pushing them past the two-to-one sales ratio against the more expensive PlayStation 3.
We’re assuming this 214% increase is due to the cheaper price combined with a large selection of great game titles. No doubt Microsoft is happy to hear the news that their price cut went over so well in all countries. Unfortunately, we’re not so sure a straight PlayStation 3 price cut would drastically change the sales ratio because the PS3 still has very few exciting games when compared to the Xbox 360 which has a year head start on its bigger competitor.
Microsoft’s new to console success, being the odd duck last generation. They’ve learned a lot and has kicked up the competitive nature of console gaming, giving PlayStation 3 a run for its money. Competition is wonderful and is probably making Sony’s exec’s wonder what tactic to chooes next.
Of course, the Wii is a sales rampage and has been for a few years now. At this point, it’s not even fair to compare the two. However, we’re sure Microsoft will eventually come out and boast their recent European victories as sales figures solidify and become “official.”
Can Sony put up any Resistance to this market domination?
Read on for more press release information from ChartTrack.
