Microsoft and Sony will be more competitive than ever in 2010 with their Xbox 360 and PlayStation consoles, respectively. With the price gap closed and exclusive games more competitive than ever, next year’s console wars will be terribly interesting to watch. Microsoft director of product management Aaron Greenberg told Gamasutra three reasons he believes his console will do better than Sony’s:
We will do three things well. One, we will continue to offer a better value on hardware pricing. We will continue to remain $100 cheaper than PS3. Two, we will have more games, more blockbuster exclusives, no matter the genre. Three, you add all of the entertainment and social network. That’s our focus, to keep adding more and more value. Consumers vote with their dollars, and so far it’s been paying off, and we feel confident about next year as well.
I agree on his first point; Microsoft will continue to sell Xbox 360 Arcade systems, simply because people are attracted to the price point and don’t realize that you need to buy a bunch of other accessories to make it fully functional. For games, I haven’t seen anything that indicates that the Xbox 360 will have better exclusives. That could change at E3, of course. As for value-added features, I’m sure there are some people that will buy an Xbox 360 over a PlayStation 3 because the former’s social-networking features are marketed better, but is it really a significant number? *shrug*
I’m not going to pretend to be a highly paid analyst from Wedbush Morgan, but I will ask you to channel your inner Michael Pachter. Do you think the race between the PS3 and Xbox 360 will be close? Who will win when the dust settles?!?
I dont think they can keep selling the "we have more and better games" line anymore.
1. "we will continue to offer a better value on hardware pricing."
Really?
2. "We will continue to remain $100 cheaper than PS3."
That true but you can't compare a gimped system to fully functional one. Those customers won't be too happy when they realize what they'll have to pay for a HDD and or wi-fi.
@RRODisHere Value is definitely not an accurate word to use, but it's one he has to use. He can't really say, "We will continue to sell cheaper consoles with less capabilities."
3. "Two, we will have more games, more blockbuster exclusives, no matter the genre."
More blockbuster exclusives? No matter the genre? There's more genres than shooters you know.
The 360 gets the next full Halo game next year plus two big RPGs, Fable and Mass Effect. I see Halo as the big winner for next year with Fable and Mass Effect competing for second and third place with what ever games Sony has. Plus, Natal should be out next year with Sony either rushing their motion "controller" or delaying it to 2011. One juggernaut of games plus their new ticket to the casual market should reap plenty of rewards for them next year.
4. "Three, you add all of the entertainment and social network. That’s our focus, to keep adding more and more value."
If they add something worthwhile then that's great but adding free features such as Facebook and Twitter to a paid service is hardly adding value since we can use those features anywhere else for free.
@Sandrock
Halo Reach is a given but do you honestly think that Mass Effect 2 and Fable 3 will do better than Gran Turismo 5 and God of War 3? The first Mass Effect never past 2 million and Fable did 3 I believe but Gran Tursimo Prologue(the demo) sold 4 million so the real game will definitely beat that.
@RRODisHere Agreed on GT5 and God of War 3. I can't help but wonder what reaction your argument would get on TheFeed. Ha!
@Raymond Padilla
That comment from me would turn The Feed upside down and inside out and would make some readers who don't have an account make one quickly to flame/insult me.
@Sandrock
Also, I believe that the Sony motion controls comes out in the Spring so I don't see how Natal can cause it to get pushed back.
GT5 will not sell as well as previous installments. It has competition now.
I know it sounds like I am hating on Sony, I have noting against them…but I'm not looking forward to GoW3 or GT5. GT5 has taken so long, I don't even care about it anymore…and GoW3 needs to have an epic story for me to buy it. I was never that into the action as much as the story in those games.
@RROD
I agree with you for the most part, but when using GranTurismo Prologue as a reference for sales you have to remember it was never a "full" priced game and I think that attributed it a lot of sales. (I have it and still play it though, well worth it)
@Ray
We'll see. It will be close I think. Kids love Halo.
@RROD &R-Pad
Gow of War will definitely be a contender, but GT5 won't be. (NPD wise at least) Racing game, especially sim racers, have been on the decline recently.
GT5 and GoW3 are going to be huge, and they are going to be big system drivers for the PS3. I think the one thing that makes the Fable/ME argument weaker (even though I will be purchasing ME2 on launch day) is that RPGs never do as well as the action game… and while Greenburg can joke about GT actually releasing as much as he wants, that game is going to move a ton of money it's first week out.
@Sandrock – I think GT will buck that trend. This is the grand daddy of the modern day racing sim. It will move units.
I know a lot of people like the 360, but I truly enjoy my PS3 more, hands down. It is far more functional than my 360. Even though I got my second 360 given to me after buying,hating and subsequently selling my first 360, I still feel my $600 PS3 is a better value.
Do all 360s have HDMI now? Mine doesn't.
As far a blockbuster go, there is nothing on the 360 I am looking forward to. Now I'll probably pick up Reach when it comes out because I love the Halo books and Halo 1&3. But aside from that I didn't enjoy Mass Effect and I bought Fable after G4 gave it game of the Year, but I don't like it.
I do believe that Sony has the best exclusives again in 2010. GT5 and GOW3 are a given and people who have played Indigo Prophecy and Shadow of the Colossus are definitely looking forward to Heavy Rain and The Last Guardian. More play, create, share with Mod Nation Racers. 256 player online battles with MAG and Resistance 3 for shooters. JRPGs White Knight Chronicles and Final Fantasy 13 vs. Agent from Rockstar North(the makers of GTA). And I'm really hoping the Eat, Sleep, Play game from David Jaffe is the rumored Twisted Metal, I love that franchise. Not to mention the Sony sports line, MLB is the best hands down. Sony has the most diverse line up by far. I'll stop now before I turn this into The Feed.
@Sandrock
Racing sims are on the decline? For Forza maybe but not GT. People are waiting on GT.
@Slicky
I know it wasn't a full game and that's why Sony doesn't charge full price for games that are not full games.
@Smartguy
GOW always has an epic story.
Final Fantasy vs isn't releasing in 2010. Resistance 3 will blow if they rush it….and don't do the narrative they used in the first one. I'm skeptical of MAG. That is a huge endeavor and won't be easy to pull off. I'll give it a try though. I'll pass on Twisted Metal. That series never did anything for me. I'd prefer Jaffe to do a new IP. I love new IPs.
@Sandrock
I think you need to look up how much the GT franchise has sold. It sold much more than Halo.
@RROD
GoW3 isn't produced by Jaffe. I will have skepticism until proven otherwise.
I don't think many people are waiting on GT5…not as many as there were for previous entries. People who wanted a racing sim have probably already picked up Grid or Forza.
@Smartguy
You're a tough customer. Everyone in the MAG beta says it plays good with no lag.
@Smartguy
People that wanted a shooter also pick up Halo, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, and Gears 2 as well but when the grand daddy of them all came out they all bought MW2 in droves. The same will happen with GT5. Other racers don't compare. God of War will still be epic without Jaffe. He's only one man of many in that studio. It will be fine.
@RROD
I didn't get into the beta, but a friend of mine got a code. he had issues trying to connect. i'm sure it will be fixed. i just don't know how much I will personally like 128 vs 128
@Smartguy
Also, don't think that because someone bought Grid and or Forza that they won't buy the king.
True about the shooters. Good point indeed. We'll see though.
@Smartguy
About MAG, all I'm saying is don't worry about performance. All PS3 exclusives use dedicated servers so you don't have to worry about lag and performance. MW2 is very laggy at times.
MW2 is crap on xbox often. I dislike the matchmaking.
1) Head honchos from each of the 3 console makers get paid to say things like this, true or not.
2) Mass Effect 2 and God of War 3 will be both be outstanding games, sales numbers be damned.
3) I can't imagine MAG working the way they claim it does because it's impossible to get 4 people who don't know each other to work well together in most multiplayer games. Make it over 100 per side and all I see is chaos.
@Nightshade;
Chaos is fun!
-M
Well someone just needs to Partner with Nintendo and there will be no war anymore, Only destruction.
@Nightshade
MAG is broken up into squads of 8. You will only be in communication with your other 7 squad mates. Only squad leaders can talk to other squad leaders. It's not 128 people using the same lines of communication. This has the potential to be the best tactical shooter yet.
@Smartguy I think you're seriously underestimating the popularity of Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy.
@RRoD: I know how MAG is broken up, I just don't see it working well. I think it's a good concept, I just don't have that much faith in fellow random gamers to make it work right.
@RROD
As a series and globally, I'm sure it has sold well. However, GT has been out of the industry for a long time. I'm sure their name alone will push sales, but being a PS3 exclusive is going to hurt it in the U.S. Japan is going to be its biggest sale region as that is probably the only region with a large fanbase that is waiting on it. As for the Sony se….. motion controller, it isn't ready for a spring release. Neither is Natal. Those products won't have any news till ~E3 when they reveal launch schedules. Also, Natal will launch first. Sony's controller is still changing and without a concrete design, devs can't start making functional games for it. I say fall for Natal and maybe Spring of 2011.
Microsoft is the sprinter and Sony is the marathon runner.
I think with ODST a lot of people finally realized that Halo is mediocre and are finally burning out on it, so I don't know if they can count on Reach to be the colossus they want it to be.
Fable 3 I think will massivly suffer the wrath of the consumers due to Peter Molyneux's over-hyping of the last two games.
I expect Mass Effect 2 to be the anchor for the 360 next year. I can't stand the first game, but the second one only seems to be building steam and looks like it'll pull through.
Sony's crazy array of exclusives seems to continue right on into next year, God Of War 3 chief among them.
Last Guardian is not only getting a lot of people interested in IT, but it's also getting people to go hunt down copies of Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus.
Heavy Rain….I've been skeptical about this one for a very long time now, but just yesterday I finally saw a video that has me seriously intrigued. I don't think it'll be a mass hit or anything, but I expect critical acclaim.
I'd not count out Gran Turismo 5 or Mod Nation Racers because racing games seem on the decline. In fact I rather think GT5 is a big part of WHY they're on a decline. No one wants to go out and buy some second rate racing game when the juggernaut that is GT5 is just a few months down the line (nobody needs THAT many racing games). Mod Nation Racer will appeal to every Mario Kart fanatic out there, and probably more than actual Mario Kart because it solves the main issue of running out of tracks, and has a far simpler to use online than the Wii's.
I get annoyed with stuff like Microsoft claiming the 360 is $100 cheaper than the PS3, or that AT&T has more coverage than Verizon. It's nearly false advertising. $100 cheaper for the stripped down useless model, or more half useless coverage just doesn't stand up to the PS3 or widespread 3G.
As far as motion controllers go I haven't really been paying attention to release windows and such, but I still stand by my original conclusion (the Feedback folks on G4 seem to agree) that Sony's Sphere/Gem/whatevs will be the one that's worth a damn to the core gamers due to the absolute need for buttons in complex games, while Natal tries to feed off of the casual market Nintendo has been building. I see Natal as MS painting themselves into a corner, similarly to how Nintendo did with the Wii. While Sony can pull off all the hardcore motion controller stuff (whatever that means), it can also function the way a Wiimote does and do equally well in Nintendo's territory. Natal is a one way casual street. They can't just spontaneously conjure buttons out of thin air unless they intend to track a 360 controller. But really, what is that then if not a convoluted Dualshock 3?
@Sandrock
You too, like Smartguy, underestimates the popularity of Gran Turismo. GT5 being a PS3 exclusive will not hurt it in the U.S. as you say. It will definitely sell more than Forza 3, which did not sell well so would you say that by Forza 3 being an Xbox exclusive hurt it? Also, there's a little country called Europe who is eagerly awaiting Gran Turismo more than any other region I believe.
@leyke
Great assessment. I too think Natal will fall flat on it's face mainly because of the false advertisement. Only shovelware games can be made "controller free". People will realize the false advertisement in the "controller free" Natal when they need the controller to have a good experience.
@Ray and RROD
So I'm the anomaly consumer who waited for GT5 for a while and has now said "the hell with it" since it is taking so long? That game won't release until this time next year, if it releases next year. I won't buy it. If I have it, it's because it was gifted to me. GT is a fun game, but it's no Diablo, so I can't wait forever on it.
I never bought Prologue. I saw it as a waste of money. I'm not spending $40 on a glorified demo ( a large one though) then another $60 on top of the full version. Can't do it. Also I want to see if I can turn off car damage. My car being invincible is GT. Caving in to the whiners who want their cars to crush will hurt that game. It's all about trial and error.
@Sandrock323 You think Euros don't love driving games?
@Smartguy I totally understand that you're not into GT5, but what does that have to do with how you think it will sell? I'm not into Modern Warfare 2 at all, but I knew it would sell millions.
@Ray
Because GT5 has legit competition this time around. That's all I'm saying. I know it will sell well, but it won't be a record breaker.
When it comes to hardware…the value REALLY is in the PS3. Blu-Ray, built-in wifi, and free online play really give it the edge against the 360 pound-for-pound in hardware value. Where I think Microsoft really shines is there community feel for Xbox Live and the Xbox Experience are much more consumer friendly than Sony is with the PS3. When I buy multiplayer games that are cross platform, I buy them for the 360 because most of my friends are on Live, and I can see what they are playing. I have VERY few friends on my PSN account and have only played Uncharted 2 (twice I might add) and Fat Princess multiplayer (Great game BUY IT!). I really wish Sony would look at what Microsoft has done and rip them off. Live is SO great to navigate it makes me dread doing anything online with my PS3. As for better games…PS3 is slowly but surely catching up. I can't wait for Heavy Rain and I will be buying FF XII on PS3 so I don't have to change discs. I think honestly it really comes down to, do you want everything out of the box with a lackluster UI or have to spend extra cash out of the box but have a UI that's been polished and is top notch. Just my two cents.
@Smartguy What's your definition of legit? There are comparable games, but I don't see anything that comes close to GT in terms of sales.
I have no interest in GT5 because I'm horrible at racing games. Doesn't mean I don't think it'll be a monster seller.
Thing is, most of the games I'm interested in next year are 360 exclusive or multiplatform. The big exception to this is God of War 3.
@RROD & R-Pad
I never said Europe wouldn't. Europe will definitely buy their fair share of GT5, but I think Japan has more "Gran Turismo" fans.
@Ray
Forza. Say what you will, but it is a good game. GT never had that necessarily in the previous two gens.
I really want to like GT, I really do. Polyphony has let me down though. The game has taken forever and as a consolation…they try and sell me a $40 dollar demo. No thanks.
Isn't the new Gran Turismo called Gran Turismo Forever? ;-) Too soon since 3D Realms folded?
@Smartguy Forza is a good series, but it's still just a drop in the bucket compared to GT. I don't see Forza eating away at GT's audience.
@Sandrock323 You said Japan "is probably the only region with a large fanbase that is waiting on it". That's simply not true.
I'm not really even in to racing games, but I eagerly wait for Gran Turismo 5 as the most accurate racing sim in existence* with over 1000 cars and loads of tracks, and I know a lot of people are with me on that.
*which was tested by Jeremy Clarkson, one of the few people on the planet genuinely capable of making that assessment.
ok, playing dragon age and i defeated the sloth dragon thing, and did something in the mage tower, now i have to get the first mage guy to help me with some possessed boy in redcliffe….am i nearing the end of the game?
@thundercracker Its' hard to tell. There isn't a strict linear path until the end of the game. You're enlisting the mages/templars at the moment. You can also recruit the Dalish, dwarfs, and Redcliffe soldiers.
i just met the gay elf dude
thomas dale high school division 6 state champions!!
william and mary had a good season too
@thundercracker He's not gay. He's bisexual.
@R-Pad
I think that the Europeans will be glad when it is out, but I doubt they are holding their breath like the Japanese. Europe has a fair balance between 360 and PS3 owners. They have more racing games to chose from over there.
For the record, GT2 was the only one I enjoyed.
@ray
lol i was just going off what i saw on conan