Microsoft 1st, Sony Last in Holiday Console Sales

[Guest]

As anyone else will tell you, it's all about what kind of games you want to play. If you want to play a mediocre game that looks good and is way overhyped, buy a 360. You'll get a few of these a year. If you want to play gripping, technical showpieces, and get one almost every month, buy a PS3. I'm just saying. As far as Move vs. Kinect. Move = A little bit of casual and a little bit of core. Kinect = Casual. Sony hasn't strictly gone after one market. They've tapped into the casual market some, but the other half of their beast is still waiting to be unleashed. I'm a core gamer. I play everything. I have both motion setups. I have to. If I want to consider myself a core gamer, I have to have both. I would much rather pay extra for a motion control setup for my PS3 and be able to play all the different types of games offered rather than pay slightly less and have to play fitness, sports, or dancing games only. Sony went with a controller style motion controller for a reason, rather than controller-less like they began with the EyeToy. They like to please their core fanbase. Thanks Sony. Keep up the good work.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

i think the bottom line is the xbox is cheaper than ps3. the people that will buy ps3 are people like me who also use it for blueray and watching and recording TV. If it wasnt for blueray i would have an xbox as they are cheaper.

 

[Pawessum16]

[citation][nom]dark_lord69[/nom]"..where did Sony go awry?"When the console was first released it was $600 and second to the market.[/citation]
...and the cheapest dedicated bluray player cost $1000. I thought it was a steal considering Sony was selling their consoles at a loss for the longest time. Apparently not everyone thought that, but that's what you pay for new technology and Sony was taking a gamble. Unfortunately it's taken awhile for bluray to become more mainstream which has made Sony's gamble a bit of a half fail. I love it though!

 

[e-rock]

Sony could easily beat out MS if they Just let the Nerds(Hackers) unlock the PS3 to it's full potential, giving it the "It NOW does everything" Tag line.

 

[tarheelfan]

The real problem is not Kinect vs Move. There were no AAA titles for the PS3 since the early part of the year and God of War III. Gran Turismo 5 is coming out too late to make any real difference if it would anyways. MS has been banging it out this last part of the year. Not only did they release the Kinect, but they also had a complete redesign of XBOX 360, lowered the price (albeit with hidden costs) and they released big titles like Halo: Reach and Fable III. I would be curious to see how many of the console sales were for replacements for old style XBOX 360s vs new customers. I know many people sold their old system to buy the new , quieter and cooler design with no more RROD.

With no big name titles for most of the year and a horrible ad campaign for the Move (i.e. there was almost no buzz despite all the postive reviews) Sony had no momentum for most of the year. I would be curious to see how this changes with addition of big name titles next year and better integration of the Move. I would bet the gap would be far narrower than this year.

 

[falchard]

I hope Microsoft adds Kinect functionality to its next console, because right now the XBox360 is on its way out along with the Wii. The PS3 is still at half-life. The Kinect really needs some good processing muscle behind it which a generation old console simply cannot provide. Without one you really cannot use the Kinect in many gameplay aspects and its reminiscent to the Playstation EyeToy in its feature of titles.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]badaxe2[/nom]3D is where Sony is doing the risking now.All these motion devices are little more than gimmicks because they still are limited to a TV screen. Cue virtual reality. Maybe that will finally have a chance at rivaling a gamepad or kb/mouse.[/citation]
1) How is 3D risky? Hollywood and the electronics companies are pushing 3D as the next big thing. So its really only a matter of time, like it or not. Hopefully by the time it is mainstream, 3D TVs won't blow, and they won't require special glasses.

2) 3D, the thing your darling Sony is pursuing, is (in your own words) limited to a TV screen. It is not VR. Just like you said... a gimmick!

 

[darkavenger123]

Good job by MS. I have a KINECT and love it. let put it this way, as some people mentioned here, the casual market IS the mainstream now. It is a huge market which Nintendo has digged out with the WII and MS is eyeing to grab that market away....and very successful i might say. Casual gamers find the freedom in KINECT a totally new experience and almost utopian (but of course, it's far from perfect). Hardcore gamers can bitch about 'lack of core games', but frankly, core games will NEVER work with motion controllers as well as the old trusted gamepad. I don't see how the WII market will go to SONY...just another better waggling stick. SONY will still have a niched market trying to improvise core games with motion controlling...but i'm not sure how successful it'll be. All i can say is, if you want a totally new experience, never done before, KINECT is the answer. If you like to waggle stick, WII has tons of games and a matured library. SONY is stuck in between and neither here or there (other than some hardcore gamers, which i stress again, is not the mainstream market anymore).
This is why KINECT will win the motion controller market this holiday season. Further down the road, all platforms needs better games. If MS can improved on the KINECT technical limitations and keep up with good casual games. They will win over the competitors.

 

[sahil]

[citation][nom]cser[/nom]The problem with Sony is that kids ask for video games for Christmas, but the Ps3 has no games.[/citation]


Hello fail troll

PS3 has more exclusive games than Xbox, and is an overall better system for your money. I have owned both and finally came back to PC gaming. But saying that PS3 has no games is a totally an idiotic thing to say. Xbox has no upcoming games, the next few years will be dominated by the Wii and PS3.

 

[adamboy64]

The thing that frustrates me with Kinect is that MS said that 'Kinect would extend the 360's lifespan by 5 years'.. If this really is the case, the console war could just stand still.

I've been hanging out for a new Xbox too..

 

[corporal_linko]

I own all 3 consoles and when a big title comes out my teens want it on the 360. It's pretty simple, all of their friends are on Xbox Live playing the game. Xbox Live is muliplayer gaming done right, PS3 was late to the game on getting the online play really going and it still feels bolted on where as Xbox Live feels like part of the console. Our PS3 has pretty much been demoted to a Netflix machine in my oldest boys room. It used to be my primary Bluray machine but it gobbles up more electric than my TV and was heating up the basement(it is an older fatboy model). I bought a $110 dollar Bluray player that uses 25 watts and is dead silent. Curious to see what will happen in the next generation consoles, any way you look at the competition is great for all of us consumers.

 

[Guest]

Sony Move = Wii Controller
Xbox Kinect = Sony Eye Toy

 

[DawnTreader]

I don't care about PS3 vs Xbox 360. for the moment the Wii is all i need. i have enough trouble keeping my son from wanting to play violent games ( he is 3.) and i don't need another reason to fight with him about what game to play. The Wii is the only truly family friendly console and untill both my boys are able to handle it i wont even consider another console.

by then we should all be playing by using our brainwaves so this Move vs Kinect argument wont matter. 😛

 

[Kira1188]

To all you guys mentioning marketing as a major reason behind the difference in success here, marketing actually has a surprisingly small effect on consumers. While they do inform consumers about the new product, all those ads really don't make people run out and buy a product. Money spent on advertising has almost no effect on market share. (This is what psychology research is saying, I swear I'm not making this up). So Sony's marketing campaign really isn't to blame for their lack of success and vice versa for Microsoft.

That said, the Move really does just seem like a slightly improved version of the Wii with good graphics. My little cousin said it was awesome though (I haven't seen it). But the Kinect... absolutely awesome idea at least in concept. As long as Microsoft follows through with good games and improvements, I'd say they have a solid win.

 

[adamboy64]

So marketing doesn't sell products?
Forgive my skepticism of that comment.

 

[kartu]

So it comes down to the fact that Microsoft’s success lies in its positioning as a new technology developer giving the user complete freedom in handsfree motion game play

Nope. It comes down to US press bashing Sony and praising Microsoft. Same as with Sony Readers. Reviewers whine about "oh, it has no wi-fi" and nobody mentions "oh, you aren't bound to Amazon store, oh, you can even borrow ebooks from libraries".

 

[kartu]

Just checked that last article on PS on anand's site is dated 2005.

 

[kartu]

[citation][nom]Kira1188[/nom]Money spent on advertising has almost no effect on market share. (This is what psychology research is saying, I swear I'm not making this up). [/citation]
You are making this up.
Money spent on marketing is spent much more effectively, if media will favourably review your product and ignore/trash product of the competitor. Show me PS3 move on this very site.


[citation]So Sony's marketing campaign really isn't to blame for their lack of success and vice versa for Microsoft. [/citation]
Right. It was tom, who explained to you, how innovative is innovation by Microsoft and how terrible is having buttons on game controllers. Fingers are soo much better.

[citation]But the Kinect... absolutely awesome idea at least in concept. [/citation]
Right, "at least in concept", do you realize, how they've washed your brain?
How do you trigger an event please? And I don't even mention 250ms lag.

Sometimes I just want to "trigger" something with a tiny movement of a finger. How do I do that with kinekt please?

 

[aaron88_7]

[citation][nom]bourgeoisdude[/nom]It boils down to the fact that MS did a brilliant job in marketing. Sony wasn't bad--they've sold quite a few Move consoles, but MS successfully convinced consumers that theirs was the one you "had to buy". As to which one is better, or has more potential...? Not sure yet. I don't own either.And back to your regularly scheduled console flamewars.[/citation]There's nothing brilliant about signing a check for $500,000 in advertising. Microsoft has done well in advertising, they just have a lot of money to throw around to get people's attention. It would be brilliant if they sold this many units on a much more conservative budget.

And I don't know what company Microsoft had to buy to produce the Kinect, but knowing how Microsoft works it had to be the result of an acquisition after another hefty check from upstairs. Microsoft took a big gamble as they often do and finally one of them paid off.

Now the real question is what will they do with the Kinect in the future? Will they accept a hacking community that is fostering new uses for the Kinect device or will they do what they usually do and slam down their iron fist and demand any and all uses be approved by them first? I'll bet on the latter, I'd expect new versions of the Kinect soon after the holiday season that will be much more difficult to hack for uses cooler than Microsoft could imagine on their own.

 

[aaron88_7]

Opps, I mean Microsoft has never done well in advertising. I can't believe they are still using that stupid "jump in" slogan, and don't get me started on the lame Windows 7 adds....