Console Wars – my predictions for 2K8
The holiday spending spree clearly had a great impact on console sales all across the globe, with Nintendo’s Wii still very much in short supply even although they are producing 1.8 million units per month.
The Wii has continued it’s upwards trend and have surpassed the XBox 360 as far as sales go, but the PS3 is making a definite comeback. I predict this year to be a good year for the PS3 camp as developers are starting to come to grips with the notoriously difficult-to-develop-for PS3, and we’ll finally start seeing good titles hitting the shelves. Tie that in with the Warner Bros. Bluray win for Sony and I predict that we’ll have a much closer race at the end of the 2009.
Microsoft will have to up their game as there is quite a bit of unhappiness with the XBox LIVE (XBL) crowd given the poor service levels over the holidays period over and above the constant whining about PSN being gratis and XBL not.
Don’t expect Microsoft to stop charging for XBL though, Redmond has no intention of losing out on any possible cash they can earn and ultimately Microsoft’s early lead they experienced with the XBox 360 is starting to crumble, as people are realizing that the lack of built-in WiFi support and the exorbitant price tag on the official Microsoft XBox wireless adapter is smelling more and more like a rip-off.
Microsoft’s refusal to bundle the XBox 360 with a HD DVD player is also leaving a bitter taste in the potential owner crowd, but given the recent successes of Bluray I don’t think that will be an issue for much longer. Microsoft has announced much more online content in the XBL marketplace, clearly an indication that the console is just a platform to attract people to a greater entertainment nirvana, but until I officially have XBL support in my country none of this really makes a difference in my day to day gaming experience.
Nintendo seems to remain impervious to any bad moves, and all around you are experiencing growing numbers of people becoming increasingly more excited about owning a Wii. Clearly Nintendo hit the nail on the head with their low cost, bad graphics console, but in my opinion it is still a niche console aimed at the less mature, more juvenile market – just look at the games line up for this year and you’ll see exactly where they’re aiming. Nothing wrong with their strategy though, selling theoretically more than 1.8 million units per month speaks volumes of the market approval for the Wii
