First, the PS3 has to begin releasing some great looking games, specially for the japanese market.
That or price drops.
Also: while the 360 is still having a bad time on Japan, the sales did increase some... due to games like Blue Dragon and Idolmaster... if Microsoft keeps an agressive strategy putting games that appeal to japanese gamers, we might have some change. After all, the 360 is still cheaper. And it seems it will become even cheaper.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Mr.SithNinja

Mr.SithNinja

kingmanic

Witzbold

Those figures don't really mean much. Unless you want to show the 360 had a year long head start and squandered it due to rushing to market. You should be looking into current trends such as how the PS3 has outsold the 360 on a regular basis without many 'household name' titles either. Most of the PS3's first year titles are all new IP that people are only now picking up and buying. Once MGS and FF ship it's the true turn of the tide.

Mongoosekun

Then again, I know 5 people who bought a PS3 for Blu-Ray and within a month were hooked on MotorStorm... so there's a chance your friends might follow the same path.

zoesch

fuchikoma

Bleentastic sees bandwagon and jumps

I didn't really believe the Blu-Ray only buyers were out there, but I am meeting them. All 30+ people with HDTVs with extra income and who are into movies. It will be interesting to see if software sales numbers perk up with the added consoles or whether these casual buyers really will skip playing games.

I offered to take their controllers and/or bundled games off their hands....no dice. LOL

lionkitten

reptile168

giovonti

Lanhoj

badz149

Patcher, go fuck yourself troll.

ManjiKengo

KEELr

Have you ever been to Japan?

No chances of that happening, believe me! Not console wise, and not electronics wise either.

As I once heard from someone not so long ago: "Are you freaking high or just plain clueless???"

Kaneda

@lionkitten: That was my argument... Halo has historically shown the most absurdly high attach rates in the industry compared to any other franchise, which shows how right Microsoft was to snatch Bungie when they did.

zoesch

I don't think any Sony IP has the sales power of Halo overall. GT "might", but it's gotten a lot of competition in it's absence too, which may have an effect. MGS has been up and down.

But I think that's probably been true for a while. Nintendo is the company with a plethora of base-motivating IPs... and MicroSoft with Halo is a force to be reckoned with for getting their fans to buy consoles.

That was true last gen too. And even the gen before that, Sony had arguably weaker IPs than Nintendo and Sega...

... so why the oversell of PlayStation? It's not just about the titles, clearly.

That isn't to say I don't love all my PlayStations and their games... because I do... but the power of those IPs doesn't seem to have the same weight.

I'd say 3rd parties, if any IPs, did a lot of work... and losing some of that momentum is surely going to hurt. Grand Theft Auto belongs in the discussion over why Sony will hurt for sure.

But still, the PS brand has a power of it's own too, at least in people's minds for the last two generations... and there is a lot of variety in their successful properties.

Even if some of those 3rd party properties are leaving... is the mainstream yet to buy going to associate GTA with PlayStation any less than they do with RockStar? Of the people not "us" that is.

Difficult to say... maybe, maybe not. But I think the game is pretty different right now than in the past... and it's difficult for me to transfer previous charts to mean anything in that light... I just fall short with a lot of "well, what about ____" thoughts.

dv8godd

I mean, one could argue that the PS2 was purchased as a DVD player... but the PS1 had crazy numbers too.

Clearly something is different in the world that can't be extracted from a simple equation, ya know?

dv8godd

US
360 - 11.19 mil
Wii - 9.73 mil
PS3 - 4.25 mil
Total - 25.17 mil

Europe
360 - 4.50 mil
Wii - 9.67 mil
PS3 - 3.99 mil
Total - 18.16

Japan
360 - .59 mil
Wii - 5.50 mil
PS3 - 1.97 mil
Total - 8.06 mil

So, as is clearly seen, the largest, and thus most important to console and game manufactures, market is the North American one. Europe trails and Japan is a distant 3rd.

PS3 "winning" Europe over the 360, while definitely impressive and noteworthy, is not the big prize to hold high. They still trail the Wii significantly even in Europe.

This is Patcher's take, fine. He's been right a lot. But he's been wrong statistically a lot too. But its nothing for us to all bunched up about.

DARTH_TIGRIS

..although the less informed keep calling it blue-tooth. LOL. or blue disk! LOL.

but, trust me, the appeal of HDTVs is on the rise, especially as prices lower, and when their favorite movies get advertised as coming out on bluray, eventually everyone is going to break down and buy one, especially after all their friends and colleagues have one too!

personally.. i do think the ps3 is on the way up. i didn't buy a ps3 until i was REALLY quite sure it would succeed in the end. (although i nearly bought a 360 instead, a few months before).

i think most people realize the playstation name as being a quality system that will last them for years and years... i think it does appeal more than the 360 does, especially to less-hardcore gamers.

the wii is interesting, but i really think most people are going to want more than it has to offer in a few years.

joelface

clintonskneecap

It depends on whether people bought GT4 because they had a PS2 or whether they bought the PS2 to play GT4. Who knows how many consoles it will move.

I liked reading your response though. Thoughtful.

lionkitten

I personally hope for more of a tie MS needs to make money to stay in the game and Sony needs to hold a good enough share they dont give it up either. We dont really need to worry about Nintendo too much at this moment they are doing fine(I secretly dream of a 3 way tie). I don't see why some people seem to want an utter defeat of Sony or MS. If it wasn't for the 360 the PS3 and Wii wouldn't have came out when it did they could have easily delayed a couple more years and who's says the Motion controls wouldn't have been tacked onto the Cube. Sony is a bit reactionary I mean the PS2 didn't really get the push out the door till the Dreamcast came out Sony was planning on a cheaper undated PS1 before the Dreamcast. Not to say this is bad but why release hardware at a loss if you don't have to it's good buisness. I just prefer to have them fighting for my buisness while I suckle on the Teet of competition.

Konchu

Nobody over the age of 12 plays it here so it doesn't matter.

Mr.SithNinja

I think that particular factor, in your analysis, is that you're giving a bit too much credit to MGS4 (maybe not enough to GT5) as a brand pushing units... but that a number of other factors tend to come out on Sony's side too, which will likely mean more in their case than they had for MicroSoft previously.

But then, as Yoda would say, "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

@smallwang: I think there was an amendment in the text that put him at 70% of the time. And even where he's counted as wrong, he's not always "completely" wrong.

But then, he's sometimes stating the obvious too.

Overall, though, I think he's been more right than the industry would sometimes like to give him credit for. He's certainly said some regrettable things, but who hasn't? The difference is: we're not making Kotaku headlines when we predict badly. Hell, I thought the DS was doomed to be a failure... now I have two. I thought the Revolution was gonna suck too... but I've purchased 4 Wiis so far (not all for me, no).

We're all fairly fallible. Pachter probably has a better average than most of us overall.

dv8godd

tobybologna

KingDavid73

The only thing the US has in its favor is only one language and one classification board, which means, games can be released sooner to market. In Europe you have to get certified by the each country, independently... hopefully there will be a Euro-wide classification board soon, but then again, Germany will whine and so will the UK.

The "Euros" get plenty of franchises first (FIFA and PES for example, also Gran Turismo and F1 Racing)

Not to mention that most casual game developers (For consoles and mobiles) are in Europe.

I don't know where people get these funny ideas that Japan doesn't matter anymore, it's the country in the world with the highest density of consoles per inhabitant and the highest attach rate in the world. It's a gamer's nation and it's still relevant enough in terms of profits (And losses).

@kingmanic: The only reason the hardcore is the segment with the highest attach rate is that they are hardcore, it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the problem is (And look at Atari as an example) that's not enough to keep you afloat, so if it was for the hardcore gamers we'd still be playing on our cartrige based Sega neoGenesis and Nintendo 512 (Because I don't know if you remember but the hardcore derided CD based machines like the Playstation and the ill-fated 3DO because they were expensive, slower than cartridges and catered to the middle ground... funny how a good group of hardcore gamers flocked towards the Playstation in the end). Also, the hardcore market is really really fragmented, there might be according to my estimations around 30-40 Million hardcore gamers in the world (Give or take a couple of millions), that's enough to build a small nation but with all the fragmentation inside the hardcore community not enough to keep companies afloat unless they structure themselves around that market (id, Epic for example)

zoesch

Are you freaking high or just plain clueless?? The U.S. market is light years ahead of the Euro market, while the Euro market is a distant third in priority to Japan when it comes to gaming.

"I'll take Gaming Industry for $300 Alex."

'This U.S. based, software conglomerate makes one of the gaming industry's dominate consoles. The Xbox 360.'

"What is Microsoft?"

'Yes!'

"I'll take Gaming Industry for $500 Alex."

'You have found the Daily Double!! The answer to the Daily Double is:'
'2 out of the 3 gaming console powerhouses come from this place.'

"Umm... What is Japan, Alex?"

"Correct!"

It couldn't be any simpler. The U.S. gaming company wants it's home market and it competitor's market as well. That is why they are desperate for a foothold over Nintendo (never happen) or Sony (could happen) in Japan. At the same time, Sony and Nintendo are looking for their peice of the U.S. market after dominating Japan for so long.

The Euro market (or any other) is simply an after thought to them. Why do you think that when a huge title is launched that the Euros get it LAST!! Do they even have Brawl over there yet?? Yeah that's right... Didn't think so....

Mr.SithNinja

smallwang

Tepoz

pupaboy3

There were other games besides Halo 3 on the 360 at that time that made it a compelling buy. It's just that Halo 3 was a major game on the 360 platform. The same assumptions are made in the case of MGS4 and GT5 as those are major games on the PS3 platform. Sony will market and hype those games but there are other games besides MGS5 and GT5 that make the PS3 a compelling buy. It also becomes a wash.

In reality, I am giving both MGS5 and GT5 more of a consideration since I'm assuming that Sony will have a huge marketing campaign that rivals the Halo 3 campaign from Microsoft for each individual game. Also, if you looked at the charts I listed for referenced, I combined the two of the largest peaks in MGS and GT sales to give them even more of an advantage. In other words, I erred hugely on the side of MGS4 and GT5.

Lastly, I was looking at the American market. I am looking at the trends in Europe for both the PS3 and 360 but if you wish to post your data, by all means go on ahead as I'm more of an expert in the American market.

Tepoz

1. You can't necessarily apply that Halo increase in hardware/software sales means anything outside of Halo. It just doesn't work like that. You can't say x made y so tree makes dog, even as a test case. Halo isn't MGS4. It's not an identical crowd waiting for an identical event to happen on the other side of the fence. Case in point: MGS2 sold 7 million, MGS3 sold 3.5 (that's according to wikipedia, so grain of salt on % of accuracy)... Halo had 5 million, Halo 2 had 8 million. it's not the same movement of people.

That said, it isn't entirely unlikely that MGS4 will sell a million first week (give or take a few days)... but even so, you can't just apply the number of hardware units that H3 pushed over to MGS4 as though it were a good example... there is more to the landscape than a single game's possibility of selling... there's time of release, current console ownership, power of console brand, power of title brand, etc... all of which differ wildly between the two systems.

Saying 19,000 units, even with your very nice math (not being sarcastic there... it was fun to read), likely ends up with a pretty frustrating potential error variance of =/- 1000%. It's just guess work... granted, it's an elegant attempt at guesswork with nice numbers, but a guess nonetheless because it's based on one factor alone. Just too many other factors being ignored, is my point.

Not that I have more accurate data on other factors mind you... but I think you're putting too much weight on this one area.

2. Grand Turismo 1 sold nearly 11 million units... #2 sold nearly 10 million... #3 sold nearly 15... #4 sold close to 10 million. Every GT franchise has outsold any given Halo. Does that mean the percentage should be more? Again, it's fuzzy logic. Attaching the same console attach rate for these other franchises assumes largely similar situations and consumers... neither of which seem particularly true to me once you get past the people likely to buy all consoles anyway, which leads me to...

3. The people yet to buy consoles don't fit the behavior of the previous purchasers... they have different motivations. Looking at VGChartz to predict the behavior of more casual gamers is unlikely to yield much useful data. You can't just extrapolate what the hardcore did last year an plug it on forward. They are differently motivated, so it will come down more to which company they feel touches them most, not some line chart.

----------------------

My point isn't to say your wrong, but to say you're using some iffy logic to arrive at the conclusion. You're giving a lot of weight to the idea that the motivations and events will be the same despite evidence to the contrary and the difference in console ownership landscape. Halo 3 had an initial push by Gears of War to motivate purchase too, possibly pushing down the adoption rate because fans of Halo already had some games they might want to check out before Halo... whereas the PS3 has arguably had little that would have motivated fans of GT (save the free demo thing which kinda sucked) or MGS (no other stealth action or Kojima games yet).

Honestly, it could go either way... but if it does... I don't think it can be reduced to these kinds of numbers.

Sorry... don't take that as an offense... like I said, I've been pissing people off all day somehow... just making conversation.

dv8godd

ZOMBIE CONSOLE!!!

Slashlen

PaulHunter

kingmanic

Japan may not be as dominate as in past years but remove Japan from the landscape of gaming and it's a shadow of its former self. Gotta give Insomniac, Incognito and SCEE credit though. They kick so much ass right now.

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

MattB

Zeouterlimits

Murmaider

kingmanic

But Europe? I know PS3 is winning all but the UK, but come on, the new 360 pricing is too good atm, and Europe is to be close fought.

It all depends how much 360 wins in America by.

Communist_Gamer

Giving the Metal Gear Solid franchise the same benefit of the doubt, MGS4 should sell about 1,041,663 units for the first week (820,207->27% increase).

Halo 3 moved 68,319 consoles (172,954->241,273):
[vgchartz.com]

The relation between Halo 3 first week sales (3,788,992 units) and the number of X360 consoles sold (68,319) is: 1 console for every 55.5 games sold.

Giving Metal Gear Solid 4 the same benefit of the doubt, the number of consoles sold should be about 18,769 consoles sold.

If you look at Grant Turismo 5:
[vgchartz.com]

Expect GT5 to sell about 1,844,490 units (1,452,354*27% increase) and move about 33,234 consoles (1,844,490/55.5).

----------------------------

Here's the problem with Patcher's theory:
(1) The total estimated increase of PS3 consoles from two of the PS3's biggest hitters is 52,003 consoles. There is currently a difference of 6,930,518 consoles between the 360 and PS3.
(2) Looking at the current trend in PS3 sales in America:
[vgchartz.com]
[vgchartz.com]
The 360 has been able to keep its overall lead in America.
(3)This assumes that no games will be sold on the 360 or that no 360 games will have any impact.
(4)Is pushing the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player (and not as games console) a good idea?
(5)Really, really out there: Microsoft releasing a Blu-Ray add-on for the 360.

Tepoz

CartBlanche

Yoichi Wada, Square-Enix global president, had an interview with gamesindustry.biz where he stated that Europe was important for growth, and that Capcom and Sega were moving aggressively there. Whether it means we(Europe) have become bigger lately I can't say for sure, but at least there is considerable interest in marketing stuff here.

It would be cool if somebody could list a source of total games sold(percentage) in each respective region.

PixelRambo

I think what they mean is that Japan is not as important as it used to be when it comes to sales numbers and overall profit for game publishers. Which is true.

NutManIV

Dirk Dorkelson

Anyway...

I'm sort of surprised that most people here haven't quantified how large the hardcore market is, I've done my numbers, extrapolating a bit from other numbers to include the number of gamers who pirate, etc. and the numbers aren't that good for the hardcore enthusiast. So the hardcore aren't the defining force behind the console, in fact, like in the old days they can end up being a deterrent for Average Joe to purchase said console.

zoesch

PixelRambo

@Modus_Operandi: I disagree. Japan is still very important and believing otherwise is just delusional. In basic terms, without Japan there is no

Devil May Cry

Ninja Gaiden

MGS 4

Lost Odyssey

Super Smash Bros

Mario Galaxy

Final Fantasy

Virtua Fighter

Soul Caliber

Street Fighter

Marvel vs Capcom

King of Fighters

Shadow of the Colossus

Okami

Resident Evil

The list goes on and on.

People want to believe Japan is not important for some pretty silly reasons. But when american and european developers can make games that are as good or better than the games listed (and many more I didn't add) then we can talk about Japan not being important.

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

Look I own all three consoles and I almost never play my PS3, it just sits there and runs the Folding@home client. Every now and then I play some Resistance then I remember that online Resistance is like taking a time warp back to 1995-ish online play. Limited game types, awful matchmaking... 1995!

I WANT to play my PS3 but since I mostly play online games I have come to loathe the PS3's online features.

I realize "Home" is on the way but does that really fix the "joke" that online gaming on the PS3 is? I don't think so.....

Fanboi or not, Online on the 360 is so far ahead of the PS3, I wonder if Sony can ever begin to catch up.

axiomatic

I think they'll wait AT LEAST until Sony at least passes them in sales consistently. And they need to spend some time repairing their image with this series (RRoD has lingering memories that will come back to bite them again) before trying to convince anyone but the die-hard to re-buy.

The vast majority of people who bought into last generation, over 160 million, have yet to join the fray.

Though I agree that MicroSoft is likely to keep throwing wrenches into Sony's predicted timetable as a method of securing success... it's still too early. There are a lot of opportunities to milk this generation for another 1-2 years before rolling another next gen by marketing to the crowd that hasn't been touched yet. If they bail now, they forfeit the more casual crowd and lose potential mindshare, instead opting to cannibalize and existing user-base that's already somewhat annoyed with the hardware's performance.

So yeah... I'd wager you on that. Gentleman's bet at least. :)

dv8godd

...the fuck? yurop says hi.

cambridge

kingmanic

SkyChicken

Thank you, try again.

Witzbold

Gex

This may be stating the obvious as well, but... the people who don't pay attention as much as we do pay him so they don't have to.

It's only obvious to us because we read this shit all the time... like he does. And it's not even obvious to many of us above who read it all the time either. Some people are disagreeing here with the same data.

His predictions aren't meant for gamers... they're meant for investors who aren't gamers.

I agree that it's not always rocket science... but some of the numbers he's running do work out better if you've got the numbers background. He's not as much of a schlub as we'd sometimes like to believe, really. It's all a matter of perspective.

dv8godd

Spartan1308

kingmanic

Awesome. You friggin' nailed it. Nice post.

Sherlock_the_Barbarian

1) MS really hasn't shown us it gaming line up for this year, with the exception of a few and the obvious multi plat titles.

2) MS has a previous gen storage medium. Not that there is anything wrong with dvd NOW but next year. If anyone has doubts that a higher capacity format will be needed, they really need to pull their head out of the sand or their ass (where it may be lodged).

3) MS slashing it's system price so dramatically over the past year to grab a bigger market share. Look at previous generations of systems. There are always major price cuts toward the end of a life cycle.

Honestly, if MS reveals a new system this year or talks about having the successor to xbox 360 (whatever they decide to call it) ready for next year, I will not buy it. I, for one, am tired of companies like MS shoving products out the door for quick cash grabs (see Windows ME, Windows Vista, Office XP etc.). They are the number one perpetrator of cash grabs in their respective industries.

Also, if a successor is announced, I bet MS will kill production for the 360, the same way they did for Xbox.

Bretzy

Second for the Sony fanboys.

Worldwide sales figures
Wii: 20.13 million,
Xbox 360: 18 million
PlayStation 3: 10.49 million

US sales figures
Xbox 360: 9.15 million
Wii: 7.38 million
PlayStation 3: 3.25 million

Japan sales figures
Wii: 4,618,479
PlayStation 3: 1,673,063
Xbox 360: 548,308

lamekotaku

For the record, I have neither PS3 or 360 (do have wii), but I am totally a fanboy. I just haven't taken the plunge as I need to catch up on games I haven't beaten before investing in a new system... or the next time I swing by BB. lol Still, I was considering 360 thanks to the library... but when I really thought of the money to invest for both systems, it was very close to the same (and in some ways PS3 cheaper since I want wireless).

dirtybacon

kingmanic

[kotaku.com]

dv8godd

Seriously, who pays these analysts to state the obvious! I want to be an analyst if that's all it takes to make a living.

psychobaka

kingmanic

smallwang

Modus_Operandi

Zanch

Malice

Getting paid for pointing out the obvious.

Ryumeka

I have to agree with much of what you say. After all the PS3 did outsell the 360 last year. A fact most people seem content to ignore.

People thinking that LBP won't sell to the hip crowd are the same persons that thought the Wii wouldn't sell either. Sony's biggest PS2 online title returns on the PS3 this year with SOCOM Confrontation followed by a likely SOCOM 4 announcement coming at E3.

I like HALO and the HALO universe but I am glad Resistance 2 is no HALO. People that think HALO is the end all be all of MP titles also thought other titles in the past would never be dethroned. I can't think of the times I saw Half-Life 1 continually listed in various publications as the greatest shooter ever. Before that it was Goldeneye.

If it is impossible to top HALO then we might as well close the development industry. Then again, I don't remember too many prominent media sources picking it as GOTY. In fact the impact of HALO 3 seems to have been less than it's predecessor. So enough of the HALO comparisons.

Considering that the PS3 has been giving the 360 an ass kicking in Europe and took the title belt in NA last month, he may want to relook his comments.

Hatchetforce

I don't doubt his prediction about Japan though. MS should've never bothered launching in Japan. Culturally they just don't get what the Xbox 360 has to offer, and they aren't going to buy an American made anything (unless it's a dating Sim) anyway.

crazyscreenwriter

Just kidding. I <3 MP.

balls187

Basic economics, thats how.

If the dollar is weak, American goods become cheaper to export.

If the dollar is strong, foreign goods become cheaper to import.

balls187

rainking187

in any case, i expect the global economic downturn to favor the more favorably priced console.

DaoKaioshin

mahi

Modus_Operandi

I see no value in this article whatsoever.

grizgza

ReyDEEEEZY

GamingNinja

Mr.SithNinja

It is all quite silly. We can all speak as to why we ourselves bought what we bought or play what we play, but I'd be curious to see any support for analysts' claims about motivation to buy the consoles.

lionkitten

Jim Reilly

Vidril

lilaliendog

Yeah true... just look at the Dreamcast... umm

Garo

Sony didn't kill the 360. Microsoft did. With the hardware craptages. Well, at least for me. I can't imagine myself being one of the people that paid $300+ for a console only to hear myself saying "I'm on my 8th console this month."

slomo788

@KirbyMorph: You've got vision, man. Go be an analyst. ;)

Antiterra

UncleScrotar

Losbullitt

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

yes...b/c the only reason it's outselling is its lower price points. this guy obviously has his finger on the pulse of the gaming community.

mac-phisto

Struct09

Ryosukekun21

Barf#1

TokeYo

ErskinPig

Most likly the PS3 will get a price reduction as well Sony won't let this go unnotice.

Ryosukekun21

Barf#1

PaulHunter

Manny

sudz

Sugarbloodsuckers

Both Sony, Microsoft and their respective game-development partners have already made capex investments in both systems for their entire lifecycles and neither will be "killed' by the others.

Just because one console is outselling the other doesn't mean the losing one will suddenly have no new games for it. And I don't know about you, but for me that's all that matters.

That said, cheers to fanboyism. I'll now sit back and wait for the throat-tearing to begin.

DaPress

1. release a 360 with a 4x blu-ray player (twice as fast as sonys). Sony uses xp and vista on their laptops, microsoft uses blu-ray on its game console.. win win

2. 80 gb hard drive standard.

3. All available xbox live arcade games are already on the system in demo form when the user buys it, no downloading needed.

4. Throw in a copy of Halo 3 now that its made a bazillion dollars.

5. Finally have wireless in the darn thing, and hdmi 1.3 spec.

Sell it for $479 and their golden.

Scrapple

For_the_lulz

AnthraxJunkie

RRoD on the cheap, ftw!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Free online multiplayer equals long-term win in my book. I also care about reliability. The 360 just doesn't make much sense any more.

el_gordo

sudz

Mr.SithNinja

zztopp

WolfGod

zztopp

In other words, he doesn't know anything and everything he just wrote explains he doesn't know anything.

KirbyMorph

platinum

Z-Word

the-hypnotoad

1. Rapidly falling prices of stand-alone Blu-Ray players take a way the market of people buying just for Blu-Ray. Could that happen?

2. The momentum of PS3 is driven by Blu-Ray (See #1) and the promise of upcoming titles. We have yet to see Sony consistently deliver quality product in a timely fashion for the PS3. Can they get MGS4, FFX111, GT5, Home, and LBP out the door with no issues and without further delays.

3. Can Sony afford to match the price cuts in store for 360 and the already affordable Wii price? While the Blu_ray makes it attractive, it still skeeps costs up.

The future's Sony's for the taking, but can they do it? The hardware's brilliant, but the extras are the problem. I really wish they'd get Home and the PSN update out the door sooner rather than later. To me that's what is killing them the most in the games department.

lionkitten

Eville1

Kyle81

TitillatedOcelot

The Amazing Exploding-Man

how?

MyLittlePwny

yashichi8bit

sudz

It is also confusing to me that they will load the Japanese console with all of the extras, different color consoles, special edition MS published games, but give the American consumers who are 100% responsible for the Xbox brands place in the world, crap.

Case and point: Lost Odyssey. Japan gets cool four disc case, America gets standard case with 3 discs jammed on a spindle with the fourth disc in a damn paper sleeve.

HurricaneDave

Witzbold

As for games, the PS3 still doesn't have too much going for it compared to 360 outside of Japan for 2008 (Japan will never care about the 360). There is MGS4 this year, but that is about it. Most of the truly big hits are 2009 or 2010 - FFXIII, REV, GT5 final... Resistance 2 is no Halo and Little Big Planet = kiddie game that wont sell to the "hip" PS3 crowd.

jrcbandit

Wolfers

They aint missing out on much becuase most of the games are not geared towards the userbase here anyways. The amount of folks who are into "foreign" games are the ones who are currently supporting the system now.

Asides from that I dont think there will be enough J developed titles to keep the interest going in the system here either seeing how things are now. Granted there are a few up and comming, still though there just is not enough momentum behind the system to make back what devs would spend with production costs and advertising. Granted if they sell the games overseas too that will help a lot, but still a lot of the devs have the mindset if it doesnt sell well in Japan its not worth trying to break out big overseas. Since thats an even bigger gamble than trying to do it within your own country.

Its still early in 2008 so will wait and see how things go.

Witzbold

justhesh

Darth Navster

Gray665

tme2nsb

Paul

jp182

Lower priced consoles ALWAYS FAIL against their higher priced competitors!

Just look at the Wii! I mean...

...err, wait..
..ummm

wonder6oy

Tiberian

hoeney

Rubix42