Post date: Dec 20, 2013 5:39:15 PM
New Ammo Comes to the Console Wars
by Jordan Smith, staff
Since the days of the Atari 2600, people all around the world have been picking up the controller in their living rooms and spending hours trying to escape the world. With the advent of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Gameboy, gaming grew to be bigger in America than anyone expected.
Now, in the eighth console generation, traditional systems have new competition with each other as well as new threats from nontraditional sources.
In the home console market, there is Nintendo’s Wii U, Sony’s PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One. These are the same major competitors as the last generation, often referred to as the Big Three.
This generation, conditions are closer than ever. Not only is the raw processing power closer than ever (Microsoft and Sony both reported their systems to have 8GB of RAM at E3), but now both Xbox and Playstation are running the same kind of code. Previously, all major consoles ran different types of code, causing higher prices for developers to make games for different consoles. Now, with production for multiple consoles, developers such as Byron Atkinson-Jones, believe they will have more time and money to make all games look and play better, regardless of platform.
With the hardware being very similar, the companies had to take the fight to publicity and price. Some developers, such as DICE, developer of the Battlefield franchise, have expressed favor for PS4.
Sony did well in both arenas. Early on, Xbox ran into public relations problems, some aired by Larry Frum of CNN such as concerns over privacy, mandatory internet connection and nearly ending used game sales. Beyond that, PS4 is $100 cheaper than Xbox One. Many analysts expected Xbox to be dead in the water with price, publicity, and developers singing PS4’s praises.
However, Microsoft was able to make a good comeback. Frum also reported they reversed their policies that were less than favored, and made significant headway back to their fan base, particularly in the US, where most of their consoles are located.
In Europe, some interesting developments took place pre-launch. Traditionally, the European game market belongs to Sony. Realizing how big of a market they were missing out on, Microsoft tried to make Xbox One more appealing overseas by bundling in Fifa 14 for free. This not only helped justify the $100 price difference but also made it that much easier to get one of the most popular games on the continent.
Sony had something of a stumble by offering a more expensive European bundle that included Killzone: Shadowfall, which is considered a good example of next-gen graphical capabilities, but it is still a First Person Shooter (FPS), a genre not as widely popular in Europe as it is in America.
Possibly the most unique feature in this war is that the battle isn’t exclusive to home consoles. For the first time, there is a challenge to Nintendo’s handheld crown.
Since the days of the original Gameboy, no company has ever been able to challenge Nintendo in the handheld market. In their video for the Gameboy’s 20th birthday, IGN said that even when up against stronger, prettier devices, such as the Sega Game Gear or the Atari Lynx, Nintendo has kept a stranglehold on the market. However, that could change this generation with Sony’s PlayStation Vita.\
The Vita is stronger, sleeker and has an impressive lineup of games, from first party hits such as Killone: Mercenaries, to multiplatform hits such as Assassins Creed, Call of Duty and Injustice: Gods Among Us. But, Nintendo has been able to take that on before. However, Nintendo has never had a hand held sell so slowly or had competition with a feature as impressive as the Vita.
Jirard Kahlil’s podcast “DLC: Downloadable Cast” discussed the future of handheld and when the 3DS launched Nintendo failed to establish the product’s significance, letting consumers believe it was just another skew of the original DS, such as the DSi. Paired with the utter lack of games on launch, and health concerns over the stereoscopic 3D, it came out and just fizzled for a while.
What does the Vita have to offer? Graphics for the hard core gamer capable of being on par or better than the PS3, and most importantly, for the new generation, streaming PS4 gameplay, demoed at Sony’s Gamescon presentation with Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. That means anyone with a wifi connection (or connection to AT&T for the 3G model) can play their PS4 games anywhere, along with whatever games they might already have.
Nintendo’s answer? The latest entries into the mammoth Pokemon franchise, Pokemon X version and Y version, major system sellers for every previous Nintendo system.
These factors give both platforms viable reasons for purchase. However, there are two other behemoths on the market, tablets and smartphones.
DLC discussed that since the launch of the Apple’s App Store and the iPad, tablets have been providing a good option for casual gamers with hits, such as Candy Crush and Angry Birds, and other functions for productivity and social functions. Tablets have offered no short supply of competition for gamers dollars, especially when the more affordable Android tablets started making it big.
Paired with the low to nonexistent price of games on the Android and App Store platforms, Nintendo and Sony have been having trouble matching the success of Nintendo’s previous generation handheld, the Nintendo DS.
Steve Alexander of The Star Tribune also speculated the home console isn’t safe in a tower from tablets either.
Tracey Lien also speculates consoles are under another threat: PC gaming.
Through the last couple years, home consoles saw a large decline in sales. One cause has been the migration of hard-core gamers to PC. With high end PCs becoming more affordable, consoles are no longer able to comfortably rely on the fact they will be purchased on the sheer basis of price.
Despite being only two and three weeks old, Xbox One and PS4 graphics can already be outdone by PCs inside of gamers’ homes. Even the average computer is now capable of decent graphics output, which makes the purchase of a four or five hundred dollar machine much harder to justify and leads experts questioning if dedicated gaming machines can survive this generation.
These plays for both casual and hard-core gamers have made it difficult for consoles, whether home or handheld, to seem like good purchases. In spite of these challenges, Sony and Microsoft are already claiming a combined three million sales worldwide on their home consoles, with Nintendo gaining steam in both handheld and home markets with games, such as Pokemon X and Y, Super Mario 3D World, and two entries from The Legend of Zelda series on both handheld and console.
Up against strong opposition, the Big Three have fought back hard, each in their own way. But, if they want to survive against PC and tablets, they need to play to fan-loyalty, produce quality games, and above all else, continue to provide a solid experience for consumers.
The best advice for the Big Three might be within Nintendo’s name. In the first episode of the Nintendo mini series of Machinma’s All Your History Are Belong To Us, the early philosophy of when Nintendo was a Hanafuda card manufacturer was explored. Roughly translated from Japanese, Nintendo means “leave luck to heaven.” With USA Today’s report that the new generation has sent console sales up by 58% in November, it looks like they might be doing just that.