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xboxfan
06-05-2002, 09:24 PM
Will Sony ever lose its number 1 position in the video game market? Yes or No and why? Who would be the most likely to be number 1, Nintendo or Microsoft?

Mace-Windu
06-05-2002, 09:40 PM
Yes. They put their systems out before anyone else and they don't give technology any time so the system quality or power is worse than the others. Eventually, people will get the picture and realize that Sony's videogame market is a waste of time. In North America, I think Microsoft will some day be #1; and in Asia, Nintendo and others will be on top. IMO, the Dreamcast is just as good as the PS2.

Halo Freak
06-05-2002, 09:48 PM
ok to me sony is going to go down cause sony trys to se how small they can make stuff if they want a good system should make them big like x-box and u know that x-box is the most powerful thing out there right now because all the stuff they put in it and like the ps2 u have to buy the hard drive later which is stupid they should of just made it built in so i think they r gonna go down one day

Kooster
06-05-2002, 09:50 PM
I think Sony will go down for the following reasons:

1. All its online addons

2. The specs gap between it and Xbox

3. Xbox is coming out w/ some excellent games

linkycat
06-05-2002, 10:05 PM
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big ol' fatty xbox fanatic...

sony won't go down. it's a name that people like. people hate microsoft... sure this time around they've got crummy add-on necessities, but as long as they hold GTA, final fantasy etc xbox will be left in shadow. We may have some great games coming out, but they are all new, and don't have a name in the industry yet. Regular gamers don't hear KOTOR or Brute Force, etc, and shiver at the coolness. They hear Final Fantasy and run towards it.

Next time around the PS3 and Xbox 2 will be head for head, and we'll see who truly can win the console race. Sony just has a bit of a head start, we'll see how fast microsoft can catch up.

silvertrace
06-05-2002, 10:06 PM
i believe there are many "battles" to come between sony & xbox......take for instance the upcoming online venture which xbox will surely dominate, sony has too many add-ons and M$ will hurt them with the fact xbox ships online ready(also remember the hard drive that pos2 doesn't have)........but sony still has the argument that it has "more" titles (i prefer quality over quantity) but u have to admit that the delayed launch of xbox gave sony the leg up on the competition.........

so i believe the "war" will be won when xbox 2 and pos3 both launch simultaneously............that will be the true winner of the console war;)

NonFanboy
06-05-2002, 10:16 PM
The simple fact is: Sony will win this war, the next round im not to sure. Sony has to much of a lead on Nintendo and MS, it is impossible for either of them to catch up.

X-Ray
06-05-2002, 10:50 PM
Originally posted by NonFanboy
The simple fact is: Sony will win this war, the next round im not to sure. Sony has to much of a lead on Nintendo and MS, it is impossible for either of them to catch up.

I don't know, if Sony can sell 20-30 million units in 2-3 years, the XBOX has an ok chance of doing so as well. Moreover, Microsoft's goals for "victory" probably don't include beating this generation of consoles--however nice (and improbable) that might be. Rather, their goals are probably domintation over the next generation or two of consoles. In the long run, (by XBOX II or III, it is my prognosis that XBOX will dominate--atleast in North America and probably Europe. The sequels to the XBOX will capture progressively more market share with each incarnation of the system in Japan and will be a powerful force in that market but I have no idea whether XBOX and its sequels will dominate there.

But to quote Dan Quayle, "It's very hard to make predictions--espescially about the future."

Nerrad529
06-06-2002, 02:48 AM
Sony and Microsoft will be going at it for years to come. Mr. Gates vrs. Japan we'll see what happens in the end. Microsoft will be on top one day of the gaming world. Xbox all the way My game collection Halo WWF Max Payne Burnout soon to add morrowind and brute force

SpartanSniper
06-06-2002, 03:28 AM
From what we all have seen already, Xbox game sales have beaten PS2 game sales by quite a bit in a comparison of the first few months of each. And just as a note, Gamecube will never be on top (no offense).

Xbox has some awesome games coming soon. Some of these games are: Splinter Cell, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Unreal Championship, Dead to Rights, Deus Ex 2, Battlefield 1942, and Brute Force. All of this, not to mention Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance which the original version of it was one of the most wanted games for PS2, should put Xbox on top of the video game industry for quite some time.

Only one problem about the future of Xbox being on top is the "CELL" system being made for the next PlayStation. It is said to be between 100 to 1,000 times as powerful as PS2. Ouch! That could leave put a damper on our Xbox being the champ.

Even with "CELL" technology, the next PlayStation could be overthrown by the next Xbox having it too. Which I'm sure it would have it eventually.

For the time being, XBOX is in charge.

~ SpartanSniper

Hugh_Jass
06-06-2002, 08:07 AM
Nobody will ever win the console war.

The console war consists of an endless series of battles. Sony was winning the current battle, but the tides are shifting. Sony has been fading since November and E3 was embarrassing for them.

By 2005 XBOX will be number 1. What happens in the generation after that is anybody's guess.

BCan
06-06-2002, 09:00 AM
It seems as if MS will make major ground in both Europe and North America, and basically any other zone that isn't of Asian influence. The major, or what appears to be the major battle ground will be that of Japan. For MS to make some headway in console "credo" they will have to make an impression on the console kings.

As for the games titles, and the "aura" they bring, who had ever heard of Gran Tourismo before it got a reputation? A game and it's succesors have to build their reputation, they just don't get it overnight. It seems as if everyone sees the GT series and Final Fantasy being the "ooh, ahh" games of the PS2. I bet that if you talk to the general public about it, they would go "What The...?" about them. Only amongst the console hardcore do these games have any real rep, and those would include the ones who work in places like EB, who would reccomend games to buy with the PS2.

Funny that the XBOX, and it's reputation that they will hope to build with some of the quality games approaching, are of those from a traditional PC background. Games that are MMORPG's and serious FPS, are the domain of the PC, since they had never really been developed for a console. Give a console the bare bones of a PC architecture, and all of a sudden we have games jumping to a new platform. MS can not depend on the current group of newer PC owners, the families, to jump onto the XBOX in the same numbers that the PC has taken off and become mainstream.
XBOX is technologically superior, that fact is undeniable, that it's online ability is already built in, and will cost a PS2 owner more to make it so, with the need for a HDD for a PS2 to make it a serious online capable machine. IF XBOX Live fails, or is poor, then that will make the PS3 all the more attractive on launch..

A Zdnet article warns of Sony and Nintendo trying to duke it out with each other, and ignore the MS threat. MS has the money and resources to keep Sony and Nintendo on the backfoot, if they wish to do so. MS has more clout with the kind of money it can afford to splash about, than most of the Japanese electronic giants combined.
Only downfall of the XBOX marketing so far, that is has failed to be targeted at the casual gamer, it is in the main aimed at getting across PC users to use the console. Why try to convince an educated audience about the virtues of the XBOX, why not go into the gamers, who know that the PS2 is good because they were told it was. Those that don't have any real idea about a console, but love to use them. Convince them that the XBOX is a DVD player, that it is a CD player, that it can be a jukebox - with the CD ripping ability, as well as a console. Sell it to them as the multi-function machine they have been looking for.

Is the end winner the PC owner, who will have a console(s) that will be cut down versions of them, that will allow for easy portability of titles? That a developer can afford to reduce the amount of people required on projects for multiple platforms, when two of them are virtually identical.

Can Sony and Nintendo make a smart move and make a move into the area opened up by the XBOX, and do a PC-like console. Beat MS at their own game. Personally I think they will need to, IF the XBOX and it's succesors start to gain the ascendancy. To make a console too unlike a PC will leave them open to having to deal with developers reluctant to invest the money in a different field of development, when they could consolidate and do the same for the PC and XBOX? Economics is a harsh reality to bringing down the things that aren't cost effective for those that have to create things for them.

LynxFX
06-06-2002, 11:32 AM
I think Sony will "win" this round by sheer number sold if that is what you are talking about.

I don't think Microsoft or Nintendo will be far behind.

I think that the next gen will be when Microsoft truly will give Sony and Nintendo a run for their money. They will have their fanbase which Sony and Nintendo already had prior to this generation while MS was starting from scratch. I think they will also have the technology to back it up and if Xbox Live is a huge hit then that might be the ultimate deciding point.

In the end, I believe the winners will be us, the consumers. Competition is healthy for a market like this.

SkoalMint
06-06-2002, 12:18 PM
Originally posted by Lynxfx
In the end, I believe the winners will be us, the consumers. Competition is healthy for a market like this.

I have to agree. Personally, I hope it is never-ending war. Will Sony lose the throne??? Probably. That doesn't mean they won't regain it only to lose it again. If you look in other areas where a company has dominated the competition with a particular product/service you tend to see a decline in the quality of the product/service over time.

Additionally, how do you determine who is sitting in the throne?

Install base? -- Well Sony has it there.

Sales? -- Sony again, but XBox and Gamecube appear to be gaining some ground.

Revenue? -- Sony is winning this as well, but wait until XBox Live kicks in.

Console power? -- I think most of us here would agree that the XBox has that.

Games? -- Again, I think most of us agree that XBox wins this.

Potential? -- XBox would win that as well.

Company Value? -- I'm not a market analyst or anything, but I assume MS is probably worth more than Sony.

SpartanSniper
06-06-2002, 12:27 PM
Originally posted by Lynxfx
In the end, I believe the winners will be us, the consumers. Competition is healthy for a market like this.

I agree. We are the true winners of this war.

~ SpartanSniper