Kotaku had recently published a bar graph of the first four months in console sales, with some surprising results.
While the graph is intriguing it could also be seen as misleading, if we follow it cold it means the console with the lowest opening quarter sales will go on to be overwhelmingly dominant in the market in the years to come.
Take the Xbox for example, came third, obviously because of Halo, a killer app that practically saved the console from an early demise, of course it was backed by a (relatively) strong launch line up.
The Nintendo 64 done better in its first four months than the Wii, I think 'Super Mario 64' really did ram home 3D gaming, of course it had the controller for 3D gaming, but it merely complimented Mario 64.
Sega's last foray into console gaming did have one of the best 3D Sonic games ever in 'Sonic Adventures'. I don't care what 'purists' say, 'Sonic Adventures' was one of the, if not the best 3D outing for Sonic ever. Backed up by what I (and many others) consider the greatest fighting game of all time 'Soul Calbur' it really is a wonder how the DreamCast did not sell the most by far in the first four months.
While the graph is intriguing it could also be seen as misleading, if we follow it cold it means the console with the lowest opening quarter sales will go on to be overwhelmingly dominant in the market in the years to come.
Take the Xbox for example, came third, obviously because of Halo, a killer app that practically saved the console from an early demise, of course it was backed by a (relatively) strong launch line up.
The Nintendo 64 done better in its first four months than the Wii, I think 'Super Mario 64' really did ram home 3D gaming, of course it had the controller for 3D gaming, but it merely complimented Mario 64.
Sega's last foray into console gaming did have one of the best 3D Sonic games ever in 'Sonic Adventures'. I don't care what 'purists' say, 'Sonic Adventures' was one of the, if not the best 3D outing for Sonic ever. Backed up by what I (and many others) consider the greatest fighting game of all time 'Soul Calbur' it really is a wonder how the DreamCast did not sell the most by far in the first four months.Lets face it, both the Playstation 2 and 3 launched with really lack lustre titles, granted while the Playstation 3 did have the above average 'Resistance: Fall of man' the other underwhelming titles coupled with terrible PR, high price and shortages leading up to the launch simply could not do Resistance justice.
What the figures show is that the console wars is over the period of something like five years - not four months, when developers are strained and console manufacturers have to really fight for the exclusive titles, thats when the real figures start popping up.
Of course having a strong launch is a good thing, something that Nintendo should learn to take advantage of and continue, it's good to have a big boom and sell over 1.86 million units in four months, but you have to keep the goods rolling for the consoles entire life.
What the figures show is that the console wars is over the period of something like five years - not four months, when developers are strained and console manufacturers have to really fight for the exclusive titles, thats when the real figures start popping up.
Of course having a strong launch is a good thing, something that Nintendo should learn to take advantage of and continue, it's good to have a big boom and sell over 1.86 million units in four months, but you have to keep the goods rolling for the consoles entire life.
Posts
