has released their second foray into didn’t beat them on price or release person says of games, “What’s the console development with this round’s date, but we’ll beat the others on point?” or “This story is terrible,” this is 360. Their big idea: Do sheer brute force and shiny gadgetry. what they mean. The story is just a The Situation: The close of the 2005- everything we were already doing, knowing wink and an excuse to go out 2006 Hardware Battle, of the better- but bigger and better. And beat The Objective: In this issue of The and do what everybody knows you’re known Great Console Wars. others following this same plan to Escapist, “Launch Telemetry,” our elite coming there for (in this case, killing the punch – on both release date corps of writers analyze this round of the boars because a person told you to so Ladies and Gentlemen, another round of and price. Great Console Wars. Please continue you can go kill better boars). If you don’t the on-going war between hardware reading for the in-depth briefing. Enjoy! developers to control the hearts and – The “old guard,” if there is minds of console gamers everywhere has such a thing in this realm. It depends Cheers, come to a close. In the last 18 months, which country one is in to measure it, action on the front has heated up as but Nintendo has now released about each side rallied and delivered new half a dozen consoles. The latest, the blows, introducing new consoles to the , showed Nintendo’s willingness to gaming public. take a gamble and take the less obvious, and more risky, route to victory. Their The Parties: Microsoft, Nintendo and big idea: Fun. Make the Wii fun for all people of all ages. Increase the In response to “The Gamer Within” Nintendo lovers’ ranks by winning from The Escapist Forum: I’m on the Over the past several decades of battles, them over with unassuming, marketing/advertising side of gaming three major powers have emerged to uncomplicated fun. and not only have I noticed that there dominate the field. are more woman gameplayers out there, Sony – In the previous round of battles, many of them are moving from casual Microsoft – One of the newest Sony was the clear victor, gaining more games to MMOGs. We just to produce competitors on the scene, Microsoft ground than the other two major powers games that interest them. started shakily and gained footing over combined … and then some. In this time, slowly building a fanbase, and round of battle, however, Sony’s - trosaire bolstering their efforts with solid PlayStation 3 is starting a bit behind developers allying to create a wide their second place rival in the previous In response to “The Gamer Within” selection of desirable games. Microsoft showdown, Microsoft. Their big idea: We from The Escapist Forum: When a already know that you want to go kill Time is not a factor, in my mind, when different goals than a casual player boars, then either the story will bore you determining the difference between a (character advancement being one of because it’s a tailor-made excuse to kill hardcore and casual gamer; hardcore them), but I look at a casual player as boars, or it will betray you because it gamers may be more willing to dedicate being someone who simply doesn’t put goes on about all this great stuff that’s a lot of time to a game in general, but forth a great deal of effort while they are happening, and then it tells you that your casual gamers can spend a ton of time playing a game as compared to a part in the story is to go and kill boars. playing games, and hardcore gamers can hardcore player (whether their motives spend little. are character advancement, monetary Civilization lets you interact with the gain, socialization, or otherwise). story in a way I don’t think any other For example, I am a hardcore min/max kind of game has, which in my opinion is style gamer. I almost never spend more - Ryan Shwayder why it was the closest to a success in the than 10 hours a week playing any given little experiment. Lumines doesn’t make MMO these days, but the time I do spend In response to “The Future of excuses. Black and White doesn’t make is carefully approached and maximized Massively Multiplayer Isn’t You” excuses. The game is the setting is the for efficiency. from The Escapist Forum: I think, story. We can make games like that now, Ryan, you are defining a “Power Gamer” and more than anything else I think On the flip side, while I was a which is not the same as a “Hardcore that’s what we should be pursuing. It Community Relations Manager on Gamer”. My friends are definitely more makes sense. EverQuest II, I met a number of gamers hardcore, in my opinion, but they have a I would consider casual, in that they strong focus on developing a character in - Bongo Bill spend most of their time in the game terms of background, social relations, hanging out and slowly advancing, but etc. They are “Hardcore Role Players”. In response to “The Future of they played the game 4+ hours a day. Massively Multiplayer Isn’t You” They never maximized efficiency, I, on the other hand, spend less time in from The Escapist Forum: The primary watching TV while playing or wandering the games that I play but I spend almost difference between hardcore and casual in and out of the room in which they all of it leveling up. My play style of gamers is their willingness (and desire) played, casually chatting with friends, choice is “power gaming”, but I have to fully explore all the options a game looking around, etc. trouble considering myself a “hardcore provides. It is also a question of skill and gamer”. I feel that my style reflects what experience. I understand part of this can be that I like to do in the game, not necessarily what I view as a hardcore player has how devoted to it I am. I agree, though, that the statement is an units he believes were sold of his game, over-simplification. We can’t boil down rather than an estimate of our own. the formula into time played = of hardcore. The closest we came to editorializing on the number of units of Buzz! sold was - Blaxton the suggestion that it was the PS2’s best-selling title of 2005, which, it would In response to “Business Casual” appear, is a typographical error. Buzz! from The Escapist Forum: I’d like to was “one of the” best-selling titles of verify the sales figures that you list in that year, but not number one. That your article about the Buzz! games. You error has since been corrected. Mr. mention in your article that 4 million Amor’s words, however, are his problem. units have been sold. I’d love to know the breakdown of that number in terms - Russ Pitts of US sales vs. Europe in 2005 and 2006.

I’ve done quite a bit of research to try to get these figures but to no avail. Perhaps you can help?

- Laurie

Editor’s Reply: Thanks for your inquiry (and your interest).

The figure you mention was printed as a direct quote from David Amor, Creative Director of Relentless Software, developers of the Buzz! series of games. It is, therefore, a reflection of how many most every personal decision in their to win the hearts of gamers. Never lives. “They don’t want people to merely before has the likelihood of a truly hold their values,” Klosterman wrote, equitable, three-way market split been “They want their values to win.” plausible. Never before have more people paid attention to the back-and- And so it goes every few years with forth horse race of sales numbers and console videogames. It’s not enough to analyst speculation that makes up the buy a system and enjoy the games core of the console war. available; we want the system we buy to win. More than that, we want our Who’s in the lead so far? It depends on chosen system to dominate the market, who you ask, but some general patterns utterly and completely, like the Atari are unmistakable. Microsoft has parlayed 2600 and NES did way back when. the ’s first-to-market advantage in North America and Europe into a Sure, millions of people bought the Xbox significant worldwide sales lead. The and the GameCube and no doubt spent a system’s unchallenged incursion into good deal of time playing the many previously untapped markets like India games available on each. But a has only helped in this regard, and plans significant portion of these players spent to launch in China will only enlarge the In a 2005 Esquire essay, Chuck just as much time on the internet, system’s footprint. Klosterman talks about the cultural decrying the fact their system wasn’t the betrayal we feel when others don’t agree most popular. The injustice! It’s in our But Japan still holds the soul of gaming with our tastes. The essay was inspired nature to want our personal choices for many, and Microsoft has failed to partly by a passage from Gina Arnold’s validated by popular culture; to be afraid improve upon the original Xbox’s tepid Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana, in of picking wrong and somehow being on performance in the land of the rising which Arnold describes her excitement at the losing side of a popularity contest. sun. Despite some recent interest in the hearing Smells like Teen Spirit on the high profileBlue Dragon, Microsoft has radio. “Nirvana being on the radio means And here we are, in early 2007, at the trouble selling 2,000 Japanese units in my own values are winning,” Arnold start of the most hotly contested battle an average week. The reasons for this wrote. “I’m no longer in the opposition.” for videogame market supremacy since poor performance have been endlessly Klosterman, upon reflection, found that the days of the SNES and Genesis. Three debated – the internet has it that it’s most people think the same way about consoles have never had equal chances either Japanese nationalism or Microsoft’s inability to adapt to non- Nintendo’s explosive first months have Western audiences. But whatever the been contrasted by the PS3’s reason, Japan remains Microsoft’s contemporary implosion. As the Achilles’ heel. The Japanese game undisputed winner of the last two market may be a relatively small part of generations’ sales battles, Sony the much greater worldwide pie, but definitely had the most to lose in this Microsoft’s comparative failure in the new round of the wars. After 10 years of country gives its competitors an opening. utter dominance, anything less than a commanding start would be seen as Nintendo is exploiting that opening to full abject failure. effect. The Wii took Japan by storm – the system overtook the year-old 360 after Even without the high expectations, the just five weeks on the market. The numbers Sony has put up thus far are system’s quick growth tracks the disappointing by any standard. amazing success of the Nintendo DS, Production issues with the system’s blue which in the last year has become a laser diodes caused a European delay must-have item among Japanese youth. and ensured the system would be hard Wii shortages have gotten so dire, to find during the American holiday Japanese gamers are sometimes paying season. The shortage cleared out just as more for a used system than a new one. the holiday rush was ending, leading to widespread reports of stores loaded with The Wii’s early success has been the once hard-to-find system. mirrored in America and Europe, where extreme system shortages have similarly Right now, Sony’s great white hope is lasted for months after launch. Anecdotal Europe. The company has already evidence from retailers suggests they stockpiled one million systems for the can’t keep systems on the shelves, and March 23 rollout, and the strong people are still lining up outside stores to European brand identity of system get their hands on the console, even now. exclusives like SingStar could boost sales sponsored by on the continent. Still, Sony will have to inexperience with console transitions and deal with millions of European consumers the shadow of the Xbox’s underwhelming who have already invested their gaming sales performance. Nintendo has the dollars in a competing system. small but growing impression that their control scheme is a gimmick that will Of course this is all speculation, which is soon lose its novelty. Sony has a more abundant than hard facts at this historically high price for its high-powered early stage of what is sure to be a multi- system and a bad reputation engendered year battle. This hasn’t stopped analysts by a series of PR blunders. from throwing out wildly divergent guesses on who will eventually take the But in the end, whoever ends up selling crown. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all the most systems, you can bet some have their boosters among the pundit players who chose “wrong” will treat class, and the justifications for each everyone else’s choice as a personal system’s impending dominance seem affront. But those more in control of relatively well-founded. The 360, as the their humanity will decide not to tie their first system to reach 10 million units sold self worth to a piece of electronics. worldwide, has proven to publishers it They’ll happily while away their free time can provide a massive market much playing games they like on a system sooner than its competitors. Nintendo, they like, ignoring the rants and raves with the innovative Wii controller, has a around them. They’ll be the real winners product that seems poised to catch on of the console war. At least until they with a new market of casual and non- read a message board. gamers. Sony, despite early stumbles, still has brand recognition and big-name Kyle Orland is a videogame freelancer. exclusives like XIII and He writes about the world of videogame Metal Gear Solid 4 coming down the pike. journalism on his weblog, Media Watch. But each company has potential pitfalls to overcome, too. Microsoft has its relative GENERATION The after technological wonder. Ashortage home with the season’s mostsought they’d beamong theluckyfewto walk were available, hopingagainsthope gamers lineduptobuy whatfewunits short supply. Undaunted,legionsof The newconsoleswere rumoredtobein Men The stuffed men.” As thehollowmen Violent souls,butonly Remember us--ifatallnotaslost With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom “Those whohavecrossed - T.S. Eliot, The Hollow

by Russ Pitts

began, andtechnicalglitcheswere to sabotagethelaunchbeforeiteven of electroniccomponentshadthreatened were even inthe game.Long before. above happened beforethesecompanies supernova). Butthesituation described company’s hardware divisionwent Sega Dreamcast(just before that with aspecialguestappearance by the PlayStation 2andGameCubemachines, the samedancearoundtheirXbox, or soprior, allthreecompaniesdanced carbon copy oftheexercise. Five years their next-gen machinesinanalmost later bothSony andNintendo launched under similarcircumstances,andayear launch. In2005theXbox 360launched anyone who’s lived throughaconsole This scenarioshouldsoundfamiliarto fide console-seller. everyone whoplayed games-abona was adoozie;gamefamiliar to titles, therewas onlyone,really, butit arms ofluckygamers.Asforbiglaunch boxes, waiting tobecarriedhomeinthe were occupiedwithgleamingconsole full,butthey wrong; theshelves weren’t shipping problems.Theywereonlypart would befull,inspiteoflast-minute manufacturer promisedtheshelves delaying hardware certification,butthe realm ofplay products by way ofabove- manufacturer, eventually moving intothe Coleco started lifeasaleathergoods Here WeGoroundthe PricklyPear games, stupid. PlayStation 3vs.Xbox 360:It’s the war, fromAtari vs.Intellivisionto (and winners)ofeachandevery console is theonelessonlearnedby thelosers meaningless islostonmostgamers.As as bloody, justaslopsidedand justas that consolewars ofthepastwerejust parents alsohadsex(once),theidea war hadbegun.Like learningthatour The year was 1976,andthefirstconsole working on that problem. games, and somebody was already only thing missing, it seemed, were more Baer’s Odyssey a few years prior. The the home console revolution started by money for the company, helped kick-start reviews and, although it ultimately lost The Coleco Telstar launched to rave chip. The launch title? A version of device to play multiple games with one General Instruments chips allowing the supply weren’t blue laser diodes, but the made. The technological doodads in short third home videogame console ever The machine? The Coleco Telstar, the Pong . ground swimming pools. I had one. It fight. The Intellivision, for example (Doug 1976, a year before the Atari 2600, the was awesome. My father’s prized rose had one of these) had far better games Channel F was a primitive machine, but bushes were leveled in order to clear than Scott’s Atari 2600. Imagic’s it did what no other console had yet ground for the beast, but the resulting Microsurgeon was just about the coolest managed. In addition to sporting a swim-hole-out-of-a-box was well worth game in the world. And Advanced number of built-in Pong-like games (via the destruction of a few beloved thorny Dungeons and Dragons? Forget about it. A a GI chip similar to the one in Coleco’s flowers. TheCo nnecticut Leather thousand Pitfalls wouldn’t even come Telstar), the Channel F allowed one to Company discovered they enjoyed close. My ColecoVision had even better play a theoretically unlimited number of making children smile so much (with games, and the ports of arcade classics games by inserting game “cartridges” - water) that they stretched their legs a like the aforementioned Donkey Kong and large, yellow things resembling the decade or so later with handheld LCD Zaxxon made every boy who owned one popular audio media of the time, the 8- games and, eventually, the Telstar home an arcade hero (in his own home, no less). track tape. game console. A “generation” later, they made it big with a “programmable” home But the 2600 had the numbers. By 1980, I had one of these, too. Before I was a console called ColecoVision and a little the year Mattel launched the Intellivision Coleco fanboy, I was a Fairchild fanboy. game by Nintendo called Donkey Kong. and two years before Coleco made it to I’d drool over the bright yellow cartridges market with their ColecoVision, Atari had at Montgomery Ward’s, begging to be I had one of these, too. I was what you already installed nearly 3 million of their allowed to take one home. The Fairchild’s might call a Coleco fanboy. Well before consoles into American homes. Pong clone was incredible, and the drag web forums and message boards, I’d Intellivision would score a distant second racing game? Forget about it. But the gather with my friends on the place in this, the second true console Fairchild, in spite of its innovations and a playground during recess, behind the war, and ColecoVision, in spite of key timely hardware redesign, ultimately gym after school or down in the canals distribution deals with then third-party failed to capture enough market share to on weekends to shoot the bull, trade developers like Nintendo and Sega, stave off the Atari juggernaut, which, stolen porn mags or fish for carp, all the would come in third. But the story quite simply, had the games, stupid. while debating the pros and cons of our doesn’t end there, as you well know. In respective console machines. fact, it doesn’t even begin there. But a Whimper Then, in 1983, something interesting The venerable Atari 2600, as we now Long forgotten by the time the happened to the videogame industry - know, was the clear winner of that war, videogame market crashed in 1983 was something all of the fledgling MMOG but this didn’t stop those of us with the Fairchild Channel F, the first of the makers (boutique or otherwise) chasing “lesser” machines from fighting the good programmable consoles. Released in the tail of Blizzard would be wise to were true console warriors. But most Marketing their machines as “great for I’d moved to a new town, and my people didn’t care that much, or didn’t school” (a refrain that would prove mother, perhaps as a consolation, bought know enough to care, and so just catchy among computer manufacturers me a NES, otherwise known as ‘The No- bought whatever machine struck their for decades), Commodore and Apple in Friend-O.” I also made new friends, one fancy. Or didn’t buy anything, as particular established wide beachheads of whom, Adam, owned a Sega Master happened more frequently, and as a in the homes of America, opening the System. His machine’s specs, he would result, hordes of developers went out of door for a game invasion, the rise of the claim, made the Master System the clear business, mountains of games went un- adventure game genre and (eventually) winner in this particular war. “No Adam,” purchased and company after company providing a fertile ground for the I would say. “It’s the games, stupid.” closed its doors. development of distributed networks (aka the internet). And the NES had them in spades. Duck Games, it appeared, were finished. It Hunt, HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia. would take a savior from overseas to My friend Doug, ever the trend-setter, had org/wiki/Excitebike” \o “Excitebike” correct that notion, introduce a whole new a Commodore 64. My family, suddenly Excitebike, Hogan’s Alley, Kung Fu, Super heed: The market became so flooded generation to the wonder of home game cost-conscious, had purchased the lesser- Mario Bros. … the launch list alone held with knock-off consoles and second-rate consoles and remind those of us who’d powered Vic-20. I maintained my friendship gems still fondly remembered (and third-party games, the average been there from the beginning of what with Doug, therefore, mainly to play playable, via GameBoy advance consumer got confused. Why is the was most important: the games, stupid. Gunship and Impossible Mission at his cartridges and the Wii’s Virtual Console) Intellivision a better machine than the house instead of missile command today. But the list kept getting better. By 2600? And why does ColecoVision This is the Dead Land knockoffs (or, God forbid, doing homework) the time I got my hands on an NES, the outpace them both? Why isn’t the Bally In the meantime, those of us with a at mine. Thankfully, for my own sanity (and Astrocade just as good? And why doesn’t game-playing bent had migrated to the state of the industry), this situation was Pac-Man look the same on the Atari as it home computers, following a wave of not destined to last. Utilizing a clever bait- does in the arcade? (And why was E.T. programmers and publishers who’d done and-switch ploy, Nintendo infiltrated the such a piece of crap?) the exact same thing. Apple, Atari, game-shy American market with their Commodore, Tandy and a slew of other insidious 8-bit NES machine, alleviating the Doug, Scott and I debated these points companies had been making relatively home console drought, kick-starting the endlessly, but we had the time and low-cost home computers for years, and third generation of home game consoles magazine subscriptions to form following the crash of the console and establishing themselves as a (relatively) educated opinions on the market, these machines were poised to videogame powerhouse. minute details of each console’s take advantage of the sudden influx of construction and game selection. We game-starved youths. catalogue had expanded to include Bionic In the Twilight Kingdom currently own five, each of which is still play the games, in other words. Stupid. Commando, The Legend of Zelda, War never changes. connected to my television. , Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, games that saw me through some of the most It’s been more than three decades since Can I say for sure who’s winning the Russ Pitts is an Associate Editor for The tumultuous years of my adolescence and the first console war, but we still fight, still wars? Well, numbers don’t lie. My Escapist. He has written and produced convinced me that if there was one thing struggle. Sides are still chosen for one PlayStation 2 is but one of over 46 for television, theatre and film, has been I’d be doing for the rest of my life, it reason or another, banners still unfurled, million residing in American homes as of writing on the web since it was invented would be playing games. weapons still unsheathed, fortunes lost the end of last year. The Xbox, one of and claims to have played every console and gained; lives thrown away in the more than 20 million. Sony would seem, ever made. His blog can be found at Sega sold over 13 million units of Adam’s never-ending pursuit of perfection. therefore, to have won that round, based www.falsegravity.com. Master System in that war, but Nintendo don’t he numbers. But Guitar Hero is conquered all, unleashing 60 million of We should curse the men who set us on what sealed it for me. Since that game their NES machines onto the market, this course - the men who designed the arrived, the Xbox has been gathering many of which still reside under countless first machines of war - but instead we dust. Once again, it’s the games, stupid. televisions, carefully maintained, loved celebrate their names, building and crowed over. Mine is not among monuments to their ingenuity, writing The same will be true for the current them. Or if it is, I wouldn’t know it. I sold histories of their contributions to society. generation, of course. The Xbox 360 is it in 1994 (for beer money) while Our society. The cult of the game. The currently leading the fight, with around watching my college roommate play Industrial-Entertainment complex within 10 million units sold to the Wii’s 6 million on his Atari Jaguar, the which we are all just cogs in the great, and the PS3’s just over 2 million. But the venerable company’s erstwhile entry into money churning machine. games aren’t all in yet. The shooting war the 64-bit console war. It was a fine has yet to start. These days we have machine, but would ultimately be a I took a time out from fighting in the countless websites, blogs and message distant last-place finisher in that, the fifth console wars after I retired my NES, but boards keeping score for us (or console war. The winner was the 100 I still played the games, still enjoyed attempting to), so if there ever is a million-selling Sony PlayStation, watching the reports from the front of winner, we should know it with CNN-like obliterating all comers with a low-cost who’d skunked who, and who’d be back suddenness, the sales figures lancing out machine sporting a seemingly never- for revenge next time around. I would across the web like tracer fire over ending supply of third-party game titles. eventually return to the field of battle as Baghdad. But it won’t matter as much to Like the Atari 2600 and the NES, it was a an adult, but by that time I was able to me. I’m an armchair general now. I’ve bullet train of commerce winning the war buy whatever console I wanted, even if retired, and am content to simply enjoy on the strength of the games, stupid. that meant buying all of them. I the fruits of other soldiers’ labors; to Sony’s November 16, 2006 North (legally owned and licensed) firearms. American launch of a mere 400,000 Assuming from this that Strickland was PlayStation 3 consoles indisputably armed and dangerous, the sheriff’s office provoked at least two shootings, riots and sent its Emergency Response Team – 16 multiple armed robberies. A Wal-Mart heavily armed officers, including Sheriff’s manager in Milwaukee forced waiting PS3 Corporal Christopher M. Long - to customers to play musical chairs, causing Strickland’s home with a search warrant. several injuries. The Medialoper blog They used a battering ram to break catalogued the mayhem, though most of down the unlocked front door. Strickland its news links are now dead - like the was inside, unarmed and playing Tiger mania for the console itself and like Woods PGA Tour with a friend on one of community college student Peyton the stolen PS3s. Corporal Long, Strickland of Durham, North Carolina. mistaking the sound of the ram for a gunshot – that’s right, his own team’s It’s arguable whether to count battering ram - panicked and fired, Strickland’s December 1 killing toward blowing out Strickland’s brains and the PS3 launch’s increment of human thereby sparing the public a trial to misery. On launch day, a University of determine his guilt. Long also killed North Carolina college freshman filed an Strickland’s dog, Blaze, who had not armed robbery report with the New been involved in the robbery. Hanover county sheriff’s office. He had waited in line for three days at Wal-Mart Ordinarily, this would be just another day to get two PS3s, but two guys in a defending the peace in North Carolina. Pontiac drove up, beat him up and stole Unfortunately for Long, Strickland’s the consoles. Investigating, police father is a lawyer. Long was fired; the identified Strickland and an accomplice. district attorney charged him with The police looked up Strickland’s page on second-degree murder, but a grand jury an online social network, a Facebook declined to indict. The New Hanover clone called Campus Blender; he, like sheriff’s office later admonished several 50,000 other 18-year-old suburban white deputies who sold raffle tickets to raise boys on Facebook and its clones, had money for Long’s family, calling it “most posted a photo of his friends posing with inappropriate” to offer as a prize the season’s hot new must-have gift item, a Meanwhile, partisans in the console war brand-new Sony PlayStation 3. passionately debate whether the next casualty of the PS3 launch will be the Not to trivialize these grim episodes, the PS3 itself. Live by PlayStation, most dramatic casualty of the PS3 launch is the console’s godfather, Sony legend *** . As engineer of the original PlayStation and mastermind of its Some call the PS3 launch “disastrous,” but successors, Kutaragi had guided the line even with the body count to date, it’s not a " from strength to strength. Its success genuine disaster - yet. Sales are sluggish, vaulted him to the top of Sony Computer but a genuinely terrible product launch Entertainment International, where, as scorches the earth, annihilating hope of chairman and CEO, he made SCEI, for a recovery. This hasn’t happened to the PS3 - time, the sprawling megacorp’s most yet. In contrast to past launch disasters - profitable division. the Ford Edsel, the Susan B. Anthony dollar - the PS3, as a product, has earned from die by PlayStation. Live by PlayStation, die by PlayStation. neutral parties a measure of respect, if not The PS3’s six-month production delay and enthusiasm. The New York Times called the launch supply difficulties, among many console “over-engineered,” not the worst factors, contributed to Kutaragi’s sudden insult imaginable. removal from day-to-day operations in November 2006. His replacement as CEO Yet incessant news coverage chronicles " was Sony veep Kazuo Hirai, who ran Sony the continuing aggrieved outcry over the Computer Entertainment America; Hirai’s PS3’s $599 price, quirky high-def support replacement was Jack Tretton, co-Chief and sub-optimal backward compatibility, Operating Officer of SCE America. Both plus a number of smaller technical are Sony marketing veterans, both glitches. Hundreds of stories fan the stoutly champion the PS3 and in public flames of a high-definition religious war interviews both dismiss, as trivial carping, between supporters of the PS3’s new complaints about the PS3 launch. disk format, Blu-ray, and fans of the @ sony all rights reserved Xbox 360’s HD-DVD. So sensitized is the audience, even An early comment is titled “Hope your continues to sell out, simply prove Sony compared to 294,000 for the Xbox 360 measured statements draw flames. The house falls off in a gigantic mudslide.” manages its supply chain better. and 436,000 for the Wii. In Japan, February 23, 2007 installment of David according to Media Create, the PS3 is Carnoy’s “Fully Equipped” column on You could speculate on the reasons for You might wonder in this way - unless selling only 20-30,000 units weekly, CNet is provocatively titled “Ten Things I this passion - assuming you’ve never you know. Unless you spent your compared to about 50-100,000 for the Hate About the PS3,” though he owned a video console. You might formative years playing a PlayStation or PS2 at the same point in its life cycle. In immediately backpedals: “I think the wonder if the anti-PS3 faction is reacting PS2 hours every day. That long affinity, fact, in both regions, the venerable PS3 is a very nice piece of gear -- but it to, say, Sony’s criminal mistreatment of more familiar and intense, in a way more PlayStation 2 still tops the charts. also has some issues that need to be its customers in the 2005 rootkit intimate, than your relationships with addressed.” His mild-mannered list debacle. Or maybe they’re annoyed by most of your friends ... it left strong From October to December 2006, Sony’s would seem to reflect pure consensus: Sony executives’ relentlessly specious feelings. To see its successor so game division posted a loss of 54.2 price, high-def support, smaller tech yet oddly ungrounded spin; see, for strangely handled, to wonder whether billion yen ($460 million), way down glitches. Yet apparently the mere act of example, GameDaily’s February 2007 you can continue that relationship, or from the year-ago quarterly profit of writing “PS3” summons the fanatics, for talk with SCE Worldwide Studios whether it will be destroyed by senseless 67.8 billion yen. Sony blamed PS3 the column’s comment thread is as president Phil Harrison, where he decisions beyond your control ... it feels startup costs and the decision to sell the bloodthirsty as any on Kotaku or Joystiq. claimed the PS3s that sit unsold on store almost like betrayal. console below manufacturing cost. shelves, even as Nintendo’s Wii *** Obviously, demand will improve once Sony drops the price. But Sony faces Is the PlayStation 3, so soon after other challenges, such as the dearth of launch, already in trouble? Despite all world-beating exclusive PS3 games. the noise, it’s still too early to tell. True, there’s no shortage of mere product; Gamestop’s “Coming Soon” The launch shortages are now history, pages list about 80 PS3 games which is good (no playing musical chairs scheduled for release through the end of for Wal-Mart managers) and bad (weak 2007, compared with about 90 for the sales). According to sales data tracked by Xbox 360 and 46 for the Wii. But as the HYPERLINK “http://www.npd.com/co blogger Bill Harris observes, “In the U. rpServlet?nextpage=profile_s.html”NPD S., through the end of May, there’s one Group, the PS3 is the poorest-selling of non-Sony-developed exclusive: Coded the new consoles, moving only 244,000 Arms Assault by Konami. The only other units in North America in January 2007, Coded Arms game came out on the PSP and has a 60.7% average review score condemnation when Sony removed PS2 at Game Rankings. Ouch.” hardware compatibility from the European PS3 - the “Emotion Engine” - in favor of The longer Sony waits to cut the price, software emulation. Sony seems says the common wisdom, the more committed to reducing the madness and developer exclusives they will lose. The fatality rate of the PS3’s European launch PS3’s installed base grows by the week, in comparison to North America’s, through yet it falls ever farther behind the Xbox a curious yet, nowadays, increasingly 360 and, especially, the Wii. If the gap Sony-like tactic: They make customers widens too far, and if Blu-ray doesn’t win less eager to buy it. big, the PS3 might never gain dominion to match the PS2. For a console so Allen Varney designed the PARANOIA expensive, so (what was the word?) paper-and-dice roleplaying game (2004 over-engineered, even middling-good edition) and has contributed to computer sales could constitute failure. games from Sony Online, Origin, Interplay and Looking Glass. If the console does need rescue, Sony can still pull that off. The PS3 sells fewer units than the cheaper Xbox 360, but not much fewer; this may indicate pent-up demand from legions of buyers waiting only for a price drop. Though it may cost Sony over $800 to build each PS3, the company can nonetheless afford to drop the price at any time - this summer in particular, after the release of Spider- Man 3 makes Sony rich.

Meanwhile, even now, the ongoing PS3 launch still makes waves. The March 23, 2007 European release (weeks in the future, at this writing) excited early Four years to the day after the looked fused to their hands. Where were GameCube’s launch - four years of the non-gamers? Perhaps that segment frustration with Nintendo’s software of the market wasn’t interested in draughts, four years of turning to my waiting more than a few minutes in line PS2 or Xbox to keep me company while I for a Wii, let alone overnight. But those waited six months between meaningful of us who opted to brave the Floridian Cube releases - I was outside the Target cold were there for more than just the on Apalachee Parkway in Tallahassee, Wii, we were there for The Legend of Florida, waiting in line to purchase a Wii. Zelda: Twilight Princess. The good news: The store, according to reports would be getting 24 units, and I While most of the people in line were was No. 23 in the line. The bad: It was buying Twilight Princess on faith, I had very, very cold. at least gone to the mountain, having played Twilight Princess at E3. And My friend Jon and I found an urban really, I was underwhelmed. The aiming campout in our Wii line, where campfires was weird, the controls awkward. And I and s’mores were replaced with laptops didn’t like the way Nintendo opted to and alcohol. I was impressed at how handle distribution. Originally announced Nintendo’s new machine had garnered as a GameCube title to be released in this much support. The whole ideology late 2005, the game was delayed until surrounding the console was a tad 2006 because “the development team contrived: “While the code-name has requested extra time to new levels, Revolution expressed our direction, Wii more depth, and even higher quality,” represents the answer. Wii will break which ultimately meant they wanted down that wall that separates video extra time to port it over to the Wii. Just game players from everyone else.” like with the GameCube’s Sunshine the Nintendo 64’s Super Mario However, looking at the line, no one 64, Nintendo convinced us to purchase looked like they were on the other side their latest entry in the console market of Nintendo’s wall; 1UP tee-shirts because of one game. And hey, it adorned their bodies, and Nintendo DSes worked. I didn’t like what I saw six months earlier, and here I was in line including the Sega Genesis. NES titles stay warm, I ask myself whether or not with everyone else. Like I said, faith. are the cheapest at $5 apiece, and purchasing a Wii was a good idea. Sure, Nintendo 64 titles cost the most, at $10 Twilight Princess was great, and the Luckily, my leap was rewarded. Twilight per. The title selection has been, for the Virtual Console is tickling my nostalgia, Princess is a great game. But while most part, fantastic. Nintendo has but until Nintendo ramps up their release Twilight Princess ended up being worth released over 70 titles on the service to schedule, hardcore gamers like me are the wait, the software release pattern is date, including Tecmo Bowl, Super eventually going to head back to the 360 beginning to hearken back to previous Castlevania IV and . People or PS3 they like less but use more. After generations. Its four months after the have complained about Nintendo’s four years of waiting for GameCube Wii’s launch, and Nintendo has released refusal to modernize the games, though. games and four months of waiting for four first-party titles:, Twilight Rather than taking a page from Wii games, I have to wonder if I’ll be Princess, Wii Play and WarioWare: Microsoft’s book and implementing online standing in the cold for Nintendo’s next Smooth Moves. The next scheduled multiplayer and co-op into these old console. release, Super Paper Mario, was originally games, Nintendo has opted to leave slated for the GameCube, and the much them as is, possibly betraying an Dan Dormer is a videogame freelancer anticipated 3: Corruption incomplete online strategy. who keeps a poorly updated blog at might not make it out before 2008. his personal site. He’s also afraid of But given two straight months of NPD seeing scary movies. True story. However, that really doesn’t matter to reporting the Wii’s booming success over most people - they have Wii Sports, both the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation Nintendo’s media darling, to keep them 3, Nintendo doesn’t have much to worry entertained. Traditional outlets lined up about. They can’t keep the things on the to laud praise over the Wii and the shelves; Nintendo has moved 6 million console’s pack-in. Most included tales of units in the time it’s taken Sony to sell how wives, girlfriends, coworkers or 2.7 million. And with a year head start, parents - those non-gamers in our lives - the Xbox 360 has only sold 9.66 million. were instantly able to join in the fun of Nintendo has done exactly what they set virtual bowling or tennis. out to do: get non-gamers gaming.

What’s more, Nintendo is regularly Now that we’re four months removed updating the Virtual Console with old from the launch and I’m no longer school classics from consoles past, outside a Target finding creative ways to The Xbox 360’s performance in Japan has been rocky, to say the least. The numbers aren’t great, and Japanese games seem to reject all but a few of Microsoft’s offerings. Most pundits have all but written them out of Japan’s gaming history.

But Microsoft hasn’t given up. They still put on a solid show at the Tokyo Game Show, sell out the special Blue Dragon combo pack and received high scores from Japanese gaming magazine . But, there’s still a problem: Sony and Nintendo are already ahead, by far, despite the Xbox 360’s one-year head start.

Blue Dragon debuted on December 7, 2006, and Microsoft expected to sell 200,000 copies in Japan, elevating them above punch line status, and it looked like their predictions were right. Approximately 80,000 copies sold on day one, and 30,000 people bought a 360 in that week. To date, more than 133,000 copies of Blue Dragon have made it into Japanese homes, more than any other Microsoft-published game ever has. Unfortunately, other games aren’t experiencing the same success. Capcom’s Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, while it sold over a million units in the U.S., hasn’t performed nearly as well.

Why does the 360 sell so terribly in Japan? It’s not a hardware issue. The machine performs admirably, and Xbox Live works just as well in Japan as it does elsewhere. It’s not advertising, either. Microsoft aggressively made its presence known months before release, just like everywhere else. Their ads are all over Japanese cities, encouraging gamers to “step in.”

But they can’t, and this is why. The first problem is Microsoft’s support for Japanese gamers, it’s still an reputation. Let’s face it, when Microsoft American console. entered Japan with the original Xbox, they had no idea what they were doing. Microsoft went blindfolded into a console They gave Japanese gamers absolutely war in Japan. Now, they’re taking no incentive to stick with their system. another shot, a little older and a little Microsoft boasted an exclusive contract wiser, but with a black eye the size of a with Tecmo, but beyond that, every manhole cover. But it’s not all bad. Blue company the average Japanese gamer Dragon at least intimates Microsoft has holds dear was firmly entrenched finally gotten their act together. And they elsewhere. What’s worse, their internal plan to keep on keepin’ on. They’ve teams, Microsoft Game Studios, weren’t signed on with respected RPG developers ringing anyone’s bell. Rather than trying like tri-Ace and tri-Crescendo to keep to cater to the new demographic, MGS luring Japanese gamers to their camp. translated the games American players loved and expected the money to roll in. In the end, Microsoft has all but won the It didn’t; in total, 475,000 Xboxes ended hardcore console war in Europe and up in Japanese homes. North America. Japan is all that stands between them and global dominance. And then there’s the elephant in the While that would be nice, they can afford room all too many forum denizens are an incomplete victory. But we’re talking willing to discuss: prejudice. Microsoft is about Microsoft, here; when have they the first American company to take a ever admitted defeat? major shot in the console business, and they’re attempting to make a go of it in Bryce Edison is the Editor-in-Chief and Japan. While a lot of Westerners love Co-Founder of Access Gamer. Japanese titles, Japan seems to have a much harder time appreciating some of Joe Blancato and Nova Barlow our stuff — like shooting Nazis. An Xbox contributed to this article. signifies American games, and even with EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Content Editors Lead Artist Account Executive Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Rebecca Sanders Russ Pitts Layout Artist Chairman of Themis Group Contributing Editors Jason Haile Thomas S. Kurz JR Sutich Shannon Drake Lead Web Developer Whitney Butts Research Manager Nova Barlow Web Developers Erik Jacobson Contributors Tim Turner Dan Dormer Bryce Edison IT Director Kyle Orland Jason Smith Allen Varney

Issue 90 © 2007. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email [email protected]. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com