Sony loses it's grip on it's "Exclusive" games... and the lead.

[Dameon Angell]

If this season's "Console Wars" was played out like a game of Command and Conquer, the Nintendo Wii would be a Nod Stealth Tank, hiding in the rafters, but holding a high hand of cards; the Xbox 360 would be a Nod Light Tank, quick, affordable, and powerful; and the Playstation 3 would be the GDI Mammoth Tank, while powerful it is: slow to make, too few to produce, and expensive as hell. On paper, with the Last-Gen player base and their new graphical behemoth of a system, Sony was primed and ready to destroy the competition and run away with a greater lead that they had previously.

Now, cut to today, Sony sends out as reportedly few as 200,000 units to the United States (that's another 200,000 less than the original cut back). And, on top of that, the barebones system is $600. But, too bad, cause now on eBay, you must pay $2000 to buy one. (Remember that Giant PS3 from the other thread? Only $500 more and these idiots can buy one of those instead).

Sony boasted of it's exclusive games to their system that brought them to the top previously. The Final Fantasies, the Metal Gears, the Virtua Fighters, Assassin's Creed by Ubisoft, Fatal Inertia by Koei, and others. Now, cut to today, and you see none of those titles are Exclusive or their creators are not under their exclusive contracts anymore.

Final Fantasy was always exclusive to Sony since Final Fantasy 7. Sony allowed a spin off, the Crystal Chronicles, for the Nintendo which was no big deal. Now, their producer is off to build a new "Japanese RPG" for the Xbox 360 (It's called Blue Dragon, which is pushing alot of product, actually). Final Fantasy is still locked to Sony, but now they have some heavy competition in Japan for the first time in a long while.

Metal Gear Solid landed on the PS1 and was a breakout hit that put Kojima's name on the proverbial map. But now, with the fall of the PS3, this "Exclusivity" deal seems to be on the rocks with Konami of Japan. While Kojima is loyal to the Cell processor, Konami definitely doesn't share the same sentiments. And it's looking like Konami is forcing Kojima's hand into making a "Substance/Subsistence" style game for the Xbox 360 of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. While the title will launch on the PS3 first, it won't stay there forever. Maybe about 3-6 months.

Just the other day Virtua Fighter was Sony's "Ace in the Hole" against Microsoft's Dead or Alive. With Tekken and Virtua Fighter, they had a good one-two punch against DoA and it was working. Now, with the shaky ground Sony is treading, Virtua Fighter 5 is now going to drop on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

And to wrap up, Assassin's Creed was never exclusive to the PS3, but Sony paid off Ubisoft to keep hush-hush on the existence of the Xbox 360 version (sneaky, sneaky Sony!). And one of the very first titles we saw for the PS3, a Sci-Fi racer called Fatal Inertia, was dropped to the Xbox 360 as well with the recent flop of the platform.

With the big, cheap hit of the Nintendo Wii, the strong head start from the Xbox 360, and with Sony's lumbering $600 price tag and lack of supply, they have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. But, the war has just begun, anything can happen.

And as a side note, before anyone pulls the "Anti-Sony, Microsoft/Nintendo fanboy" card. I own the Playstation, Playstation 2 and the Playstation Portable. I was very interested in getting a PS3, and if it were more affordable, I probably would have still. My favourite PS3 title? Motorstorm, it's the sickest racing game I've played since Excitebike.

[wavebeamer]

The Xbox 360 will be to this generation as to the Playstation 2 was last gen. The 360 got a great start, the lineup right now is more solid than either of the other systems, and it seems to have the brightest future of the three companies. The Xbox 360 has far more support than the Xbox ever did, and it is already beginning to show. Sony is losing third-party support.

Nintendo will make profit this generation, and perhaps the Wii will come in first or second in terms of system sales when all is said and done. I think Microsoft has the best overall plan, though.

[genocidal]

I've always liked Nintendo, even through the Gamecube "dark ages," so I'm happy to see the Wii doing so well. I think its price and features will make it far more popular. I know people like my mom and grandmother, who do not understand computers or video games, that could not put down Wii Sports. Nintendo is bringing the video game market to new people while Sony and Microsoft are hedging their bets on the fact that the current video game market will put their stock in top-end graphics and technology.

[Necromotic]

wavebeamer you have to take it to a more broader view as xbox360 is only doing well in america and that's pretty much it. compare it to other countries like Japan and you'll see it doing very badly.

[Izor]

Only reason nintendo is doing so well is cause they're practically giving away their system. The games suck and the controller is worse. I doubt they'll even have one title that people can play competitively against each other and actually have fun, with the exception of brawl perhaps

[Troll King]

And yet it's working. That's all that really matters, isn't it?

[Dameon Angell]

Microsoft is notorious for having horrible player bases in Japan. But now, with this generation, they're hoping to make a 180 on the 360 over in the East. With titles like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, Japanese gamers are now lining up to get the newest titles from Final Fantasy Creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Dragonball Z Artist, Akira Toriyama.

In Japan, they already sold out on the original pre-orders for the "Xbox 360 Bundle with Blue Dragon"

[Izor]

I doubt its really working since they cant be making much profit on selling the system

[Richard Creager]

Nintendo will make profit this generation.

Please tell me how that's going to be different from the previous 3 generations?

[RATTY...]

Haven't been on here forever, and the first thing I'm seeing is some crappy thread made by a; yes! Xbox 360 fanboy/Wii lover/PS3 hater.

Wii lurking around "holding a high hand of cards"?

Wii is crap. It died before it even got out. I remember when I argued with some fans here about the console, and look how crappy the games are. It's only the big titles who's interesting, the rest are shit.

Final Fantasy was always exclusive to Sony since Final Fantasy 7. Sony allowed a spin off, the Crystal Chronicles, for the Nintendo which was no big deal. Now, their producer is off to build a new "Japanese RPG" for the Xbox 360 (It's called Blue Dragon, which is pushing alot of product, actually). Final Fantasy is still locked to Sony, but now they have some heavy competition in Japan for the first time in a long while.

Heavy competition for the first time in a long while?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/749/749510p1.html

"That much is clear just by looking at the huge promotional campaign the game has received. Microsoft has been airing commercials promoting the game, and its connection with character designer Akira Toriyama, for over a year now. Launch events were held throughout Tokyo to coincide with the Thursday morning release. And on top of all that, Microsoft is practically giving the game away as part of a $260 bundle that includes a core 360 system, a special faceplate and a figure set."

You can't get more desperate then this. Faceplate and a figure set? Lol. And even hiring the 3 powerhouses Akira Toriyama , Nobuo Uematsu, and Hironobu Sakaguchi. M$ is trying too hard to get into the japanese marked. It's kinda sad that they can't make a good RPG without hiring 3 godlike people from a japanese point of view. And everyone knows that figure sets makes japanese people go crazy, won't surprise me if they sell all the bundle packs with Blue Dragon.

After watching the Blue Dragon trailer(s):

Crap. Seriously. Whats up with the Son-Goku merged with Luffy look alike kid? Looks horrible. And the brown creature looks like a bad ripoff of Chopper from One Piece. And the shadow popping up from behind the characters looks ridiculous.

Childish animation. The villain looks like the purple alien from an old cartoon I watched when I was a kid. And the game looks like an action RPG trying to be a traditional japanese RPG. Everything looks bad. The only thing that may be interesting is the music, but then again, everything made by Nobuo Uematsu is great.

Sony may have lost some titles, but they still got some nice exclusive titles left, and PS3 is still going to be THE RPG platform, like PS2 was.

PS: And copy some links to the things you're talking about, I dislike getting secondhand (translated from Norwegian) facts.

[jeem]

god you're stupid izor

[Izor]

no u

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

Haven't been on here forever, and the first thing I'm seeing is some crappy thread made by a; yes! Xbox 360 fanboy/Wii lover/PS3 hater.

As opposed to a "I would gladly take it in the ol' brown winker from Kaz Hirai at a time of his choice"-boy. Everyone's slanted to one side or another, but DA seems to have a more neutral voice than yourself.

Wii is crap. It died before it even got out.

Which I guess is why it's sold out everywhere and people are raving about the gameplay. It's amazing how the word "died" has changed so much in definition over the years.

I remember when I argued with some fans here about the console, and look how crappy the games are.

Just because it doesn't have the hottest GPU or CPU on the market doesn't mean the games are crap. Have you even played one? I doubt you have. Oh wait, I forgot you have 12 Swiss bank accounts with 4 billion Norgemarks or whatever in each.

It's only the big titles who's interesting, the rest are shit.

As opposed to such super popular games such as the instant classics "Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire" or "Full Auto 2: Battlelines". I'd add more, but most everything else has a release date of "TBA 2007". Sweet. AFK, going to go make a pre-order of the Phantom console.

Every console has some stinkers. That's just the way it is. There is no possible way that you can say that some platform had 100% SUPER AWESOME games. You'd be lying. The truth is that both the Wii and the 360 have great games out right now.

You can't get more desperate then this. Faceplate and a figure set? Lol. And even hiring the 3 powerhouses Akira Toriyama , Nobuo Uematsu, and Hironobu Sakaguchi. M$ is trying too hard to get into the japanese marked. It's kinda sad that they can't make a good RPG without hiring 3 godlike people from a japanese point of view. And everyone knows that figure sets makes japanese people go crazy, won't surprise me if they sell all the bundle packs with Blue Dragon.

It's called "effective marketing."

(textual diarrhea about the graphics of Blue Dragon)

As you've been told before, games aren't all about the depth of the graphics they achieve. There's small things... you know, like gameplay, that actually make a difference, believe it or not.

Even with that said, it's obvious that they made a certain distinct choice with the style of animation/graphics used. Calling it "childish animation" doesn't mean shit. And since you've only seen low-res trailers of the game, how the hell do you think you know what the final product looks like?

So again, please stop talking out of your ass like you possibly know better. It's tiresome.

[Pummel]

ConcreteSchlyrd's owning of Ratty.

LOL WOW, owned like Ratty's mom last night.

[Dameon Angell]

I don't know what to make of Ratty's post. Is it a "I'm going to show Dameon that he's a Microsoft Communist with my fair and balanced journalism about the Wii and Xbox 360"? Or is it a "I'm going to attack Dameon's Microsoft Communism with my Sony Capitalism" attack?

It starts out as the first one, calling me out on being a "M$" and Wii Fanboy, so I'm thinking he's going to say how not to one side he is by pointing out Microsoft's extreme marketing tactics which are deployed in Japan and the Wii's barely-over Gamecube graphics (Look at the Twilight Princess, and you will be surprised on what the Wii can do)? So, then to keep that non-hypocritical statement alive, you finish it off with bad mouthing a Japanese Anime-influenced RPG for being Japanese, Anime-Influenced, and an RPG. Not touching on any of the actual gameplay stats.

In short, you walked to your local Boarders and bought a copy of "Kaz Hirai's Soundbytes to make your PS3 sound like it's shit don't stink" by Kaz Hirai. So, congrats, you are truly a yes! "[PS3] fanboy/Wii [hater]/[Xbox 360] hater".

But, we all know Sony got pretty full of themselves this time around and underestimated their competition by a hell of a lot. And if they don't aggressively rethink their American marketing plan and regroup their third-party losses, they will continue down this route.