Consoles life cycle gettig shorter? (1 Viewer)

[Shawn O]

Interesting. http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories...824614,00.html

 

[Carlo_M]

So that PS9 commercial that we all used to see when PS2 was released will actually become a reality in a few years?

 

[David_LM]

A snippet from the article:

In a recent interview with The Financial Times, Kunitake Ando, president and CEO of Sony, said that the Microsoft Xbox, which comes with a hard drive and Ethernet adapter out of the box, could force the company to transition to the PS3 earlier than intended. "The biggest threat to the PlayStation 2 is that the Xbox changes the industry's life cycle," said Ando, who feels that it is unclear whether the current PS2 business model is sustainable and that its console life cycle could be reduced to three years as a result. Given his comments, it is not surprising that Ando feels that Microsoft has replaced Nintendo as the biggest competitor for his company's games division. "Nintendo's GameCube has been a disappointment in Japan, they have sold only a third of what they had hoped,"

Microsoft would love nothing better than to get into a video console war with their deep pockets and "Survival of the Fittest" mentality. It is looking smart that Sega got out of the console business when it did.

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Interesting article. I do find one problem with it. It assumes that videogame consoles sell purely on hardware power, when they really sell because of the games. As long as Sony and Nintendo continue to release exclussive games for their systems that can equal or surpass what's done on the Xbox, I don't see the console life span getting any shorter.
Besides, just because a console is more advanced, doesn't mean that it's going to succeed. Again, it all comes down to games.
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-J.Fo
"He represents all that is soulless and wrong... and you slept with him!"

 

[Jason Seaver]

It assumes that videogame consoles sell purely on hardware power, when they really sell because of the games.

But power does play a role, though a different one - a new, more powerful system will help grow the market. Hardware lust doesn't necessarily sell a system to people who are already into gaming, but when someone who hasn't had a console since the 2600 of their youth looks at a PS2 and rationalizes it with "and it's a DVD player" or figures the Xbox's networking/HDTV/5.1 capacity makes it a cool enough piece of hardware to have in the living room, that's got to be worth something.

 

[Matty B]

That's BS. If that was true would the dreamcast have failed? It HAD superior games to the PS2, and it STILL has superior games to the PS2, and Im a PS2 owner!

 

[Justin1]

The industry as a whole is not revolving on a shorter product life cycle. The comments made by Kunitake Ando were, in my opinion, way off base. X-Box might change the PS2's life cycle, but it won't cause a blanket change to the industry. What PS2 has gained in one year of NO competition, it will lose in overall staying power. This was a decision of Sony, much like the Sega blunder that was the Saturn. Both companies could have waited to meet the rising expectations of technology put into motion by competitors, but they took the short term cash option instead. The Saturn died because of it. Now, Sony will not be even close to another Saturn, but they will have to bring out a PS3 much sooner than the competion's hardware due to technology advancements. Sony has done a pretty good job of putting a quality product out that, for the most part, meets the output of the xbox. But, waiting a year allowed hard drive and ethernet prices to come down, giving Microsoft a great bonus to add to the xbox. Overall, the xbox will not change the industry product life cycle times, but it will affect the PS2 life cycle.

 

[David_LM]

Sony will will have to bring out a PS3 much sooner than the competion's hardware due to technology advancements ... But, waiting a year allowed hard drive and ethernet prices to come down, giving Microsoft a great bonus to add to the xbox ... Overall, the xbox will not change the industry product life cycle times, but it will affect the PS2 life cycle.

Let's see, the PS2 is a console and you say the life cycle of the PS2 will be affected because of the XBox, however you say that the life cycles of consoles in general will not be affected. Let me tell you, right now PS2 is King and if the King's life cycle is shortened, then the industry's life cycles have changed. What you said about technological advancements and lowering prices is precisely why console life cycles will be shortened. The PS3 will be hurried out and probably leap frog the XBox in technology, the XBox 2 will be hurried out and probably leapfrog the PS3 in technology, and so on. XBox has pushed the envelope and it appears Sony has decided to play.

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Matty;
The Dreamcast may be an odd exception. I think that other circumstances may have contributed to its fall, such as Sega's sorted history with add-ons and its tendancy to abandon consoles shortly into their life span. Sega had left a sour taste in the mouths of gamers after the Saturn, and I believe that they forever tarnished their good name as a hardware manufacturer to the point where nothing could have saved them.
That said, I still stand by my belief that good games sell the system, not the other way around. After all, what good is a videogame console if you don't have any good games?
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-J.Fo
"He represents all that is soulless and wrong... and you slept with him!"

 

[Calvin Watts III]

Only if the consumers will support it...A lot of them are upset now,with the PSone & N64 being phased out.
And look at how long they have been out.
My feeling is,unless the upcoming consoles are backwards compatible AND cheap,you won't see a much shorter lifespan than what it is now.
And,as for the power of a system, name one gaming system that was the most popular & the most powerful during its lifetime...
The answer is:
None.
Zero.
Zilch.
Nada.
All three systems will be around for a while..Unless every J6P decides to invest in a HT setup
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"Never give up!!! .......... Never surrender!!!!!!!!!."

 

[Chad Ferguson]

I think gaming consoles are going the way that Video cards have. They are just starting to fight over who is faster, better numbers, better graphics. Just like Nvidia and 3dfx and crew. The life spans will be getting shorter, I don't see these systems lasting the planned 5 years.

 

[Dave F]

I totally agree with Matty. Great games will not sell a console. The mass market is won over by marketing and PR manipulation.
-Dave
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DVD List
"The page you are looking for is here no more. Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

 

[David Williams]

I totally agree with Matty. Great games will not sell a console. The mass market is won over by marketing and PR manipulation.

So you're telling me that a little thing like Pokémon didn't sell tons of Gameboys? That all of Nintendo's franchises (and Rare) didn't keep it afloat against the powerhouse of the Playstation?
If it comes down to a three-way fight between PS2, Xbox and the GameCube, Nintendo will always stay in it because of its star software players... Mario, Zelda, Banjo, Metroid, Perfect Dark and whatever Rare cooks up next will all sell people on buying a Gamecube. Kiddies will buy it for the next Pokémon (or insert fad here) and bring along their older sibs for games like Eternal Darkness. It's the killer app that sells machines... the "ooh I've got to have it to play this cool game." In various threads here in the Hardware section about the current why-are-you-pre-ordering-that-machine question quite a few people said that the reason they pre-ordered a GameCube over an X-Box was because of Rogue Leader 2.
I think Dreamcast tanked, in part, because it didn't service the entire gaming community. Too many sports titles and not enough platformers and "kiddie games" (ick) to bring in Parents with big wallets to buy a machine. Part of the Playstation's success was that it serviced the entire gaming community with mature and less-than-mature titles. Nintendo mastered the kiddie and FPS markets but couldn't court wide-spread acclaim because of the dearth of mature titles for the system... a problem they seem to be correcting this time around. Less diversity in games means less market space.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The 3 year life of the Gameboy Color shows that some life cycles are sure shortening.
As far as the Dreamcast goes, too much bad blood in the gaming community came from the failure of the 32x, Sega CD, and Saturn. The problem was not the games, the games were KILLER, and I'm not talking about sports games. I sold my PS2 because it gathered dust while I kept playing the Dreamcast!

 

[Calvin Watts III]

The 3 year life of the Gameboy Color shows that some life cycles are sure shortening.

I don't think that is a totally fair assessment,because while the GBC did last around 3 years,it was just basicially a GB with a slightly sharper screen and some color. The processing power is the same as the original Game Boy,which came out in 1989.
And kicked every other handheld's ass,and just about all of them were more powerful then Nintendo's lil' system.
Simple Fact: Nintendo still makes a lot of cash from videogames. They aren't going anywhere - no matter what Mr.Gates does.
Calvin
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"Never give up!!! .......... Never surrender!!!!!!!!!."

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I don't think that is a totally fair assessment,because while the GBC did last around 3 years,it was just basicially a GB with a slightly sharper screen and some color. The processing power is the same as the original Game Boy,which came out in 1989.

Actually, the GBC has:
Double the VRAM (16k versus 4k)
Double the processor speed (8mhz versus 4mhz)
More video modes
A different memory addressing scheme, supporting larger cartridges
It's a good deal more powerful.

 

[Shawn O]

Given his comments, it is not surprising that Ando feels that Microsoft has replaced Nintendo as the biggest competitor for his company's games division.

Hmmn...food for thought.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

If the XB is a huge success, the PS3 might come out a year or so earlier, but I doubt it will be out before 2004.
The PSX was a crappy console with crappy graphics and was outdated, but as of now, it still has great games coming out for it. PS2 could easily do the same.
If this lowers console life spans, then I will be pissed at MS.

 

[Romier S]

quote: The PSX was a crappy console with crappy graphics and was outdated, but as of now, it still has great games coming out for it.[/quote]
Are you out of your mind or something. Everything in that sentence is contradictory. You say the PSX was a crappy console but still has good games. That makes a whole lot of sense Morgan. What your saying is that the console that saw the release of some of the greatest titles in the last 5 years was crap. Real intelligent comment there.
I also dont seem to remember PS1 graphics being crappy. It is now almost a 6 year old system. I especially loved your outdated comment

. Outdated by whose standards? Is it outdated by todays standards? Of course it is. How in the hell can you compare a 6 year old console to whats available now. Great logic there buddy. 6 years ago those "crappy" graphics as you called them were considered pretty damn state of the art in the console world.
As for your MS comment. Who cares if you'll be pissed at them. Im sure if the president of Sony made the same statements but said that the Gamecube would shorten the life cycles of current consoles you would be the first person posting how awesome the Gamecube is and how we should thank the Gamecube for being so revolutionary and changing the market for the better. Is it so hard for you to admit that MS made a good system?!
The Gamecube will be an exceptional system, I have no doubt of this (I will also be buying one). Microsoft IMHO has made an exceptional system (mind you I was a bit of a skeptic about the X-box until I played Halo and saw some of the releases they have coming out.) Is it so difficult to say "Damn, you know the X-box may not be for me but it does look sweet and it looks like allot people are enjoying it." Is it so hard? You know for someone who seems to have such disdain for Microsoft and the X-box you sure do expend allot of time and energy talking about their system.
Morgan no offense man but please stop talking out of your ass. It gets old really quickly.
[Edited last by Romier S on November 15, 2001 at 08:37 PM]

 

[Camp]

I usually ignore Morgan's posts but for some reason I read that one. Probably the most uninformed thing you've ever posted, Morgan. Then again, you were probably only 9 or 10 when the PSX came out.