Mixed News for Nintendo, Microsoft 155
If you were to just look at downloadable content this week, Wii and 360 owners would have a lot to cheer about. Virtual Console downloads include the (under-appreciated) Legend of the Mystical Ninja and the original Castlevania. Xbox 360 owners can finally sink their teeth into the board-game spectacular that is Settlers of Catan. Classic titles Millipede and Centipede will also be on offer via Xbox Live Arcade. Unfortunately, there are some less cheery things to discuss as well. Virtual Console sales are down, apparently, and some analysts are questioning whether Nintendo's success may be bad for the industry overall. As for the 360 ... the Elite may be bringing back some old problems. 'Red Rings of Death' have already been reported with the just-released consoles, and DRM issues with Live Arcade titles on the 'upgraded' system are making some new owners frustrated.
Not quite sure I agree with article summary here (Score:5, Informative)
My guess is that the average user isn't going to care a whole ton about the VC. The hardcore gamer might because they are trying to play games they never got to play before or are trying to consolidate their retro catalog legally into one location. I would be willing to be that the initial buyers for the Wii were in-fact hardcore gamers or previous gamers, not necessarily the soccer moms and grandma's who are now starting to actively seek the system for themselves. These newcomers to the system probably have less interest in the VC than in buying the Wii mostly for Wii Sports and a couple other titles. Finally, anyone who's been following the VC lineup knows that signal to noise ratio hasn't been incredibly high. There's a handful of must-haves on that list, but there's a lot of games waiting in the wings for some reason or other (my theory is to help keep gamers going if there's a big drought of Wii games).
A better description of what's happening is that sales are slowing or plateauing, not "down". I don't think Nintendo and its partners really care anyways. 1.8 million units sold with price tags >= $5 and only bandwidth costs to consider is nothing to scoff at.
Re:This is just. plain. stupid. (Score:4, Informative)
Buh? The DS isn't a replacement for the GBA. Nintendo has continually stated it's a "third pillar", and as such, should continue to exist and be supported. After all, last I checked, the GBA wasn't being discontinued any time soon, and games continue to be published for the platform.
Further, the release of revised handheld models has nothing at all to do with generational churn, so I don't even know why you brought that up.
Re:That's bull... (Score:3, Informative)
Um, are you talking about the same GBA that still outsells [neogaf.com] the PS3?
Re:RRoD? (Score:3, Informative)
I own a launch unit Xbox 360 as well, I've never had any problems, but I also maintain the largest (if not the only) FAQ on the subject of Red Rings of Death [xbox-scene.com] (at least it's the largest one I know of).
There is no denying that a large number of Xbox 360 consoles have gone belly up, I see that crap first hand on a daily basis. Even still MS claims the failure rate is between 3 and 5 percent. Considering they've shipped 10 million consoles... 3 to 5 percent is still 300,000 to half a million units. When you consider a chunk of consumers that size and the speed in which bad news travels over the tubes... whether it's FUD or not, you get a reputation for that sort of thing.
I have no doubt that some of the new elite units are throwing errors out of the box, despite the fact that it was "redesigned" the problematic components haven't been fixed or even addressed in the elite units and a potential fix [xbox-scene.com] wont go into production until sometime next month.
FWIW: If I had to make an educated guess I'd say 90% of the broken Xbox 360s can be traced back to a single design error and that is a GPU that runs too hot due to a shoddy cooling system resulting in either weak or bridged solder connections in it's Ball Grid Array. Neither the GPU, it's cooling system, or it's attachment to the motherboard have been modified since the console's launch, why would any new systems be any different from the older ones.
Re:It makes sense if you think of 'Coopetition' (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry if it came out that way, Yes - Nintendo provides them with the tools ahead of launch.
What I meant is that the fact that their current platforms are so 'unique' that it doesn't conform to their business model; they have to come and play against Nintendo, with their platform and with a design philosophy that is unorthodox. I don't think that for now we'll see very compelling games from 3rd parties unless they really commit to the platform.
Meanwhile Nintendo will cream the competition in their own platforms hence the assessment from the analyst.
R.P
Re:This is just. plain. stupid. (Score:4, Informative)
Nope. I'm one of them. I hate consoles and the vast majority of games on the market. I dislike FPS's and most modern RPGs (as noted by my earlier dismissal of Oblivion). The DS is the first game console I've owned since I was 12 and had an Atari 2600. Nintendo's DS has games I'm interested in that aren't going to interest the usual gamer. E.g., Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk, Advanced Wars, Brain Age. Us "niche" market gamers were literally ignored and marginalised by the big publishers. Nintendo seems to notice us and caters to us and the fact we're flocking to Nintendo ... scares you?
This is the heart of the matter. I now cruise EB ever week keeping an eye out for interesting games, as well as visiting the game sites to keep an eye on previews. The majority of games I like were released by Nintendo. There are two exceptions (Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk), but all the 3rd party games I've seen have been ports of older titles that I never cared for anyway or "fast cash in" games on movie licenses. I mean really. On Game Rankings.com, I'm hard pressed to find a DS movie-tie-in game break 80%. The Wii and DS caters to a different crowd. You want my money, cater to me. I'll give you a hint: my favorite games are strong story-based like Infocom, Ultima IV, V and Dreamfall. I don't like thumb-twitcher games. I dislike FPS's. I do like strategy games, like Advanced Wars or Company of Heroes (which isn't on the DS obviously, but it is on my PC). I do like other games as well like the old Time Pilot arcade game. I don't see MS or Sony tripping over themselves to cater to me and my kind so Nintedo gets my dollars. THAT'S what's happening, folks.