Game Sales Figures To Improve Throughout Decade

IGN is reporting that according to a recent report, gaming sales figures will contribute significantly to entertainment industry figures through 2009. From the article: "The report cautions that these projections are highly dependent on the success of the next-generation gaming consoles to be introduced by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. The embedded online capabilities expected in the next-generation consoles as well as the global growth in broadband capabilities should also provide a significant boost to online gaming, according to the PWC report."

Wait a minute...

[NotMyNickName]

I thought Interest in Comsole Gaming Is Declining [slashdot.org]. So interest is declining but those who keep playing will be buying more?

Re:Wait a minute...

[Seumas]

No, dumbass. Nobody will be playing, but they'll all be buying. Duh! ;)

Re:Wait a minute...

[ElVaquero]

No no, the games sales will increase significantly, but so will apathy.

Re:Wait a minute...

[hudsonhawk]

Oh, well I guess I don't really care then.

In other news

[earthbound kid]

In other news, here's some numbers I pulled out of my ass... Oooh, don't they smell nice?

Seriously, is there any possible way that someone can predict what game sales will be like NEXT YEAR, let alone 10 years from now? Maybe, possibly, after the launch of the next-gen systems, you can start to project future sales by assuming that demand will level off then start to drop over the life of the system. Maybe. But to pretend like you can accurately predict sales trends for gaming into completely different eras of technology?? Well, I hope that they enjoyed their brick of hashish at least.

Re:In other news

[earthbound kid]

Correction, 4 years, not 10. At any rate, the point stands: it's useless to make sales projections just before the launch of the next-gen systems.

I disagree

[ludomancer]

I've been a gamer for 25 years, and this next generation of consoles will be the first time I'm not really going to buy any. The prices of the systems are too high, and I feel the $60 price tag is a load of crap, quite frankly. (One look at the profits gained by the larger studios pushing this price raise and I think you'll agree it's unnecessary).
In addition to this, one trip to Fry's, or most other stores that carry games, and I see more used/bargin-bin games for $10-$20 than I have ever seen in the his

Re:I disagree

[Shadarr]

Based on your comments, I would guess you're ignoring Nintendo. You're hamstringing yourself by doing so. The Revolution controller will create entire new genres of games that we've never played before, and add new twists to existing genres. It will likely lead to RTS's being viable on a console for the first time ever.

Obviously, Nintendo is not the market leader and doesn't really want to be. The success of the Revolution will not stop the crash if the PS3 and 360 both tank. Which could very well h

Re:I triple disagree (or something)

[Bagels]

You're completely missing the point of the Revolution controller. If it really was just a "lightstick thingy," you'd be completely justified, of course. There's only one kind of game you can really make with that, and it *would* be dumb to try to make, say, a platformer use a lightgun for control. What it is, though, is more along the lines of a very, very precise pointing device - analogous to a mouse, as a lot of the media mentioned after trying their Metroid FPS demo - but with additional degrees of freedom (what with the rotation along 3 axes and movement in 3 dimensions). For the first time, there's a console with 3D graphics capabilities that also gives the player intuitive full range 3D motion. That's nothing to thumb your nose at.

Re:I triple disagree (or something)

[Chosen Reject]

I mean, honestly, I'm up for something new as much as the next guy but the controller just seems overhyped to me.

The pedantic response here is that if you really were up to something new as much as the next guy, you would be up to the revolution's controller. But what it really sounds like is that you are the kind who spouts off wanting new genres but only to sound like you're hardcore. "Yeah man, I play so much I'm bored to death with FPS's...oooh look, Halo 2!"

And really, are people going to competitively play FPS games by pointing a stick at a screen and shooting?

Maybe, maybe not. While the controller will allow for such, it wasn't necessarily made for it. Who knows, it may be better at FPSs then current controllers. If it isn't, then plug in a regular controller; they'll still work.

It'll more likely be used for some dorky version of "bubble bobble" where bubbles fall from the top of the screen and you pop them with the pointer.

I see that you are like Charles Duell. He was the commissioner of the patent office who said "Everything that can be invented has been invented," found here [goofups.com]. IOW, you are saying that since you cannot see a use for something, obviously it has no use. If you can't see into the future all you have shown is that you cannot see into the future. Everyone thought gaming was dead in the early '80s and then Nintendo revitalized it with, of all things, the D-Pad. Nintendo has a long history of changing the way games are played, and I have no doubts that if this next generation of consoles fails that Nintendo won't. What are my reasons? They are the only company doing something different. Soon, I will upgrade my PC. Does that suddenly mean games are going to be so much cooler? Of course not. If a game sucked before, it will still suck; turning up the resolution isn't going to change a thing.

While I will still play FPSs, RTSs, RPGs, etc., I am looking forward to what can be done with the Revolution's controller. If nothing else, it will present a new way to play old genres. I suspect, however, that it will introduce at least one new genre. And mark my words, if it is successful to any degree, MS and Sony will have one on their next-next-generation consoles.

Anyway, doesn't this already exist? In gameplay to some degree, at least. It's called a stylus for the DS...

Not hardly. The sylus lets you go left and right and up and down, and to do so rather quickly. The revolution's controller let's you go left and right, in and out, up and down, pitch, yaw, and roll, and all fairly quickly. I can see gaming on the revolution being very fast paced if need be. Maybe even more of a twitch-fest than PC gaming is now. The only problem I see is someone might accidentally hit someone else while swinging it around.

Re:I triple disagree (or something)

[Swimmin' Pants]

Everyone thought gaming was dead in the early '80s and then Nintendo revitalized it with, of all things, the D-Pad.

It wasn't the D-Pad alone, Nintendo's Official Seal of Quality had a lot to do with it, as well. One of the contributing factors to the video game crash in the 80's was that the market was flooded by a lot of awful games, and Nintendo's Seal of Quality and 10NES lockout [wikipedia.org] helped a lot with ensuring customer confidence in the console.

As for game sales figures being expected to improve, I'm

Bullshit

[Moraelin]

"The pedantic response here is that if you really were up to something new as much as the next guy, you would be up to the revolution's controller."

I'll call bullshit on that. Wanting something new doesn't mean you have to stop thinking for yourself, nor that you'll take _any_ idiocy just because it's new.

Want to disaggree there? Well then I propose you go hit yourself in the groin with a hammer. It's something new, which you've never experienced before. What are you waiting for? If you were all for somethi

Re:Bullshit

[Headcase88]

I love how you take the Virtual Boy to argue that Nintendo hasn't changed anything. Let's see what they've done so far:

• Almost single-handedly ressurected the video game market
• Made an analog thumbstick standard (which is a bad thing, but hey, they did it.)
• Cornered the portable market for a really long time.
• Made rumbling conrtollers standard.
• Made the first good wireless controller (soon-to-be standard).
• OMG they made the Virtual Boy new ideas suck.

This new controller is very good. You can move in 3 d

Answering to a different message? ;)

[Moraelin]

Whoa. Simmer down, Captain Nintendo ;) To recap what all that message was about:

1. Noone was saying "all new ideas suck", and noone is generally against new ideas. Lay down the persecution complex. All that was written there is that _some_ new ideas can still suck. Keyword: some. You can't just say "original ==> good". The two qualities are pretty much orthogonal, that's all I'm saying.

_Some_ original stuff is good, and _some_ stuff can be bad even though it's new and original. There are plenty of exampl

Re:Bullshit

[Chosen Reject]

For all your learning you are really stupid. You may have noticed that I qualified my statement as a pedantic response. Firstly, neither he nor I, said anything about trying something new for the sake of it being new. So your utterly stupid scenario is out the door. Secondly, the next guy might just maybe have a little to do with who he was talking to, who, oddly enough, wanted to try the new controller.

And now to address your misinformation. Nintendo did not just show actors in front of pre-rendered

So you propose... what?

[Moraelin]

Ok, so let's get the topic straight this time, because this beating around the bush and tantrums are getting tiresome. Your point is basically: "But you should be excited about it because it's _new_!!" That _is_ what you're saying, or are you going to do a verbose dodge again?

This might come as new and unexpected, but at some point you just have to use your own brains and decide for yourself what looks exciting and important to _you_, and what doesn't. To me, this doesn't. Claiming that everyone should get

Re:So you propose... what?

[WaterBreath]

I hope the OP forgives me for jumping in here, but I think you may have misconstrued what he is excited about. It seems to me he's excited about the possibility of the Revolution controller being good for the industry, not that he is flatly assuming it will be. We all know a hammer to the groin is not going to be fun, because most of us have had a similar experience at some point in the past. But we don't know that this controller isn't going to be fun, because the technology to do this right hasn't been

Re:So you propose... what?

[Chosen Reject]

Your point is basically: "But you should be excited about it because it's _new_!!" That _is_ what you're saying, or are you going to do a verbose dodge again?

No my point was never that. My point was to the guy who said that he is for innovation and then turns around and says he would rather play Halo 2 with a keyboard and mouse, and keeps referring to FPSs, and lastly states that it will be used to play some stupid games. If the same old genres are all you want, then fine. This actually has the ability

Re:So you propose... what?

[Moraelin]

A. Well, then basically you are one sane person about it. You, sir, have my respect.

See, hope is ok in my book. Nothing wrong with that.

All that does get my goat is the recent all-out offensive of the "if you're for innovation, then you must be excited about this controller" battlecry or the equivalent "if you're not excited about it, you're not really for innovation" (or even "you're a horrible person, part of some Sony/MS conspiracy, trying to stop innovation as a whole"). I say they're equivalent because

Re:So you propose... what?

[WaterBreath]

You, sir, have my respect.

Thank you, I appreciate it. And thanks for your well-reasoned reply.

Sidewinder isn't a separate company, it's a brand owned by Microsoft itself.

Ah, I remember now, though it didn't register before, that Sidewinder was an MS brand. I guess my explanation of it's failure doesn't make much sense then... Well, there's got to be a reason it failed. I think it might be related to the fact that it came out when I was avidly following game news on a daily basis, and yet I never

Re:So you propose... what?

[Moraelin]

"So why not get excited about a possibility? Maybe you're a cynic. Maybe you're some MS/Sony fanboy. Maybe you just don't think it will work."

I just don't think it will work.

"Why didn't you say anything about what I said, rather than just putting words in my mouth?"

You mean I should have also answered to stuff like "For all your learning you are really stupid."? I was sorta tempted to comment about it being the standard fanboy tantrum, but then again, why bother? You'd rather that I did? ;)

As for putting wo

Re:So you propose... what?

[tuxedobob]

Hey, when you can't point someone to a specific logical fallacy at a Wikipedia page, just say you disagree. That seems to work.

Re:Bullshit

[RoadDoggFL]

"You mean the same as the VirtualBoy was the one that changed the way games were played and the one that didn't fail, because it was different? Oh, wait, it did fail, and it didn't change anything. Shucks, there goes that theory."

Way to pick out a single example that suits your needs.

No, he means like the GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS. He means like the N64's standard 4 ports. He means like the SNES's shoulder buttons. He means like the N64 controller's analog stick and rumble

Re:I triple disagree (or something)

[KDR_11k]

The rod uses complete motion sensing, not just pointing. The sensors are accurate, you could try the GBA games "Yoshi's Topsy-Turvy" or "Wario Ware Twisted" (I'd recommend the latter, Topsy Turvy sucks) to test them. Or you could try this [gyration.com], which is a mouse designed by the company Nintendo licensed the technology from.

Obviously the rod will allow you to swing a sword around or maybe play a more accurate Pool/Snooker or Baseball sim. Probably a lot of things we can't even think of right now. At first people a

Re:I triple disagree (or something)

[thebdj]

Ok this thing in no way shape or form resembles a light stick. It doesn't even operate in the same manner (this would actually begin to cause it to fail with technologies). It is a gyro-pointer. It works using wireless connection (IR if I remember, maybe RF) and the signals sents are with gyroscopes. Now if you want to see an example of this in use, I point you to the gyro-mouse, a very capable device and very ease to use the motion features for controlling. TV Size should not effect it beyond the fact

Re:I disagree

[masterzora]

Wow, how did this get modded 3:Interesting while the post before it is modded -1:troll? At least the so-called "troll" used valid points/arguments. (*mutter*onlyon/.*mutter*)

I mean, ignore your biases for a moment, and think about his argument.

"A new controller isn't going to make anything new." As proven by the analog stick on the N64... It has the possibility to make new stuff easily.

"And oooh - it has a lightstick thingy like the old gun in duck hunt. We all know how well *those* things work" Bec

Re:I disagree

[Hitto]

Mod this parent troll, please :

- The poster is obviously uninformed about the revolution controller, which he describes as "the old gun in duck hunt", thus essentially comparing 20-year-old technology to today's.

- The poster wants to buy the two most expensive consoles at their very launchdates, but emits reserves on the least expensive system of them all, adopting a waiting attitude. News flash, "You're going to have to work hard to own a PS3" means it would be smarter to wait for a pricedr

Easy there fanboy.

[ludomancer]

I own a DS. I love it and the games. Of the next generation systems the Revolution is looking to be the most likely to get my money, and chances are it will cost much less than PS3 and XBox2.
So yes, there are interesting look games out and coming out in the future. However the market is very poor despite MTV swearing it's the hottest new thing on the block, and Nintendo will not stop that alone. My opinion is one of an open minded gamer and developer who would love to see the best for our artform. Tel

Re:I disagree

[Xugumad]

Just a thought, but have you considered buying the console after launch, once the early adopter premium has gone? Everyone seems to be looking at the launch prices as if they'll never drop.

Here in the UK, consoles tend to launch at closer to $500 (PS2 and XBox both launched at 300 UKP, and I'm assuming an exchange rate of 1 UKP=1.8 USD). XBox games were around $80 (50 UKP) at launch. This didn't stop me picking both consoles at $320-ish, and games at $50-ish. Maybe it's just here there's such a large drop..

I have...

[pymike]

Bzflag and Wesnoth, what more do I need.

Easy

[KDR_11k]

Nethack.

decide!

[Eil]

Okay, one day we have a Slashdot article claiming that video gaming is on its way out the door. The next, an article celebrating its sure growth in the future. Then after that, another one saying that it's going away again. And so on.

For fuck's sake, can't we just make up our minds whether the gaming industry is dying or thriving? This is idiotic.

Re:decide!

[Supurcell]

You have to remember that these are just people's opinions. Not everybody is going to agree. In my opinion, it is a good thing to hear the perspectives of multiple points of view. Read two articles that say the opposite thing and then choose for yourself who is right(or if both are wrong). Slashdot does not bring us absolute truths, but it brings us a the power to judge for ourselves.

Sales improve if..

[Josilot]

"The report cautions that these projections are highly dependent on the success of the next-generation gaming consoles to be introduced by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo." So they are saying that sales over the next couple of years will improve if sales over the next couple of years go well. If sales aren't very good, then sales just might not improve very much.

Re:Sales improve if..

[OSS_ilation]

"The report cautions that these projections are highly dependent on the success of the next-generation gaming consoles to be introduced by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo." Gee, so the article is saying, straight up, that everything contained within it is worthless. In other news, interest in Sci Fi movies over the next eight years will skyrocket on the condition that aliens land during that period and talk to us.