New Communication Technologies - Academic Essay

1501ART - New Communication Technology
Assessment 2 – Academic Essay
The ‘Next-Generation’ Console War – How do you win?
Ryan Fernance - 2619977


Video gaming has evolved. The video game industry has become a lucrative market for console developers; it is a multi-million dollar business if executed correctly. The prospect of earning countless millions of dollars come’s increased competition between the main competitors, and thus a wide range of choice for the consumer.

There have been several generations of video games consoles, with each new era ushering in new system specs, games and fans. This has lead to console wars over many decades, with generally 3 or 4 consoles fighting it out. Classic machines like the Atari 2600, Sega Megadrive, Commadore 64, and current day with the likes of the Nintendo 64, PS1 and Xbox.

These current day machines offer the very latest in technology, may of which include wireless controllers, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD gaming, HDMI input for glorious picture quality, latest and greatest graphical tech, etc. What this spells for the consumer is access to all the latest technology, packaged into one machine.

There have been ‘console wars’ going on between each generation of video gaming machines for decades, but in recent times the companies have stepped up the offensive and we have seen classic companies fall away due to not being able to compete, companies such as Sega and its attempt at an advanced console, the Sega Dreamcast, which barley sent a ripple through the gaming market.

This is the seventh generation of consoles and these wars are being fought by three companies, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Each has their own ‘next-gen’ console and they are locked in a battle-royal for victory. The games, features and technology that differ between consoles are the cause for the wars, each company try to design and include the features that have the widest appeal.

But how do you win a console war?
Units sold will be the figure that ultimately decides the winner of the console wars, and the Xbox 360 leads the pack with 9.68 million units sold, with the Wii coming off a big launch boom selling 6.54 million units and the PS3 in third place selling a mere 3.16 million units. These are the worldwide overall statistics on units sold from release.

To get a clearer picture on who is winning the war, it is better to look at the monthly sale charts. US video game console demand charts for the months of August 2005 – February 2007 show the demand for consoles at their launch period and afterwards when the hype dies down and general sales periods kick in.

The Wii and 360 had reasonably consistent demand from January to February, indicating that they have settled into post holiday levels, where as PS3 demand is more troubling, as it fell 30% in the same period, and is now significantly lower than its much older competitor. Compared to the 360’s launch, both the PS3 and Wii generated more overall demand during the holiday. However, the steep decline in PS3 demand indicates inflated demand due to hype. (http://blog.compete.com/2007/03/26/xbox360-wii-playstaion3-demand/)

But before the consumer chooses which platform to throw their support behind they must first see what each console offers them.

Microsoft’s next-generation console, the Xbox 360 has had a head start of about a year on its competitors, which has given it a huge edge in this generation. Two versions of the 360 were released at launch, one premium pack with everything included (20 GB HDD, Wireless controller) and the core with only the necessities (no HDD, wired controller).

One of the main selling points of the Xbox 360 was its online system. Xbox Live is widely recognised as the best console online experience available and this has been a big factor in the success of the 360. Another is the range of titles available, Microsoft have secured exclusive gaming IP’s such as Gears of War and the Halo series. Microsoft's celebrated Xbox Live Arcade service lets you download a wide variety of smaller games -- mostly retro classics like Doom and Worms. (http://www.xbox.com/zh-SG/community/news/2006/20060510.htm)

While the Xbox 360 had a big lead on Nintendo and Sony’s releases, there were a variety of problems with the launch Xbox 360 consoles. The problems include systems that spontaneously shut down or crash to a multi-language error screen. Early indications are that the problems are all related to the power supply overheating (http://spong.com/article/9336).

While Microsoft did fix these consoles free of charge, many consumers were not happy with the service provided. However, these console faults reportedly still seem to represent just a small fraction of Xbox 360 consoles sold so far (http://spong.com/article/9336).

It can be said that Nintendo’s Gamecube did not fare very well in the previous generations console war. The Nintendo started out second to the might of Sony’s Playstation 2, and once the release of the original Xbox, fell to a distant third.

Nintendo’s next generation console is trying to revolutionise the way games are played. The Nintendo Wii uses an infrared sensor in its controller so that you physically move around as you play. The interactivity of the Wii has lead to some innovative and creative games ideas, such as Wii Sports which you move the character and his actions when you move the controller. The Wii also has an internet browser so you can surf the net from the console, weather updates and the like.

This approach seems to have payed off with the Wii in Australia the fastest ever selling console; Nintendo Co.'s Wii outsold Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 during January as consumers bought 436,000 of the video-game consoles (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=149572).

Though the Wii is also not without its technical problems, it has been reported that during standby mode, the Wii can overheat to the point of damaging the GPU, and the first firmware update caused some units to become unusable (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=149572).

The juggernaut that was Sony’s Playstation 2 by far and away won the previous generation’s war and many were predicting a similar result with the Playstation 3, however a delayed release coupled with a lack of any ‘blockbuster’ release titles has hurt the PS3 in its market share position.

The Playstation 3 uses HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) compatibility something which the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii do not, HDMI lets the PS3 on a HD-TV be run on a native 1080i, 1080p resolution whereas the 360 and Wii can only be run on 720p. This gives a vastly sharper and clearer image. (http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/accessories/0,239035326,240004563,00.htm)

Microsoft however, have combated this with announcing its new ‘Xbox 360 Elite’ console. The Elite will be a black version of the Xbox 360 with HDMI compatibility built in as well as including a 120 GB HDD. This is seen by some owners of the original versions of the Xbox as unfair as they also want access to the HDMI capabilities but have already spent money on an Xbox 360.

The Playstation 3 uses the new Blu-Ray disc format in its system which gives a clearer, sharper image and can hold much more content than the DVD/HD-DVD’s used in the 360 and Wii. The capacity of a single layer Blu-Ray disc is 25 GB, compared to 15GB of a HD-DVD. (http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-state-of-the-s-union-s-division)

With hardware issues the PS3 has had relatively less than the 360 and Wii, the known problems include the Bluetooth connect-ability in some of the consoles has bugs that make it hard to control the games being played and some of the console’s disc drives make a loud whirring sound when in use. (http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/some-new-ps3-models-whining-251671.php)

Games developers have also come out and criticized the PS3’s developing tools, citing that they are too hard to use; “The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think it’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted.” “The honest truth is that the Microsoft dev tools are so much better than Sony’s”. (Official Australian Xbox Magazine Issue 13 March 2007, p.17)

The PS3 is also suffering in the market, in Issue 5 of the E-magazine 360Zine it is written that the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii currently enjoy a healthy demand while the PS3 has post-launch blues. (360Zine Issue 5 April 2007, p. 34)

Console wars have and always will be a big part of the video gaming scene, as newer generations of consoles are released the multi-national corporations will try to out-do each other again and again, and the fiery fan debate will continue on as well. As for this generation of consoles, it is far too early to declare a winner, though Sony has a lot of ground to cover to catch up with the high flying Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360.

It all boils down to market share, and to ‘win’ a console war one must control the majority of the market, and that is what these conglomerates are striving for.

Reference List

Block, Ryan 19 Sep 2005, Blu-ray vs HD-DVD: State of the Division http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-state-of-the-s-union-s-division (accessed 21st April 2007)

Block, Ryan 20 March 2007, Xbox 360 Elite: new, black limited edition Xbox with HDMI and 120GB drive http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/20/xbox-360-elite-new-black-limited-edition-xbox-with-hdmi-and-120gb-drive/ (accessed 23rd April 2007)

2007, ‘Complete Blog’, 360Zine Issue 5, April, page 34 (accessed 2 April 2007)

2007, ‘Developers Trash PS3’, Xbox 360: The Official Australian Xbox Magazine Issue 11, March, page 17 (accessed 23 April 2007)

Freiert, Max, Xbox360 vs. Wii. Vs. PS3: Demand doesn’t lie http://blog.compete.com/2007/03/26/xbox360-wii-playstaion3-demand/ (accessed 23rd April 2007)

10 May 2006, Gamers Catch Their Breath as Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Reinvent Next-Generation Gaming http://www.xbox.com/zh-SG/community/news/2006/20060510.htm (accessed 19th April)

History of Games (part 2), http://www.gamingw.net/articles/74 (accessed 30th April 2007)

Jackson, Mike Nov 21, 2006, WARNING: WiiConnect 24 kills Wiis, http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=149572 (accessed 30th April 2007)

Kohler, Chris 14 Nov, 2006 Picking Sides in the Console War http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2006/11/72112?currentPage=2 (accessed 19th April 2007)

Dec 14, 2006 Nintendo Wii is a Record Breaker in Australia http://www.gameguru.in/general/2006/14/nintendo-wii-is-a-record-breaker-in-australia/ (accessed on 19th April)
Qualls, Eric, Xbox 360 Hardware Impressions, http://xbox.about.com/od/xbox2/a/x360hardwareimp.htm (accessed 30th April 2007)

Ramsay, Randolph 8 March 2005, Why HDMI? What you need to know before going digital http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/accessories/0,239035326,240004563,00.htm (accessed 23rd April 2007)

Some New PS3 Models Whining http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/some-new-ps3-models-whining-251671.php (accessed 21st April 2007)

Takahashi, Dean 2006, Xbox 360 Uncloaked, Lulu Press: United States

Thurrott, Paul Nov 25, 2005, Isolated Hardware Glitches Mar Xbox 360 Debut http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/48561/48561.html?Ad=1 (accessed 19th April 2007)

White, Michael 20 Feb 2007, Nintendo Wii Tops Playstation 3, Xbox 360 in January http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aeP6KYaQ4o_k&refer=technology (accessed on 20th April 2007)

24 Nov 2005, Xbox 360 Faults. Full Report, http://spong.com/article/9336 (accessed on 30th April 2007)

Relevant Websites

www.xbox.com.au
www.sony.com.au
www.nintendo.com.au
http://www.majornelson.com/
http://www.msxbox-world.com/
http://www.ps3.net/
http://wii.com/
www.ign.com
www.gamespot.com
http://www.vgchartz.com/