With Sony’s PlayStation 3 finally released around the world, the next-gen video game wars may begin in earnest. Microsoft already has a reasonable installed base for the Xbox 360, but not enough to guarantee dominance, while Sony’s consumer brand loyalty is being tested to the limits by the PS3’s high price.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has carved out a niche for itself by taking the next generation away from high definition, with its humorous, but extremely popular name, Wii.
Within the industry, however, most experts expect a much more level playing field this time, with Microsoft and Sony battling it out, but neither gaining significant dominance over the other. This is, frankly, a disaster for Sony, whose PlayStation 2 console defined a generation, and not just consoles.
What is the reason for this change? One word: exclusivity. In the good old days, game publishers were convinced to release their game on a single console, and then perhaps allow it to adorn competitors’ machines, so Lara pushed the original PlayStation and GTA helped the PS2 explode. With the next generation, the exclusivity is practically gone. GTA will be released on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Lara has two times on the PlayStation all over the place. There are even rumors that Snake will change the tail and that Metal Gear Solid 4 will not be exclusive to PlayStation 3. In fact, the only games that remain exclusive to a format are usually those developed by the console manufacturers themselves, their own games as is knows them.
So what do Microsoft and Sony have up their sleeve? Sony has a game called Heavenly Sword, which has game journalists very excited, but other than this, its near future release schedule is pretty embarrassing.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has a machine mature enough to look forward to its second wave of titles, games that should really start to take advantage of next-gen hardware (to date, only Gears of War has really shown its next-gen credentials for players). And their lineup looks good, and not just the first part: Bioshock, from 2K, Mass Effect, a highly anticipated game from Bioware, who can’t go wrong, Halo 3 is coming a month after GTA IV on both platforms, I don’t have a bucket big enough to describe how many buckets this game will sell, Fable 2, from the popular Lionhead Studio and then more action from Project Gotham Racing and Halo.
Essentially, this year Xbox 360 has some good triple-A games, with 2 tent releases in GTA IV and Halo 3. Sony has GTA IV and Heavenly Sword and then many more third-party cross-platform games.
So expect Microsoft to swap out a few units with their lineup, but Sony will be expecting a GTA effect on their console as well. However, this rosy, if not optimistic outlook for Microsoft could change next year. Sony has more development staff than anyone else, and while it may be taking its time, hopefully its first games will start to appear.
All of this, of course, only considers game consoles like that, and it remains to be seen what effect, if any, Blu-Ray (PS3) vs HD-DVD (Xbox 360) high definition formats for videos. have in sales.