The pressure on each of the three main console makers from the other two is enormous and has only helped the gaming community. Complacency is no longer possible, and while I don't like Microsoft at all, I must say that their presence in the console world is a good thing and the Xbox - despite its terrible case design is an excellent console with a very nice library of games.
When has the console market ever fostered complacency? It's been cutthroat at least since the Intellivision debuted to a rousing chorus of yawns.
Licensing practices in the industry are also pretty hair-raising, so if Microsoft managed to scare off EA with theirs they must have been draconian indeed. It looks like they're trying to tie XBox into whatever they're calling Palladium now, by controlling everything end-to-end, and EA (understandably) balked.
At any rate, markets are better served by companies that aggressively release the best products they can than they are by companies that aggressively seek control by the most efficient means. If Sony and Nintendo are big enough and well enough monied to keep MS from pulling its usual stunts, then MS will be forced to compete on merit (best case for the consumer, worst case for the capitalist), and the console industry will continue to do as well as it has.
I don't see how nintendo can survive if they insist on making yet another console after GC. They can not afford to throw the kind of money that both Sony and M$ (iDon't care, I like it spelled that way )... they can't throw money at GC2 the way SOny and M$ can afford to throw money at Ybox and PS3.
Even in this round, they were extremely late, and slightly underpowered. Yeah yeah, games and all that, but Sony could afford to lose enough money on the PS2 that they got it out long before the other two. M$ waited, but they had enormous hardware power in return for their patience, Nintendo waited and had to make a cheaper machine, that while slightly mor epowerful than the PS2, was muchg later and short on features (DVD) that the other could afford.
I will be surprised to see all three consoles survive the next round. They might all open it with a new console, but more than likely one of them will fold during that time. Nintendo's the poorest of the three, and also the most likely candidate.
Comments
Originally posted by DoctorGonzo
The pressure on each of the three main console makers from the other two is enormous and has only helped the gaming community. Complacency is no longer possible, and while I don't like Microsoft at all, I must say that their presence in the console world is a good thing and the Xbox - despite its terrible case design is an excellent console with a very nice library of games.
When has the console market ever fostered complacency? It's been cutthroat at least since the Intellivision debuted to a rousing chorus of yawns.
Licensing practices in the industry are also pretty hair-raising, so if Microsoft managed to scare off EA with theirs they must have been draconian indeed. It looks like they're trying to tie XBox into whatever they're calling Palladium now, by controlling everything end-to-end, and EA (understandably) balked.
At any rate, markets are better served by companies that aggressively release the best products they can than they are by companies that aggressively seek control by the most efficient means. If Sony and Nintendo are big enough and well enough monied to keep MS from pulling its usual stunts, then MS will be forced to compete on merit (best case for the consumer, worst case for the capitalist), and the console industry will continue to do as well as it has.
Even in this round, they were extremely late, and slightly underpowered. Yeah yeah, games and all that, but Sony could afford to lose enough money on the PS2 that they got it out long before the other two. M$ waited, but they had enormous hardware power in return for their patience, Nintendo waited and had to make a cheaper machine, that while slightly mor epowerful than the PS2, was muchg later and short on features (DVD) that the other could afford.
I will be surprised to see all three consoles survive the next round. They might all open it with a new console, but more than likely one of them will fold during that time. Nintendo's the poorest of the three, and also the most likely candidate.