XBOX 360 vs. PS3 vs. Wii: Game On!

[Damian]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

But they've been rewarded for it.

I would assume they will finally go HD, but probably nothing too fancy. About the same as the 360 is now, maybe.

I'm not saying their decision didn't work well for them. But they haven't made significant upgrades to the graphics since the Gamecube so by the time they're ready for the next console they'll be forced to upgrade. Even kids at some point will think the games will start looking crappy as they get use to more advances on other systems.

[Astrakan]

It's been just over a year since I first did the comparison where I list the number of titles scoring 80+ and 90+ on each console.

For a recap, these were the figures on August 23rd, 2007:

Games Rated 90+
360: 7
PS3: 1
Wii: 2

Games Rated 80+
360: 54
PS3: 14
Wii: 7

Today they are:

Games Rated 90+
360: 12
PS3: 5
Wii: 5

Games Rated 80+
360: 87
PS3: 45
Wii: 18

Some stats for the past year:
- The 360 saw 5 new 90+ games, the PS3 saw 4 and the Wii 3.
- The 360 saw 33 new 80+ games, the PS3 saw 31 and the Wii 13.
- In terms of total number of well reviewed games, the PS3 is almost where the 360 was at this point in its lifetime (i.e. a year ago) while the Wii is completely left in both console's dust.

Some stats since last time (4.5 months ago) I did this:
- The 360 saw 3 new 90+ games, the PS3 saw 2 and the Wii 1.
- The 360 saw 20 new 80+ games, the PS3 saw 12 and the Wii 5.

Note: Xbox Live Arcade, Virtual Console or expansion packs are not included in these stats.

[Ruined]

The new August 2008 NPD numbers also show that PS3 hardware sales are back in last place and XBOX 360 continues to outsell PS3 in games at over a 2:1 ratio. My guess is that this trend will continue with the September 360 price cuts.

[Astrakan]

August 2008 NPD Numbers:

Software
1. Madden NFL 09 (360): 1,000,000
2. Madden NFL 09 (PS3): 643,000
3. Madden NFL 09 (PS2): 424,500
4. Wii Fit (Wii): 394,900
5. Mario Kart Wii (Wii): 328,700
6. Wii Play (Wii): 200,200
7. Soulcalibur IV (360): 174,000
8. Too Human (360): 168,200
9. Madden NFL 09 (Wii): 115,800
10. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): 111,200

Hardware
1. Nintendo DS: 518,300
2. Nintendo Wii: 453,000
3. PlayStation Portable: 253,000
4. Xbox 360: 195,200
5. PlayStation 3: 185,400
6. PlayStation 2: 144,100

Sources:
NPD: August software sales up 13% in the US // News
NPD: Nintendo DS leads US hardware sales // News

[Astrakan]

September 2008 NPD numbers:

Hardware
1. Wii: 687,000
2. DS: 536,800
3. Xbox 360: 347,200
4. PSP: 238,100
5. PS3: 232,400
6. PS2: 173,500

Software
1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Xbox 360 – 610K
2. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board - Wii – 518K
3. Rock Band 2 - Xbox 360 – 363K
4. Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii – 353K
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - PS3 – 325K
6. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - Xbox 360 – 297K
7. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – 243K
8. Madden NFL 09 - Xbox 360 – 224K
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Wii – 223K
10. Madden NFL 09 - PS2 – 158K

Source: September NPD: $1.27b in sales, but it's no Halo 3 launch - Joystiq

[umainebearman]

Rock Band 2 and the price drop obviously spurred that jump. Wouldn't be surprised to see another one with Gears of War 2 next month.

[MooglePorn]

If Sony were smart enough to do a price drop at the same time as Little Big Planet's release, they would see a huge bump as well. Instead, we've got a $400 maching battling a $200 machine going into Christmas, both with huge exclusives.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

If Sony were smart enough to do a price drop at the same time as Little Big Planet's release, they would see a huge bump as well. Instead, we've got a $400 maching battling a $200 machine going into Christmas, both with huge exclusives.

Once again, though, Sony screwed themself into a position where they can't do this.

Mandatory Blu-ray Disc drive,
Mandatory Hard Drive,
Competition with standalone BD players

All of these reasons indicate why Sony can't drop the price of PS3 below $400 at this point without both incurring huge losses and on top of that pissing off BD CE partners. Meanwhile Microsoft and Nintendo will reap the benefits of their folly.

Originally Posted by Astrakan Sep 2008 NPD

Hardware
1. Wii: 687,000
2. DS: 536,800
3. Xbox 360: 347,200
4. PSP: 238,100
5. PS3: 232,400
6. PS2: 173,500

Software
1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Xbox 360 – 610K
2. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board - Wii – 518K
3. Rock Band 2 - Xbox 360 – 363K
4. Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii – 353K
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - PS3 – 325K
6. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - Xbox 360 – 297K
7. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – 243K
8. Madden NFL 09 - Xbox 360 – 224K
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Wii – 223K
10. Madden NFL 09 - PS2 – 158K

Wow, Sony got hammered last month. Not even close to competitive with other consoles.

LittleBigPlanet might help a bit with the hardcore gamer base in late oct/early nov, but IMO it is too strange for casual gamers to play and hence probably will not spike system sales that much.

[MooglePorn]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Wow, Sony got hammered last month. Not even close to competitive with other consoles.

LittleBigPlanet might help a bit with the hardcore gamer base in late oct/early nov, but IMO it is too strange for casual gamers to play and hence probably will not spike system sales that much.

Sony were pretty competitive with the 360, just not the Wii... neither was the 360. In other words, the 360 sales are a LOT closer to the Sony sales than they are the Wii sales.

Also: let's not forget Sony won the two months before the price drop on 360, and I didn't see you saying anything then

I think LBP has a great chance to rope people in, that game is hyped to hell and back. I don't think it will give Sony a victory this Christmas though, since their hardware is $200 more.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

Sony were pretty competitive with the 360, just not the Wii... neither was the 360. In other words, the 360 sales are a LOT closer to the Sony sales than they are the Wii sales.

Also: let's not forget Sony won the two months before the price drop on 360, and I didn't see you saying anything then

I think LBP has a great chance to rope people in, that game is hyped to hell and back. I don't think it will give Sony a victory this Christmas though, since their hardware is $200 more.

Did you happen to miss the software charts? Being competitive in hardware that makes no money means jack if you can't sell the software to go with it. This goes for previous months as well. Overall PS3 is not competitive compared to 360 or Wii.

Top 10 sep 2008 software:
360: 1.5 million games sold
Wii: 1.3 million games sold
PS3: 0.3 million games sold

If you were a developer/publisher, which platform would you want to sell your games on?

As I stated before, clearly PS3 was not competitive with its rivals in Sep. Last place in hardware and by FAR last place in software.

[Ruined]

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - OCTOBER 2008
Wii--803,000
Xbox 360--371,000
PlayStation 3--190,000

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - OCTOBER 2008
Title / Publisher / Units*
1) Fable II (Xbox 360) / Microsoft / 790,000
2) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 487,000
3) Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) / Bethesda Softworks / 375,000
4) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 290,000
5) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 282,000
6) Saints Row 2 (Xbox 360) / THQ / 270,000
7) SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation (PS3) / Sony / 231,000
8) Little Big Planet (PS3) / Sony / 215,000
9) NBA 2K9 (360) / Take-Two Interactive / 202,000
10) Dead Space (360) / Electronic Arts / 193,000

Same old story. Wii wins hardware sales, 360 wins software sales, PS3 loses on both fronts.

I think its pretty safe to say at this point in the nextgen wars that Nintendo wins hardware sales this generation, Microsoft wins software sales, and Sony overall loses both battles. I don't see anything major happening for the 3 of them that will change things, and any advantage Blu-ray gave PS3 is now eradicated with Blu-ray players available at half the price of PS3; you can buy both a 360 or Wii and a standalone Blu-ray player for the same price as a PS3. Also as I predicted LBP sold worse than expected, selling less copies in the month of October than Fable 2 did in one day (315k on release).

[videoworx]

Also as I predicted LBP sold worse than expected, selling less copies in the month of October than Fable 2 did in one day (315k on release).

LBP was released on Oct. 28th. That's hardly "the month of October."

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by videoworx

LBP was released on Oct. 28th. That's hardly "the month of October."

Regardless, it still greatly underperformed for a title that was positioned as PS3's big hit for the fall/winter. How do you think it will fair against Gears of War 2 this month, which sold over 2 million copies on its release date? Resistance 2 also looks like it arrived with subpar sales.

[videoworx]

I'm still not quite sure how you can validate a game's success or failure based on 4 days of sales data, especially considering it isn't an established franchise.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by videoworx

I'm still not quite sure how you can validate a game's success or failure based on 4 days of sales data, especially considering it isn't an established franchise.

There is more than that based on estimates, and they look pretty poor for LBP:
American Weekly Chart | VG Chartz.com - Video Game Charts - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Wii, PS3, Xbox360, DS, PSP, PC

LittleBigPlanet is currently fighting tooth and nail against Kung Fu Panda, Lego Indy, and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm

Note that VGChartz's estimates were nearly dead-on the actual NPD numbers for Oct:
NPD Reports USA Videogame Sales for October 2008 | VG Chartz.com - Video Game Charts - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Wii, PS3, Xbox360, DS, PSP, PC

[videoworx]

Originally Posted by Ruined

There is more than that based on estimates

The game was delayed, but that chartz website doesn't account for it (it was possible to find LBP on the release date, but the majority of copies were delayed until the 28th). And your comparisons to franchise and movie tie-ins are a bit odd. Most non-franchise games don't sell all that well, regardless of platform. Little Big Planet 2 (if there ever is one) will sell ten times as much as the first one.

Also, just because I'm curious...are you suggesting a game is or isn't good, based on its sales numbers?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by videoworx

The game was delayed, but that chartz website doesn't account for it (it was possible to find LBP on the release date, but the majority of copies were delayed until the 28th). And your comparisons to franchise and movie tie-ins are a bit odd. Most non-franchise games don't sell all that well, regardless of platform. Little Big Planet 2 (if there ever is one) will sell ten times as much as the first one.

Would it had been more clear if I said LBP is selling less than expected as already estimated to have plunged down to 15th in sales rank currently despite it only being its 2nd full week of sales?

Also, just because I'm curious...are you suggesting a game is or isn't good, based on its sales numbers?

I thought it was pretty obvious what I was suggesting:

Originally Posted by Ruined

I think its pretty safe to say at this point in the nextgen wars that Nintendo wins hardware sales this generation, Microsoft wins software sales, and Sony overall loses both battles. I don't see anything major happening for the 3 of them that will change things, and any advantage Blu-ray gave PS3 is now eradicated with Blu-ray players available at half the price of PS3; you can buy both a 360 or Wii and a standalone Blu-ray player for the same price as a PS3. Also as I predicted LBP sold worse than expected, selling less copies in the month of October than Fable 2 did in one day (315k on release).

Where exactly did you construe "a game is or isn't good, based on its sales numbers" from? I thought Too Human was an awesome game but it sold worse than expected, too.

[MooglePorn]

Ruined is right, LBP underperformed... I expected a Gears-like first week surge.

I think the holiday season is so crowded things like LBP get lost in the shuffle. Hopefully it will be one of those titles that sells consistently over time, rather than a lot at once and then nothing.

Ruined probably also isn't wrong that Nintendo winning hardware and the 360 winning software (in america) is probably a certainty at this point. As hinted at by videoworx though, this means nothing when it comes to who has the better hardware, software, etc..

Personally I'm damn close to giving PC gaming one... more... try...