World loves Wii today, but is PS3 the winner in 2010?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 24 February 2007 20:16

Your IT - Entertainment

Of course, Microsoft and Sony aren’t going to be resting on their laurels, but by then will have their own programmers and third-party software games developers squeezing every ounce of power to outdo each other and Nintendo.

It’s quite refreshing to think that the consumer is the biggest beneficiary. Console prices by then would have dropped likely quite a bit, much larger games libraries would be available, broadband will be faster and cheaper and movie/TV show/music download services could well be global, letting any PS3 or Xbox 360 owner download whatever they want, unlike the staggered availability of the iTunes store as a counter example to the slowness with which these services are currently rolled out across the world.

Of course the Wii misses out on that movie download goodness to some degree, but Nintendo are probably banking on you owning a TiVo and a DVD player already, and aren’t going after the one box to do it all market.

One possibility that few are really consider is that in 2010, there could easily be a strong market share for all three consoles, making them ALL winners in 2010.

But back once again to the prediction that by 2010 the PS3 will rule. One comment from the President of Enterbrain, Hirokazu Hamamura in October 2006 is that “The PS3 will have a tough time globally at the initial stage. Its launch titles in Japan and exclusive software titles overseas are quite limited.”

But even Mr Hamamura, like the rest of us, can’t resist the urge to declare a winner before the horses have even run the first 100 meters of the race. He said that the PS3’s “overwhelmingly realistic graphics will give it a long life span. It will stay competitive even when a game console battle breaks out among a newer generation of machines in 2010. Sales should grow every time Sony cuts prices.”

Well, I think that the Wii’s overwhelmingly realistic control system, coupled with the ease with which Nintendo can release a newer, better console quicker than Sony or Microsoft, gives it a long life span, too. The Xbox 360’s strong integration with Windows XP and especially Windows Vista, not least as a media extender also gives it an incredible strong advantage in the market. Vista’s gaming and home entertainment features can’t be ignored either, and will have matured even further by 2010, making the prediction of who will win in 2010 a very tough call.

So far, we only have people’s guesstimaclusions at hand to give different gaming camps either comfort, or cause for concern. But in the absence of hard facts, educating guessing is what we do best, even if what ends up happening is completely different to what we believed.

The guessing game that is underway is just part of the entertainment and fun of the console games battle, and adds to the color and spectacle of it all, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We just hope that you own at least one of the next-gen consoles and are having some fun!