gaming The New Generation in the New Year

[Forlong 1,726]

Well, the new year has begun and all three next gen consoles are out (making it the current gen).  This is as good a time as any to speculate on how they will do in the year 2014.  First, to clarify how they are doing as of last year.

Sales

WiiU: 4.75 million units

PS4: 2.76 million units

Xbox One: 2.13 million units

 

Game Sales

WiiU: 15.98 million units

PS4: 6.53 million units

Xbox One: 5.2 million units

 

Exclusive Titles

WiiU: 20 games (8 notable)

Xbox One: 9 games (2 notable)

PS4: 5 games (1 notable)

 

Info found on Wikipedia and VG Chartz.

 

My speculation:

This year will be kinder to the WiiU than the last one was.  For one, Nintendo's marketing department finally has it's flank sorted from it's front left hoof, and that will certainly help.  There's also a lot more big market exclusives coming out for the thing this year: Donkey Kong Country, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and a new Zelda.  Third party support will depend heavily on sales.  Even then, they will take a while for developers to make their games for the thing.  Activision is already investing heavily in Nintendo, so at least one big publisher isn't trying to throw Nintendo under a bus.  The key is for Nintendo's marketing to stay strong and focus on what makes their console better than the competition.  The WiiU is offering service that the competition is not and allows free online play.  If they make a few commercials featuring their multi-media functions as well as games, they could make a killing.

 

The PS4 will have a drop in sales like the WiiU, but not as bad.  Sony has been making some efforts to avoid the low after-launch sales the WiiU suffered from.  They are offering several freemium games and fixed some of the backwards compatibility issues to keep the console useful in the dry period.  However, this is not as good as actually having a new game released every two months or so.  Couldn't they have delayed Knack a few months to make sure it wouldn't suck?

 

As for the Xbox One, OH MY CELESTIA!  Any mistake a company can make at a console launch, Microsoft has made.  Releasing the most expensive console?  CHECK!  Boasting technological superiority no one cares about?  CHECK!  Not having said technological superiority but boasting it anyway?  CHECK!  Boasting features the console really doesn't have?  CHECK!  Forcing stuff on the consumers that they don't want?  CHECK!  Releasing all your exclusives at launch, leaving most of them unpolished and giving you nothing to release next year?  CHECK!  Cudos, Microsoft, I didn't think it was possible to hit every single one of those.  So yeah, not going to do well this year with no games.  And before anyone embarrasses themselves by talking about "online community" or something; even if Nintendo doesn't boast about free online play, Sony is still offering it cheaper than Microsoft.  And multiplatform games have been selling better on the PS4 than the Xbox One.

 

That's what I think, anyway.  What about everypony else?

Edited January 8, 2014 by Forlong

[Megas 28,225]

My opinion - 

 

Despite everything Microsoft did wrong with the Xbone's announcement, I actually think they're gonna have the best year of the 3, that is if they can fix the issues people already have with it. Mind you, there was actually a lot of games announced at E3, hence why I think it will do better than most would think

 

The Wii U and PS4 I'm iffy about, the PS4 is more popular than the two, but the Wii U has more interesting games coming out for it(at least imo) both announced and unannounced. While this year will most likely be a lot kinder to the Wii U than 2013 was, but the PS4 will probably outperform it once they announce more appealing games(unless of course Nintendo brings all of their IPs at full force)

Edited January 2, 2014 by Megas75

[Crispy 5,565]

This is what Nintendo has done since Gamecube.  Release first with a soft opening, using your dominance of the handheld market to prop you up.

 

Competitors release in the next year or two, Nintendo drops their heavy hitters, i.e. some of the most valuable IP in the gaming world.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

Okay. Time to revive a thread.

 

Here's what I think; we're not entering generation 8, but rather generation 7.5. Let me explain; most games on the 360 and PS3 last year were nothing spectacular from a gameplay perspective. Most of the games on them featured flashy graphics and effects, while not experimenting with new, creative gameplay we haven't seen yet. It was all about the graphics during the past eight years with those systems.

 

That's going to carry on to the new systems. Developers aren't going to attempt to make new gameplay, features, or anything like that. It's all just going to be about the visual presentation. Because, I'll be honest, most gamers these days are easily drawn in. Literally anything with fancy graphics, guns and explosions will sell like hotcakes. It honestly makes me sick to my stomach.

 

The new systems might have more powerful hardware to them, but are developers going to take advantage of them? Probably not. Why? Because they're afraid to. They're afraid that being innovative and different will scare consumers off. It just shows how boring we as the gaming community are. We'd rather have the exact same thing over and over again, but with a better graphical presentation, rather than expanding our horizons.

 

This is exactly why I bought a Wii U. While the Wii U may lack next-gen graphics and hardware, it gives me new experiences, and I love variety in my gameplay. I like things more complex than just locking down my sights and shooting the guy in front of me. This is why I think this will be Nintendo's year to regain itself, to show that they ARE gaming's roots.

 

Those are my thoughts.