This is done by the Xbox 360 team, so it is slanted a bit towards the Xbox 360 and news related to it: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/759/759057p1.html
Out of all those predictions 2k football is my most anticipated. I can't wait to play Barry Sanders in the NFL 2K legends football game.
Do they do similar things for PS and Nintendo? If even half of those come true (particularly WoW 360) that is a pretty big deal for the XBOX.
I think it is just a thing the Xbox/MS team does. I don't see any previous features like this from the other teams, although the same team did the same a year ago (as they mentioned). Here are links to their predictions for 2006: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/680/680220p1.html (part 1) http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/680/680526p1.html (part 2) Some highlights from those: -GTA IV being announced for 360 and PS3, releasing in 2007. -KOTOR 3 and Mercenaries 2 being announced, and both coming out in late 2006 (or possibly early 2007 in the case of KOTOR). -Prey will steal Gears of War's glory in the end. -Jade Empire 2 for 360 and PS3 by end of 2006. -Bigger HDD for the 360 being released in 2006. -Halo 3 shipping in 2007. -Japanese Xbox 360 Development Will Increase. Basically like what they're predicting in 2007, but they were saying that DMC4 and MGS4 were PS3-exclusive for sure (or close to it, unlike now). -XBLA games topping out at $30 (SFII going for $20-$25...I forgot what it ended up going for, but I thought it was less than that). They missed on some things, but were dead-on on others (though maybe they were all-but-confirmed at the time...can't remember). They put out a lot more interesting stuff this time around though (IMO).
Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. They make it sound like a couple of announced Japanese titles means that Japanese developers have given up on the PS3.
And as I post that, IGN puts up the PS predictions for 2007: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/758/758760p1.html I'll post quotes once I've read it.
I get the feeling Sony has already been beaten here. It seems that people wanting just a fun console are going for the Wii while more hardcore gamers are going with the 360. I have to say, reading all of that, Im really tempted to buy a 360 now. If they can get the next GTA on there Im totally sold. The next GTA game and Halo game are really the only two games I have any interest in.
Nintendo predictions (really short): http://wii.ign.com/articles/758/758835p1.html I started working on some reactions (or predictions of my own I guess), but I am too tired to finish them right now. I'll post them later today if anyone actually cares what I think. edit: The next GTA is on the 360...unless I'm misunderstanding you.
It's going to be a sad sad day if Microsoft wins the console wars. It'll just prove that you can release a mediocre product with an unlimited budget and eventually win over the lambs of the world. What would be next? They've already targeted Apple and the mp3 market with their Zune. They shoved Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Messenger, Outlook in our o/s. Now their telling everyone they need to upgrade to Vista if they want direct x 10. This forces us to upgrade our current computers with faster processors, more ram and a new video card. I find it funny when MS made an announcement telling Sony they should copy Xbox Live when MS has made a living copying everyone else. What will happen if Microsoft dominates? What if they become the hardware version of Ubisoft or EA and start releasing subpar products because they know they have little competition. Sad day indeed....
I stopped playing games a couple of years ago because nothing thats come out since then has really interested me. I don't care which console I play, I used to own all of them, so I was more interested in the games. Just look at it from a games standpoint...I'm liking the 360 better. When you have good games and a much better online set up....I think thats the way to go. As for MS putting out a bad product because it knows it has no competition.....I think its a bit different from the computing side of things. First of all they have two heavy hitting players they are up against which they still really don't have to compete against when it comes to windows. And second, a good gaming company will make a good game on ANY system. With the systems these days now being so good, I don't think many games will ever again have shortcomings because of hardware limitations.
lol. Anyway, MS seems to have learned a few lessons from last generation and, while they've still f**ked up a few things, they've certainly made improvements that put them in a possibly very good position this generation. And it looks like they've finally started to build the library of games that it takes to compete. That, combined with Sony's decisions, have allowed them to potentially get a better foothold in the industry. Nintendo, meanwhile, keeps chugging along in a totally different direction with much success. The Wii is just different enough and interesting enough to carve out a huge audience. It should be interesting.
I know you are a PS3 owner, but now you've pegged yourself as a Sony super-fanboy, too. How on Earth is the 360 a mediocre product? Seriously? And all the companies "copy" each other. Sony didn't copy a ton of competitors offerings before? Sony hasn't tried to cram their own proprietary products down our throats? Anyway, IGN is right. Sony's online offering is for crap. Sony SHOULD copy Xbox Live. Your post is idiotic. All three companies should succeed. All three consoles have pluses and minuses. None of those consoles are "mediocre." Amazing how some people support or dog a certain corporation as if they are supporting a sports team... Wow.
Here are my thoughts on some of the predictions...if anyone even cares: I'm guessing Japanese support will continue to improve, although I'm not sure to what degree. I'm undecided on games like Tekken, MGS4, and DMC4, but I'm sure the 360 will get others. Soul Calibur definitely makes sense IMO. Ace Combat and Silent Hill could certainly come to the system as well. With Square-Enix licensing UE 3.0, I'm almost certain they'll put something on the 360, although I don't know what. I'm thinking FFXIII and FF vs XIII are still PS3-exclusive since they are using the White Engine, which I believe was specially developed for the PS3 (it might be hard to port the games over to the 360). Their new online game (whatever it is) will probably be PC, 360, and PS3 (already announced as that I think...maybe not). I could see them bring back franchises like Parasite Eve and have them go multi-platform or even 360-exclusive. Another shooter ala FF7: DoC could be 360-exclusive...not that anyone would want it, but that seems like a nice match. Star Ocean might be a nice RPG to have on the 360 (if I'm not mistaken, the SO devs are working on an unnamed RPG for the 360). I'm kind of doubting KH3 coming to the 360 anytime soon, although partly because KH3 won't be released anytime soon. Maybe 2009 or later. The KH team is busy working on FF vs XIII, which probably won't be out until 2008 (maybe even late 2008). This is assuming Disney wants SE to still make the game (they own the IP BTW). They could have someone else work on it, but if they did, it would probably be for the Wii (much better fit...especially if they could get Nintendo characters in it). I think if any games are released on the 360 by Japanese developers, they might be games catered more for the western world than Japan. Otherwise, there would be little point in releasing it on the 360 given the userbase in Japan. Of course, I think I read that Sega might not release the 360 version of VF5 in Japan, so maybe Japanese publishers will just do something like that (thought I read rumors that Capcom would do something similar with RE5). It is possible, although I think unlikely. The 360 could have really used a price drop this past year, although that would have been impossible. Sales were somewhat disappointing through parts of 2006, and while I think the games lineup will keep demand at a nice level (especially once Halo 3 hits), I think MS could use a price cut to keep sales strong. If nothing else, this would really help in places outside of the US, where games like Halo mean very little. I'm anticipating more aggressive price reductions by Sony (partly since I think they will struggle w/o doing that), so I'm also thinking MS has to counter any moves by Sony (a $400 PS3 would have to cause them to at least consider a price cut). Only issue with this might be that the move to 65nm was delayed for MS. If they can't get that done until late in the year, it might just be better to ride Halo 3 until the end of the year. They could do deals like they did last year ($200 after rebates or whatever). I guess it also depends on how much MS wants the Xbox division to turn a profit. They might be less inclined to take more losses (or less profits), even if it might be more beneficial to do so. That would be interesting. From a business standpoint, I don't see why Blizzard wouldn't do this...surprised they haven't already. I'm anticipating a 360 with HDMI, but that's about the only real design-change I see happening. I guess they might just be experimenting until they can redesign the system later (ala the PStwo), but I think they might as well put in HDMI in 2007; it would probably help sell the HD DVD add-on to a degree. A new HDD definitely makes sense. Sad, but probably true. I'm still trying to get over this: Actually, I think it probably will release this year. Probably on the PC/360, although I don't know about the PS3. It isn't catching the DS. There's nothing they can do about that. I'm thinking they will redesign the PSP, although I don't really think it is necessary. Just drop the damn price, and finish up on a few things they promised such as the ability to play PS1 games on the PSP w/o a PS3 (even downloading them directly with the PSP), get it working with the media service that they'll launch (although that will probably be in 2009 ), and incorporate PSN functionality with it (ability to manage friends lists, chat, maybe even play some of the games from the PS Store...mostly classics or games with PSP versions like GripShift). Also, quit trying to make the PSP secure. Sony screwed up, and any update they put out will get cracked shortly after. No point in bothering. Also, quit with the crappy marketing schemes (the Christmas ones for example), and maybe market some of the games (or the features...maybe some of the ones mentioned above). Put out a FF7:CC bundle in Japan when it comes out and hope that it moves a ton of systems....basically what the DS sells on average. That should keep the PSP selling decently and making a good profit. I like the idea of one SKU, but I don't see much point in phasing out the 20GB SKU. I guess it would be more profitable for them, but it would probably hurt their image even more. I'd rather phase out the $600 SKU, and put in WiFi in the $500 SKU. I guess they could also put in a $2000 SKU that comes with a free HDTV, but they'll then get people saying that it costs $1600 more than the 360 (despite the lower-priced models that offer as much as the 360 if not more). It depends on sales and a number of hardware related issues, but as I said, I think Sony can be very aggressive with their pricing. $399 PS3 by the end of the year is a definite possibility, but they might even be able to go lower if need be (probably $350 at the most extreme). I don't think it will get that bad though. I can see them buying Ninja Theory, Sucker Punch, and maybe Factor 5 (F5 and Sony seem to go well together). I don't think they'll buy Insomniac though since they would have done so already if they were available. Insomniac wants to be independent, although I think they will most likely work with Sony as though they were a 1st party studio. I'm not really sure who else they could buy...it would be nice if they could get Level 5, but they've started to explode in the last few years. Sony should have bought them a few years ago (assuming they were available). They could buy Sidhe Interactive...they seem to have a nice relationship, and Sidhe seems like a talented studio IMO. I wish they could have bought Clover Studios since Capcom apparently didn't want them, but too late for that. They should probably spend that money on securing 3rd-party exclusives or something. Wish they could sell off SOE. Their crappiness is probably keeping them from reaching Nintendo-like levels. I'm sure some of them would suck, but I'd really like this move. I'd really like to see Square-Enix go into their vault and bring back a few franchises (Parasite Eve, the Chrono series, Vagrant Story, FFT for consoles, etc.). Then there's FF7... Spoiler FF6 remake would be nice too. Possible, but it seems a little unlikely to me at this point. While Sony is doing much better in Japan than MS, I don't know if they'll really do all that well overall at this point. They've been really struggling these last few weeks. I'll have to wait and see how the Japanese react when some games they actually like come out (very few have been released so far...and those that have kind of suck, like Gundam and Genji). We've yet to see how Europe accepts the PS3. The price is insane over there (like over $800 IIRC), so it would be quite a feat if the PS3 sold well throughout the year there. I imagine they'll do better in those regions that Microsoft, but I just don't know if that will offset the difference in NA. Certainly not enough to make it indisputable (MS will probably outship Sony, and sold-through numbers will be hard to get, especially from Europe). Who knows? I do like some of the games coming out for the PS3, so maybe they'll make a bigger difference that I think. Wouldn't hurt if Blu-ray started to pull away and Sony fixes some of the problems with the PS3 such as video scaling (partly have already, and DVD upscaling is on the way), the PSN (numerous little touches could be done), and some Linux things (would really like RSX support to make video playback easier/better). Oh yeah...the price is a bit of a problem too. LOL! Don't even know if I want to touch this one. As IGN says, no matter what KZ looks like, you'll get people saying they came close (as well as others saying it looks like a PS2 game ). Guerrilla are very talented when it comes to graphics, so I'm sure KZ will look amazing. As good as E3 '05? I don't know...MotorStorm came closer to their CG than I thought, and that was probably more impressive than the KZ trailer (partly because it was more cinematic though). Not that any of this really matters much if the game sucks. Guerilla did really good with the PSP version of Killzone, so hopefully they can make the PS3 version a nice game. If not, Sony should take their budget and give it to Insomniac for Resistance 2. I'm starting to lean towards this, although I don't really want to accept it either. If you read between the lines in the last interview with Kojima, he almost seems to drop hints that this might happen. I could see them releasing the game in 2 versions ala MGS3 (SP game at first with multiplayer disc on the way later). This would cause riots in Japan. That would be pretty interesting, and seemingly a great idea. I'd love to check that stuff out when if/when it is available. Hopefully it works as well as the training games for the brain. Did they ever announce a Kid Icarus game for the Wii? I knew there were strong rumors...maybe that's one of the games they're talking about. Yep. PS3 might compete later, but probably not in 2007. I find this more likely than the predictions the PS team made. I'd like to see how the Wii (and other consoles for that matter) perform in the next few months, but depending on how that goes, I can definitely see the Wii come close to overtaking the 360 by the end of the year. Maybe even selling more, but as I said with the previous prediction like this, it might be hard to "prove."
Looks like I missed some predictions (DS and PC): http://ds.ign.com/articles/759/759123p1.html http://pc.ign.com/articles/757/757996p1.html
I totally agree with all that. He really put himself out there as a big time fanboy. Xbox 360 has a lot of great games. PS3 will have a lot of great games too. But right now the 360 has it beat. Definitely the online system is better. Long term it will be up to the games. Exclusive games that is because the 360 has a lot of the same games.
Might as well post this too, although it isn't by IGN: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070126/wen_01.shtml This is a feature at Gamasutra where they ask 3 analysts about the 3 consoles and some other topics. Mike Wolf, ABI Research David Cole, DFC Intelligence Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities OK, I'm done with the predictions for now.
