About.com has written up a piece of speculative fiction they call “Nintendo’s Role in Sony’s Fall”. They go through a step-by-step process talking about the fall of Sony. There are a total of 13 steps. Not all of these are speculation. As a matter of fact, steps one through eight have already happened. (Well, except maybe for the Nintendo Connect thing.)

That leaves just a couple steps of speculation.

Step nine is Nintendo’s adoption of a non-compete strategy, whereby they try to do an end-run around the next-gen console battle by suggesting that the Revolution can live in harmony with either a PS3 or a 360. This leaves Sony and Microsoft to battle things out (step ten). While a little bit on the wild side (how does a company just step out of a battle without giving up?), I’ll leave that alone.

Step eleven is the launch of the PS3 and Revolution. Here’s where the conjecture really starts. They suggest that Microsoft will reduce the price of the 360 and release Halo 3 at the same time as the PS3’s launch. While not said outright, it is suggested that this curbs the PS3’s sales. At this point I have to think to myself that the author of this article doesn’t get it. What Sony fan will do a double-take when the PS3 is released and opt for an Xbox 360 instead? “You know, I had all my money saved up for a PS3, but then you know, Microsoft came along with Halo 3 and I decided to buy that instead.” If a gamer wanted an Xbox 360, he’d have bought it. If he decided to wait for a PS3, no tactics on Microsoft’s part wouild dissuade him. He could go out and buy that Xbox 360 at any time. The fact is, he’s waiting for the PS3, and he’ll buy the PS3. Just the fact that he had to wait for it will make him go through with it.

Step twelve basically says that the PSP will do well, but will be in second place to the DS.

Step thirteen basically goes from everything we see today, plus step eleven, to basically “Sony lost”. That’s quite a leap in logic, don’t you think? It’s like that Seinfeld episode where someone sticks “and yadda yadda yadda” into a sentence, and that’s supposed to explain everything. Well what was the “yadda yadda yadda” ??? What actually led to Sony’s downfall? Surely he couldn’t mean the Halo 3 thing, could he? That’s not enough to go on! He mentions that the PS3 is hard to develop for. That didn’t stop the PS2! We need just a little bit more, man!

So this whole “13 steps to Sony’s downfall” is basically just two steps. It exists, then it falls. Sorry! You didn’t catch this fish.

What do you think? Reply here or in the PS3 forum.

About.com - Nintendo’s Role in Sony’s Fall

Found this little tidbit about the PlayStation 3’s new controller. (After posts like Joystiq’s diss of the PS3 controller, I find this quite interesting.)

They show how it would be held in your hands and that it would be more comfortable than the current controller.

So maybe the thing won’t be so bad after all, no matter what the Xbox fanboys say.

What do you think? Reply here or in the PS3 Forum.

E-mpire Forums - Think the PS3 controller is uncomfortable?-Time to change your mind.

So what do you think? Lots of the talk these days is that the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Xbox 360 will duke it out, and that the Nintendo Revolution will quietly mop up the pieces. Gates himself seems to dismiss the Revolution out of hand, saying that the race is between the PS3 and the 360.

I hope not. I find that three combatants is much better than two. There might be two front-runners, but the third party will keep the other two honest, so to speak.

Nintendo is where lots of the innovation is happening these days. Sure, I admit it. Sony does some good stuff too, but it’s more a matter of better execution. (And same thing goes for Microsoft.) But Nintendo is where all the cool stuff happens. Just take a look at their new controller. It’s cool. It really is. And I can’t wait to try it out. With one proviso (and here’s the rub): as long as I don’t have to buy it. I want to try it out, sure, but I don’t want to buy it. The current GameCube has such bad software support why would I get the next version of the little engine that couldn’t?

Anyway, what do you think? Is Nintendo in the race? Or just falling behind more and more with each generation? Reply here or in our new forums.

C&VG - Gates: 2007 Decides Next-Gen Battle

Now that the deal with the other forums website fell through, I am free to create my own forums.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while now, to allow you a place to start your own discussions instead of always having to read my ramblings. So head on over and check it out. I just put them up, you could be the first to post!

You’ve been waiting for it, and here it is.

The official unveiling of the Nintendo Revolution will be on May 9th of next year at a press event at the Kodak Theater.

Gizmodo - Nintendo Revolution May 9 Unveiling

Wedbush Morgan Securities has a gloomy forcast for videogame sales, and they place part of the blame on “indifference” to the large number of sequels on the market.

I don’t agree. I only dislike sequels as far as they take away resources from new original content that could have been created instead. But that only applies to sequels I personally don’t like! For example, I see Ridge Racer 6 and think that yeah, what a waste of money. They could have made the next Frequency or something else instead of this derivative stuff. But then I see PGR2 or Burnout Revenge and I’m like Bring it on! I want more!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And so some people will like the sequel to game Ridge Racer, while others will like the sequels to Burnout. If consumers keep buying the games, companies will continue to make them. So if you want to see fewer sequels, buy fewer sequels.

Me, I’m gonna get the next Champions of Norrath game, and I don’t care how derivative people say it is. I like the series. I just hope it’s on the PlayStation 3 (PS3).

Next Generation - Analyst Says Sequels Turning Off Consumers

Interested in the Nintendo Revolution? Then 1up.com has an article for you. They talk about several things, including the new controller and whether or not it’ll be used as a gimick. And whether Revolution games will be shorter than other games:

Revolution seems more geared towards family fun, so games of epic scope seem less necessary. There is concern about games being too gimmicky and not having long-term replay value beyond the initial concept, but I have confidence that many games will be addictive and provide long-term enjoyment with friends. There will be must-have games, as well as some duds. I think the games produced by Nintendo will be worth the price of admission. If long-term play becomes an issue, they could always make a game where you perform daily exercises with the pointer and watch your character get bulked up over time.

Developers also think that gamers will buy the Revolution in addition to the PS3 or Xbox 360, but that there will be a smaller installed base. This could cause problems:

I do have concerns as a developer. If the Revolution doesn’t offer a large enough install base, it will be a tough sell for companies to focus their development efforts on a single platform. At The Behemoth, we are a small team and can only make one game at a time. It’s great because we have tons of creative freedom and make the games we want to make. We serve a niche audience but we still have to watch our bottom line. The question arises as to whether we want to make a really cool, unique game for a very large potential audience, or if we want to make something for a niche platform with a much smaller but dedicated audience. If we come up with a game idea specifically for the Revolution that is just too fun to pass up, I’m sure we’ll do it. The other scenario is the Revolution will get a port of a game that works on the other consoles as well.

But on the issue of HD the developers are split. Tom Fulp from The Behemoth says “I don’t consider lack of HD support to be too big a deal at the moment. I’ve always been more of a frame-rate nut myself; I like my frame-rates fast and smooth.” But Randy Pitchford of Gearbox says “I’m an HDTV user, so for me this is a big deal. I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal in the market when the Revolution launches, but it’s going to be a much bigger deal in 2008 or 2009.” I agree with Randy!

1UP.com - Revolution Developer Roundtable

First half operating profit free-falled 51% for Nintendo, as GameCube sales took a serious turn up a dead-end road.

Nintendo, known for games featuring characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, is expected to report a decline in revenue for the full year as GameCube console and software sales taper off and as it is hurt by a price cut for its DS portable game machine, which it launched about a year ago.

Bad third party support. No online play. No DVD player. Gosh, I hope Nintendo learns a lesson as it designs the Revolution. Give people what they want!

CNET News - Poor GameCube sales zap Nintendo

I’ve decided that every once in a while I’ll focus on fellow 9rulers with articles they’ve written you might be interested. The problem is that the 9rules Network is heavily focused on design sites and not so many gaming sites. But there are a few!
This week Aelon.net wrote an article about the XBox launch. Here’s […]

Just an interesting little tidbit over at Gamasutra.
Supposedly, according to someone that doesn’t actually make the console, it costs about $470 dollars in parts to make an Xbox 360. Then you have to pay to assemble all those pieces. All told, that means that Microsoft will lose $127 per console sold.
Personally, I don’t think this […]