The fight for Christmas begins: Xbox 360 Vs PS3

The biggest rivalry in gaming hardware is between Microsoft and Sony, with the Xbox 30 up against the PlayStation 3. Now, the Xbox 360 was in the market a whole year earlier than the PlayStation 3 and they were incredibly astute at marketing the console. They learned a lot of lessons from the original Xbox, but one thing they didn’t forget was how to scrap when it mattered the most. According to news recently release by the guys and gals at Xbox, the Xbox 360 experienced what it called “record-breaking consoles sales” during the Thanksgiving weekend I the US with an estimated 25 per cent increase in sales from the previous year.

This is significant, because the guys at PlayStation have been chasing Xbox for a while now and for all intense and purposes, it seems that the Xbox team is beating them at their own game. The PlayStation 2 was still in the market when the Xbox 360 was released and was hands-down the most popular console in the market, shifting some serious numbers and well and truly beating Xbox 360. Now, admiittadly, the PlayStation2 was significantly cheaper, had a larger install base and a greater number of titles, but isn’t that what’s happened here? The Xbox 360 is now in line with the Wii over here in Australia and has a great install base and a raft of titles, people know and understand the Xbox 360, therefore will they be more comfortable buying in to it as the prices get lower and the number of titles increase?

The other great thing that Microsoft did with the 360 is that they built it with add-ons in mind and to some extent, followed the iPod model with new models like the Elite. Therefore, they have a “fresh” console on the market on an almost regular basis. But what about the PS3? They have blu-ray, the legacy of the PS1 and the PS2. All of this is true, but the old exclusive franchises that they used to have are no more and although they’re a lot of hope and hype surrounding Sackboy, will he deliver? The could-be-killer-blow for PlayStation was that the Xbox 360 was released first and has had acres of ground to get to a pretty commanding lead. But, you can never underestimate the guys at PlayStation, they have been redefining the gaming genre for decades and will surely be taking the fight back at Xbox 360. The DVD market is likely to move on next year and with an in-built blu-ray player, will the PS3 steal some ground?

MyTake – So many questions. It’s a tough one to call this, you have to wonder how far off the next generations of consoles is and just who will get the first the get one in to market. One thing’s for sure, if it’s Microsoft, you have to think that it won’t look good for PlayStation. On the flip side, all you need is one killer franchise for PlayStation and the whole thing could get flipped on it head. It’s a cliché, but the ultimate winner is the consumer. Get out there and get gaming.

Introducing...Sackboy

There aren’t many game characters that truly last the test of time, in fact I can only think of a handful: Mario, Sonic, Lara Croft, Master Chief…… But according to Sony PlayStation, the newest kid on the block might be a little rag doll by the name of Sackboy. Developed by a little known UK outfit called Media Molecule, Sackboy is the hero of Little Big Planet and Sony has pinned their reputation on this little guy becoming the next big thing in gaming. 

Being pushed around in the console market by Nintendo, PlayStation are looking for Sackboy to help claw back some of the more casual gamers that Nintendo has charmed with the ever-popular Wii console. The game is remarkably straight forward – echoing the look and feel of a bygone era, you move left and right, jump over things and collect stuff as you go – sound familiar? The killer app for the game is the social networking element, which lets you design your own levels and customising characters that you can share with friends.   

MyTake – The Wii captured hearts with its quirky controls and the customisable gameplay, bringing back a greater sense of “clean fun” to gaming which encouraged more people to get in to gaming. In addition, it cannot be forgotten that Playstation were the pioneers when it came to attracting non-gamers through titles such as SingStar. Having said that, it is very, very difficult to come up with a character that you can be confident in and put your brand reputation behind. Watch this space..and this video….cute, isn’t he? 

Facebook - coming to a big screen near you

If you were to take a guess as to the subject of a Sony/Aaron Sorkin collaboration you’d be forgiven for this it could be about the Iraq war, the Bush presidency perhaps even the life and times of Barack Obama. But, sadly, you’d be wrong. Sorkin has in fact signed-up to write the screenplay for Facebook – The movie.

As a first step, he’s even posted a note on Facebook: “I've just agreed to write a movie for Sony and producer Scott Rudin about how Facebook was invented. I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page….. I honestly don't know how this works, which is why I'm here. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. If anyone has any comments I'm glad to listen. And if anyone has any Facebook stories I think they might be helpful.”

There isn’t any more information about the movie on the group page, but there are already 38 discussion topics, 3,842 members and 432 wall posts. So, it’s being taken seriously.
MyTake – The Facebook story has all the elements of a blockbuster, expect the end. With the story the way it is, it’s sort of like The Empire Strikes back – we were all left hanging until Return of The Jedi put us out of our misery. But seriously, it’s another example of the social media world influencing the offline world to the extent that millions of dollars are about to be spent. The interesting thing here is whether or not they will use Facebook as part of the pre-release process – i.e. sharing information, clips and images. Taking it one step further, will any of the stories included in the discussion board I mention above be used in the actual film….questions, questions….

N-Gaging times ahead

First-up, I wasn’t that big of a fan of the Nokia N-Gage device(s), but I am a massive fan of mobile gaming – whatever form it takes. The guys over at Nokia have stuck with the market for quite a while now and I think they’ve come good with the N-Gage service. If you remember the original device and have a few dubious memories, think again, the device is no more but the games remain as a service.

Gamers can log on to the N-Gage site and download a software link that connects them to Nokia’s library of games, which they reckon will be around 30 by the middle of 2008. They already have the likes of EA, Gameloft and Glu Mobile making titles for the service, and who knows, they could get a few killer franchises on board – Spore maybe?

MyTake – Nobody really “owns” mobile gaming, it’s an open field for any brand to go in and do something great. Sure, we have handhelds from Nintendo and Sony, but a solid content-based system with some appealing titles? Not yet. With Apple getting further and further in to the mobile space, I think a true games service isn’t far off for them either. Nokia beat them to the punch on this one – can they make they most of it?

HD DVD feeling blu

Having been around the first time Sony fought a format war, I kind of thought that they deserved better luck this time around. After losing out with the BetaMax format over 20 years ago, it’s looking increasing likely that the company’s high definition DVD format (Blu Ray) is about to be crowned winner as the biff-up that is HD DVD Vs Blu-Ray draws to a close.

The HD DVD corner has become an increasingly lonely place as more and more of its supporters defected to Blu-Ray, the most notable being Warner Bros and most recently, Wall Mart. The only one still in the HD DVD corner is Toshiba, and it looks like they are about to call it quits with News agency Reuters quoting an unnamed Toshiba source as saying: "We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next-generation DVD business."

Blu-ray, developed by a Sony-led consortium, looks to be the future of disc-based movies, but is the future in discs? With broadband speeds increasing, movie downloads on the increase, hardware like Apple TV and software like Xbox 360’s Video Marketplace already out there, you have to wonder why we’re still talking discs.

MyTake - When I asked a good mate of mine his opinion, he’s response was: “So that makes 99 per cent of the market standard DVD and 1 per sent Blu-Ray”, he’s got a good point there. Market saturation is a long way off and the hardware is still expensive – and I don’t just mean the Blu-Ray players, you’ll need a HD LCD/Plasma to go with it. There’s still competition in the market for Blu-Ray, they need to pay attention to the life cycle of the DVD and look at the development of downloadable movies – I think it’ll be a photo finish.

Game on for Apple?

It looks like Apple could be about to step into the highly competitive video games console market after the company filed a trademark extension with the US Patent and Trademark Office. It could all be speculation and some experts have dismissed it as being related to the current iPod games on offer, but the extension included: "handheld units for playing electronic games", "handheld units for playing videogames", "stand-alone video game machines", "LCD game machines" and "electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only".

Having worked in the games industry as a consultant, I know first hand how brutal it can be – so, can Apple crack it? Well, some might remember that they’ve been there before with the ill-fated PipPin consoles that struggled against strong competition from Sony, Nintendo and SEGA before being consigned to history as an ugly footnote on the company’s otherwise brilliant record in the product space.

MyTake – tough one this, on one hand Apple has an awesome record in the product space, rewriting the rules and even creating new markets. On the other hand the gaming market is a hard place to succeed. But, if they do enter the gaming market the other boys had better watch-out, gaming is about fun, listening to the consumer and giving them want they want – and that epitomises what Apple is all about.

SkypeStationPortable

News from Sony is that the new firmware update for the PSP will allow gamers to make a receive Skype calls from the thier PSPs. Apparently, it only works on the new slim PSP and won't work with the first generation due to hardware differences in the meemory.

To take advatage of this added function, all you need to do is get the firmware upgrade, register for Skype talk and away you go!

My Take - The Sony boys are a smart bunch, years ago they got involved in a number of disctint and separate areas of consumer technology and slowly but surely they integrate them. Building this functionality into the PSP is another step towards a unified digital offering - the way of the future I reckon