Nintendo vs. Sony - of the future

[blackdragonbaham]

hey guy's,
i made a bet with a good friend of mine about the future in the gamemarket, especially about the position of nintendo and sony. I am the nintendo fanatican and he is a sony disciple. The topic is which of the both will be able to strenghten his the position in the future, perhaps with a new generation of consoles and whose policy will be more acceptable for the gamercommunity.
my opinion is that nintendo's policy is the better one (the wii exchange is a sign for it), because the wii concept is innovativ and not just serves with technic. The innovations nintendo makes are existential for the gamemarket, and the ideas are copied by other developers ( gameboy > sony psp, microsoft handheld; wiimote concept > project nathal, sony motion controller) big n made the right decision with their investments in innovation and makes profit while sony loses a lot of money.
my friend do not agree and says that nintendos developments are not well engineered, so that sony should take over interest concepts and perfect them.

so here comes your part, what do you think? and which arguments do you have to make prognoses for the future?

 

[syko5150]

Nintendo has a reputation of bringing good games and lately innovation they've been doing it a hell of a lot longer then Sony.Sony focuses too much on graphics and while yes its nice to see how far along graphics in gaming have come over the years they aren't important.Nintendo's consoles/handhelds may not have the best graphics at least not compared to sony but Nintendo keeps the fans happy with creativity and fun game play.Sure in Nintendo's games you most likely wont ever get lots of blood and gore but once again just because a game gets a mature rating doesn't make it a good game.Personally id rather play a game that's really fun like a Mario game that even after you beat it you can pick up again and keep going and have fun all over again rather then playing a boring FPS game that has a mediocre to average story mode and hundreds of hours of doing the same thing in multiplayer...so i think that Nintendo will keep doing what they do best finding ways for people to have fun.So my vote goes for Nintendo =D

 

[tanvm07]

I think that nintendo is just lucky and the other company's have better stuff and they should deserve more credit, i'm not sure if nintendo can still be the best after a couple of years as there technology is not as good and a bit last gen so unless they make a few changes maybe sony and microsoft will soon be the kings of consoles

 

[roguetrip]

Nintendo would be doing better if they stopped letting all the shovelware be produced. I'd rather have a smaller collection of good games than large collection of trash. Also didn't nintendo drop the "Nintendo Seal of approval", this just means things will get worse, gaming code and content will suffer another blow.

Sony was on top with the PS1 and dropped a bit with the PS2 vs Xbox, I'm sure they were suffering but they have a steady hold on the market.

I

 

[syko5150]

Nintendo would be doing better if they stopped letting all the shovelware be produced. I'd rather have a smaller collection of good games than large collection of trash. Also didn't nintendo drop the "Nintendo Seal of approval", this just means things will get worse, gaming code and content will suffer another blow.

Sony was on top with the PS1 and dropped a bit with the PS2 vs Xbox, I'm sure they were suffering but they have a steady hold on the market.

I

Shovel ware to you are good games to kids i know for one my daughter plays most of those shovel ware titles Nintendo is focusing on kids and family type games which is a good move IMO they are getting more and more people of all ages from kids to elder people in their 60s or older to play their games where Sony is making games that mostly only teenagers and young adults play so Nintendo's Consumer base is a lot larger then Sony's.Nintendo knows what they're doing even with all the piracy they still are way ahead in sales.

 

[blackdragonbaham]

Nintendo would be doing better if they stopped letting all the shovelware be produced. I'd rather have a smaller collection of good games than large collection of trash. Also didn't nintendo drop the "Nintendo Seal of approval", this just means things will get worse, gaming code and content will suffer another blow.

Sony was on top with the PS1 and dropped a bit with the PS2 vs Xbox, I'm sure they were suffering but they have a steady hold on the market.

I

Your right if wanna suggest that nintendo do not have the mass of 'pretended' good games as microsoft or sony, but quality is more important than quantity, and what remain are still good games wich are made out of the love for detail and effort. i do not understand the people who just focuses on the graphical presentation and do not consider the other important factors like gameplay, innovation and fun. this persons are completely clueless, i am not looking forward of a gamemarket that is overfilled with a bunch of titles with perfect hd quality, and looking all the same, but do not make fun. who the hell would buy all that crap? whats important is that the gamers are happy with the stuff and buy it and that the developers do not miss the will to search for innovation, and thats still the matter, and because of the age group nintendo focuses in the community is constantly expanding.
you say you will be happy of a smaller collection off good games than a large of crap?
if thats the matter, then nintendo is definitely the right adress :.

 

[CockroachMan]

Nintendo would be doing better if they stopped letting all the shovelware be produced. I'd rather have a smaller collection of good games than large collection of trash. Also didn't nintendo drop the "Nintendo Seal of approval", this just means things will get worse, gaming code and content will suffer another blow.

Sony was on top with the PS1 and dropped a bit with the PS2 vs Xbox, I'm sure they were suffering but they have a steady hold on the market.

I

lol.. One of the reasons Nintendo is doing so fine is because they opened up to everyone. Exactly like Sony did when it entered the market.. the PS1 and PS2 were always flooded with shovelware, and that helped the system. A lot of developers were pissed of at Nintendo during the SNES and N64 eras because their licensing requirements.

 

[Hadrian]

Nintendo have survived for 120 years in one form or another. They have had this knack for revitalising the gaming industry ever since the NES days.

They could have easily released a console on par with what is around and just have their big franchises out there but instead they took a risk with the motion control/casual thing and they make a shit ton of money. Same with the NDS, they could have just had the same graphic capabilities but just made it a single screen console in the GB range and it would have sold purely off the Pokemon range, but where is the challenge in that?

Fact is unlike most big companies, Nintendo likes to shake things up. While I prefer that they would do that big epic Kid Icarus game most of us want instead of Wii fit Plus, what they are doing has really done great things for the gaming industry and without the Wii the market would be pretty much the same as back in the PS2 years.

As for shovelware, most of the crap the Wii get was actually ported from the PS2. They're the games that people seem to buy so they keep coming, unlike the likes of Madworld.

All I see Sony doing is taking existing ideas and putting their spin on it, they seem dead on the ideas front. Microsoft have done so much more in the last 5 years than Sony and they're still a relative newcomer to the console scene. Look at each takes on the motion controllers. Sony seem to just have their own Wiimote and thats it while Microsoft have gone even further with the Natal, can't see me wanting either over the Wiimote though, I need a analogue stick with my motion device.

 

[Eerpow]

It's pretty impossible for Sony to take over the market seeing how they focus mostly on graphical improvement witch only pimple-faced no-life teenagers and lonely adults care about. Me... I like playing creative games with solid gameplay.
I do agree that Nintendo allows too much shovel-ware lately which is a bad thing from my point of view.

 

[CockroachMan]

All I see Sony doing is taking existing ideas and putting their spin on it, they seem dead on the ideas front. Microsoft have done so much more in the last 5 years than Sony and they're still a relative newcomer to the console scene. Look at each takes on the motion controllers. Sony seem to just have their own Wiimote and thats it while Microsoft have gone even further with the Natal, can't see me wanting either over the Wiimote though, I need a analogue stick with my motion device.

Yep, Sony doesn't know how to create anything by themselves.. they are good at getting already existing stuff and perfectioning it, though.. that's pretty much what they're doing with their motion sensing technology. But I really can't remember anything truly innovative coming from them.. even with software: God of War, Gran Turismo, ICO.. they're all excellent games, but they bring nothing new to the table. Unlike most stuff Nintendo does.

As for MS. Yep, I agree that they brought a lot of stuff to the console scene.. but it's mostly stuff that the PC has for more then a decade.. they're simply used their PC experience on the console market, which gives them a lot of points in the online field. A field which Nintendo still can't understand.

edit: In fact.. for PC gamers is weird to see people bragging about multiplayer games that support 32 players!.. if I remember well.. QUAKE supported more than that in 1996

 

[loading]

sony does not bring anything new? that's strange i always thought of them as one of the developers with the most variety. from causal buzz/singstar/eyetoy to little big planet via ico heavy rain to god of war. the only game of those that didn't have anything new was god of war. nintendo has a lot of very different and awesome games too but they don't do stuff heavy rain to god of war. their hardcore games have not changed much since the n64.

yes wii sports and wii fit are probably the greatest innovation this gen and i own both but it does not change the fact that i'm currently looking forward to sony titles most (and new smb wii - but not because its innovative quite the opposite because it's a proven formula great level design + the good lbp elements)

 

[nIxx]

Well the PS2 casual games (EyeToy/Buzz) had never the impact as the Wii and especially EyeToy was crap, God of War is just a Hack'n'Slay game (with a pretty good story the only reason why i played it ) as Devil May Cry and so on and even Heavy Rain is a old concept (there was a game for PC and PS2 from the same developers) the only things that changed are the graphics and that the games become more and more accessible for casual gamers in terms of difficulty for the games and so on (for me the only really innovative game was the really stunning Shadow of the Colossus).
And in fact Nintendo invented basically everything important for consoles that we still using today. I mean just look on Sony and Microsoft today they are actually try to make more or less the same as Nintendo in terms of Motion Control.

Anyway i think what makes Nintendo so big are just their inovantions, that the Wii/DS is for everyone and not to forget they are the only one that are actually making money (with the Wii) instead of Sony/MS who are making a big loss on every console just to get there consoles into the peoples home.

 

[Hadrian]

sony does not bring anything new? that's strange i always thought of them as one of the developers with the most variety. from causal buzz/singstar/eyetoy to little big planet via ico heavy rain to god of war.

Buzz...other than the controller (which is hardly innovative) its been done before many times.
Singstar...Konami did it before (ditto with most of plastic instrument games).
Eyetoy...Sega did it before with Dreameye.
LittleBigPlanet...Sony didn't create that. As usual they just bought the developer. Again hardly innovative aside from creating levels what else is there that is actually new? There have been PC homebrew that have done the physics thing.
Ico...again bought the developer. Beautiful game but it could have easily been published by a different company
Heavy Rain...again etc.
God of War...been done.

Props to Sony for getting gaming out of the bedroom and into the living room in a big way but lately I've seen nothing that hasn't been done before.

 

[Jamstruth]

At the moment the DS is the only Ninty console worth anything. The Wii is underpowered for this generation resulting in more of the big name games going to Xbox and PS3 while due to the fact that its cheaper to produce games for it gets many many shovelware games. The Wiimote has become a bit of a novelty (as much as I love pointer controlled FPSes) with almost everything having waggle control. There just aren't enough decent games on it.

The DS on the other hand may have a large collection of shovelware but that makes its gems all the more great! CoD on the DS is fun and well made, Mario Kart is still one of the best racing games on it and other great titles are coming out every so often.

Seen from an Ex-Ninty Fanboy's point of view. I became disillusioned after the first year or so.

 

[Hadrian]

Playing Resident Evil 5 did make me wish that the Wii had some power under it, the controls seemed like a big step back from the Wii version of RE4.

If the Wii had the power then they would have had all of the big hit games plus the motion controls that really do add to some of the games where the developers actually bothered to implement it well but would they have had the sales that Wii Sports bought seeing that the Wii would have had to be much more pricier?

I guess I'd rather forfeit the sales to be honest but saying that imagine how much longer it would take Nintendo to get a Zelda game out if they had to make the graphics so much better than what was on the other consoles?

Back on topic however, Nintendo now are the household name again. Remember when most none gamers referred to any console as a Nintendo? Then came Sony and then suddenly people call consoles "Playstations". Nintendo have taken it back, Nintendo is now the new "fun, hip" console to the casual buyer (who frankly can save a console on their whim purchases, who bets that Sega would kill to have had those during the Dreamcast years?) while the Playstation is for geeks to the uneducated. If Sony were to overtake in the next gen then they would need to shake it off.

 

[xtoc]

sony does not bring anything new? that's strange i always thought of them as one of the developers with the most variety. from causal buzz/singstar/eyetoy to little big planet via ico heavy rain to god of war.

Buzz...other than the controller (which is hardly innovative) its been done before many times.
Singstar...Konami did it before (ditto with most of plastic instrument games).
Eyetoy...Sega did it before with Dreameye.
LittleBigPlanet...Sony didn't create that. As usual they just bought the developer. Again hardly innovative aside from creating levels what else is there that is actually new? There have been PC homebrew that have done the physics thing.
Ico...again bought the developer. Beautiful game but it could have easily been published by a different company
Heavy Rain...again etc.
God of War...been done.

Props to Sony for getting gaming out of the bedroom and into the living room in a big way but lately I've seen nothing that hasn't been done before.

So sony started this casual war?

 

[Hadrian]

So sony started this casual war?

There were always casual gamers, the arcades saw to that and most people have played Pac-Man and Mario but it was Sony who made the console a part essential equipment to most people. Without the casual gamers the Wii would have just sold what the Gamecube had sold.

 

[raulpica]

+1 to everything that Hadrian said.
I was going to post, but after reading what Hadrian said, I don't have the need to do it anymore

 

[CockroachMan]

sony does not bring anything new? that's strange i always thought of them as one of the developers with the most variety. from causal buzz/singstar/eyetoy to little big planet via ico heavy rain to god of war. the only game of those that didn't have anything new was god of war. nintendo has a lot of very different and awesome games too but they don't do stuff heavy rain to god of war. their hardcore games have not changed much since the n64.

Variety is not the same as innovation.
For instance, Blizzard does not have variety in their games.. they do only RPGs and RTS games, but at the same time, their games are always full of new stuff and usually set the standards for those genres.
But yeah, Sony has a lot of variety in their games.

 

[Rogue Trader]

Whoever can come up with the best idea- Nintendo have 'won' this round- the DS and the Wii have done incredibly- this war isn't about quantity/quality to the games people-it's about sales. The PS2 was the 'winner' last time, and the future will go to whoever makes the thing that sells best.

That's the problem with games becoming more mainstream-gamers lose out as companies develop for the masses.