Microsoft 'can't say' whether they'll beat Nintendo
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Sep 5th 2008 at 8:30PM }
Is the Xbox 360 vessel struggling to stay afloat in the murky waters of the console race? Well, not quite, but Microsoft bigwig Don Mattrick doesn't sound convinced that his company will reclaim first place from the Wii. "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," he told Business Week. He's probably correct. The Wii continues to outsell the 360 in every region, with only the small Polynesian island of Tuvalu holding out.*But Mattrick isn't preparing the lifeboats just yet, to take our tortured ships/consoles analogy one step further. "We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," says he. Like we care, Mattrick. It's all about number one, baby!
* This just in: Wii took over there as well.
[Via Go Nintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Saeth @ Sep 5th 2008 8:50PM
Beating Nintendo isn't a realistic goal. Taking a slice of their pie, though? Sure
Christopher @ Sep 6th 2008 10:32PM
X-box 360 is doing better than many people said they would. I remember the naysayers, especially the Sony fanboys making rude remarks. Now look.
Nintendo is lucky though. They had a do or die situation with the Wii being they were such a distant second with Cube. Ironically, Wii is only a souped up Cube with funky controllers.
ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 7th 2008 7:36PM
wtf? then by you logic christopher, the ps3 is just a souped up ps2 with a blu ray player, and the 360 is just a souped up xbox with, well nothing else really. that logic is flawed, FLAWED I SAY!
Ryan @ Sep 5th 2008 9:18PM
There is no way in jesus 360 is gonna beat Nintendo this generation. But that guy needs to get off his high horse because im pretty sure ps3 will overall outsell 360 sooner or later, it may take time but it will happen. But nothing will stop wii, its a juggernaut!!
Sonic_13 @ Sep 5th 2008 9:51PM
I would have to agree with him (wait...what's that? I just agreed with a Microsoft exec??? No way!).
Wii 1st
Xbox 2nd
PS3rd
(notice the clever double-use of the 3 to signify Playstation's rank :P)
Jason Hill @ Sep 5th 2008 10:29PM
*sigh* sony needs to kick microsoft out of the waters, then i'll be completely happy.
leonus11 @ Sep 5th 2008 10:39PM
yep! and once the Wii starts getting "core" games MS chances of success are going to be slim to none! your days are numbered MS!!! also, i think the PS3 is going to sell more then the 360. its Exclusive line up of titles are DEFINITELY better then the 360!
MO ALI @ Sep 5th 2008 10:41PM
k you guys are idiots as much as i love the wii ... zelda wii fit mario and so on .. you CAN't compare it to 360/ps3
for one they have superior graphics
two better physics, gameplay and so on
3rd .. soon better games.. little big planet anyone? what about far cry 2? and not to mention the lower price .. BIG DIFFERENCE
wii is different from a ps3/360
stop being fanboys .. you're becoming worse than the other guys
James Madley @ Sep 5th 2008 11:20PM
What do any of those things have to do with winning? The top console is the one that sells the most. The console that sells the most is the most popular.
Wii = Most popular (weakest, second most expensive)
PS2 = Most popular (weakest, second most expensive)
PS1 = Most popular (weakest, most expensive)
And so on...
SoshiKitai @ Sep 5th 2008 11:29PM
I second James. :P
Lanceh @ Sep 6th 2008 12:14AM
Not to say graphics aren't important but 'better graphics' is the weakest argument you can ever make.
As was said, the PS2 was not a strong console. The GameCube's technical capabilities were higher. And yet it came last in the previous generation.
Just sayin'.
Sonic_13 @ Sep 6th 2008 3:09AM
"stop being fanboys"
Seriously guys. What do you think this site is?
You're all acting like this is a site devoted to the fanboyish love of the Nintendo Wii. Get a hold of yourselves!!!
Er...what's that? The site's called "NintendoWiiFanboy"?
Oh, my bad.
:P
Jason Hill @ Sep 6th 2008 7:47AM
Gamers dont care for superior graphics, its all about the gameplay.
leonus11 @ Sep 6th 2008 2:38PM
your right. ps3/360 do have better graphics and better processors then the Wii. and yet the Wii has a far superior lead then both of them. right buddy. stop being such a Wiihater and we'll stop being fanboy's. and don't go saying that you love the Wii when you know you really don't. god i hate liars!
CJLopez @ Sep 6th 2008 11:40PM
@James
"Wii = Most popular (weakest, second most expensive)"
As I recall, Wii was the cheapest console in the market till the 360 price cut, but thats only the crapiest version of the 3 consoles
NO HD!!!! At least Wii has a 512 nand memory
NO Wireless!!!! Wii has wireless
NO HDMI!!!!!..... Well, Wii doesn't has it either, xDD
Still, As I recall and in all, Wii keeps on beign the cheapest console of the current generation, cuz, lets face it, a 360 withouth a Hard Drive is the worst desicion M$could had made
Mr.Nitemare @ Sep 6th 2008 12:23AM
guys.. the graphics argument is a dead one... the clear most powerful system of last generation was the xbox.. and that came no where near first place (not to mention it had the most anticipated first party game of that generation in Halo, which didnt help it sail to the first place), nor did the gamecube , which was the second most powerful, the wii is succeeding off of the very same philosophy that made the PS2 such a success, it caters to a larger audience... when sony created the PS2 the whole reason they included the Dvd feature was to draw in the "non-gamer", the recipe for success that Sony illogically shyed away from for this generation due to their cockiness believing they could sell anything they wanted on their name alone..
Ian @ Sep 6th 2008 8:28PM
You're half right. The PS2 was a great success because it catered to almost everybody. But I don't think Sony was thinking like Ninty and saying "hay letz get famileez to play gamez!"
What I mean by that is Ninty is worrying more about non-gamers than gamers. While there's nothing wrong with opening up your doors to more people, you can't totally ditch all your core audience. In my opinion, Ninty thought they would make games for non-gamers and get a bigger audience, and what happened is alot of core gamers ditched the Wii.
And yes, I agree that the Gamecube surpassed the PS2 hardware wise, I mean, look at RE4, there's a game that really pushed the limits of any consoles last gen. But software-wise, I think they're about the same. But the Wii...not so much.
SoshiKitai @ Sep 7th 2008 12:40PM
Well, Nintendo may be ditching out on core gamers, but I seriously think they thought 3rd parties could take care of us... they did pretty well in the PS2-years.
Nintendo's doing fine for now. If ever a year came up, where not a single Nintendo game catered for core gamers ever came out, then they've abandoned "us".
It's the 3rd parties who are doing an awful job. *facepalm*
Teddy @ Sep 6th 2008 1:20AM
The question is will the PS3 catch up with the 360? I think Sony has a good chance.
Max Headroom @ Sep 6th 2008 1:39AM
Regardless of how high Microsoft places this generation, I certainly hope the other two companies take notes from them. Right now, Microsoft seems to be the most agile game company around. They are trying to cater to both the hardcore and to the casual crowd, and they are doing pretty well in my opinion. I think MS's biggest strength is that it actually listens to what the fans and the market wants. This fall a big update is coming. People have complained about the noise of the disc drive, so now we're getting the ability to run games from the harddrive instead. The Wii is obviously very popular, so we're also getting Wii-like Avatars, for the casual crowd. There are a bunch of other features as well, for both casual and hardcore.
On the other hand, Nintendo just doesn't seem to care how much we ask for more storage space or a better online experience or more hardcore games. And Sony is still trying to play catch-up with the PS3. It looks like they are trying to do too many things at once with the PS3 and PSP, but they don't seem to have to ability to move as fast as MS. Home has been in the works for a loooong time now. And do we really need it? It's like a casual game targetted to the most hardcore players around. Doesn't make sense to me. They need to streamline their operations, make better plans, and take actions, rather than reactions.
But all this is not to say MS is perfect. They definitely need to work on their hardware quality. That alone has cost them billions. I'd also like to see them provide a totally free online service, considering both other companies are, and they make a lot of money from people downloading games and other content.
Kenology18 @ Sep 6th 2008 7:10AM
First off, Nintendo and Microsoft are competing for people who pick up a controller to PLAY A GAME. You can try and split that into a market dichotomy, if you want. But what you're describing is personal preference, not two different markets.
Second, a motion controlled 360 would be NOTHING for Nintendo to fear. And Wii's won't stop magically selling either. Motion controls aren't the sole reason why the Wii is doing so well. You should think your views through a bit more.
Bones3D @ Sep 6th 2008 2:12AM
Personally, I think Microsoft already is beating Nintendo in most circles. The Wii and the 360 cater to vastly different markets. The Wii targets the instant "pick up and play" crowds while the 360 targets more traditional gaming audiences who want prettier graphics, more on-screen content, better physics and improved character AIs. This is not to say the 360 is necessarily better than the Wii, but only if you look at diversity of each system's game library versus a 1:1 comparison of direct port of a single title on each platform.
Now, if the rumors of a Wii-like 360 motion controller ever comes to fruition, then Nintendo may have something to fear, as this would allow a Wii-like gaming experience combined with much more powerful hardware. Short of hedging their bets on their 1st party titles keeping users hooked to the Wii, Nintendo's options would be limited short of a new system launch in a couple of years. Combined with the fact that Nintendo has already admitted that major 1st party updates to their core franchises are still 1-2 years away, a motion controlled 360 would pose a major threat to the longevity of the Wii in it's current state.
That said, if we look past the Wii, there are a few tricks Nintendo could potentially take on. One major step they might consider is moving beyond simple motion controls into neural interfaces. This would involve nothing more invasive than putting on a baseball cap, and could be calibrated in a manner of minutes using methods similar to how we calibrate current speech recognition software... only instead of learning voices, the software would learn brain wave patterns for different actions (such as roll, pitch, yaw of an onscreen object). This could even be done to such a degree that any physical controller that ships with the system wouldn't actually do anything except satisfy our need for tactile feedback. (Sort of like a Wii remote / nunchuck setup, but without the need for batteries.) All button presses would be interpreted by processing the brain signals telling your hand how to move to press the button in question. (It may even be possible to calibrate the games to the point that one could eliminate a controller entirely.)
It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo comes up with to follow up the Wii.
nick @ Sep 6th 2008 5:34AM
In New Zealand Microsoft is winning by a large margin... sad but true.
ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 6th 2008 9:43AM
regardless of motion control, kids dont want the kind of games microsoft sells on its platform, they want mario, zelda, wii sports n wii sports resort. in the last generation, ps2 was considered the 'casual' console while the gamecube n xbox were the 'hardcore'one, and which one won? ps2 had a dvd player, n surely some ppl bought it for that. xbox (as they do with everything) copied them, and it did f*ck all for them. now they want to copy the success of wii by motion control, but they dont understand that its the library of games to go with the motion control plus the fanbase that they need to compete with, and they cant just magic some quality first party titles that everyone can play out of thin air, even if Rare are making some for them.
plus, there are some parents out there who wont buy wiis for their children because they know madworld is coming out. now aside from this logic being retarded, because they can refuse to buy the games for their children, if they stay in that way of thinking, there is no way they will buy an xbox for their kid if they know condemmed, darkness, gears n all that other shit is on there, and microsoft, you can pay epic games to add child safety features to gears 2 all you want (sparks instead of blood) ur still killing with chainsaws n whatnot
P.S this article entails why nintendo are so successful, and why microsoft will fail in this new motion control effort, like the ps3 did
ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 6th 2008 9:50AM
whoops, here is the article url http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html
and i meant to say ps2 was the leader of last generation, even though xbox emulated their dvd support, because they didnt emulate the flood of licenced crap titles and singstar n eyetoy which sony had on their platform, and now it seems they are doing the same against wii, and will probably fail. oh, and MO ALI, dont bring that graphics argument to my hosue again, the last 2 generations have been won by consoles that had inferior graphics to the leader. but tbh tho, i just wish this whole console war bullsh*t would end, i just want good games......
+++volume+++ @ Sep 6th 2008 11:17AM
Tacked on motion control and lack of any significant online play fails.
+++volume+++ @ Sep 6th 2008 11:18AM
Oh, and a hard drive? Please?
Anthony @ Sep 6th 2008 12:21PM
Its so weird how the weakest console has wone for the past generations and the middle console comes in last. This is how i think it will end.
This Gen
Wii-weakest-1st place
PS3-strongest-2nd place
xbox360-mid-3rd place
Last Gen
PS2-weakest-1st place
xbox-strongest-2nd place
Gamcube-mid-3rd place.
Wah-hah-ha! @ Sep 6th 2008 1:27PM
Its a more mature argument from Microsoft than usual
But of course the deluded Wii haters keep clamoring about how the Wii doesn't matter anymore
leonus11 @ Sep 6th 2008 2:38PM
also, i agree with Lanceh. ps2 was the weakest of the last gen consoles and yet it was in 1st place. AND there were some games with very nice graphics despite it being the weakest console. also those saying that kids want the Wii for mario, zelda, and all other first party titles. don't forget that its not just kids but the teenaers and adults also. i'm very sure its the teens and adults that purchase ninty's first party titles.
Wah-hah-ha! @ Sep 6th 2008 3:37PM
Because PS2 was so heavily targeted by 3rd parties, they took its limited potential (due to an awkward relationship between its main processor and its GPU), and did awesome things like Shadow of the Colossus and God of War II
And the same is being seen for Wii, just much slower than it should be due to the whole host of issues alienating Nintendo and the 3rd parties, but progress is being seen from folks like High Voltage Studios and even Sonic Team
Bones3D @ Sep 6th 2008 3:59PM
Ok... out of those of us who own both a Nintendo Wii and a 360, how many here have a library of Wii titles that's significantly larger than their 360's library?
In my case, I have 30 Wii titles and 64 Xbox 360 titles in my library. (And that includes stretching my Wii selection out to the less popular fringe titles like Emergency Heroes...)
Unless I'm missing out on a huge selection of A-list game titles for the Wii that aren't mere collections of mini-games, it's kind of hard to ignore the numbers here.
Wah-hah-ha! @ Sep 6th 2008 4:54PM
Shit. I own a Wii alone with a DS, and only 13 titles for it
Maybe i'm not as hardcore as i imagined....
SoshiKitai @ Sep 7th 2008 12:54PM
That's a lot of 360 games. I actually own more Wii games (even excluding WiiWare/VC vs XBLA) than 360 games. Then again, I'm more picky with my 360 games.
-since most of them are shooters, I have to be careful to not pick one up that's too similar from another (people mainly aim for online multiplayer when buying a new shooter - I actually aim for local multiplayer or one-player action)...
Also, I'm not much for racing games (I like 'em, but I ain't crazy for 'em). Nor do I go crazy for Sports games. So that drops my 360 library down quite a bit.
So in this case, the 360 may have a larger library (definitely) - but it depends who it's catering to.
The 360 caters to most core gamers, but not all.
I actually prefer to buy casual games inbetween my "hardcore" games. To balance things out.
And since the 360 tends to dish out games with ULTRA BLOODY DIFFICULTY + 1,000,000 ACHIEVEMENTS almost tri-weekly, I rarely buy as much.
So your numbers are correct, but only for you. Everyone's got their own numbers, and even numbers don't change everything. Some may have fewer Wii games than 360 games, but they prefer their Wii more. Some may have tons of 360 games, but have only played through most of them once. Some may have more 360 games, but the Wii is the most played when company is over.
It ain't just numbers when it comes to preference.
Heck, I have a good amount of great games on the 360 (top-notch quality), but since I'm a huge MGS fan, my PS3 is more favored than the 360 (which is funny, since MGS4 is the ONLY game I have on my PS3), and it makes my PS3 more played than my 360.
SoshiKitai @ Sep 7th 2008 5:36PM
Oh, and just to clarify as to why your numbers aren't as important:
Compare how many Wiis are sold as compared to how many 360s are sold.
Games don't mean anything. Not every game is made my Microsoft, not every game is made by Nintendo.
What makes Microsoft as the "loser" in this case, is the number of systems sold.
-not only that, but when a disgruntled owner of a 360 decides to get rid of a game he/she got tired of, he/she sells it. As opposed to the Wii- since most of the library is party games, to sell a party game isn't only the owner's decision, it's the family & friends' decisions.
In that case, the Wii also wins for how many games are "resold".
So... my above rant was just me ranting. This rant is just to say: This isn't about games, this is about systems.
No matter how many games the 360 sells, it's minuscule as compared to how many Wiis are sold, and how many children & people will want to purchase 5 games the instant they get it. It multiplies everytime. While some people can only afford a 360 and a single game (and some people only buy a 360 for only 3 games).
Christopher @ Sep 6th 2008 10:32PM
X-box 360 is doing better than many people said they would. I remember the naysayers, especially the Sony fanboys making rude remarks. Now look.
Nintendo is lucky though. They had a do or die situation with the Wii being they were such a distant second with Cube. Ironically, Wii is only a souped up Cube with funky controllers.
SoshiKitai @ Sep 7th 2008 1:00PM
The Wii puts the "FUN" in funky controllers.
...and the 360 may have gotten naysayers from the PS3 fanboys...
But look at the Wii, they're STILL getting naysayers from BOTH sides (actually 3 sides, if you include PC players)... and it's been going on like this since the Wii first came out!
And Wii owners only bash on 360 owners because the 360 owners talk down to them. ...that, and many may be Mac-users. :P
metici @ Sep 7th 2008 12:50PM
@ Bones3D i own about 15 Wii games (that including virtual console games) and 3 Xbox360 games, the only 360 games I own are Halo 3, Gears of War, and Burnout Paradise.
I do admit that I find the lack of 'quality' titles on the Wii lacking, that is why I'm patiently awaiting the release of the new Tales of Symphonia game, that will most likely keep me busy for a while.
rikthagreat @ Sep 8th 2008 1:53PM
LMAO * This just in: Wii took over there as well.
Daryl @ Oct 12th 2008 6:28PM
Is "hardcore gaming system" a term used for systems that can't sell. ROFLMAO!
"My system sails suck, so I'll make the excuse that it is too good for the market."
Face it, the hardcore / casual argument is a non-argument. If your system isn't selling, it doesn't make it "more hardcore" it just makes it more disliked.