The Gree--er, Black Friday that Ignited a Sales Race

America’s System is back. Rejoice!





Microsoft’s XBox One, spurned by a great price cut, some awesome third-party games, Nintendo’s foot-shooting strategy with Smash Bros., the awesomely-valued Halo Collection, a wonderful Black Friday performance, and the gaming industry enjoying its everlasting growth, has finally come full circle and eliminated the demons from Summer 2013 shenanigans. It is now the highest-selling system in North America and although its still leagues behind Sony in Europe and will never make an impact in Japan, the fourth quarter of the year has been kind to the Green Machine.

Microsoft has learned to embrace its image of being America’s gaming system as opposed to its weak strategy of marketing itself as an “entertainment machine.” The XBox 360 outperformed the Wii AND the PS3 during the seventh generation, while the original XBox survived solely because of American gamers’ love for the Halo. But the company took a serious hit when it attempted to implement a DRM/strong individualized system that sounded very bad on paper for a community of consumers that is extremely social within its circle. Sony took off running by repeating its PS2 strategy, leaving Microsoft scrambling to develop a new image.

Now with the Tony Hawk-inspired and American-appealing Sunset Overdrive, third-party hits GTA V, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty and Destiny (some of these sell better in the XBox as opposed to the PS4), and the high value Halo Collection, the attractive games are now flowing to the stores and a stronger resume is building for XBox One. Granted the price cut (which did wonders for Black Friday) stays, its officially the best deal in the business as it has stronger online support (despite Sony having the far better reward system), similar game lineup to PS4 (although the first-party aspect needs some overhauling), and it’s just a smidge more expensive than the underpowered WiiU. It developed the right price tag and although it won’t make as much of a dent in Europe, things are looking good in the rest of the Western Hemisphere.

In order for the success to continue, the first and second party department needs to step its game up. Rareware needs to open up its vault and unveil some Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, LEGIT Banjo-Kazzoie, and lastly some Perfect Dark. Halo cannot be the only rider guiding this ship (Master Chief Collection hasn’t broken 500,000 despite the awesome positive press), we need more shooters and action games to continue the Blockbuster image. And then maintain good relations with third-party developers (Nintendo….take notes) and the indie industry. Hey, Puerto Rico is trying to chime in on the industry by providing tax benefits. Just saying.

To make things short, the XBox One has officially entered the race by conquering Black Friday, gaining some life, and creeping up 10 million in sales thanks to a boost in American support. Sony pretty much owns everything east of the Atlantic Ocean currently but that doesn’t have to be bad news. Microsoft can run after the rising Hispanic community, and even take on South America. Then of course slowly keep pace with Sony in Europe and who knows. Do recall the PS3 was in dead last until the final two years of its run—and wound up just 6% market share underneath the Nintendo Wii (when at one point everyone was trailing by at least 20-25% market share). They are a few good decisions and a few big games from potentially turning the tide in their favor.



The XBox One after a poor start is back. Definitely officially back.

The Convoluted Bundle Wars

Welcome to the Bundle Wars. The very confusing Bundle Wars.


Check out that bundle........and notice its from the previous generation...............


Currently in the lead is Sony, who seems to be doing everything right. Even though they are becoming the most expensive system out there come November, they have the mighty and powerful Grand Theft Auto 5 supporting them. GTA V will be bundling with new PS4s in the Japanese region, European region, and if we American gamers are lucky, the American region. Sony might just be waiting to see if Microsoft or Nintendo is pulling out any surprises. That being said, it should be a sure-fire deal to make this deal a reality in the North American borders….it would make sense…right?

Microsoft has a Halo Bundle…..for Japan. No announcement for the United States getting the same deal, despite being dead last in the Eighth Generation and trailing Sony by a landslide. And despite the price cut, still no big bundle announcement to become the second major blow to the main competitor Sony. Now at $350 it only trails the might-as-well-be-non-existent-yet-it-still-won’t-die Nintendo WiiU. Microsoft needs to expand its horizons and not look like just a system with shooters. With two good Forza games, a San Andreas upgrade, and Sunset Overdrive Microsoft should really consider expanding its bundle options to deliver the best deal in the market. Until then, it just looks like a less-expensive PS4 with fewer games.

Of course, Nintendo has the biggest hand of them all. Never mind Call of Duty, never mind Grand Theft Auto 5. Nintendo has the awkwardly and rather uninspiring-titled Super Smash Brothers for WiiU coming out in November (Why wasn’t it called Smash Brothers Armageddon or Smash Brothers 4?) yet there is no mention of a bundle. How incredible would it have been if Nintendo announced a Smash Brothers Melee/HyperMelee bundle that would include the game, the Gamecube controller, AND Virtual Console access to Smash Brothers Melee? How much sense would it make for Nintendo to fight Microsoft’s price cut with the announcement of the Virtual Console finally expanding to Gamecube games?

Despite all the success from the three systems, their potential is still exponentially off. Sony needs to create the GTA V Bundle and make it for everybody, don’t be exclusive. And hey, why not also throw in a Last of Us Bundle? You are now the most expensive system in the market, so you need to crank up the value of the system while awaiting the next major game. Although you are winning the indie and third-party market, that can only take you so far until its obvious you need a first-party AAA title pretty soon.

Microsoft. For goodness sakes, Halo is a beast in the United States----where is the bundle announcement?!? You are dead last, with few prospects outside the Halo border for 2015, why aren’t you…never mind, I am done with you.

Nintendo, I am also done with you. Not bundling Smash Brothers, your biggest game in about a decade and extremely crucial to the future of your system, is a silly idea. Still not having Gamecube games in the Virtual Console is also a silly, silly idea. And still charging $5-$10 for NES and SNES games when the XBox 360 got a revamped PS2 game at just south of $4 is undeniably city.

As of now, nobody is winning the Bundle Wars, because nobody has figured out how to correctly market to American gamers that have yet to make their decision. And Black Friday is just four weeks away.





Pick it up people….

Separating the Wii in the WiiU

Do you remember this commercial at all? This was during Gamecube’s final major push to convince the hardcore crowd that they indeed have some incredible games to satisfy the subculture. Now, we all know Gamecube would become Nintendo’s biggest failure not named Virtual Boy, and would ultimately force Nintendo to totally alter their strategy in terms of hardware and software. While the advertisement then did fail to push sales of the Gamecube, this was exactly the type of commercial that Nintendo needed to air this month.

The WiiU didn’t outsell the other systems during Black Friday simply because Nintendo could not separate the Wii reputation out of the new system that is clearly reaching out to the hardcore audience. The WiiU and the Wii were still joined hand-in-hand when the WiiU is essentially the 2006 system on HD steroids. I can guarantee you that the majority still see the WiiU as a simple update to Nintendo’s most successful system. There should be no reason that despite the WiiU selling nearly 450,000 copies on opening week, the original Wii managed sales of over 300,000.That’s at least 125,000 owners that will probably not consider buying the next generation system for at least a year.

The marketing failed miserably in showcasing the talent of the new system by not revealing the new features, not revealing Nintendo’s actual push for online gaming and the hardcore titles that feature Nintendo exclusives (unlike the Gamecube commercial displayed above), instead showing the world this:






It is not a bad commercial, but what separates Mario Bros. WiiU…. …from the Wii version? Aside from the tablet? They look virtually the same.It doesn't even seem like a next-gen game (although the game is partially to blame for that one too).

There is still no WiiU ad that shows that the tablet can become a full universal remote control (it just shows you can switch the game to the tablet), or pull off HD graphics, or allow for you to be able to see online videos while navigating away from the page into something else. The WiiU is a gaming system that can imitate a remote control, a movie player, and an interactive internet browser---at the same time!!!! 

We still don't really have an ad that even shows some of the exclusives available at launch or the holiday season. Remember this tease earlier this year?





If you even showed an abridged version of that video on television, it would have been far more effective than merely showing the families playing with Wiimotes and the only change is a gaming tablet attached. How could that warrant a $350 purchase? How would they know its HD, backwards-compatible, data-from-Wii transferrable, and extremely online friendly? How would they possibly know any of this?


Nintendo, you have a nice machine, I am enjoying it, but your advertising is going to result in the WiiU having a bumpy first couple of months.