PS2: The Sixth Generation Beatdown That Can Never Be Duplicated

The Playstation 2 is turning 15 years old, and it seems like just yesterday it was pounding the competition with minimal effort. The PS2 is easily the most successful console in the history of the gaming universe, and although there are some that came close (Nintendo Wii was well on pace, Nintendo DS missed by inches) none could match the hardware and software sales that was attached to that behemoth. As a matter of fact Sony remains afloat in the business world because of what the PS2 accomplished.



There are tons of reasons why the PS2 did so well during the sixth generation (and even the beginnings of the seventh generation). It was a mix of underwhelming competition, hardware options that made it the better sale, much better lineup of games, great third-party relationship, superior marketing campaign, and in the end because its successor took a very long time to warm up to gamers. It was the perfect storm that allowed this system to sell well for two different gaming generations.

Let’s start with the competition during the sixth generation. The Sega Dreamcast was a mix of bad timing, bug-filled launch titles, lack of true PS-like third-party support, and gamers still not forgiving Sega for the Sega Saturn fiasco. The Dreamcast did have plenty of great games, especially in the sports and fighting genres. However, it just couldn’t prove that it was the beginning of a new era, instead looking like a system that was mingling with the fleeting N64 and Playstation. Gamers collectively made the decision to bypass the first system of the new era and instead wait on Sony’s successor.

The XBox didn’t have much of an identity outside of being the ultimate system for FPS fans. Up until 1998’s surprise-surprise hit Goldeneye 007 we didn’t know Americans were ready to embrace the FPS genre in anything other than PC. So with Halo, the Green Machine became the go-to system for action shooters. 7 of the 15 best-selling XBox games were action/shooters, with the two Halo games occupying the top spot and underrated gem Splinter Cell emerging in third place. But of course, with a lack of variety you can’t really grab much of an audience. The Japanese rejected the XBox entirely, also adding to its lackluster sales. The ONLY reason XBox even continued was because Microsoft can afford to be patient, and because Halo showed the world that the XBox brand has a shot at making good money. Outselling Nintendo was also a positive sign.

Which leads us to the Nintendo Gamecube: a mess. Third-party companies were flying away from the Nintendo brand as the House of Mario continued to refuse to abide by the technology being used and stuck with their decision to use smaller disks to make games while simultaneously not put any effort in trying to go online. These two things, plus the lack of backwards-compatibility that benefited the PS2 greatly propelled it to lackluster launch sales, and this bad stench would carry over through the remainder of the generation. Gamecube’s arsenal of cancelled and delayed games also made it easier for Sony to flourish. The final nail on the coffin was when Twilight Princess was getting delayed time and time again while Capcom betrayed Nintendo and sent Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe to PS2.

PS2’s hardware was definitely the biggest reason why Sony handedly won the generation. It was backwards-compatible, which allowed PS1 owners to easily make the transition and bring their lineup of purchased games to the next generation. So even though PS2 didn’t have many great games to start, you at least were able to keep your games from the past. Then there’s the DVD player, which made the PS2 arguably the first console to double as a sort of entertainment hardware. The DVD boom occurred at around that point, which gave the PS2 even more value than expected. Sony’s decision to use CD disks in 1994 is paying off with interest come 2000.






Third-party support for Sony was at its absolute peak here in the sixth generation. Feeding off the PS1 success, third-party companies wasted no time announcing their allegiance to the PS2 (and in most instances, ONLY the PS2) and gave the system some of the best games in the 2000s. Sony’s first-party lineup was nowhere near as good as the latter systems (especially PS3) but franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Madden, Metal Gear Solid, SOCOM, Need for Speed, and Final Fantasy eased the pain of lack of games coming directly from Sony. And besides, Gran Turismo was all Sony really needed to do (26 million sold between two games). Sony had popular franchises for Japan (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior), England (Pro Evolution Soccer, Grand Theft Auto), and America (Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto, Tony Hawk, Kingdom Hearts).

Better hardware (despite weaker specs and slow online start), much better lineup of games (even though in my eyes Gamecube owned the top game of the sixth generation with Metroid Prime), much more games to choose from, backwards-compatibility, and better value. Anything else? Well, there is one more thing: the Playstation 3’s disastrous launch.

The PS3 looked ugly, it looked big, and it was incredibly expensive. It had a terrible launch marred with controversy over the long lines that ended in disappointment as all the stores wound up getting less copies than promised. Why shell out the $600 to get a new system showing minimal promise when you still have a working PS2 that technically has access to over 800 titles? So with that, the PS2 continued to sell. It was still the best Sony option out there, above the clunky PSP and the still-expensive-and-underperforming PS3. With that, the PS2 was able to continue its record-setting hardware sales. 7 years after its launch, it still managed to release a game that sold 5 million copies (Guitar Hero III).

The PS2 is a type of success that cannot ever be duplicated. No system in the near future will have the overpowering third-party advantage that Sony enjoyed in the early 2000s, which is required to create such sales havoc. The Nintendo Wii’s ridiculous success was marred because it simply ran out of games to deliver to consumers after it peaked at around 2008-2009. Third-party had piggybacked on Wii’s success but jumped ship when the jig was up and the hardware limitations were beginning to become more obvious. First-party games can only take you so far; just ask the first-party heavy Nintendo 64 (tons of masterpiece games, but really lacked on software options overall).

You can duplicate the PS2 formula, you can imitate the controller (probably best controller ever), the design, the marketing campaign, and its method of pricing. But, you won’t ever see the big lead PS2 had on its competition (Combine Dreamcast, Gamecube, and XBox hardware sales and it will still be 100 million short) ever again. When the NES pulled off its 85% market share, which was a near monopoly Nintendo was pulling back then. But under a fair(er) playing field, we won’t see a winner like PS2. The market is tighter than ever, and there are less third-party companies willing to stick to just one system. The Playstation 2 was a special, special system, and would pave the path that the modern gaming industry is trailblazing today.



Happy Birthday PS2, lots of great memories indeed.




Source of my data

The Continuing Rise of Sony

For the few of you that continue reading this blog, you’ll notice the lack of articles about Sony.



The reason is very simple: Sony has not screwed up as much as the competitors in recent years. Especially Nintendo.



And their reward? Winning the 2013 Holiday Season and being a few months away from taking first place in the Eighth Generation race.


Sony, led by a great marketing campaign, excellent forward momentum, good arsenal of third-party games has won the holiday season even though there weren’t many exclusive titles for its newest system or its latest handheld. It already is closing in on the WiiU hardware sales and is slowly but surely separating itself from the troubled XBox One (still recovering from its summer of controversy).


The Playstation Vita will definitely lose against the 3DS, and may not even reach the sales of the original PSP. But the Vita is gaining traction in Japan and is handedly outselling Nintendo’s WiiU. A victory is a victory, even if it’s coupled by a couple losses. Let’s also add its sales have increased by over 160% in Europe since the release of the Playstation 4, so there might be a growing market in the England-and-beyond-Europe community.


Sony became smart by making the Vita a piggyback to the Playstation 4 as opposed to a full-on competitor against smartphones and Nintendo (the hardware fight has been pointless for two decades now. Nintendo owns this and it is their battle to lose). So the Vita is an expensive niche that can serve as a controller or a nice accessory to the reasonably-priced PS4.


PS4 has sold 4.7 million copies, and has survived the I-am-accidently-competing-against-my-own-system PS3 crossing the 80 million threshold and still making good money thanks to the mammoth success of Grand Theft Auto V an FIFA 13. And this is with only one of the PS4’s best-selling games being an exclusive, with Killzone on the list. So imagine what happens when Uncharted, Gran Turismo, God of War, Little Big Planet, and whatever Naughty Dog has up their sleeve releases. The main difference between Microsoft and Sony is that while Microsoft has more third-party power, Sony has made excellent strides in the first-party department.


And let’s recall that it has not even come out in Japan. Outselling the XBox 360 9 to 1 last generation, Sony has a lot of forward momentum heading through 2014 as the third-party hasn’t abandoned them like they have Nintendo, and they have yet to unleash their big weapons. It is a good time to be a Sony fan.


With the dust finally settling from 2013’s Black Friday and Holiday Season, it is definitely Sony’s victory as the PS3 continues selling, the Vita is earning a new life as a niche product, and the brand-new PS4 is inches away from overtaking the WiiU and becoming the top dog of the Eighth Generation.




Well done, Sony.

Sony Needs to Up the 1st Party Ante for PS4

So with Microsoft still desperately trying to repair its image and Nintendo seemingly trying anything to tarnish theirs, we have Sony front and center ready to make their strike.

Sony, coming off a good report about their overall profits despite the game division hitting about even, are finally on the upswing and ready to take on the eighth generation with their nicely priced Playstation 4.


However…


There is this troubling thing about the E3 conference that still lingers: their games. Kingdom Hearts 3 was their big announcement----but this is also an Xbox One game. Metal Hear Solid 5 also turned some heads during E3---but that’s also an Xbox One title. Their biggest titles were The Last of Us and Gran Turismo 6---which are actually PS3 games. Oh but there’s Final Fantasy---wait, never mind.

Now there’s no way that me and potentially other gamers closely following this war are going to spend money on a Microsoft machine for a nice period of time. Ugly incident with the DRM issue, high price tag, and my continuing trust issues with the company.


However….


What awesome, must-purchase exclusive Playstation 4 game was announced? Anyone? There was no next-gen Uncharted, no next-gen Ratchet and Clank, no next-gen Jak and Daxter, no next-gen Sly Cooper, and lastly we aren’t even sure if their biggest franchise (Gran Turismo) is getting a release within the first year on the new machine. All we got was the new Killzone, which is still a few layers below the other first-person shooter franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo. I know that Sony pretty much fired all their best work in the last leg of the PS3’s lifespan, leaving all the first and second-party companies scrambling for time with the new system coming out. If Sony wants to remove all momentum from Microsoft, they need to build up their first-party lineup for a full attack.

The PS3 surprisingly had the best blend of first and second-party games this previous generation, an award usually given to Nintendo (After all, Nintendo always survives solely because they can game-build their way out of any issue). Between Gran Turismo 5, Little Big Planet, and the spectacular Uncharted trilogy the Playstation 3 was saved by a second wave of video games that propelled the entire company past Microsoft for the silver medal in the seventh generation.

But if they want to accomplish this success once again starting this holiday season, depending on third-party games that you are going to see on the competition is not the right way to go. Sony dropped the ball by not withholding some of these great exclusives for the next generation, especially Gran Turismo 6. Call of Duty, Madden, Elder Scrolls, Battlefield, NBA 2K, and Rockstar’s games sold better on the 360 than on the PS3. And with the Xbox One not being a restricting prick of a console, Microsoft is starting to stand toe to toe with Sony.


Sony, you don’t need to have another PS3 on your hands. What you need to do is kill em’ with exclusives, early, and with rapid succession. Otherwise, it will be hard to separate yourself from the pack.




P.S. You need to kill the Vita to cut the bleeding. The embarrassing 14% market share just won't cut it.

The Justifying Price Tag of GTA V

Look at this trailer. Seriously, look at it.

This is how $60 games should look and play like.

Is the game going to be good? I have no idea. Although Vice City remains one of the greatest games I have ever played and San Andreas was a true gem in itself, GTA IV left me desiring a bit more.

But the fact of the matter is they are definitely providing enough stuff to justify the $60, which is something most video games just don't do nowadays. You can hate Rockstar all you want, but they will shell out so much detail and so much material in their games you can't laud them on lack of effort. You simply can't.



This review was from ions ago and San Andreas looks like a game that is lengthier than most of the games we see today. Your shooters are becoming shorter and shorter. Your Mario games have yet to really deliver on the gameplay hours. And let's not get even started with Zelda and your real-time action games with bazillions of hours of cutscenes. Grand Theft Auto V needs to become a success so it can usher in more games with more meat.

And this is why older franchises like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Star Fox, Mega Man, and then your one-trick-pony genre games like your racers, and your fighting games have dropped a bit in terms of sales and success. They don't have the variety to justify the rising costs required to continue gaming. The GTA V trailer gives you multiple storylines with clearly multiple potential paths to take, three massive overworlds, the ability to play sports, drive like you are playing a racer, shoot around like its a shooter, and venture around so it feels like an urban Fable game.

We need to see more variety from more games. I want to see more variety from games. How about adding a little action and more RPG elements to Zelda? How about adding some more chores, mini-games, side quests, and gambling to Pokemon? And (I will get slack for this) adding a little more space and scope and ability to improvise to Metal Gear and to a lesser extent the Assassin's Creed games? How about adding some storylines to the racing games? The one genre evolving in this direction are the sports games, especially (especially, especially) the NBA 2K games. But more needs to be done. Call of Duty, I am definitely looking in your direction.

The system that wins this generation will be the one with the most heavily-varied games. One-Trick Pony games may have worked last gen but with the rise of small games on Facebook and tablets I don't see this trend repeating itself. So get to work you three.

$60 is a lot of money. And not too many games deserve to be priced this high. But Grand Theft Auto V? Consider me excited and willing to fork over this money in a heartbeat.

The Disappearing Appeal of XBox Gaming

So are we watching the resurgence of a former champion in Sony?


Or a total collapse of another company in the gaming industry in Microsoft?

It is like the eternal sports question, is it a comeback or is it a collapse?


Sony’s return to prominence has been happening for the past couple of years, as the PS3 has cranked out a variety of gems and allowed itself to leapfrog the Xbox 360 into second place in the seventh generation market share. Although the Vita is still a mess, the PS3 has remained relevant, and the former ugly image associated with Sony is slowly drifting away.


On the other hand: Microsoft is in major trouble.


They may not even see it yet.


The 360 hasn’t come up with a major original hit in quite some time. The Halo appeal has drifted, the other major Microsoft franchises has seemingly disappeared, third-party games are beginning to do better on the PS3, and Japan is still positively avoiding the company like the plague (The 360 has already been outsold by the Vita in lifetime sales over in the Japanese gamespace). But none of this can possibly prepare you for the potential backlash of the Xbox One.



Required Online.



Think about this for a second. They want your Xbox One to be online---at least once a day or your game will experience issues. So this pretty much ruins your Xbox experience if you are overseas fighting, if you are in a cruise ship, if you are on vacation in a hotel, in an area with very poor online reception, in an area that had just been hit by a disaster, or if you had just moved to a new place and await for cable to arrive. There are dozens of other scenarios in which this new requirement would make for gaming to become an absolute chore on the new Microsoft machine, but then I would drift off-topic.


And wait…what if Microsoft’s servers went down?

What if Xbox Live got attacked?


The fact is this: Microsoft is alienating its entire audience and fanbase: hardcore and casual. Casual gamers would have absolutely no idea how to maneuver around life with the Xbox One restricting your damn game from playing if it didn’t touch the internet in 24 hours, and the hardcore most likely won’t appreciate the fact that you can’t share the games at launch, can’t re-sell the games at launch (and possibly beyond), you have to wait 30 days just to share certain content with someone else, and can’t even play Xbox 360 games in this new machine.


Gaming is supposed to be simple.
Gaming is supposed to unite people together.


United gaming is essential, which is why the SNES remains one of the best systems ever (the slew of excellent 2-player games), why the N64 survived (Became the ultimate party system until the invention of the Xbox Live), why the PS2 won the war while the Gamecube faltered (Online gaming was best here, and Nintendo didn’t embrace the internet—leading to a last-place finish), why the Nintendo Wii was at one point on pace to shatter every sales record known to man (I had pretty much declared the Wii the winner two years ago because of how freakin' big a sales lead it had) and why the Xbox 360 was able to survive in 1st/2nd for so long with the weakest 1st-party lineup (Xbox Live was wonderful in recent years).


Connectivity is what makes Microsoft’s systems—why on Earth would you damage this?

Xbox Live is usually synonymous with good online gaming. All we want is a next-generation system with good games, good third-party support, and good online capabilities. It is such a simple formula. Nintendo doesn’t follow this because they don’t have the Sony/Microsoft budget so they do a smoke-and-mirrors technique of trying to change the rules. The Playstation 3 learned that great games push great hardware sales. The Last of Us is the latest example of Sony truly digging deep into its first-party weapons to continue the positive upswing.

It is so obscenely simple. We want games. Games. Games. Games. The WiiU would not have been such a disaster if it weren't for the total lack of games. No television/gaming connections, no extra random features, and especially no pointless and irritating restrictions that makes a simple hobby known as gaming become a fight for justifiable expensive entertainment. And what are the chances that with these constraints Microsoft can quietly jack the price of the games themselves? Up to this point, anything is possible.

Microsoft managed to shatter any momentum it could have had at the expense of the flailing Nintendo WiiU and the also-questionable Playstation 4 (Sony, don’t think that I have forgotten that your stance on DRM remains ho-hum). Now, the WiiU doesn’t look that bad because you can actually share the games, while Sony isn’t pushing for the stupid daily online requirement.



Microsoft, you are ridiculous. You lost a potential buyer this year.




And I am pretty sure you are going to lose many more if you continue down this path.

Why Gran Turismo 6 Needs to be a PS4 Launch Title

The Playstation 4 is on a good start with a successful conference, a successful lineup, and good momentum coming from the rebound of the Playstation 3. Let’s not bring up the Vita-----quite possibly ever. What the PS4 needs is that killer launch title that can get the system going to a great start. Against popular opinion, one game can turn a system around. Donkey Kong Country allowed for the SNES to win the war, Final Fantasy 7 catapulted the original Playstation to new heights, Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow gave the Game Boy new life, Wii Sports jump-started the mammoth success of the Wii, and lastly we have Ocarina of Time 3D arguably giving the 3DS its first true breath of life back in the summer of 2011.

So all Sony needs to go is guarantee a good, good launch title.




Gran Turismo 6 must be that game.


GT6 was announced recently to become a PS3 game, continuing the trend that each Playstation needs 2 GT games. This racing sim franchise is the most successful in all of gaming, even with Forza nipping into its sales in recent years. Gran Turismo is the perfect game to showcase what Sony’s machines are capable of. Gran Turismo 2 through 5 were games that always tested the hardware and set the benchmark as to the way racing games should look, sound, and feel. GT3 remains in my opinion one of the best racing games of all-time---ranking way up there with Forza 3, and the underrated gems of Excitebike 64, Mario Kart 64 and (especially underrated) Burnout 3.

So why is part 6 just a PS3 title this year? They should pull a Twilight Princess and release it on both the current platform and the future platform to reach out to a wider audience and in order to truly flash the specs on the PS4. It only makes too much sense. When Twilight Princess pulled off the same technique, it became part of the 2006 launch of the Wii while becoming the swansong of the Nintendo Gamecube. It sold a total of 7 million copies---most of it coming from the newer system.

With the already-established base of 77 million, Gran Turismo 6 for the PS3 is an absolute no-brainer. GT5 itself sold 10 million copies, and the prologue sold 5 million to add to that. But in order to really get the gamers excited about the next big thing, GT6 should also coincide as a launch title. Some may argue that putting it on both systems would kill sales of the PS4, but the truth is we all know the PS4 is going to be expensive right off the bat so why not reward owners of the PS3 (whom have been through a roller coaster of emotions these past few years) with the same game? GT6 for both the PS3 and PS4 would be perfect because that way owners that aren’t ready to enter the eighth generation of gaming can still get their quality racing simulating fix.

Sony, it is very simple: your top franchise deserves to be on multiple systems, and Gran Turismo 6 most definitely should become a launch title.