EA Says 'Next-Gen' Is 'Now-Gen'

Via GamesRadar, a Reuters report noting that the 'next generation' consoles are now more-or-less broken in. Sales for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii have transitioned to the point where software sales are going to be well worth the effort for development houses. "'[Black] Friday marked one of those points where you can say something's changed," [EA CEO Riccitiello] said. 'Around the world, based on the data I've got, it was pretty clear that the transition is now over. Key to that was Sony Corp's recent price cut for its PlayStation 3, which should ensure the struggling console hits the company's fiscal-year sales target of 11 million units.'"

Re:Yeah, keep trying Sony

[Roskolnikov]

ok, playing fanboy for a second, you list the cheapest wii available at 565 to make the 360's price look good.

Why not also mention that the 360 has the best warranty? Why not mention why (hint, red rings for the holidays)?

If not for Nintendo's amazing understanding of their audience the WII would not be able to compete, graphically, computationally its inferior, but that doesn't matter, its fun.

The XBOX360 would be a great system if not for the continual doubt as to the longevity of the hardware and the perpetual noise, also, Microsoft should be including a HDDVD-Rom capable drive in the mid and high end versions, it would be cheaper than that damned external $200 dollar optional 'player' and it would turn the box into the media center that Microsoft so desperately desires.

Sony should drop their bottom pricepoint to $300 but really, looking at the hardware specs and cost I don't see how.

and yeah, I own a PS3; when I find a WII in stock I suspect I will own one of those as well, the only thing on the 360 that I find attractive is the Halo franchise but it isn't enough to make me drop coin.

Re:EA is crazy, Sony won't hit that target

[rbarreira]

They had shipped 5.9 million in total by march Not sure if they are aiming for a cumulative 11 mil or 11 mil in a single year. but cumulative it's not a hard target.

That was before they changed their method of counting "shipped units". Before, they counted any manufactured unit as a shipped unit (as in shipped to their warehouses). After they changed the counting method, they reported that the shipped amount until March was 3.6 million. It's all in their financial reports.

Regarding whether the 11 million is cumulative or fiscal-year only, it's the latter for sure. Fiscal targets are always for the fiscal year, and you can easily find articles which confirm this:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/25/business/sony.php [iht.com]

Re:That's unfortunate.

[Seumas]

And why is that even necessary? There isn't this massive learning curve for PC developers. Yes, they have to learn a few new tricks and features here and there to better optimize the juice from the newest gen of hardware, but it doesn't take them two or three years to get up to speed on the latest NVIDIA or ATI card.

Do console developers seriously need to re-invent every aspect of the wheel for each generation? They can't make them a bit more modular and just iteratively improve the existing systems throughout their lifespan?

There has to be some other model that can be used in console gaming that doesn't involve one fresh generation every decade, with a slowly deteriorating experience with each passing year (in comparison to other gaming options like a PC).

Re:That's unfortunate.

[bevoblake]

Consoles have fantastic appeal to the masses and for good reason - you buy a game console that you know won't be obsolete (i.e. they are still making current games for it) for 5 years or so. The cost is around the same as a brand new, high-end graphics card, which is just one component of the PC rig. The PC rig will also be obsolete sooner because the PC game-makers push tech and innovation faster (although you can get decent lifespan out of a PC rig if you are willing to not always have the bleeding edge). Lastly, the consoles, in my experience are less buggy. Coding to the various configurations of PCs is much more difficult to get bug free than a single environment.

That said, I currently am a PC gamer because I had a computer around that was good enough that the purchase of an additional $200 graphics card got me a strong PC gaming experience. Plus, my good friend, the mouse, hasn't made the jump to consoles yet.

Re:Yeah, keep trying Sony

[p0tat03]

Look, I have a 360, I like it a lot, and I'm by most standards I'm a 360 fan. But really, those numbers are just BS.

The $280 Xbox 360 is so badly crippled it might as well not exist. It's a damned shame MS sells it at all. The cheapest Xbox 360 that even guarantees an acceptable gaming experience is the $400 one. Without a hard drive your Xbox is useless.

So really it boils down to... $400 vs. $400 vs. $250. Like it or not the PS3 is now very solid competition for the 360 price-wise. Now if only Sony can get some exclusives worth a damn that doesn't start with "F" and end in "antasy".