Livingstone predicts "much closer race" between next-gen consoles

[wraggster]

News from Gamesindustry

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, industry veteran Ian Livingstone has said that although Sony has been the clear victor in past console battles, the race will be much harder to win this time around.

In an exclusive interview, Livingstone said: "It's going to be a much closer race and significantly, I think Nintendo, with the Wii console, is going to be right back up in the thick of it.

"Sony has had a recent history of being the clear winner, and I don't think anybody believes that's going to be the case this time... It's going to be a much closer race."

According to Livingstone, Sony will have to allocate a hefty marketing budget to communicate the value of the PlayStation 3, and "let consumers know that the PS3 is not just a games machine but a complete home entertainment system with Blu-ray.

"To get the consumers to understand exactly what that means, and how that justifies the cost of the hardware - that's going to be the challenge for them."

Livingstone, who is currently product acquisition director at Eidos, confirmed that the publisher will be supporting all three next-gen consoles, stating: "It's much more of an open race and it's a very exciting time for independent publishers like ourselves, to be able to successfully leverage our IP over more formats than before."

What Do our DCEMU Members think of the Next Gen Race, Who do you predict will win it ?

[dejkirkby]

Even with such a big lead into the race Xbox 360, has kinda flopped. PS3 and Wii are both gonna catch Xbox 360 pretty quickly, because of the massive hype behind both, but personally, even though I'm the biggest sony fanboy, I believe the Wii is gonna decimate all. Sony have literally priced themselves out of the race.

[Hevyduty]

I wouldn't say the 360 has flopped. But it's not going to come close to the 10 million unit lead MS wants on the PS3 either. The real battle plays out in 2007. But if I'm Microsoft, I'm concerned. Selling 200,000 consoles per month in the US doesn't strike me as anything more than "decent" at this point. And when you currently have the next-gen market to yourself, "decent" isn't very impressive.

I think the problem is that Microsoft is still going exclusively after the hardcore action gamer (i.e., the Halo crowd). Well, that strategy sold 22 million or so units of the original XBox, but if they don't improve significantly on that number this time around, the 360 probably finishes a distant third.

Problem is, when you use the same strategy, you're bound to get the same results. Gears of War, while looking like a great game and it will be a hit with the XBox crowd, won't lure non-hardcore gamers to the system. The key is: how does MS bring other gamers to the system when they've been so locked in to pleasing just hardcore games since the inception of the XBox?

The XBox 360 is still seriously in John Woo-ville. Well, the guy hasn't directed a big hit movie in six years. Movies like Face Off and Mission Impossible aren't dominating the box office anymore. Today, it's movies like Pirates and Cars, movies with wide appeal. That's what Nintendo plans on tapping into: the Pixar crowd, which at this point is a much bigger audience than the John Woo crowd.

We'll see how well Nintendo's strategy works, but right now, I give it a much better chance than what Microsoft is doing.

[SSaxdude]

I think that Nintendo kinda changed what their next console would be to be the cheapest, because they knew then they'd make a lot of money.

[Basil Zero]

Out of the three Consoles, i would say the Nintendo Wii will be at top, XBOX 360 and PS3 will struggle against each other for domination, but eventually, give it a year or less and PS3 will be second, than give it 2 more years and than it may be at top

In terms of Portables, i would say DS will be dominant probably until the end of 2007, when the PSP gets more games...

[Video_freak]

The DS will dominate for a while now in temrs of games, but the PSP will always dominate for homebrew, and thats what I use it for.

[felonyr301]

well the ps3 price makes it hard to determine if it will really be first in the race in the end cause come on sony never delivers everything they say they will so it will be half-baked machine and the 360 is not the same like the first xbox i mean they gotten better games and clearly can match ps3's graphics with no problem and it has xbox live which is the best thing since sliced bread and if you think not then you just a sony fanboy but this race is hard to determine.

[Himura]

I think the real winners are us, the gamers. There will be fantastic games for each system, and refusing to buy one on account of bias is silly.

[felonyr301]

in the end your right himura we are the winners when i see a good exclusive game on the ps3 ill buy it which of course it aint gonna be anytime soon but i will definately buy the Wii because there so many games i would buy like the new zelda and also gives me the chance to play all the gamecube games i miss because i refuse to buy the models without the progessive scan (i have an HDTV and the older machines had 480p enabled).The 360 is already doing me good with its games and its only going to get better.

[sko, TheLogicalGamer]

Wii and 360 battle for the top spot while PS3 is left in the dust.