With 270,000 units sold in April versus 200,000 for PS2 and a mere 100,000 for the GameCube.
Source: CBS Marketwatch.
With 270,000 units sold in April versus 200,000 for PS2 and a mere 100,000 for the GameCube.
Source: CBS Marketwatch.
That's pretty good. Was April when MS cut the Xbox price?
It was the price cut that caused it.
--Dave
Go Xbox. I really have no idea why anyone would buy one of the other consoles over it, its so much better than the other two. I mean I guess if you want to play a game that is written only for the cube or the PS2...but otherwise, the Xbox destroys them both.
olaf
Jeez... next time, just stop for a second before posting and think about whether the post is really necessary or not, ok?
--Dave
If people did that, would the Internet exist?
"Dave Long proposes the end to blogs and forums everywhere. News at 11."
Although what he replied to was pointless and provoking. Is that a troll?
As long as it wasn't an obvious troll Dave Long had to reply...Originally Posted by shift6
{the honor of the Gamecube is besmirched by a pro-Xbox statement}
Dave Long: Fair Maiden, I will protect you!
{Dave Long picks up his lance and rides against Evil Knight Olaf!}
Gamecube {cooingly}: Ooh, my Hero!
Wait...this is probably another viral marketing thread, isn't it?
(looks around suspiciously)
Well, it sure wasnt meant to be a troll, but nevertheless I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings.
I own all three consoles right now. PS2 first, then Xbox, then the Cube.
And after playing games on them all, there is no doubt in my mind that the Xbox is the superior hardware. I really cant see anyone taking an objective look at them all thinking otherwise. Honestly. So, I am happy to see it doing well in sales, finally.
Of course, none of them can touch PC gaming but that is another thread.
olaf
It will be very interesting to see who will have the technological advantage next gen.
Even being the most expensive of the consoles available, with the older technology and worse online support and huge numbers of people having already purchased a unit previously, the PS2 still managed to sell 3/4th as many last month as the XBox.
So what are the opinions on that? Are the platform's exclusive titles that strong of a draw? Is the PS2 name alone enough to sell despite superior hardware being available? Is weaker online support simply not enough of a deterrent?
Well, I doubt very much that recent exclusives account for the most sales of a system at any one time. I've heard people talk a lot about all sorts of different games that draw customers, and while no doubt they do, I think most of it is just due to the fact that the PS2 sells steady no matter what, because it has its library is so huge and appeals to nearly everybody, and it already has a truckload of good games. It doesn't need huge exclusives anymore, just needs to continue chugging along merrily. Though I guess you could say there have been a lot of good releases lately (in Japan too) with Onimusha 3, Resident Evil Outbreak, Siren, Red Dead Revolver, supposedly that EA Fight Night game and others; just this last week, La Pucelle and Samurai Warriors arrived, right? In Japan, Kind of Blue, Derby Stallion '04, Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest V: The Bride of Heaven, Shin Sangoku Musou Empires, Junk Soul and Crimson Tears have recently released. After its initial after-release dry period, I don't really the PS2 has had any significantly slow lulls in delivering at least decent or pretty good new games to play, at least in Japan. It can't be saturated yet, because it hasn't yet sold as many units as the PSX did in any territory.
That its the weakest hardware wise really shouldn't matter, three out of the four last hardware races were won by the weaker hardware in the console history. This time around, there REALLY isn't that huge of a difference between the capabilities of the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, of course you can say graphics look better on certain games, but it isn't by anything terribly dramatic and the capabilities of all three systems are quite similar. Unlike the case of the Saturn, PSX and N64, there isn't anything that's easily done and what system, which would hard for the other to reproduce somehow. That and certain games, like the Silent Hills and ICO and such show such a careful attention to visual design, that as always, the power directing them doesn't matter, those are incredibly strong visuals no matter age or the power driving them.
I know people like to pretend that there's a superior platform, which is amusing, in the same way that looking back and realizing people used to think the world is flat is amusing. :P But there are no genre gaps in the PS2's library, whereas the Gamecube and Xbox have gaping holes in certain categories. Its got strong support no matter where you are worldwide, which means, its easier to find and actually SEE the good games, especially in tracking down more obscure or less popular games. Its going in just about every direction that gaming is going. *shrugs* Its kind of hard to see why it WOULDN'T outsell the other two.
Certainly the Gamecube and the Xbox have their individual strengths and their own majestic gaming experiences. I think they can throw all the exclusives at the platforms all day long, but in the end, I just don't think killer apps are as strong a draw as everyone makes them out to be. Seeing a ton of good games or games you'd like to try -- whether or not they are explosive hits -- and appealing to every taste is far more important. Certainly GTA, Final Fantasy, online Madden on the PS2 and such help, but have you ever looked at a casual gamer's collection? They are all over the place and highly unpredictable, from these types of huge hits to small games no one seems to notice and so on. Even if you remove the best-selling and highest noticed exclusives on the PS2, you still have a lot left over.
Since there are more games being released period, by a wider variety of developers, it stands to reason that as there are certainly more bad games (well almost always, the Neo Geo and the NGPC must be the only two platforms that reverse that and have more good games than bad games), there's certainly more good ones as well. The closest races have always been between the two systems that have similar amounts of solid support all areas, as in the early competition between the Saturn and PSX in Japan, before the PSX drifted away, or the Genesis and the SNES in the US. Its kind of like a mathematical thing, if you have higher support in all areas, you'll have more good exclusives as well, so if that IS the draw, then you've still got everything.
I'm not trying to insult the Xbox and Gamecube here (after all, I have like 20 Gamecube games and enjoy them all, and soon as Microsoft actually gets their act in gear over here regarding the Xbox, or they do something that makes up for their idiotic Project Midway line, then I'll get that too). Its just that I don't think there's any great insight as to why the two get pounded by the PS2, or why, after this month, its quite likely that the PS2 will continue to outsell the Xbox, in the same way it did to the Gamecube in the two weeks it outsold the PS2 over here.
-Kitsune
Yeah, but saturation was probably a bigger culprit. How many more PS2s can be sold?
I mean, the day after GamerDad launched it was the "fastest growing website on the Internet" - man, I could double traffic every day back then! ;-)
Like others have said I'd bet most of those buyers have already bought a PS2 and now feel the Xbox is cheap enough to get it.
Um...we're not even close to the Playstation in total sales of Playstation 2. When Sony cuts their price, they're likely to make more in one week than most small countries will ever see.
--Dave
Saturation among different generations of consoles is not necessarily a constant. Just because the original PS sold X number doesn't mean the PS2 will also sell X number. The original PS also did not have the same kind of competition the GameCube and Xbox bring to the PS2.
The consistent sales of the PS2 are probably due to it being the first of the current gen, doing nothing really "wrong", having a few marquee titles released and then cruising on its own momentum.
The spike in Xbox sales was almost certainly spurred by the price drop. It will be interesting to see how sales compare in a few months when the newness of the lower price wears off. In North America, that $99 pricetag didn't keep the GC from slipping back into third for sales.
Well, that's exactly it. You can't play an 8 gig harddrive or built-in ethernet port.
My girlfriend's friends asked me about 4 months ago what system they should buy. I asked them what kind of games they liked, and they replied "puzzle games and RPGs" so I told them to get a Playstation 2, since it has, without a doubt, the best selection of puzzle games and RPGS. They were also looking for a DVD player, and not paying extra for a dongle would help. Two weeks later, I found out they'd bought an Xbox. Why? Because "the technology was better." The next time I heard them talk about it was to complain that there weren't any games to play! Well, yeah - the problem isn't the Xbox library, the problem is you bought a system whose library doesn't meet your needs!
I've said it before. The PS2 is way overdue for a price cut. You reach a new level of saturation at each price point. There's still huge untapped potential at $99 for the PS2. Something's got to give, and I'm betting it will at E3.
I wouldn't bet against that, certainly. The PS2 at $99 would make the mad buck$.
The thing is, usually when there's a price cut, there's a leak of the news in advance.
Sony may want to see how the Xbox and PS2 sales go after the effect of the Xbox pricecut wears off.
It wouldn't matter to me, because I will never buy sony for any number of reasons. Sony are a bunch of evil jizzmops, for one. For another, the playstation has done more to ruin the quality of gaming on every platform than any other company in the history of gaming. What is to blame for the overload of post-Mario 64 3d platformers and movie tie-ins? I think it's very clearly the PS2, which produces all sorts of lowest-common-denominator games like Ratchet and Clank (Fuck you, Tom).
I own a Gamecube and an X-box and I'll buy the next generation of both, but I'll sooner quit gaming altogether than buy into Sony's conceptual monopoly. They're the Viacom of video games and I'll have none of it.
If people didn't WANT platformers, they wouldn't buy them. A proliferation of 3D platformers is hardly Sony's fault - unless you're attributing the release of every single platformer to them, which is a bit silly.
And movie tie-ins were around and plentiful during the Genesis/SNES days too. The quality has improved quite a bit since then - Anyone who played "Home Alone" or any of the dreadful Ocean games like "Lethal Weapon 3" would tell you that. Strangely enough, one of the good movie tie-in games I remember was "Hook" which was released by Sony.
Also: Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is probably the most innovative, highly polished platformer released since Mario 64. It's simply an excellent game in every single regard. It's a shame you didn't enjoy it, but the amount of thought and care put into it is pretty evident.
Whoa! Thanks for the warning! What type of tinfoil do you recommend I construct my hat out of for maximum protection from Sony mind rays?It wouldn't matter to me, because I will never buy sony for any number of reasons. Sony are a bunch of evil jizzmops, for one. For another, the playstation has done more to ruin the quality of gaming on every platform than any other company in the history of gaming. What is to blame for the overload of post-Mario 64 3d platformers and movie tie-ins? I think it's very clearly the PS2, which produces all sorts of lowest-common-denominator games like Ratchet and Clank (Fuck you, Tom).
I own a Gamecube and an X-box and I'll buy the next generation of both, but I'll sooner quit gaming altogether than buy into Sony's conceptual monopoly. They're the Viacom of video games and I'll have none of it.
Ok, first off, what's wrong with platformers? Second, the PS2 is responsible for movie tie-ins? Have you even played a game made prior to 2001? Movie tie-ins have been around at least since the 80's.
Ratchet and Clack 2 clearly represents everything wrong with videogames and the PS2 in particular. I would say more, but I would have to think down to your level to do it. And that's a PS2-loving level of Hell I'm not eager to venture into.
Oh clearly. Yeah, good point.Ratchet and Clack 2 clearly represents everything wrong with videogames and the PS2 in particular. I would say more, but I would have to think down to your level to do it. And that's a PS2-loving level of Hell I'm not eager to venture into.
Heh. We've seen how many "leaks" of Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart sunday newspaper ads where the price of the Playstation 2 has been reduced over the last year?
If anything, the fact that there's not been any such leaks in awhile gives more credence to the likelyhood of a price cut than anything else. ;)
Yes! I too am suffering from obnoxious newb syndrome and want to make bold and inflammatory statements without making a single supportive claim.
"I would say more, but it would prove that I don't have any worthwhile points, and it's taken forever to type this much with these accursed hand restraints on. I LOVE YOU, JODIE FOSTER!!! WHY WON'T YOU WRITE ME BACK?"
What? It's as relevant as what HE wrote.
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