Digital Sportspage Blog

Read any blog or gaming site and you’ll hear how the Sony beats Microsoft because it’s processor is so much more powerful or how the Wii sales means it’s the next generation king of the consoles.

What’s missing is how the consoles have done in context of the games released. If you look at the console war this way, Sony is real trouble while the Wii doesn’t look much better. Here’s my thoughts on a few key points which all these tech magazines, analysts and bloggers miss.

System Sellers, Killer Apps and Exclusives

Much of the PS2’s success was hinged on its killer apps. From Grant Theft Auto, to God of War, to SOCOM and later Guitar Hero; it had games that sold and sold the system.

Now it looks like the PS3 is suffering from games migrating over the 360 and MS releasing killer apps. The first salvo was Guitar Hero. It didn’t help MS as much as hurt the PS3. How many people would have invested in a PS3 if it had Guitar Hero? And I think this is just a sign of more to come. Games like GTA 4 are rumored to make a multi-platform appearance.

The PS2 excelled at getting exclusive titles which kept the Xbox and the Dreamcast at distance. Now the 360 looks to be on top of exclusive titles with games like Crackdown, Halo, Gears of War. And there’s little to no hype for Sony’s exclusives.

What’s even more daunting for Sony is the entire industry loyalty is strictly to which ever console sells the most games.

Number of games released

Being first has it’s advantages and the 360 is already a cycle ahead of Sony and the Wii. Nintendo and Sony should have had games ready for this dead time of the year. Instead Sony has less about 10 release until the Sports season starts with NCAA 2007. While the 360 has about 20 with the hugely popular Forza thrown in. For good measure, the Wii has about as many as the 360 in the same time period.

Eye Candy Sells

At the end of the day it’s still about graphics. Wii has the problem of being a next generation console with old-gen graphics. For that reason it will always be a secondary console. It’s only human nature for us to want to the best looking item possible. So if you had your choice between Madden with Wii graphics or Madden with PS3 graphics what would you favor.

Final Thoughts

I think all the high paid analysts have missed the boat when it comes to the next generation battle. The 360, PS3 and Wii are nothing more than expensive game machines. The companies want them to be the center for all living room media but so far the functionality is lacking. Even if they do accomplish a lot regarding movies, DVDs and program recording, we are still a long way from the 360 or the PS3 will turning into an uber-Tivo with games. Games will always be the reason someone gets a console and the better the games, the better the system sells. Right now, you would have to say the 360 has the momentum with the games. If that continues, the 360 wins this round of the console wars.