I'd say the wii really brought it into the mainstream sure the PS2 attracted the young 20 something casual gamer, but the wii could be played by anyone from any age and any ability, that sounds mainstream to me.
Sony: Wii Didn't Bring Gaming Into the Mainstream, PS2 Did
- Thread starter Keane Ng
- Start date
"They've done much better than Sony has, anyway," continued Hirai. "In fact, we're doing everything we can to squander that advantage by refusing to support the greatest console software library ever made on our current-gen console, the PS3."Keane Ng said:
How much did your huge multinational corporation net last quarter? Even Nintendo was built by a ruthless businessman who had no interest in video games.Captain Blackout said:
Capitalists operating in the free market? what a crazy idea.
You have several good points and I personally thought all those commercials were good. Though I don't much about business, so I won't say much else.Onmi said:
In a weird sense, I'd have to say both. I love weird commercials, and these made me curious about the next generation of gaming back when I was a lad. They made me laugh, but they got me to buy too. The Japanese Zelda commercial someone else posted,though, was just like woooow.Jumplion said:
The ps2 does have most of my favorite all time games but the wii spread the market out. The dozen buttons and 2 sticks on the ps2/xb pad makes a lot of regular folk uncomfortable and/or overwhelmed. Some of the people who have a wii haven't had a game system since the atari; which had one stick and one button. The wii makes games more accessible to the unfamiliar. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my ps2 & ps3 more but you have to give props where they're due.
Now I'm just wondering if sony execs can make any sort of public announcement without making himself seem like a total dbag. They really need to be gagged. They need to get a really congenial spokesperson/exec and lock everyone else away in a bunker.
Now I'm just wondering if sony execs can make any sort of public announcement without making himself seem like a total dbag. They really need to be gagged. They need to get a really congenial spokesperson/exec and lock everyone else away in a bunker.
Because I've been a Nintendo fanboy for most of my life, and honestly didn't/don't pay too much attention to sales figures of gaming companies, I can't directly comment on the Sony claim. However, I'm going to just say that they're talking about the last generation of gaming consoles. Considering they've already come out with a next-gen console, and that Nintendo's stated claim is that they wish to expand gaming to a mainstream audience with the Wii, the continued popularity of the PS2 is only evidence of a desire to make money in my opinion, and while that's hardly a bad thing, It still leaves Nintendo as the only company dedicated to bringing accessible gaming to the masses...and whoring it out, arguably.
I'd actually argue the NES was the first console to really break into the 'mainstream' market, it was the first console to sell way over what the Atari 2600 did. I'd say the SNES maintained that success, and the PS1 expanded on it, the PS2 maintained that success and now Nintendo with the Wii is looking to take over. The Wii is just one of many in a long line of extremely popular video gaming devices.
I guess this just comes down to how you define 'mainstream'. From Sony's standpoint, yes the PS2 is the currently the highest selling console in the world, and they did bring gaming to other territory internationally where it had never or rarely been. I give them full credit for doing that. Worldwide people also knew the brand. They may never have played it, but they had at least heard about it.
Now my personal opinion, which also seems to be what Nintendo is touting is that mainstream means people who were not originally into gaming. Your Mom and Dad, or Grandparents, your english teacher, etc. When my Mom wants a DS and a Wii, that says something. When nursing homes are bringing Wii's into their facility as a form of entertainment, that's mainstream. That is something Sony has never done.
For the average late 20's and beyond gamer, we grew up with and evolved with the technology. For the most part (not counting Coleco or Intellivision) we started with controllers with 1 stick and 1 button (Atari 2600), that moved to 1 stick and two buttons (NES, SMS), which went to 1 stick and 3 buttons (Genesis) and on and on. We got used to operating complex controls. By the time the PS2 came to market we were dealing with dozen + button controllers and acted like it was nothing. For younger gamers they grew up learning that complexity and they have a drive to learn it. That is usually too much for someone who is new to figure out. I remember sometime about 8 or 9 years ago my grandmother watched me and my niece play a game on the PS2. She thought it looked fun and we offered to let her play. She put the controller in her hands and didn't understand the X, O, Triangle, Square, R1, L1, Analog controller to move. It may seem easy to you, but to people who don't have a history with it it is completely foreign and somewhat non-intuitive.
Nintendo made an interface for a game system that allows you to point the controller at the screen and see where you are pointing, it looks like a basic remote control for a TV, and many of their 'casual' games require you to maybe press two buttons. This for the first time opened the gaming market to a much wider mass-audience then Sony ever did. Based on that, I would say that Nintendo is really the company that brought gaming to the mainstream market.
Now my personal opinion, which also seems to be what Nintendo is touting is that mainstream means people who were not originally into gaming. Your Mom and Dad, or Grandparents, your english teacher, etc. When my Mom wants a DS and a Wii, that says something. When nursing homes are bringing Wii's into their facility as a form of entertainment, that's mainstream. That is something Sony has never done.
For the average late 20's and beyond gamer, we grew up with and evolved with the technology. For the most part (not counting Coleco or Intellivision) we started with controllers with 1 stick and 1 button (Atari 2600), that moved to 1 stick and two buttons (NES, SMS), which went to 1 stick and 3 buttons (Genesis) and on and on. We got used to operating complex controls. By the time the PS2 came to market we were dealing with dozen + button controllers and acted like it was nothing. For younger gamers they grew up learning that complexity and they have a drive to learn it. That is usually too much for someone who is new to figure out. I remember sometime about 8 or 9 years ago my grandmother watched me and my niece play a game on the PS2. She thought it looked fun and we offered to let her play. She put the controller in her hands and didn't understand the X, O, Triangle, Square, R1, L1, Analog controller to move. It may seem easy to you, but to people who don't have a history with it it is completely foreign and somewhat non-intuitive.
Nintendo made an interface for a game system that allows you to point the controller at the screen and see where you are pointing, it looks like a basic remote control for a TV, and many of their 'casual' games require you to maybe press two buttons. This for the first time opened the gaming market to a much wider mass-audience then Sony ever did. Based on that, I would say that Nintendo is really the company that brought gaming to the mainstream market.
Every type of games machine brought gaming into a "mainstream" of some kind or another. So is the iPhone, so is the X-box. It's not one in general, it's merely because off all the high end gadgetry that we must have on us at all time to stay in touch and up to date. As more and more people must use this technology, they also become more comfortable with other kinds. The PS2 road a wave of increased target audience wealth (the twenty-somethings of the early '00's had more money than before and were generally older than most console owners previously), with more wealth, more people were willing to make the investment needed (which was much less than keeping a high-end gaming PC high-end.).
The Wii rode a similar wave, and undermined a long time criticism about computer games being "unhealthly", and also the fact that so many bored housewives of today grew up in gaming households so when a chance came to combine fitness with fun...bang.
Even the X-box made gaming cool in a jock / sporty person kind of people. All these are generalisations but I'm pretty sure a stand up argument could be built for any gaming hardware.
So as far as I can see, it's a matter of accessibility and price. And if one counted Solitaire as a "game" game then most of these new Casual gamers have been playing games for at least a decade, they're just being recognised now because...drum-roll please...they're spending money.
Oh and also, the PS2 was probably the first console not to be labelled "just for kids" from the off. That I suppose must count for something.
The Wii rode a similar wave, and undermined a long time criticism about computer games being "unhealthly", and also the fact that so many bored housewives of today grew up in gaming households so when a chance came to combine fitness with fun...bang.
Even the X-box made gaming cool in a jock / sporty person kind of people. All these are generalisations but I'm pretty sure a stand up argument could be built for any gaming hardware.
So as far as I can see, it's a matter of accessibility and price. And if one counted Solitaire as a "game" game then most of these new Casual gamers have been playing games for at least a decade, they're just being recognised now because...drum-roll please...they're spending money.
Oh and also, the PS2 was probably the first console not to be labelled "just for kids" from the off. That I suppose must count for something.
actually you never claimed any other company did this, you said Sony did this and no other oneCheeze_Pavilion said:
ok the dreamcast might have been an ok system, HOWEVER Sega had long ago shot themselves with the Saturn, which was a huge failure and the PS1 was a big success in comparison. most of my friends who had got a Saturn, sold them and got them a PS1
actually they got more ideas from Nintendo and had already a great system in place, they had the drive AND the sound system, just needed the rest of it. they didn't steal from Sega but Nintendo, whom they had a deal with to build stuff for the SNES but got screwed over by Nintendo
compared to m$? sorry they are kings of it compared to Sony. the thing about Sony saying "we have a good product" is they can back it up with quality standards and quality products compared to companies like m$ with the amount of failures the 360 has