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[Jomjom]

You don't think Fable's unique setting, and the nature of the Fable games have anything to do with it's success?

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

 

[Cheech]

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

Come on, this is straight up trolling. I thought Fable 3 was terrible, but the combination of setting/characters/writing is all very unique in gaming.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

You don't think Fable's unique setting, and the nature of the Fable games have anything to do with it's success?

Umm no man. It sold for the same reason every mediocre game on 360 sells like a AAA. It has the support of the greatest marketing machine on earth. Don't get me wrong I think KZ3, R2 and such deserve the lack of sales they get for being just bad games. That logic however, doesn't extend to the NA 360 crowd though.

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

I completely agree Peter is the single most overrated developer in the industry.

 

[Watchtower]

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

Woah now, that's subjective. I've grown away from Fable, but personally I always loved its art style and thought it set itself apart with its lush world. Very pretty game.

 

[Kinspiracy]

Umm no man. It sold for the same reason every mediocre game on 360 sells like a AAA. It has the support of the greatest marketing machine on earth. Don't get me wrong I think KZ3, R2 and such deserve the lack of sales they get for being just bad games. That logic however, doesn't extend to the NA 360 crowd though.

This is stupid. Marketing can't sell people a game if the first two iterations were awful. I despise Fable 3, but I have several friends that loved it. I don't get it. But they werent sold on it or enjoy it because of marketing. Enough with the bullshit that PS3 exclusives don't sell because they're not marketed.

 

[szaromir]

Umm no man. It sold for the same reason every mediocre game on 360 sells like a AAA. It has the support of the greatest marketing machine on earth. Don't get me wrong I think KZ3, R2 and such deserve the lack of sales they get for being just bad games. That logic however, doesn't extend to the NA 360 crowd though.

Fable 3 sold clearly because people liked Fable 2. Microsoft's has had plenty of game bombs on their hands, so they don't have a magical formula to sell every game in droves.

Fable 3's setting is far from generic. I can't think of many Victorian-themed fantasy settings, the last one in games was Arcanum.

I completely agree Peter is the single most overrated developer in the industry.

Peter around 1988-1996 was pure gold, extremely innovative and creative, has had more misses since then but is still well regarded for concepts he introduced.

 

[Biggzy]

Come on, this is straight up trolling. I thought Fable 3 was terrible, but the combination of setting/characters/writing is all very unique in gaming.

The one thing fable has definitely going for it is its setting/characters. The game gives off this impression that its innocent fantasy, but it isn’t in fact if you dig deep, the game is actually quite dark, with some wonderful dark British humour.

 

[Cheech]

This is stupid. Marketing can't sell people a game if the first two iterations were awful. I despise Fable 3, but I have several friends that loved it. I don't get it. But they werent sold on it or enjoy it because of marketing. Enough with the bullshit that PS3 exclusives don't sell because they're not marketed.

This is also true. It never occurs to people that loads of these PS3 exclusives don't sell because they are inferior to the competition. Excuses like "marketing" don't wash; people have a way of finding undermarketed gems, i.e. Demon's Souls. Which is a game Sony didn't even want; the quality bar must have been too high for them to publish overseas.

It makes it hard to sell underbaked trash like MAG and Killzone 2 when you have a well executed game like Demon's Souls to sell alongside them.

 

[Warm Machine]

How is Killzone bland? It has cutting edge visual design. Even gameplay wise it is pretty great. KZ3 just suffers from not being finished before release. It needed another 6 months at least.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

How is Killzone bland? It has cutting edge visual design. Even gameplay wise it is pretty great. KZ3 just suffers from not being finished before release. It needed another 6 months at least.

I don't think consumers care about graphics anymore so if that's the only selling point (I don't play Killzone) then it would quite bland.

 

[Watchtower]

You can make a core exclusive game that appeals to people disinterested in PS3. There are a lot of underrepresented genres on the platform.

Sure, but again, minimal impact. I don't think you're coming away with the point of that post.

This is a wild guess but there's likely somewhere around 70,000,000 potential traditional console buyers left to split between the 360, PS3 and Wii from now to the end of this generation and the bulk of these guys only jump in at $199 or below

No single exclusive game in a different genre that MS could have come up with to take some customers away( or even those not interested in a PS3 at all as you say) is going to have a huge impact(especially if Sony also counters with their own exclusive) because not only would it apply to a small number, but these guys mainly buy consoles mostly on price point and HUGE libraries, and continued manufacturer support, so one or two new exclusives this year won't make a difference.

But if one of the consoles has an additional unique selling point, such as an established Kinect user base and library, that's a much bigger incentive than your one new exclusive in a new genre. So yeah, while that one new game could pull in a few potential buyers from your competitor(and again that's making the unlikely assumption that Sony wouldn't have an answer to make this a wash anyway), Microsoft believes it can pull in a lot more with something like Kinect, both core and casuals. I think they are right, and they are well positioned for the budget wars going forward.

Microsoft is assured to get their portion of that 70 million regardless of what they do from here on out, but with Kinect, not only can they bring in users from outside that 70 million, but they may also actually acquire a larger portion of those traditional users than Sony from now to the end of the generation if Kinect has some games that appeal to them. And they are already positioned better as far as price.

 

[3rdman]

How is Killzone bland? It has cutting edge visual design. Even gameplay wise it is pretty great. KZ3 just suffers from not being finished before release. It needed another 6 months at least.

It is, at its heart, a COD clone. I haven't played KZ3 yet, but the second one was very pretty and pretty forgettable.

 

[evangd007]

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

It was based on what he used to do. Bullfrog games were the shit. He's only good at overhyping these days.

How is Killzone bland? It has cutting edge visual design. Even gameplay wise it is pretty great. KZ3 just suffers from not being finished before release. It needed another 6 months at least.

At this point it's just another shooter. It's only real differentiating factor is the fact that it is a first party release. While it may look nice, that's minutia these days: tons of games look nice.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Umm no man. It sold for the same reason every mediocre game on 360 sells like a AAA. It has the support of the greatest marketing machine on earth. Don't get me wrong I think KZ3, R2 and such deserve the lack of sales they get for being just bad games. That logic however, doesn't extend to the NA 360 crowd though.

It's not so much marketing, but I think by the nature of the 360 dashboard users are just more informed about upcoming and current games. I would almost consider that marketing though since they do invest a lot of money into all the stuff they put on there. In contrast, what people say they like about the XMB and how it's sleek and no ads... I think it's harder to get informed about new products you might be interested the way they have the PSN set up.

So if you count the dashboard as marketing, yes... it obviously works.

 

[Zoe]

It is, at its heart, a COD clone. I haven't played KZ3 yet, but the second one was very pretty and pretty forgettable.

Is it? The CoD-loving bf absolutely hates the way KZ3 plays. Luckily it was free.

 

[Kinspiracy]

It's not so much marketing, but I think by the nature of the 360 dashboard users are just more informed about upcoming and current games. I would almost consider that marketing though since they do invest a lot of money into all the stuff they put on there. In contrast, what people say they like about the XMB and how it's sleek and no ads... I think it's harder to get informed about new products you might be interested the way they have the PSN set up.

So if you count the dashboard as marketing, yes... it obviously works.

As a gamer, I love the dashboard on XBL because it does push tons of games. I always know what's the new XBLA title that week. I love the links to videos of tips, footage etc of new retail games.

 

[Infinite Justice]

It's not so much marketing, but I think by the nature of the 360 dashboard users are just more informed about upcoming and current games. I would almost consider that marketing though since they do invest a lot of money into all the stuff they put on there. In contrast, what people say they like about the XMB and how it's sleek and no ads... I think it's harder to get informed about new products you might be interested the way they have the PSN set up.

So if you count the dashboard as marketing, yes... it obviously works.

Plus it seems word of mouth can do wonders too when you combine them.

 

[Stripper13]

No argument that Resistance and Killzone are bland, but Fable is every bit as bland. There is nothing unique about its setting.

That series is seriously horrible and I honestly have no idea why Peter Molineaux is held on as high a pedestal as he is.

Wut.

There is no pedestal anymore. He is generally spat on in the forums due to his wild exaggerations. As for Fable, there is no rational argument for saying it is as bland as Killzone/Resistance. Fable mixes elements of adventure and life sim games, into a vibrant, funny world loaded with some great ideas, Stories/characters and art design.

That's coming from someone who found every Fable game a barely playable mess of poor execution and undercooked overarching campaign/plots. However that doesn't prevent my wife getting excited as fuck everytime one is due.

 

[JaxJag]

I own both Resistances, and played/own the first two Killzones.

Both Killzone and Resistance have no compelling protagonist. Nathan Hale is one of the least interesting characters I've ever seen in a video game.

I can't really remember the name of the protagonist in Killzone, the only character I remember from the Killzone franchise is Rico, and not for the right reasons.

There's other issues, but those two really stick out in my mind.

 

[Zen]

How is Killzone bland? It has cutting edge visual design. Even gameplay wise it is pretty great. KZ3 just suffers from not being finished before release. It needed another 6 months at least.

I agree with you; graphics and visual design are two different things.

I really wish that Killzone 3 had stuck with more organic sandbox confrontations the kind of which happened in Killzone 2. The narrowness of it seems to be in response to the success of Call of Duty.

 

[Infinite Justice]

I own both Resistances, and played/own the first two Killzones.

Both Killzone and Resistance have no compelling protagonist. Nathan Hale is one of the least interesting characters I've ever seen in a video game.I can't really remember the name of the protagonist in Killzone, the only character I remember from the Killzone franchise is Rico, and not for the right reasons.

There's other issues, but those two really stick out in my mind.

Spoiler

Well hes dead now so...

 

[samus4ever]

I own both Resistances, and played/own the first two Killzones.

Both Killzone and Resistance have no compelling protagonist. Nathan Hale is one of the least interesting characters I've ever seen in a video game.

I can't really remember the name of the protagonist in Killzone, the only character I remember from the Killzone franchise is Rico, and not for the right reasons.

There's other issues, but those two really stick out in my mind.

Rico is the most annoying character in any game I've played. I literally riddled him with bullets the last chapter of KZ2 because I couldn't take it anymore.

 

[-tetsuo-]

I own both Resistances, and played/own the first two Killzones.

Both Killzone and Resistance have no compelling protagonist. Nathan Hale is one of the least interesting characters I've ever seen in a video game.

I can't really remember the name of the protagonist in Killzone, the only character I remember from the Killzone franchise is Rico, and not for the right reasons.

There's other issues, but those two really stick out in my mind.

Sev is the guy from Killzone.

 

[Zen]

50 Million, is the last number I heard for KZ3.

Well that's surprising to me, do you have a source?

 

[Watchtower]

This thread is quickly getting derailed. This is a sales thread, not a game vs game thread.

 

[szaromir]

Killzone 3 is more limited than KZ2? Damn, that's depressing, everyone is doing FPS games with tighter and tighter corridors.

 

[Karma]

Hey Canova. Let's say Sony released an OS up against Windows 8. Seven years later Windows 8 finally outsells SonyOS by a few million. Who do you think won that war?

Paging Canova.

 

[LosDaddie]

I don't think KZ3 is bland and, thus, selling poor. I just think PS3, and possibly multi-console, gamers are probably still satisfied with BLOPS, BFBC2, and maybe Reach right now. Personally, I'm still enjoying Reach and feel no need to play another FPS for now. Otherwise, I'd probably be playing KZ3.

I think Res3 is going to have a really tough time later this year, being another FPS with BF3 and MW3 coming out. Not to mention other shooters in Gears3 and Uncharted3.

It won't be much, but let's be fair, all this time 360 fanboys are gloating the numbers, but then when PS3 will finally eclipse 360 suddenly it doesn't matter anymore?

It will matter, to fanboys only, that is. Everyone else will look at the bigger picture and see that Sony went from the undisputed #1 last gen, to barely coming in 2nd place this gen. But to stay on topic (this is an NPD thread), Sony will almost assuredly have come in last place in NA when this gen ends.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Well that's surprising to me, do you have a source?

Yea I'd like to know where he heard this from.

 

[szaromir]

It will matter, to fanboys only, that is. Everyone else will look at the bigger picture and see that Sony went from the undisputed #1 last gen, to barely coming in 2nd place this gen. But to stay on topic (this is an NPD thread), Sony will almost assuredly have come in last place in NA when this gen ends.

You shouldn't put the "almost" there. At this rate, 360 would need to stop selling for 2 years for PS3 to even catch up. Even if PS3 gains some more momentum and starts outselling 360 by (let's say) 1 million a year, it'd take 10 years to catch up. So yeah, Sony will end up in the last place in the US.

 

[Paracelsus]

You shouldn't put the "almost" there. At this rate, 360 would need to stop selling for 2 years for PS3 to even catch up. Even if PS3 gains some more momentum and starts outselling 360 by (let's say) 1 million a year, it'd take 10 years to catch up. So yeah, Sony will end up in the last place in the US.

Are you still looking at the 41.6 figures from last October, or you simply talking about NPD? No way PS3 can catch up in the US, ever.

 

[JaxJag]

This thread is quickly getting derailed. This is a sales thread, not a game vs game thread.

Actually, we're discussing why some games sell better than others. I definitely think we're still on topic.

 

[szaromir]

Are you still looking at the 41.6 figures from last October, or you simply talking about NPD? No way PS3 can catch up in the US, ever.

US only, obviously.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Lest we forget, the "PS3 has no games" meme sprung out of the PS3 having all of the same games as 360, only running worse and costing $200 more to play.

So this excuses the lackluster retail lineup for the 360?

PSN is getting some nice games as well, some good ones already came out this year (About a Blob, PixelJunk Shooter 2, Back to the Future, and next week Slam Bolt Scrappers)

The 360 retail lineup is hardly lackluster. There aren't many exclusives announced for 2011 so far, but there are many great games. This is why 360 sales are by and large not dependent on what MS releases. And it's also why most 360-only owners don't understand the "sky is falling" mentality of multi-console owners. There are more AAA releases for the console every month than I have time or resources to play. For the subset of gamers who don't like 3rd party games, value them lower than first party games, or never buy 3rd party games for the 360, I can understand that it may seem like a wasteland. But you must understand, you sound as illogical as someone coming into the Japanese Media Create thread and lamenting that Idolmaster or Halo didn't propel 360 sales over PS3 sales the week a multiplatform Gundam Musuo game came out.

There are like 30 good XBLA games announced for 2011, and a good chunk of them aren't coming to the PS3.

At the end of the day, 360 owners have lots of great games to play,

Spoiler

many of which *still* run better than their PS3 counterparts

which is why there has not been a mass exodus from the platform and the software sales are still going up for core franchises.

 

[EagleEyes]

Lest we forget, the "PS3 has no games" meme sprung out of the PS3 having all of the same games as 360, only running worse and costing $200 more to play.



The 360 retail lineup is hardly lackluster. There aren't many exclusives announced for 2011 so far, but there are many great games. This is why 360 sales are by and large not dependent on what MS releases. And it's also why most 360-only owners don't understand the "sky is falling" mentality of multi-console owners. There are more AAA releases for the console every month than I have time or resources to play. For the subset of gamers who don't like 3rd party games, value them lower than first party games, or never buy 3rd party games for the 360, I can understand that it may seem like a wasteland. But you must understand, you sound as illogical as someone coming into the Japanese Media Create thread and lamenting that Idolmaster or Halo didn't propel 360 sales over PS3 sales the week a multiplatform Gundam Musuo game came out.

There are like 30 good XBLA games announced for 2011, and a good chunk of them aren't coming to the PS3.

At the end of the day, 360 owners have lots of great games to play,

Spoiler

many of which *still* run better than their PS3 counterparts

which is why there has not been a mass exodus from the platform and the software sales are still going up for core franchises.

Why are you still in this thread? You are making way too much sense for types of people in this thread right now.

 

[StevieP]

Lest we forget, the "PS3 has no games" meme sprung out of the PS3 having all of the same games as 360, only running worse and costing $200 more to play.



The 360 retail lineup is hardly lackluster. There aren't many exclusives announced for 2011 so far, but there are many great games. This is why 360 sales are by and large not dependent on what MS releases. And it's also why most 360-only owners don't understand the "sky is falling" mentality of multi-console owners. There are more AAA releases for the console every month than I have time or resources to play. For the subset of gamers who don't like 3rd party games, value them lower than first party games, or never buy 3rd party games for the 360, I can understand that it may seem like a wasteland. But you must understand, you sound as illogical as someone coming into the Japanese Media Create thread and lamenting that Idolmaster or Halo didn't propel 360 sales over PS3 sales the week a multiplatform Gundam Musuo game came out.

You are stating facts that are true for all 3 consoles.

 

[szaromir]

You are stating facts that are true for all 3 consoles.

All 3 are selling really well all things considered.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I ask this somewhat cautiously, but have there been any updates on sales figures for Zumba? Trying to catch up on this thread, but I've missed quite a few posts.

 

[Chrange]

Yea I'd like to know where he heard this from.

It's not out of the realm of possibility if it factors in advertising. Killzone 3 got a way bigger ad push than 2 did.

 

[Tabz]

Apparently you're unfamiliar with the meaning of the word "sometimes". I thought I emphasized it properly by placing it first in the sentence.

whoops..didn't notice,my bad.Anyways,in the end it's just a matter of opinion.It's not a fact that game X is better than game Z.

 

[evangd007]

All 3 are selling really well all things considered.

I, too, am amazed that all 3 were up YoY.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

It's not so much marketing, but I think by the nature of the 360 dashboard users are just more informed about upcoming and current games. I would almost consider that marketing though since they do invest a lot of money into all the stuff they put on there. In contrast, what people say they like about the XMB and how it's sleek and no ads... I think it's harder to get informed about new products you might be interested the way they have the PSN set up.

So if you count the dashboard as marketing, yes... it obviously works.

That is a excellent point and your right its just another element of Microsofts marketing plan. The biggest moment for me this gen that really showed how braindead Sony is as a company was GT5s release. I had friends that bought a PS3 for only GT5 and none of them had any idea when it was coming out and that was a week before its release.

 

[Clear]

I think the question people should be asking right now is can any FPS stand up in the face of CoD's dominance?

Homefront? Crysis? Socom? Resistance?

Hell, is Reach still selling? I mean previous entries had impressive tails, but is CoD depressing MS own flagship franchise in any way?


EDIT: Lol sales-age threads move so fast. This comment was on point a bit ago... /sigh

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

You are stating facts that are true for all 3 consoles.

Of course all 3 consoles have great games. But the talk that has arisen in the last 9 months of NPD (Is MS leaving the console business, is MS bailing on the 360, is MS bailing on hardcore gamers, are core gamers bailing on the 360) is downright absurd when the two best selling games of the month are core games that sold best on 360. Month in and month out, the 360 moves the highest volume of core software.

Their current momentum is nothing like the Wii's, which was almost entirely dependent on Nintendo producing 1st party hits. The 360 ' ecosystem' (and LIVE) depends on being the system of choice for multiplat games.

It would be counter-intuitive for MS to create a CoD killer. They don't want to kill CoD. CoD brings in millions of LIVE subscriptions, millions more in licensing fees and DLC, and MS doesn't have to foot the bill for dev costs. If anything, MS promotes core gaming revenue more than Nintendo or Sony (or the PC).

 

[StevieP]

You do know that the Wii has sold the most software, period, right? (this includes 3rd parties).

 

[Watchtower]

You do know that the Wii has sold the most software, period, right? (this includes 3rd parties).

I think he said "core", in which case that's quite debatable.

 

[Attack You]

CoD has probably earned MS enough in Gold subs and royalties to make up for whatever it ate into Halo's market.

Edit: bah, beaten.

 

[Jomjom]

It was based on what he used to do. Bullfrog games were the shit. He's only good at overhyping these days.

That is true I'll give him that. Bullfrog was freaking awesome.

 

[EucadianProphecy]

I think the question people should be asking right now is can any FPS stand up in the face of CoD's dominance?

Homefront? Crysis? Socom? Resistance?

Hell, is Reach still selling? I mean previous entries had impressive tails, but is CoD depressing MS own flagship franchise in any way?


EDIT: Lol sales-age threads move so fast. This comment was on point a bit ago... /sigh

Absolutely ;-)

 

[Man]

403K PS3's sold according to Gamesindustry.biz

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-03-11-npd-kinect-bundles-outsold-move-by-5-1-in-february