Jubenhimer
Member
2007 is often considered one of the greatest years in gaming history... If you were on any system other than PlayStation. 2007 at a glance, was a very miserable and depressing year for PlayStation fans. Sony was fighting two major battles in the video game industry, and loosing quite significantly in both. A far cry from their market dominance of their first two PS systems.
Sony's newest flagship PlayStation console at the time, the PlayStation 3, was having a pretty rocky start following its November 2006 launch. A ridiculous $600 price tag, and confusing marketing scared away many players. On top of that, third party games, once a powerful asset to PlayStation, were starting to fumble on PS3. The system's complicated CELL processor was proving to be very difficult for developers to properly port and optimize their games for, especially in comparison to the much more straight forward to program-for Xbox 360. As such, PS3 versions of games often came after their 360/PC versions, or when they came day-and-date, they were often a buggy, screen-tearing mess compared to the 360 versions. Add that to Microsoft's aggressive courting of games and developers in the early 360 days with games like BioShock coming first to 360/PC, working with BioWare to launch Mass Effect, it's heavy recruiting of exclusives from Japanese publishers like the once PlayStation-loyal Square Enix, and even offering exclusive DLC to big titles like Gran Theft Auto 4, gamers had very little reason to play any major third party release on PS3. PlayStation Network, Sony's free online service for PS3, also was nowhere near as robust or polished as Xbox Live on 360, with the PlayStation Store for digital games being operated via a stripped down web browser.
It was up to Sony to sell the system with its own games, and while the PS3 saw plenty of decent first party releases in 2007, notably Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and of course, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, but none of it was enough to combat the 360's secret weapon that holiday... Halo 3. The supposed final chapter of Bungie's aclaimed shooter series that put Xbox on the map, Halo 3 lived up to its hype, grossing over $300 million in its first week of release. With a headstart, great exclusives, superior multiplats, and the power of Xbox Live, Xbox 360 in 2007 firmly established itself as the leader in HD gaming that generation. Not even the Red Ring of Death controversy was enough to slow down its momenum.
Going up against Microsoft was bad enough, but Sony also was facing a resugent Nintendo with its Wii console. What it lacked in the HD power of the other two systems, it made up for with a unique motion control interface of the Wii Remote, designed allow everyone to pick-up and have fun. The popularity of its pack-in title Wii Sports, along with a strong 2007 lineup with Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Batalion Wars II, and Mario Strikers Charged allowed it to outsell both HD systems throughout most of the generation.
PlayStation's troubles extended to its portable gaming ventures. The PlayStation Portable to its credit, wasn't struggling as much as Sony's home console. The PSP managed to carve out a pretty sizable audience for itself thanks to its array of multi-media features and console-style approach to handheld gaming. But any success the PSP had, was nothing compared to the Nintendo DS. 2007 was when the system really began to hit its stride, last year's DS Lite revision gave the fledgling system a much needed makeover, but similar to how the PS3 had to face the threat of Master Chief on the 360, the PSP was facing a threat of its own in the form of Pikachu and gang. April 22, 2007, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl hit the US, becoming the fastest selling entries in the series until Pokemon Platinum. The DS debut of the popular handheld franchise also featured online battles and trading, along with its tride and true local connectivity. Pokemon's debut on DS, coupled with the popularity of the system's other established hits like Nintendogs, Brain Age, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing Wild World gave the DS a momentum the PSP could only dream of catching up to.
2007 was a rough year for PlayStation, both its platforms were getting dominated by compeititors with stronger game lineups better features. Sony would eventually turn itself around later in the gen, eventually managing to outsell the 360 by the end of it. But for those first couple of years, it was pretty bleak.
Sony's newest flagship PlayStation console at the time, the PlayStation 3, was having a pretty rocky start following its November 2006 launch. A ridiculous $600 price tag, and confusing marketing scared away many players. On top of that, third party games, once a powerful asset to PlayStation, were starting to fumble on PS3. The system's complicated CELL processor was proving to be very difficult for developers to properly port and optimize their games for, especially in comparison to the much more straight forward to program-for Xbox 360. As such, PS3 versions of games often came after their 360/PC versions, or when they came day-and-date, they were often a buggy, screen-tearing mess compared to the 360 versions. Add that to Microsoft's aggressive courting of games and developers in the early 360 days with games like BioShock coming first to 360/PC, working with BioWare to launch Mass Effect, it's heavy recruiting of exclusives from Japanese publishers like the once PlayStation-loyal Square Enix, and even offering exclusive DLC to big titles like Gran Theft Auto 4, gamers had very little reason to play any major third party release on PS3. PlayStation Network, Sony's free online service for PS3, also was nowhere near as robust or polished as Xbox Live on 360, with the PlayStation Store for digital games being operated via a stripped down web browser.
It was up to Sony to sell the system with its own games, and while the PS3 saw plenty of decent first party releases in 2007, notably Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and of course, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, but none of it was enough to combat the 360's secret weapon that holiday... Halo 3. The supposed final chapter of Bungie's aclaimed shooter series that put Xbox on the map, Halo 3 lived up to its hype, grossing over $300 million in its first week of release. With a headstart, great exclusives, superior multiplats, and the power of Xbox Live, Xbox 360 in 2007 firmly established itself as the leader in HD gaming that generation. Not even the Red Ring of Death controversy was enough to slow down its momenum.
Going up against Microsoft was bad enough, but Sony also was facing a resugent Nintendo with its Wii console. What it lacked in the HD power of the other two systems, it made up for with a unique motion control interface of the Wii Remote, designed allow everyone to pick-up and have fun. The popularity of its pack-in title Wii Sports, along with a strong 2007 lineup with Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Batalion Wars II, and Mario Strikers Charged allowed it to outsell both HD systems throughout most of the generation.
PlayStation's troubles extended to its portable gaming ventures. The PlayStation Portable to its credit, wasn't struggling as much as Sony's home console. The PSP managed to carve out a pretty sizable audience for itself thanks to its array of multi-media features and console-style approach to handheld gaming. But any success the PSP had, was nothing compared to the Nintendo DS. 2007 was when the system really began to hit its stride, last year's DS Lite revision gave the fledgling system a much needed makeover, but similar to how the PS3 had to face the threat of Master Chief on the 360, the PSP was facing a threat of its own in the form of Pikachu and gang. April 22, 2007, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl hit the US, becoming the fastest selling entries in the series until Pokemon Platinum. The DS debut of the popular handheld franchise also featured online battles and trading, along with its tride and true local connectivity. Pokemon's debut on DS, coupled with the popularity of the system's other established hits like Nintendogs, Brain Age, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing Wild World gave the DS a momentum the PSP could only dream of catching up to.
2007 was a rough year for PlayStation, both its platforms were getting dominated by compeititors with stronger game lineups better features. Sony would eventually turn itself around later in the gen, eventually managing to outsell the 360 by the end of it. But for those first couple of years, it was pretty bleak.
