Discussion: What makes consoles successful?

[Fresh]

 

While browsing the net earlier I stumbled across site-upon-site of what I assume to be fan-boys preaching about one console or another as if it was a new messiah. Each claimed their console was the single greatest piece of gaming engineering to grace the earth. Obviously this isn't true.

 

This made me wonder, What does, or does not, make a console successful? Is their a perfect recipe?

 

-> Brand-name dominance?

 

-> Rash attempts of kill off previous generation?

 

-> Game publisher abandonment?

 

Of course this could all depend on what we define as "success"; Was the Dreamcast, despite poor sales, successful for featuring games such as Shenmue and Ikaruga and having unrivaled online capabilities requiring no extra hardware?

 

Was the Playstation 2 successful with its huge sales?

 

Will the Wii be successful by creating a whole new market and reaching to "non gamers"?

 

Is the X-Box 360 successful for its fusion of classic home console gaming with X-Box Live?

 

Could any of the "failed", in whichever terms, consoles succeeded? How?

 

/Discuss.

 

(Mods free to move this to whichever forum you feel it should be in if needed.)

 

(I knew I could use the .psd somewhere.)

[The Bard]

Progression: Something new.

 

Games that are distinctive, can only be found on that console and are AAA titles.

[KKOB]

Good games, the ability to offer new experiences, price is a factor though not as important as the first two.

 

Games, lots of games-though now the concept of success is changing with the Wii and DS racking up a fuck tonne of sales id' say a new key part is accessibility and design as well.

[Hero-of-Time]

Its all about the games, for me at least.

 

Some of my finest and best experiences on consoles were on the machines that were fitted with the "loser" title.

 

The N64 was a fantastic machine with many a AAA title from Rare and Nintendo. Games such as Goldeneye, Mario 64, Zelda OOT and Mario Kart were gaming at its best.

 

The Dreamcast was another fantastic machine and was a fighters dream console with Capcom giving massive support with the VS games aswell as Tech Romancer and the awesome Rival Schools 2: Project Justice. There was also a little game called Shenmue that not many people played

 

Last up is the Saturn. Another console that dismissed but had many a gems on it such as NiGHTS, Guardian Heroes, Shining Force 3, Shining Holy Ark and Virtua Fighter 2.

 

Regardless if the other console sells more units, the best machine for me is the one that doesnt have the most games just simply the best ones.

[Emasher]

innovation+a good amount of "actual" games (such as zelda metroid pokemon mario, not Wii play and brain age)=a successful console

 

i'm really looking forward to this new star wars game as it is one of those games that everybody was hoping for when the wii-mote was first revealed back in fall 05. i think its really going to boost wii sales (if such a thing can be done)

[McMad]

The three things that makes a games console successful sales-wise in my opinion are:

 

1. Software; recogniseable brands and exclusives will secure many hardcore buyers and maybe many casual buyers as well. Nintendo has a hardcore fanbase that will always buy their consoles for the franchises they love while casuals bought the PS2 for games like Fifa and GTA.

 

2. Advertising; has worked wonders for DS and Wii, and Microsoft also uses it to great effect e.g. Gears of War and Halo 2.

 

3. Price-point; no one is buying the PS3 even though it belongs to the Playstation brand. The PS2 and Xbox could only sell once they both dropped to a £200 price-point, while the DS and Wii are selling like crazy because they are both affordable.

[jammy2211]

The three things that makes a games console successful sales-wise in my opinion are:

 

1. Software; recogniseable brands and exclusives will secure many hardcore buyers and maybe many casual buyers as well. Nintendo has a hardcore fanbase that will always buy their consoles for the franchises they love while casuals bought the PS2 for games like Fifa and GTA.

 

2. Advertising; has worked wonders for DS and Wii, and Microsoft also uses it to great effect e.g. Gears of War and Halo 2.

 

3. Price-point; no one is buying the PS3 even though it belongs to the Playstation brand. The PS2 and Xbox could only sell once they both dropped to a £200 price-point, while the DS and Wii are selling like crazy because they are both affordable.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what makes a console successful, except I'd say there is two more things:

 

4. Public Opinion; How the console is viewed by the mainstream public is very important. LAst generation you can bet one of the main reason the GameCube was ignored was because people saw it as a 'kiddy' console. This generation it's changed, the public and media love the Wii for it's inneundo name, along with the sort of 'fun' side of gaming it's trying to represent. On the other hand the PS3 is being reported by the media as a failure, and many people see it as a rip-off.

It's incredible the amount of people talking about the Wii, some of the exposure it's got is incredible. I think on some America TV show they had Serena Williams playing Wii Tennis on national television, stuff like that sells consoles, fact.

 

5. Console size / Portability (in Japan); Okay, I'm sure you've all learnt about how Japanese homes are tiny and the lack of land the country has. Well I think it's fair to say that when a console the size of the PS3 of Xbox 360 (mainly it's powerpack) are suppose to go in a Japanese home, you have to ask, how the hell can they fit it? The Wii is the perfect size for a Japanese home, and this I think for the Japanese market is a huge bonus.

[darkjak]

To me, successful can only mean one thing, how much of the market it takes up. It's as simple as that.

 

However, which one is the best is another matter.

 

For a console to be considered to be good, from my point of view, it needs a good lifespan. The player needs to be happy with his console purchase for a long time. Even after the consoles successor is released, the console still needs to have games released for it.

 

Also, the games have to be good, a good console has many good exclusives.

 

Allso it has to be functional, it needs all the functions the other consoles have (except the stupid ones, like the PSOnes CD-playing capability).

 

Of course, it needs good quality. You want to be able to take your old console, and play it maybe like a decade or even two after the initial release, blow off the dust and get playing.

 

Last but not least we have image. You're not supposed to be perceived as nerdy when you play games. The consoles image is supposed tell people who you are. The GC lost against the PS2 because that the PS2 was "cooler", with DVD capability and a discrete black color that makes it dissappear next to your VCR.

The Wii is winning now because it's small, looks like like a big iPod (iConsole), is cheap (you have to be a nerd to put out 6000 SEK on a gaming machine), it's got simplified controlls, and just about every function the other consoles have (except the stupid ones, like Blu-Ray support, cuz' let's face it, Blu Ray is only good for those who have HD-tv's, and BR is perhaps going to be the new DAT-tape, and HD-DVD might prevail instead).

[raven_blade2006]

Games to suit the needs of every gamer.

[DCK]

It's just the vibe. PS2 had a positive vibe, PS1 had a positive vibe and now Wii has that vibe. It's got nothing to do with games and features or whatever, the cooler console gets it. Compare it to MP3 players; iPods have nothing over Creative players, but their vibe is better and therefore they outsell everything else on the market.