[Deepblue]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/11/AR2006051100612.html

Microsoft sides with Nintendo in fight vs Sony

By Daisuke Wakabayashi
Reuters
Thursday, May 11, 2006; 9:25 AM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) sided with rival Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS) on Wednesday in the fight to unseat video game leader Sony Corp.(6758.T), saying many consumers will choose to buy both of their machines for the price of one PlayStation 3.

The bad blood between Sony and Microsoft in the fight for dominance in the nearly $30 billion video game industry has escalated over the last few days, with both sides trading barbs at the E3 Expo, the video game industry's annual trade show.

 Microsoft entered the next-generation game console market first with its Xbox 360 last November.

Sony aims to extend its market leadership with its upcoming PS3, while Nintendo plans to offer a new game machine called Wii in the fourth quarter.

"Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3?" Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president, said in an interview. "People are going to buy two (machines.) They're going to buy an Xbox and they're going to buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3."

Microsoft predicted on Tuesday it will have 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market before Sony launches the PS3. The high-end Xbox 360 sells for $399, but it does not include a built-in high-definition DVD video player that comes with Sony's PS3.

Sony plans to sell a premium PS3 model for $599 when it debuts in North America on November 17, and Nintendo has not yet disclosed pricing for Wii.

Wii comes equipped with motion sensitive controllers to allow users to mimic the motion of wielding a sword or swinging a tennis racket.

Moore then turned pitchman for Nintendo's Wii, the latest offering from the Japanese company that once dominated the video game industry.

"People will always gravitate toward a competitively priced product -- like what I believe Wii will be -- with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid," Moore told Reuters.

Sony currently dominates the worldwide video game market with a 66 percent share, while Microsoft and Nintendo each hold 17 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.

"We have 100 percent market share of the next-generation, and their job is to take that from us," said Moore.

"When I think on everything that we've got going right now that is real versus what Sony promises to do six, seven months from now, obviously we feel very good about where we stand."

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Despite Microsoft's head start with the Xbox 360, the software giant still faces an uphill climb in Sony and Nintendo's home turf.

Microsoft received a tepid response to its Xbox 360 debut in Japan and demand fell short of expectations during last year's holiday season when it sold about 100,000 machines.

The company introduced a competitively priced console in Japan, but some of its game titles did not appeal to Japanese gamers. Moore expects upcoming role-playing games like "Lost Odyssey" and "Blue Dragon" from the creator of the popular "Final Fantasy" series to do well in Japan.

"Quite frankly," said Moore, "if we're sitting here a year from now and things continue to fall flat, then we might say 'we don't know what to do anymore."'

Respect +1

[WeatherOp]

Can anybody say wimp move.

"We are laggin behind with the only non-motion sensing controller, but BUY us and then Nintendo, but don't buy Sony."

They must really be in trouble to side with another company to beat Sony, but hey Nintendo will like it.

And it's been said

"the enemy of my enemy, is my friend"

[karajorma]

And then Nintendo come out and say "Buy our console and some games and ignore the 360 completely" And MS look like a bunch of fools

[Kosh]

I think they are just trying to capitalize as much as possible on Sony's screw up. They don't mind too much if Nintendo benefits from it too, as long as Sony loses.

[neoterran]

reverse psychology

[BlackDove]

Sony is coming to ****ing obliterate them.

The only desperate move to make is this I guess.

[aldo_14]

It's a response to the threat Nintendo poses to them by actually focusing on such a trivial and non-console like idea as 'fun'.  Both Sony and MS have focused on the concept of, essentially, flashy visuals as a selling point; if the Wii was to succeed in the 'mainstream' gaming market, it'd cause massive problems for the two because the development houses would naturally prefer the Wii as it's cheaper and quite probably cheaper to develop for.

Ergo, by trying to associate it as a non-competing product - and in a particularly sly way - MS are likely trying to position the Wii as if it is within a seperate market to their offering and prevent its core selling point (originality) being compared to their own (graphics/HD).  Moreso as Nintendo are looking to strongly support internet connectivity as a gaming feature (both through the Virtual Console and 24-hour-connection standpoint).

Plus they can try to tempt the Japanese (not likely) by positing it as some sort of partner like a 'buy one get one free oh wait a sec' type deal.

And, of course, let's not lose sight of the obvious reason - it lets them attack Sony on their weakest point - price.

I would doubt, though, that Sony would obliterate anyone.  If they were first-timers and didn't have such a strong brand, I'd expect them to be 3rd place on the simple basis of price and games.

[WeatherOp]

Very true, the fact is Nintendo is in the drivers seat, it's a win/win situation for them.

They are right in place to take advantage of both Microsoft and Sony fanboys, very smart move by the Big N, I've read countless times, where one person would say "I'm getting the 360, and then the Wii", or ether "I'm getting the PS3, then the Wii, but not the 360"

If you add that up 2 Wii's sold, 1 for Microsoft and Sony.

And with a low price, inovation and all the normal stuff you'd expect from them, the public is gonna eat it up. So, I myself wouldn't be surprised if they walk away with this one, just by taking advantage of the other two fighting it out between each other. And that possibly is why Microsoft might have said this, to try to get some of the Nintendo fans to buy a 360 after they have bought a Wii or while they are waiting. Because they allready see what Nintendo is doing.

[aldo_14]

Let's not forget, though, that Nintendo couldn't care about winning market share in 'our' demographic, where the PS3/X360 will fight it out.  Nintendos' success will be judged on whether they can carve out a new and potentially very large niche in the same way as with the DS.  Just look at their trailers where people are shown playing, after all.  Ms realise this, but they also know any traction in the traditional gaming market is a threat.  They can't stop people buying the Wii, so they will want to try and manipulate the perception of it.

[karajorma]

Yep. The original Playstation got such a huge market share because they appealed to a new market. The financially comfortable 18-30 year old male. The Playstation made console gaming a ladish hobby rather than just one of kids and geeks.

The fact that as a result they sold so many consoles meant that they ended up with market dominance even though they came out of nowhere. Hell Sega pulled out of the console business completely as a result.

Nintendo are looking to do the same by carving out a huge new market of their own. And they stand a very good chance of doing it too. If they do then they'll get market dominence from numbers in the same way that Sony once did. MS are starting to realise that and are trying to say "buy our console as well" in the hopes that they won't get crushed.

[neoterran]

I think the wii is poised to be very successful, the controller is already a bigger hit than many people had surmised. I can already see parties with drinking and standing around laughing as one looks like an idiot standing up and playing the damn thing with all the movement it requires, (and interaction) as opposed to the boring, geeky looking sit down with the old style controller.

Hell if sony didn't think it was a serious threat, they wouldn't have put a crap version of it into their controller. If microsoft didn't think it was a threat, they wouldn't have made the above statement.

The above statement is calculated. It basically plants the thought in your mind (you need BOTH a wii and and XBOX360, so anyone looking to get a wii will subconsciously think this)

[Deepblue]

I don't know if anybody else has extensively read impressions on the Wii controller, but they seem mixed. While it seems very good for games like Mario Universe, etc. The impressions from the FP games, notably MP:C and Red Steel emphasize that the controls need work.

MS doesn't see it as a threat, they made the above statement to rip at Sony while they are weak. If you look up the Sidewinder Freestlye, you'll find that MS already tried something similar on the PC. I really think that "new ways of playing" idea is flawed. If you're playing Zelda, you're playing Zelda whether or not you are using a wii controller. Sure, the initial impression might vary, but once you get down to playing the game, the input method doesn't matter anymore.

[aldo_14]

You can't even compare the Sidewinder Freestlye to the Wii.  Firstly, it's a tilt sensitive controller like the PS3s.  That's different from physical movement in 3d space; the difference between tilting your hand and pointing, I'd say.

More importantly, there's one key difference, and one that will come into play with Red Steel, MP, etc (let's also not ignore that a) these games are in development and b) people also need to get used to it), is that the Wii controller is a guarenteed peripheral.  Developers know it's there, and thus exactly what they can do with it.

As an aside, I have read the mixed reports; one that aiming (but not using the melee combat, which was apparently very intuitive) in Red Steel was iffy, another that Zelda was uncomfortable, and another that said Metroid Prime was the Dogs Nadgers. 

Primarily, though, it's daft to suggest the input method 'doesn't matter'.  Of course it matters.  If it didn't matter, we'd all be using single-button joysticks or keyboards sans mice.  Hell, just look at the DS touchscreen as an example of different input methods mattering.  Look at the endgame; get it right, and instead of tapping B in Zelda, you're swinging a sword.  Or rather than holding L or whatever to aim and tighten your bowstring, you pull pack, wait for the controller speaker to 'snap', then let go.  Now, it's not easy, but if you do it makes gaming ten times more immersive and hence fun.  Thats why it matters, and that's why it's a threat (well, aside from the prospect of simply bypassing them and opening a massive new market, as kara mentioned was key to the PS1 and 2) to MS and Sony, even if they won't admit it - because if you make it physically immersive, then the graphical difference begins to vanish and even be overridden, and the advantage of the 'HD' systems in the main markets can be eroded.

Gameplay.  With any luck, Nintendo will get it right, and it'll be the wave of the future.  Or I guess we can play 20 carbon-copy shooters with oversized crotchplates and high-res textures, because it doesn't look like anyone else is trying to innovate the way we play games.

[WeatherOp]

Just in DB's defence, I think he was ralking about Microsoft hitting Sony on them using their controler's sensing tech, whitch Microsoft has tried before.

However, I think MS does see Nintendo as a threat, but more like "if you can't beat e'm, join e'm" type of strategy.

[Taristin]

I'm always amused by how people will jump to any length to criticize Microsoft's every move. Rabid fanboiism works in both ways.

Oh, and I have no intention of buying any of these consoles.

[aldo_14]

I'm always amused by how people will jump to any length to criticize Microsoft's every move. Rabid fanboiism works in both ways.

Oh, and I have no intention of buying any of these consoles.

I don't think it's criticism to point out the financial and PR reasons behind it.

[Triple Ace]

They are just scared because the know Sony and the PS3 will crush them.

[Dough with Fish]

They are just scared because the know Sony and the PS3 will crush them.

Yes, because an overpriced and extremely gimped system will beat something that's been on the market for a year, and if we are going to count MS's Games for Windows, Microsoft has a HUGE chance here to dominate the games market. I really hate to say this, but MS has been blowing away Sony at every turn at E3 this year. Sony was its typical arrogant self. Yeah, they may be the market leaders, but if they keep this kind of crap up, they won't be there for much longer.

I was also like you, thinking that the PS3 would WTFPWN the 360, but after guageing reactions from not only the Microsoft gaming journalists and fanboys, but gaming journalists and and gamers in general, Sony dropped the ball HUGE with the PS3. $600.00 core system, half-assed and EXTREMELY gimped tard-pack, boring PS3 games (the PS2 lineup is still friggin amazing), the PSP being nothing more than PS2 port central, the half-assed tilt control (I saw some shakeycam footage of various games with it, they got a LOT of work to do to make them in the least ammount intuitive). Unless Sony does something OMGWTFBBQAMAZING on Friday, I think they got a huge up-hill battle against the Wii and MS.

[ZylonBane]

As someone on another forum pointed out, if Sony disappeared tomorrow gamers would barely be affected in the long term-- almost all the significant PS2 titles are third-party.

[Deepblue]

NM.