Console War IV – Part II October 13, 2010

The Xbox and the GameCube released within one week of each other in North America, the Xbox first and the GameCube second.  The Xbox launched with one of the best launch titles of all time, which became one of the biggest sellers of the console’s lifespan, Halo, made by newly Microsoft-Owned developer Bungie.  The Xbox would see fantastic initial sales and quick sellouts among retailers, all thanks to Halo.  Also, with the game’s support of Local Area Networks (LANs), it consequently became popular among college students who had them plugged into their network connections, as they were able to find anyone on the same local network (usually people in the same dorm) and play games against each other from their rooms.  The same thing that made the original Doom so popular on the PC was now happening on a console.

Nintendo released the GameCube with no first party Mario title, no CD or DVD playback, and no online support.  The GameCube would see immediate sales but they very quickly slowed down.  Without a first-party Mario title at launch for a Nintendo system, the GameCube slumped.  When that Mario game was finally released, it was no where near as good as their previous games like Mario 64 and the GameCube did not become the major system seller that Nintendo was hoping for.

Sony’s answer to the new competition was the release of the PS2’s original killer app, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the sequel to the number one game of the original Playstation and the most anticipated game of 2001, even more anticipated than Microsoft’s Halo.

One year after the launch of the Xbox, Microsoft, to everyone (including retailers) surprise, launched Xbox Live, the first ever fully integrated premium console online multiplayer service.  All future Xbox games, if they supported Live functionality, would be able to use Xbox Live’s servers to have full cross-game voice chat (which was unheard of even on the PC), guaranteed broadband online speeds (since the Xbox would not support a dial-up modem).  The price to gamers was $50US per year, and the gamers happily paid it as they were getting more than just online play.  They were getting access to patches, and also for the first time on a console, downloadable content in the form of new levels, multiplayer maps, and skins.  All that could be downloaded either for no extra fee or a premium price.  It was so revolutionary, Sony and Nintendo never had a response to the service for the length of the generation.  The closest that generation had to it was Sega’s Dreamcast modem, but it was limited to dial up speeds (which were abysmal) had no integrated voice chat, games could not be patched, and without a hard drive DLC was impossible.

Being first out of the gate was still doing well for Sony, who finally started selling online adpaters for the Playstation 2 with both a dial up modem and network card.  All new PS2s started coming with the adapters at no extra cost, but the units by themselves were not really being bought by the people who already had PS2s.  Also the PS2’s Hard Drive released in the form of Final Fantasy XI, the newest Final Fantasy game, which required a persistent online connection and a monthly fee to play.  At $100 extra dollars and not many interested in playing this game, the Hard Drives mostly just collected dust, especially since Final Fantasy XI was already on the PC, which was much better suited to playing MMORPGs than the PS2 was.  They did become extremely popular to homebrew users however, who used the Hard Drives to back up their games and play them without the use of discs, not something Sony was hoping for.  The PS2s were still selling extremely well though, as it had the largest catalog of any of the other consoles and a lot of third party exclusives, like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

The GameCube was still not doing well.  It wouldn’t be until later in the console’s lifespan when first party titles like Metroid Prime and a price drop would bring the GameCube back from obscurity.  Later releases like Mario Kart: Double Dash and Super Smash Bros: Melee would eventually become the killer apps for the console, but it was too late, the GameCube just did not sell the units Nintendo needed.  They would offer network and dial-up modem adapters for the GameCube, but without a killer app to support either, both just collected dust on retail shelves.  The few gamers who did buy them probably never used them.

While the PS2 was considered the clear winner of that generation of the console wars, Microsoft, a relative newcomer to the block was able to hold their own against the power of Sony.  The launch of Xbox Live could also take the crown as the most groundbreaking achievement in the history of consoles.  Finally there was a unified broadband multiplayer service, something that the PC didn’t even have, and it was costing gamers $50US a year, which they were happily paying.

However, the most disheartening news was Nintendo’s GameCube was a tremendous disappointment.  Unable to sell the amount of GameCube  units they needed, it was a major black eye for Nintendo, which to many was still considered the finest game studio in the world.  It was also a financial bust for them, as they still made a loss on every GameCube sold.

This was also the finest generation Sony would have.  Their decision to launch with a DVD player gave them early sales.  They also had a healthy release of extremely successful games like Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (the most anticipated PS2 game at launch), a huge exclusive third party support (Grand Theft Auto 3 launched on PS2 first and was a major system seller), and great first party exclusives like God of War.  Because of all of this, the PS2 is still considered to this day the most successful console of all time.

With Sega out for the count, the next generation of the console war would be fought by only Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, and that story will be coming next time.

Console War – IV Part I October 10, 2010

It all started with Sega.  After the abysmal failure of the Sega Saturn, Sega, now under new management in the US, made the intelligent decision to fix every problem the Saturn had with their next console, the Dreamcast.  They developed not just a high-powered graphics chip and CPU, but the developer tools to build games for the system made development easier, and allowed the designers to focus on quality.  It also had a built in 56k modem, which was standard on most PCs of the day, but unused in most consoles.  Multiplayer gaming since the days of Doom and Quake on the PC were becoming one huge thing that PCs were holding over consoles, and Sega US knew it.  To truly revolutionize, they needed online multiplayer support and that meant including a modem.  One thing it would not have would be DVD support.  A new physical medium on the block, it was literally the best format at the time for home media viewing, blowing away VHS and Laserdisc in quality. It also offered a larger storage capacity for games.  However, the technology would just be too expensive to include in the console at launch and had to be left out.  A slightly larger capacity CD-ROM would be used for physical media, and at the time, it would be enough.

Sega launched the Dreamcast with a high price point and one of the best launch lineups in gaming history.  They also had one of the biggest advertising campaigns ever. As the first console of the new generation and graphics that made all the current generation of games just look stale in comparison, the Dreamcast sold out its initial shipment almost immediately, and became the must own item of Christmas 1999.

However, something was brewing which would shake the very foundations of Sega’s plans for dominance.  With the CD-ROM storage solution, excellent hardware, and unbeatable third party support, Sony’s Playstation had been the winner of the previous console generation.  Sony’s successor to the Playstation, the Playstation 2, would launch a year after Sega’s Dreamcast, and while it wouldn’t have an amazing launch lineup like the Dreamcast did, it would have something at launch that the Dreamcast would not have, something to offer customers that would for the first time have a console trancend past just gaming unit, but make it an integral part of a new generation of home-theater technology, DVD.

The Playstation 2 shipped November 2000 and with only half the amount of consoles at launch than what was initially pre-ordered, and no must-own games at launch.  All Playstation 2s were sold before the start of the working day could even begin, and no one knew when more were coming.  At $299, the same price as a standalone DVD player, the Playstation 2 was a great value to early technology enthusiasts and gamers, two types of people who weren’t mutually exclusive.

The early launch may have helped Sega in the beginning, but it had also cost them dearly.  By not waiting for DVD to become affordable, it was not included in the Dreamcast and that was their undoing.  The release of Sony’s PS2 brought the death of the Dreamcast.  DVD was just too important to early consumers, and at Christmas 2000, a machine that did not have this functionality was passed up.  After Christmas 2000, and the clear winner of that Christmas being Sony by far, Sega threw in the towel and discontinued manufacturing Dreamcasts.  Games would still be released for a while, but third parties started switching gears to work only with Sony.  Sega, without a first party platform to develop games exclusively for, would become a software company making games for all platforms.

By March 2001, Sony could finally meet the heavy demand for the Playstation 2, which you could finally find in stores.  However, there were still two more consoles getting ready to launch, could they possibly see the same magic after the tremendous success of the launch of the PS2, or would they share Sega’s fate?

Nintendo was getting ready to release their next generation console, the GameCube, originally codenamed the Dolphin, and it would be ready to launch in the next near.  And there was a new contender in the ring, software publisher Microsoft, the most successful company in the world, and they had their own console and unlimited funds to produce it, the Xbox.

A lot of the gaming press was skeptical of Microsoft’s place in the console war, but Microsoft was not to be completely written off.  Sony was once a newcomer in the previous generation, and they were able to completely knock out Sega.   Microsoft was no stranger to games.  The Windows Operating System had been running games since it was founded, and technically Microsoft had already been a major player in the console war for years prior with the PC format.  The problem was Microsoft was and always had been a company that only made software, hardware had always been someone else’s job, and by selling software for hardware, Microsoft’s business plan had made them billions.  Now they would be making software and hardware and they had to compete with Sony and Nintendo.  However, Microsoft had an ace up their sleeve.  The success of the Xbox can all be staked on the greatest business decision Microsoft ever made, the purchase of game developer Bungie.

The Xbox was by far the most powerful console of the generation.  It had the fastest processor and the best graphics chipset.  It also had a built in hard drive, something that Sony had teased would be coming for the PS2 but would not launch with.  It also had an integrated network port which could be used for LAN play in games that supported it, something that would not launch with the other consoles either but was promised to come later.  This was just as essential to Microsoft’s business plan as the Dreamcast’s modem was to Sega.  People didn’t know it yet, but Microsoft was getting ready to launch a full broadband online gaming network which would revolutionize online play forever.

The last entry would again be Nintendo with the GameCube, but unlike the release of the Nintendo 64, people were just not waiting on the GameCube this time around.  Nintendo was really bringing nothing new to the table.  They had superior graphics to the N64, but they were still playing by the same rules.  A cartridge based game release was completely impractical (it was through most of the N64’s lifespan) but Nintendo was still going to try for a proprietary format to prevent piracy.  Instead of using a full DVD as the other companies were using, they would manufacture a smaller DVD, which would be difficult to copy.  However, this would still limit capacity per disk to less than half of what could be offered in the PS2 and Xbox, and make DVD playback impossible, the very thing that killed the Dreamcast.  But it did have a superior graphics processor than the PS2 and the exclusive software support of Nintendo’s first party, the very thing that made the N64 hold it’s own against Sony’s original Playstation.  At $199, it was priced to compete, but Nintendo would be taking a loss for every console sold.

It was now November 2001, Sega was out of the picture, and Sony’s Playstation 2 was quickly becoming the most successful product in history.  But now Nintendo and Microsoft were ready to lauch their products, hoping to take a piece out of the numbers the Playstation 2 were selling.

Would they be successful?  Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon!

Console Wars – III September 25, 2010

As we entered the fifth generation of gaming there were a lot more fighters in the ring than in times previous.  It was a Royal Rumble of sorts, and a lot of companies that attempted to gain entry found themselves tossed out of the ring inside of what amounted to a minute in the market.  At this juncture the gamer population had aged a little bit, and with age came suspicion – and really high expectations…

But before we get into the winners, let’s point out the abject failures of this gen:

1. Panasonic’s 3DO – Here were your options back then: buy a 3DO or just get a PlayStation and an N64 and still have about $150 left over to buy some games.  This system had a horribly limited library and was basically doomed at launch.
2. Atari Jaguar – I don’t know a single person that bought this.  We all knew better, Atari almost destroyed home based gaming in the 80s when it bankrupted itself and disappeared from the gaming map.
3. Sega’s 32x – This thing was launched almost at the same time as the Saturn– it was full of  fail, but sadly, it wouldn’t be Sega’s last mistake.
4. Virtual Boy – Look man – I am fully aware that it wasn’t a console, but it wasn’t a portable either – either way you slice it, there is something we can both agree on, it sucked like no other.
5. Neo Geo CD – There were few things more awesome than playing arcade quality Fatal Fury, Shodown, Metal Slug and a slew of other great titles at home, but this system just didn’t take off as it should have.  It’s a crying shame that a company as talented, innovative and groundbreaking as they were never managed to capture a significant portion of the market.
6. PC-FX – Most of you never heard of this console and that’s just as well because it only had 62 games.  This system was basically the deathblow for NEC’s gaming division.

But enough about the losers, let’s talk about the real players of the era.

There is little doubt that the PlayStation brought home the Gold, N64 the Silver and off into the distance the Sega Saturn had to settle for tarnished bronze.   And mind you, it was never neck and neck – Sony sold something like 102 million units worldwide, compared with 35 million for the N64 and a paltry 9 million for the Saturn.  When you aggregate these numbers alone, 6.16% of the world’s gamers owned a Saturn, 23.98% an N64 and 69.86% a PlayStation.  I enjoyed this era immensely because at long last, the market finally exposed Sega for the eminent fuckups that they are.

But how could Nintendo, a once third-party developer for Atari, achieve massive success at both the 8 and 16-bit levels, only to lose it to the freshman Sony?   I don’t want to get into it now, but the major points were:

1. They dragged their feet launching and developing the new system, giving Sony a one year market lead
2. They stubbornly stuck to proprietary media – Nintendo collected royalties from each cart produced
3. They generally catered to the kindergarten demographic
4. They lost key third party support

What about Sega?  If anybody had told me that Sega was going to follow up their weak-ass Master System with what the Genesis turned out to be, an amazing powerhouse of console gaming, I would have laughed in their face – and I would have been wrong.  But to then see mighty Sega follow up the Genesis with the anemic sales of the Saturn, was just…sad.  No really – I’m totally serious here; it’s always been my contention that the best stimulus for good gaming is competition.  It seemed at the time that the void left by Sega was going to be bad for gaming, but it turns out that Sony was waiting in the wings to not only supplant Sega as Nintendo’s chief adversary, but change the face of gaming forever, and become its new standard bearer.

With that said, let’s talk about games.  I bought my first PlayStation when I was in AIT at Ft. Gordon, GA, back then the guys were only interested in playing Madden and the new NBA Live games.  I wasn’t a big fan of either, which led to buyer’s remorse – so I sold it to one of my buddies and bought the N64 instead.  At launch the N64 had Super Mario 64…which I played through until I got all the stars.  I also bought Waverace, Pilotwings and Shadows of the Empire – and proceeded to beat each of these as thoroughly as possible.  I was really surprised by the textures and rendering capacities of the N64, the graphics were typically more colorful, softer and less jagged than the PlayStation’s.  The N64 had anti-aliasing, Z-Buffering and Goraud Shading (all precursors to Voodoo 3dfx cards).  These effects really showed off the system’s potential in titles like Turok, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.  Rogue Squadron was one of my favorite ports, not just for its Star Wars theme, but because honestly, it was extremely well made.  Then of course there was Nintendo’s Magnum Opus, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  The N64 also had Mario Kart and Starfox, but sadly never released a Metroid.  The Nintendo faithful would have to wait one more generation for that to happen.

But wait a minute…if the system had all these great titles and superior hardware, how’d it come in second?

I hate to say it, but Holden McNeil put it best:  “It’s all about marketing.  Over- or underweight guys who don’t get laid – they’re our bread and butter.”

And that’s exactly who Sony marketed to, a primarily tween male audience.  That wasn’t the only factor though, there’s only one reason I bought a PlayStation, for the second time, and that was Final Fantasy VII, which is to me, the greatest game ever made.

While my PlayStation library was slender, it was packed with classics, among them: Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy VII & VIII, Resident Evil I&II, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater II, Street Fighter Alpha II, Tekken III, Metal Gear Solid, the Tomb Raider series, and Jedi Power Battles.  Back then I was a real snob when it came to buying games because well…Sony had so many shitty games on their platform that it was almost a full time job trying to separate the crap from the good and subsequently the good from the awesome.  But more often than not, all your sifting would be richly rewarded.  On the N64 it was much different, I had a pretty easy time of identifying what games to avoid and which ones to reserve ahead of time.

In the end, third party support is what really helped Sony walk away with all the medals.  Nintendo was left reeling, but stubborn as a Bantha, insisted on the continued use of proprietary media and focusing on G audiences.

As the era drew to a close, there were forces at work that sought to mimic Sony’s success.  First though, they had to secure a franchise game.  Once Bungie was bought out, the stage was set for the exclusive console release of Halo.  With that, the fourth battle in the Great Console war began.

Console War II September 16, 2010

In the wake of the 8 bit gaming renaissance, led by powerhouses Nintendo and Sega, the Second Console War began…

The initial salvo was launched by SEGA when they abandoned their Master System and opted instead to develop the next gen system first.  The year was 1989, and as the last decade of the millennium loomed, we all waited expectantly for a home system that could mimic the graphics available in an arcade system.  Up to that point, home gaming had been limited to MIDI music, a smallish 8 bit palette and graphics (if you could call them that) that…uh, well…let’s tell the truth folks, were blocky and malformed.

I don’t know if I can convey this with precision, but do you have any idea how awesome it was to finally be able to play Golden Axe at home, and have that experience closely replicate the arcade game? (Be advised, as I was writing this I paused to beat Golden Axe in the MAME).  Think about what mindset we were in when we played the awful, awful Altered Beast and the game was actually speaking to us when we powered up.  It was completely mindblowing, we were actually able to understand what was being said, this represented a ginormous leap in gaming.

For two years, I bade my time, for two years I awaited as Nintendo tooled around with 16 bit gaming until they finally launched the Super NES.  Things would never, ever, be the same again.

OK, confession time.  I worked on weekends with my uncle at the beach selling shishkebabs, corn on the cob, octopus and conch salad, I worked from about 10:00 to almost 22:00 for about $5.00 a night.  Sometimes he felt generous and he’d gimme $10.  At any rate, I didn’t complain because he took me to school every morning, so it was kinda like paying him back for the favor.  I worked for my uncle until I had accumulated $100, $100 that I used to contribute towards the purchase of my Super NES.  I said all that so that you could understand the depth of my bias.  Now…let’s compare, shall we?

When you put the Genesis and the  NES side to side, there really is no basis for comparison.  The SNES outshines the Genesis in every category, sound, music, colors, graphics, the list is near endless, and just when you’re done discussin’ hardware, now you have to talk about software.  The SNES had some pretty spectacular titles, Super Mario World was a gaming gem, as were Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid and the 3 Star Wars Games.  All this and I haven’t started talking about Street Fighter, Killer Instinct, Blackthorne, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, The Secret of Mana, NBA Live and NBA Jam.  Granted, the Genesis had its share of stupendous titles like Sonic, El Viento, Aliens, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Chakan, Aladdin (which was hand drawn – and had great music), X-Men, Cool Spot (SNES had this too, Genesis version was better) and Shining Force.

For the most part the second console war ended in a tie, both Nintendo and SEGA huge winners, with cart sales shooting through the roof.  There were many people that I knew that had both consoles, but the majority sided with one company over the other.  Then everything changed.

At the time there was a third player on the field, the Turbografx-16.  It never achieved significant market penetration, but what they did do was develop a CD add-on before anybody else.  They were also the first company to launch an RPG with animated sequences.  These accomplishments took place in relative obscurity and put very little pressure on either company.  But because SEGA was always trying to stay a step ahead of Nintendo, they made a move that had never been attempted before.  They were able to convince their gamers to purchase an add-on to their their dying 3 year old console, the SEGA CD.  Now, I’ll admit it, I bought a Sega CD, and those  games were basically identical to their regular versions except for the interspersed movie/animated sequences, but it didn’t amount to the leap in gaming that I had expected.  But I’ll tell you what, Prince of Persia on Sega CD was awesome, so was Lunar: The Silver Star Story and its sequel, then there was Snatcher, Ecco the Dolphin, Lethal Enforcers and Silpheed.

Sadly, the $300 investment was not to be rewarded with a decent gaming library, rather the system would be relegated to the hall of Forgotten Gaming Peripherals, where things like the 32x, Power Glove, Super Scope, and Sega Activator go to die.

In order to attempt to stay competitive, Nintendo made a deal with media giant Sony.  Sony agreed to develop a 16 bit CD peripheral to attach it to the SNES, but sadly this was not to be, at the last minute Nintendo abandoned the project, opted to simply skip 32 bit gaming, and develop the N64.  Sony was left high and dry.  Instead of rolling over and taking the production, research and development losses, Sony decided to jump into the gaming industry, and  the Sony PlayStation was the clarion call for the Third Console War.

Console War I September 9, 2010