What are your 2007 gaming predictions?

[7th lutz]

Here are mine:
psp will be loosing 3rd party support late in the year unless software sales increase
There will be no viral Marketing for the ps 3 or the psp in 2007 due to the 2006 viral Marketing flop for psp
The ps 3 sales will not be as strong as sony expected with blu-ray movie sales not doing well
the 360 will have a very strong in North America
The wii will continue to do well in Japan
Dragon Quest 9 will be one of the top 3 selling games in Japan
The ds sells will continue to increase
There will be a major game anouncement of a gaming going to a handheld system or a next generation system
The virtual gaming console will have some major tiles in the states
Ea will buy another gaming company
2007 will be xbox last year before there will be no new games for it
2007 will be gba's final year before there will be no new games for it

[swlovinist]

I will keep my list short, so here I go. I predict:

The PS3 will have lower than expected sales by the end of the year
The Wii will have reached sales expectations by the end of year
The 360 will meet sales expectation by end of year
The 360 will see a price drop of $50 or less with a new bundle
The PSP redesign will not help sluggish sales
The DS will continue to dominate the portable market
The PS2 will suprise sony and exceed sales predictions
I also predict the future to hold a true retro console release of some type

[Poofta!]

wii will be proved to cause cancer.

[bangtango]

Nintendo Will Fall!!!!!!!!!

(I don't really think they will. That was just my parody of some of the fanboys who inhabit this or any other board)

[MarioAllStar2600]

Nintendo won't be able to get many good games out for the Wii, they are gunna come out way to slow......

That is my only prediction as of right now.

[agbulls]

Nintendo Will Fall!!!!!!!!!

(I don't really think they will. That was just my parody of some of the fanboys who inhabit this or any other board)

That's funny. I think its the sole reason I love this board and avoid Gamefaqs like the plague. But, wouldn't it read more like:

Nintendo Will Phaill!!!!!! Mario suxors! :wink 2:

[s1lence]

Sega will release the Dreamcast II

[klausien]

Everyone always seems to forget that the Wii has the advantage of being cheaper to develop for than the 2 HD systems. Developers will support it steadily if it continues to build a solid, diverse user base. Nintendo also seems as though they actually may be beginning to crack that older demographic who remembers the Atari but has long since left the mainstream market to their children, grandchildren & younger siblings. The Pong generation is finding their way back to gaming though the Wii.

The Wii will remain strong as a supplement to the 360/PS3 in the mainstream market, no doubt. The Japanese market will continue to embrace the system; as will Europeans when they finally get their hands on it. If the EyeToy phenomenon was any indication, Wii Sports, Wii Play & WarioWare will be smash hits in Europe.

Nintendo will release a Nintendogs-esque virtual pet sim on the Wii, as well as an Animal Crossing sequel. We will also see Mario Tennis sooner rather than later. It will have both a "Beginner" automatic character control mode ala Wii Sports Tennis, as well as an "Expert" mode which allows for Nunchuk character control. We might see a Wii exclusive Virtua Tennis title from Sega as well. Pikmin will return by 2008, or the two GC games will be bundled as a new title and receive a Wii control update. Sonic and Tails may yet become selectable characters in Smash Bros. I personally think there may be more bonus characters up Nintendo's sleeve, which is why we are seeing a delay. There are negotiations going on that we are unaware of.

The Virtual Console is going to be profitable whether we like it or not. The Ocarina of Time Master Quest will come out for the VC, possibly alongside the original Ocarina of Time as a freebie. Sin and Punishment will happen on the VC. Nintendo will offer the ability to have the blue disc drive light remain illuminated when the system is powered on as a $5 WiiWare download. They will also offer further customization options for the dashboard for a price.

The XBox 360 will rise even further beyond the competition in the US, proving to be THE HD system of choice for most, provided they get Halo 3 out on time. They will only make a price drop if they have to, which seems unlikely. Japanese sales will remain flat.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will be announced for the XBox 360. World of Warcraft will be announced as a limited exclusive for the 360 as well. Whether it is ever actually delivered remains to be seen.

XBox Live Arcade will get Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo.

The PSP will continue to trail off, slowly losing the battle to Nintendo's handheld dominance. It coulda been a contender if the overpricing and oversaturation of UMD movies, and the lack of quality software hadn't left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. UMD movies will finally be put out to pasture.

The DS will continue to find prosperity. Nintendo's gamble paid off, but we knew that last year. I do predict some water-treading in its library though.

The GBA will be phased out, but it already has been in that state for a year. It will continue to remain profitable to publish for it for at least 2007. If Nintendo ever decides to bring out the Bit Generations games in the US, it will be as a final push for the GBA. Micros will remain in stores until at least 2008.

PS2 will indeed remain strong, possibly acting as Sony's lifeboat with the PS3 and failing PSP sucking away their profit margins. PS2 games will sell enough copies to keep Sony from doing what Microsoft did to the XBox when the 360 came out. I am hoping we see another banner year for Classic Compilations.

Profit-wise, I think we really are looking at 1) Nintendo 2) Microsoft & 3) Sony. Nintendo's plan to split the market will continue to be a major success for them. The mainstream press will continue coverage of the Wii, but will heavily favor the 360 & PS3. The current issue of Game Informer all but totally proves this.

Microsoft will be the darling of the mainstream gamer. XBox Live is, and will remain the premier online console gaming service.

Sony's high price will mean that they'll have a lot of catching up to do, especially if they keep losing exclusives. BluRay absolutely must become the format of choice for the company to stay solvent. The 4th Quarter of 2007 is going to be Judgment Day for Sony's position in the industry.

Just my take. I am not an expert or anything and have been horribly wrong before. Regardless, it is going to be an extremely interesting year for our hobby.

[Poofta!]

i think that by this time 2007, ps3 will have confortably positioned itself as the #1 console, like its previous two consoles.

[Lothars]

i think that by this time 2007, ps3 will have confortably positioned itself as the #1 console, like its previous two consoles.

I agree, I also think that the 360 will not do that well, even though i really like Xbox Live, I still think that Sony will step it up, drop the price and the PS3 will be like the PS2 just for every type of game you can think of.

The Wii will be good, but I think the sales will taper off unless Nintendo can follow up with some more substantial games.

Though it will do good, I still see it selling really good but they need to get some really outstanding software out.

I also predict by end of 2007 I will own all 3 systems.

[jajaja]

I think the Wii wont be doing so strong as Nintendo hopes. People will be so used to the controller that its not longer something new. GFX have always sold and since the Wii got rather poor hardware compared to 360 and PS3, Nintendo might take a hit on this.

[ALAKA]

Here are mine:
There will be a major game anouncement of a gaming going to a handheld system or a next generation system


wow,you really went out on a limb there...

[diskoboy]

Sega will release the Dreamcast II

One can dream :)

I think that MS will do a 360 (no pun intended) on the "No games on the HD-DVD Drive" policy, and start releasing games that will only run with the HD drive. MS will only sell them as "limited editions". EDIT - and they will only be games slated for big releases.

I think we'll finally see a sequel to NiGHTS (or they'll at least announce one) and Sega will start making smarter decisions again, and bring back some of their long-forgotten IP's.

There will be no RE5 this year.

The PS3 will lose all kinds of american 3rd party developer support. Blu-Ray will go the way of the Beta.

[poieo]

My prediction is this:

*Nintendo will prosper massively, having taken a very hard lesson (whatever you are, 3rd parties make you better) and combined it with what they already knew (hardcore idiots want the same shit over and over, while actual human beings want to have fun). They will once again become a household name, and most likely will be the one that finally manages to cement videogames' place as a valid form of entertainment and expression.

*MS will essentially take Sony's place as the clueless moron company that really doesn't know what the hell it's doing, but gets to fool itself into thinking they're brilliant simply because they're in a position where they can't lose. At this rate, they will go on to eventually take Nintendo's NES-SNES position by overreaching, turning their cluelessness into flagrant insanity. At this point they will then watch in collective horror as i bludgeon the living shit out of J. Allard. Berift of their chosen PR douchebag, the Xbox team will have lost the closest thing they had to a driving force and will subsequently collapse under the weight of their own headless blunder.

*Sony dies. I mean like total collapse of the company and name. It's either that or they hire someone to ask "Holy mother of fuck, what are we doing?". Or maybe they find some other miracle niche to survive off of.

[njiska]

My prediction is this:

*Nintendo will prosper massively, having taken a very hard lesson (whatever you are, 3rd parties make you better) and combined it with what they already knew (hardcore idiots want the same shit over and over, while actual human beings want to have fun). They will once again become a household name, and most likely will be the one that finally manages to cement videogames' place as a valid form of entertainment and expression.

*MS will essentially take Sony's place as the clueless moron company that really doesn't know what the hell it's doing, but gets to fool itself into thinking they're brilliant simply because they're in a position where they can't lose. At this rate, they will go on to eventually take Nintendo's NES-SNES position by overreaching, turning their cluelessness into flagrant insanity. At this point they will then watch in collective horror as i bludgeon the living shit out of J. Allard. Berift of their chosen PR douchebag, the Xbox team will have lost the closest thing they had to a driving force and will subsequently collapse under the weight of their own headless blunder.

*Sony dies. I mean like total collapse of the company and name. It's either that or they hire someone to ask "Holy mother of fuck, what are we doing?". Or maybe they find some other miracle niche to survive off of.

Do you actually have any idea what you're talking about? Seriously the Wii is not that great and if you challenge me, play wack-a-mole on super monkey ball and try to not to be pissed. Microsoft really is a brilliant company and listens to their consumers. They are far from clueless.

As for my educated predictions i see things playing out like this

Nintendo:
-Wii will be thrid place at the end of then year due to the lack of showcase exclusives.
- Most multiplatform titles will be bought on other platforms.
- Developer support will remain the same
- Most VC titles will fail to sell much but a few key titles like Super Mario RPG will sell big and drive a rise in VC prices. Similar to what we've already seen with TG-16 titles.
- Online support on the Wii will be about as well accepted as WFC was on DS. Lots of people will do it once or twice, but Xbox Live or PSN will be their home.
-DS sales and software will contiue to be strong

Sony:
- PS3 will either be in 2nd place or tied with Microsoft going into christmas.
- PSN will go down many times throught the year as Sony attempts to deal with the growing pains of developing the new system. Similar to the crash experinced when the GT HD download went live because the server couldn't handle the volume
- Multiplatform titles will have little or no difference graphcis wise. As with the current titles some will be better on 360, some on ps3, but in either case it won't be a big deal
- PSN original downloads will do decent
- Many, many firmware updates
- Gamers will be pissed off at having seperate IDs for many different games
- Exclusives at 720p may look better then some 360 titles. Don't expect many if any 1080p games to considerably better.
- Most games will not take more then 1 DVD of space

Microsoft:
- Most likely in first place going into christmas
- Xbox Live will continue to thrive
- The Video marketplace will greatly expand making MS lots of money. Will probably intorduceed in to a few new markets
- XBLA will see some great original titles and SOTN
- Halo 3 will be Microsofts Trump card for christmas
- Titles like Lost Oddesy will continue to boost microsoft popularity in Japan and with japanese developers. However ti will still have a freakishly small installed base
- It'll be the number one system in NA
- HD DVD addon will sell well
- Microsoft will continue to listen to it's community and will provide a solid set of updates to the dash in spring and fall

[Lord_Magus]

Traditional console gaming will be strong in 2007, mainly thanks to Nintendo's Wii and the DS. Although they both use disruptive technology and non-conventional controls, in spirit they are the two systems which focus more on "traditional" console gaming than the others. I'm expecting the Wii to be constantly sold out until next Christmas, and will eventually dominate the other two consoles sales-wise in a similar manner as the DS has dominated the PSP.

The line between "living room PCs" (360/PS3) and actual desktop PCs will (intentionally) continue to blur, and by the end of ~2009 Microsoft will have complete dominance over both areas. Expect a very strong connection between Vista and the next Microsoft console, which will be announced sometime around the end of 2008.

Sony will slowly start to die out, mostly due to their ridiculously high prices and arrogance. Also, expect the high development costs to divert several 3rd party deveopers to the Wii. (this is likely something the 360 will suffer from as well). Sony has become increasingly nervous and unstable lately, and is behaving similar to Sega before they met their demise with the Dreamcast. I'm expecting them to try and match the features provided by the Wii, so expect a few motion-sensing bowling and\or tennis games which promote "innovation".

Overall, console gaming will start to be separated into two distinct areas: one which favors high-end(?) technology and one which favors good old fashioned fun (and please, enough with the "they're not mutually exclusive" argument). Microsoft will take over the first half, while Nintendo will take over the other. Microsoft expands their empire from the desktop computer to within every persons living room, and Nintendo is left as the only company focused exclusively on producing games-only systems. All this won't happen until much later (2009?), but the first steps towards this direction have already been made.

The next 2-3 years are going to be very interesting, that's for sure...

[heybtbm]

Most of the predictions so far seem pretty realistic and grounded in logic...except for one glaring (obvious) omission...

The Wii will be in distant 3rd place by next Christmas. The public will see that the Wii's "innovative" controller is just a simple novelty...and one that doesn't even work that well. I will be supporting the Wii till the end, but the public will eventually loose interest and move on to either the 360 or PS3. The only kink in this prediction is the Wii's fantastic $250 price point vs the PS3's $600 price point (obviously a big deal to the average parent). I guess we'll see.

[rob black]

The Phantom console will make it long waiting debut.

[Captain Wrong]

The Phantom console will make it long waiting debut.

WINNAR!!!

Seriously though, I agree with most everything njiska said.

I think MS is going to be sitting well, unless they cock up royal. The PS3 is going to catch up once they put more units in stores and they're going to have tons of growing pains on-line. The Wii is going to enter the same period the DS did where the novelty of the control wears off and we wait for the really great games to come along.

Speaking of the DS, it's going to continue to sell well, even though software is going to be hit or miss. I don't think the PSP is quite dead yet, but Sony needs to pull a killer app out fast. I think they might and I think it may have something to do with PS3 connectivity.

[diskoboy]

Oh and one more obvious one (even though Njiska has said it already) - HALO 3 will make the 360 sell like hotcakes, around Christmas 2007. :)

And people will shut up about the 360 as "A heat source" when MS starts the 65mn chip process, around Febuary or march (supposedly the date they were supposed to start was January, but it got pushed bak).

[Griking]

It's funny when you see a response by a known fanboy and their biased prediction is almost exactly what you would have guessed it would be.

[scooterb23]

My prediction for 2007 is that I still won't give a shit about how any company is beating any other company, and just sit at home playing games that are fun.

[jajaja]

My prediction for 2007 is that I still won't give a shit about how any company is beating any other company, and just sit at home playing games that are fun.

Ah.. good to hear some else who doesnt care who "wins" :)
Nothing wrong with predictions of course, but i feel that some of these statements are alittle based on what people want to happend instead of whats being realistic, like someone said that Sony will die etc.

[poieo]

Do you actually have any idea what you're talking about? Seriously the Wii is not that great and if you challenge me, play wack-a-mole on super monkey ball and try to not to be pissed. Microsoft really is a brilliant company and listens to their consumers. They are far from clueless.

Don't put yourself in jeopardy by actually justifying any of that. Just saying it is totally proof enough, and is exactly all you need to do when entering a debate with someone.


Most of the predictions so far seem pretty realistic and grounded in logic...except for one glaring (obvious) omission...

The Wii will be in distant 3rd place by next Christmas. The public will see that the Wii's "innovative" controller is just a simple novelty...and one that doesn't even work that well. I will be supporting the Wii till the end, but the public will eventually loose interest and move on to either the 360 or PS3. The only kink in this prediction is the Wii's fantastic $250 price point vs the PS3's $600 price point (obviously a big deal to the average parent). I guess we'll see.

This is what i find endlessly amusing about the gaming community. You can have people say stuff like this about the DS, even though it's still going strong. Then, with that clear and shining precedent for how wrong those cries of "cheap gimmick!" were, they'll still go on to say the same thing about the Wii.

What's completely fuckin' bizarre to me is the notion that people will get tired of the Wii's control method even though we're on the 20 billionth year of the standard that the SNES set, and even though systems before the Wii have had plenty of games with crappy controls. Nothing at all to take from that, huh?

[unwinddesign]

I find the DS gimmicky and the Wii gimmicky. I don't understand why people like the DS. I like 2D platformers, sure, but woooo, now they're 20x better because I can touch the screen? Errm, no. For me, the PSP is a much better handheld gaming option.

I think in 2K7 the 360 will gain a good deal of market share putting itself in the #1 console spot (although not by a large margin), Wii sales should remain steady, but Wii Mania will taper off, and Playstation 3 sales will pick up after Sony is forced to slash prices or throw in a game with their system.

[njiska]

Don't put yourself in jeopardy by actually justifying any of that. Just saying it is totally proof enough, and is exactly all you need to do when entering a debate with someone.

Ummm did you actually read any thing you wrote yourself? You offer no justification for any statement you made. I at least offered some. Seriously play Super Monkey Ball and you'll see some serious issues that are showing with the system right now.

I also cited Microsoft listening their consumers as a reason why they will not fail. Granted i didn't state too many fact in my statement but that's because most of the nessecary facts are already well known and widely understood by the rational, non-fanboy, community on this forum.

If you really want to start a debate over this be my guest, but i suggest you try backing up your baseless claims first.

[megamaniaman]

I think the record for highest ebay ending price videogame for the Atari 2600 will be broken in 2007. Also Atari will do something to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 2600.
The Wii will do exceptionally well and will be only behind the Xbox 360.
Playstation 3 will become the all time biggest flop for a videogame system and Sony will lose a record amount of money in videogaming.

[poieo]

If you really want to start a debate over this be my guest, but i suggest you try backing up your baseless claims first.

Yeah. Except the person apparently wanting to start a debate here is YOU, jackass. Hence the requirement that YOU back up YOUR rebuttal. Were the basics of human discussion never taught to you?

Protip: One example of a minigame having crappy controls doesn't cut it.

[heybtbm]

Yeah. Except the person apparently wanting to start a debate here is YOU, jackass. Hence the requirement that YOU back up YOUR rebuttal. Were the basics of human discussion never taught to you?

The Internet...serious business.

[njiska]

Yeah. Except the person apparently wanting to start a debate here is YOU, jackass. Hence the requirement that YOU back up YOUR rebuttal. Were the basics of human discussion never taught to you?

Protip: One example of a minigame having crappy controls doesn't cut it.

First rule of all engagements, know your opponent. Trying to bully me into a flame war isn't going to work. Well i don't sink to your level and start calling people jackasses without provocation and i certainly don't make baseless claims.

You wanted more evidence so i shall provide it.

Most of the Super Monkey Ball Minigames have control issues, Red Steel is lamented by many for it's poor control, motion controls in the legend of Zelda feel tacked on and offer little extra in terms of immersion and Boxing in Wii sports is so randomly unresspoinsive it's not even funny.

If you'd like to take the issue outside fo just controls we can do that as well.

- Poorly designed online service
- slow interface for navigating the online Store
- many VC titles are over priced and in some cases we've already seen prices start to rise
- opting not to support HD because SD has a higher precentage of the market, then turning around and opting for Wifi only even though wired has most of the market
- lack of first party component cables at launch. Slow arrival post launch
- lack of wired eithernet to USB adapter until january (And they don't allow 3rd party ones to work)
- Lack of USB keyboard support
- Ridiculously short battery life and no rechargable battery pack
- Lack of any truely impressive titles that aren't mini-game collections
- Lack of forthcoming 3rd praty exclusives with major appeal
- Lack of forthcoming 1st party exclusives until late next year

I'm sure there's lots more i haven't mentioned as well.

Now here's a little lesson for you. The greatest debate of all is that which takes place with in a court room and in a court room it is the person who makes the original claim (i.e. you) that is required to prove it, the person disputing the claim (i.e. me) is only required to offer proof that discredits your proof. Your job is to prove your claims to us, not to bitch and moan when we say, "Sorry don't beleive you"

Now i've been good and offered more objections to your theory on the Wii, why don't you try offering some proof for your claims? Especially your claims against Microsoft since the are beyond absurd.


The Internet...serious business.

For me it's all in good fun.

[poieo]

You wanted more evidence so i shall provide it.

No. I wanted some evidence from you and i still don't have it.


Most of the Super Monkey Ball Minigames have control issues, Red Steel is lamented by many for it's poor control, motion controls in the legend of Zelda feel tacked on and offer little extra in terms of immersion and Boxing in Wii sports is so randomly unresspoinsive it's not even funny.

This would matter if there weren't countless games that have botched controls with "normal" controllers. By your logic, all classic consoles should be written off because they play host to games with stiff or unresponsive controls.



- Poorly designed online service
- slow interface for navigating the online Store
- many VC titles are over priced and in some cases we've already seen prices start to rise
- opting not to support HD because SD has a higher precentage of the market, then turning around and opting for Wifi only even though wired has most of the market
- lack of first party component cables at launch. Slow arrival post launch
- lack of wired eithernet to USB adapter until january (And they don't allow 3rd party ones to work)
- Lack of USB keyboard support
- Ridiculously short battery life and no rechargable battery pack
- Lack of any truely impressive titles that aren't mini-game collections
- Lack of forthcoming 3rd praty exclusives with major appeal
- Lack of forthcoming 1st party exclusives until late next year

I'm sure there's lots more i haven't mentioned as well.

Yeah, like how any of this means MS listens to its consumer base. Might try mentioning that next time. Because if this is the most you're capable of, i can easily come up with a ones-sided, contextless laundry list of comparable flubs that MS has made with the 360.


Now here's a little lesson for you. The greatest debate of all is that which takes place with in a court room and in a court room it is the person who makes the original claim (i.e. you) that is required to prove it, the person disputing the claim (i.e. me) is only required to offer proof that discredits your proof. Your job is to prove your claims to us, not to bitch and moan when we say, "Sorry don't beleive you"

Thanks. Now, since you're apparently incapable of determining the difference between a courtroom and a thread of predictions on a gaming messageboard, here's a tip for you:

When you pick one out, you are the one challenging and thus, need to come up with something better than "...Nuh-uh!". Put down the sippy cup if that's what's getting in the way.

[Emuaust]

The Problem I see here is that MS listen to the customers, um info please, I dont want a flame but Im just wondering what
things they have been listening too?

Bigger Hard Drive?
Better BC?
Xbox Live Arcade games that dont Suck?
Some gameplay to go along with you graphics sir?


Honestly I like my 360 and my Wii, although the actual experience
of playing games on either one is less then exciting, I find
it very amusing that with all of these new toys I play more and
more current gen games, ah well lets hope the new year changes this.


My Prediction is that Nintendo will be contemplating leaving the
console market and focusing om handhelds as there market
share falls to a smaller percentage as the year goes on,
They are doing so many things wrong but are lucky enough
at the moment that Sony and MS arent doing anything to
capatilise on this.

Meh I dont care anyways I still have a back catalog of games
from 2005 to play before I worry too much about 2007 lol

[njiska]

The Problem I see here is that MS listen to the customers, um info please, I dont want a flame but Im just wondering what
things they have been listening too?

Bigger Hard Drive?
Better BC?
Xbox Live Arcade games that dont Suck?
Some gameplay to go along with you graphics sir?


Honestly I like my 360 and my Wii, although the actual experience
of playing games on either one is less then exciting, I find
it very amusing that with all of these new toys I play more and
more current gen games, ah well lets hope the new year changes this.


My Prediction is that Nintendo will be contemplating leaving the
console market and focusing om handhelds as there market
share falls to a smaller percentage as the year goes on,
They are doing so many things wrong but are lucky enough
at the moment that Sony and MS arent doing anything to
capatilise on this.

Meh I dont care anyways I still have a back catalog of games
from 2005 to play before I worry too much about 2007 lol

Well i'm through arguing with Poieo since he clearly doesn't have any proof his claims there is no real debate to be had. Plus he does a pretty good jhob of discrediting himself in every thread he posts in so there's little need to continue.

But for you Emuaust, since you asked politely and seem to actually be interested in getting an answer, i'll gladly give you one.

Bigger Hard Drive?

Yeah this is the big request and i don't know why they haven't done it yet.

Better BC?

We've been seeing BC updates from time to time and while they're not as common as i would like MS is working hard on it and listening to requests for BC games. For example Psyconauts was added in the latest update and it was a game that has long been asked for.

The problem with MS and BC is that they're not in a position like Sony or Nintendo where they can just throw old parts in the machine and make it work, they have to do straight emulation and on top of that because of lisencing issues with the CPU and GPU of the original xbox they have to manage to emulate both of those without violating any agreements.

If you look at the emualtion seen on PCs you can see that things like that just simply take time. Personally i think they're doing an ok job.

Xbox Live Arcade games that dont Suck?

I personally fail to see how this can be attributed to MS listening to their customers or not. Increasing the release schedule to one game nearly every wed was MS responding to the complaints of it's customers, but as for the quality of the games released that really falls on the shoulders of the developers. At the very least the games for the most part aren't glitchy and in the case of Assault Heroes can be kind of fun.

Some gameplay to go along with you graphics sir?

Gears of War anyone? How about Rainbow Six: Vegas? Both are recently released titles that offer solid gameplay experiences both online and off.

Not in to FPS games? Then why not give Dead Rising a try? It's a solid adventure title that's a lot of fun any way you cut it.

Even Viva Pinata is a good fun game for the whole family.

The thing is again this falls more on the shoulders of developers though then Microsoft itself. Remember it's the person who makes the game, not the console manufacturer.

I dont want a flame but Im just wondering what
things they have been listening too?

Well you may not remember/know this but back when the 360 originally launched you weren't able to download items off Xbox live in the background. This was a major problem because with large demos that pushed over the 1 GB mark it would mean your system was unusuable for over an hour.

When the spring update came out back in June Microsoft addressed this issue and added what they call background downloading which allows you to queue up to 5 or 6 (i forget the number) items to download in the background while you do whatever you want with one exception. If you start to play a game on Xbox live the system automatically pauses the download in the background so that it doesn't take up any bandwidth that would be better spent keeping your online experience smooth. It's also worth noting that the queue pauses when you turn off the system and automatically resumes when you turn it back on.

Microsoft has also made numerous changes to the layout of items on the Games and Media blades in order to make navigation more smooth based on input from the community.

Many gamers also complained about how the system would autoload a game on boot up when they just wanted to boot to the dash. MS added an option in the settings allowing you to choose how you want your system to startup.

Recently MS also fixed a long standing complaint about the Xbox live arcade list. For many months gamers had complained about how long it takes to load the list of arcade titles. MS said they were working on it and when they released the fall update sure enough the problem was fixed. They also added several options to sort the list of XBLA titles because the community had complained about how long it was getting and how hard it was to find stuff.

They also added an autodownload option for new XBLA titles so that people don't have to go looking for trials to see if the game is any good. This is an option i myself asked for.

When the video player was originally launched it only allowed you to stop and pause movies downloaded from the marketplace. MS listened and in the srpgin update enabled full controls for all videos downloaded from xbox live.

You may also remember they recently added to option to stream movies from any PC running windows media connect, not just systems running Windows XP MC edition. It doesn't decode Divx (for liability reasons) but other wise it's what we were looking for.

MS also has Major Nelson who give the community a single point of contact for critical errors and information. Even if the Major doesn't always gut people the way we want he does at least some the community that MS is listening.

Take the EA paying for cheats thing. We weren't happy with what that asshole said on his show, but at least they gave us someone to point our fingers at and direct all complaints too.

I think thaat list should be suffice but if you'd like more i'm sure i could come up with some.

[Emuaust]

I will agree with you on some items but sorry I wont give you
the points for the BC arguement, emulation is slow and buggy on
PC for the fact emu authors are hobbiest programmers or at best
have little source material to form emu's from, that is the hard
slow way of making things work, MS have all source material
relating to the workings of the Xbox, they CHOOSE to, IMO, not
give us great BC due to the limited to no income the will recieve in the short term.

Also IMO I think there justification for this is, if true, is infact
a load of bullshit and would have more benfit to there brand image
to have great support.

To be honest I dont think they listen to the things that count
try and track down an offical xbox controller outside of the USA,
Good luck trying in countries like Australia.

MS dont seem to me to be doing things that great at all, they just seem to be doing things better then the other 2,
its a sad state in gaming really, :) :)

[njiska]

In regards to that i present this short essay by Michael Brundage. He worked on BC and is a respected individual. Not a pawn.

http://www.qbrundage.com/michaelb/pubs/essays/xbox360.html

As for the controller i can't really comment. my only experience is within ym own country, Canada, and here it's never been an issue. I'll make sure to ask my aussie friends about that, though.

[xfrumx]

- Ridiculously short battery life and no rechargable battery pack


I have at least 50 hours on these energizers I put in it and they still are 3/4ths full.
I reccomend buying some good batteries they always are worth it for me.

Also the Wii has be best BC for any system, it actually plays EVERY gamecube game unlike ps2/3 and xbox/360(which i hope to own before 2008)

but yeah battery life = good and we should see some 3rd party rechargables soon

[poieo]

Well i'm through arguing with Poieo since he clearly doesn't have any proof his claims there is no real debate to be had. Plus he does a pretty good jhob of discrediting himself in every thread he posts in so there's little need to continue.

I love it when people try to act like they're taking the high road despite failing to provide anything of substance. The simple fact is that i'm not going to put forth the effort to writing it all again for some childish retard who's put forth none of his own. If you're so familiar with my posts, ace, then you should have no problem at all finding the ones where i layed out exactly what i thought MS' fuckups were.

But then again, that's not the point is it? That little bit would just ruin your ability to declare yourself winner despite not saying anything, wouldn't it?

[Emuaust]

I dont think the link is really all that valid, as someone with an emu background
not haveing a windows swap file or system heavy OS is a major advantage,
to compare PC emulation to console or hanheld emu's is bar far the most part pointless.

Stating to Emulate this for example 1ghz machine I need a 5ghz machine is without
knowing an awful lot about the subject matter, i dont mean to sound rude but
maybe you should check out the PSP PSX emulation and tell me if this theory
can be really justified, the reason Sony could pull of the emulation is no real miracle
and I fully understand that we are talking very vastly different hardware structures
here but with the resources MS has at its dissposal the BC is by far the most part a joke.

Also you dont seem to be looking at this issue from a Worldwide point of view,
BC is bad on the 360 if your in the US but worse outside of the US, how are our PAL
gamers going with there Soulcalibur 2's? MS dont give a fck about anything outside
of the USA.

This is a problem.


Anyways that is all, thread is flame bait and pointless now, I take my leave.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

-Nintendo With the Inovation that is the Wii Contoler Will Continue to sell strong throughout 2007 picking up a few eclusives along the way
-Microsoft's XBOX 360 with its 1 year Lead will be too much to overcome and will be the main console of the generation
-Sony and its PS3 will have a really really bad start to 2007 but as Consumers start to reallize that Blu Ray is better than HD-DVD the sales will start to pick up in the middle of the year as a cheap Blu Ray Player and carry it through the rest of 2007, but it will not catch either console this generation.
-the PC will continue to get great titles but the PC downfall will already begin with the realse of Windows Vista and will cause a mass migration to Macs, Linux and mabye even the Amiga.
-3rd Parties will make Rash Judgements and make more games Multiplatform.
-More Retro games and game collections will be made for the Various platforms
-Oh yeah GOTY 2007 will be a Wii Game.

[scorch56]

I will not be getting a new gen console this year either.

[njiska]

Anyways that is all, thread is flame bait and pointless now, I take my leave.

Agreed, let's leave it to the predictions.

[badinsults]

Here are my predictions:

- The Wii will catch up to the Xbox 360 in terms of market share by mid-year. They will remain roughly tied by the end of the year, due in part to the release of games like Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, which drives sales. I predict they will both sell around 20 million units worldwide by the end of 2007.

- The PS3... well that is a tough one. The ebayers really screwed Sony on that one by buying up the supply, only to find that there is only a limited amount of people willing to pay >$1000 for a console with no spectacular games, and now the hype is waning. If Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy 13 come out late next year, I think it will have a decent year. However, if they are delayed, which I believe will happen, I see the PS3 having a very Gamecube-like future. I predict 7-8 million units sold by the end of 2007.

- The DS will continue to dominate the handheld realm. Dragon Quest 9 will be hearlded as the greatest RPG ever for a handheld, and will sell millions in Japan (though it will not make it out in North America until 2008). There will continue to be a solid stream of high quality games.

- The PSP will be abandoned by the end of the year by everyone except Sony. Despite also being abandoned, the GBA will still outsell the PSP by a large margin.

- The PS2 market will slowly fade by the end of the year. Though some predict that it will still thrive, I am sceptical. Remember that the Snes and Genesis still outsold Playstation 1 and Saturn by a large margin in the first year those two consoles were released. By 1996, it was clear than the 16-bit era was over. The same will happen with the PS2. Just look how quickly the Xbox was dropped. There will be a series of sure-fire sellers, but most companies will have moved to next-gen.

- There will not be any major hardware announcements. The only thing I could see is Sony announcing a successor to the PSP, though considering how badly it slumped after a year, I don't see it happening.

- I predict that I will buy more DS games, and have tons of fun. I probably won't get any new consoles this year, as I am waiting for price cuts, which surely won't happen this year.

[diskoboy]

-
-Sony and its PS3 will have a really really bad start to 2007 but as Consumers start to reallize that Blu Ray is better than HD-DVD the sales will start to pick up in the middle of the year as a cheap Blu Ray Player and carry it through the rest of 2007, but it will not catch either console this generation.

Please explain how the glitchy blu-ray is better than HD-DVD? Considering HD is outselling blu-ray 3 to 1. And Sony is still having problems with the blue diodes that it uses to make the beam?

Not to mention it's about $300 cheaper...

HVD (Holographic Versatile Discs) will blow them both away, anyway. So why does it really matter??

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

Please explain how the glitchy blu-ray is better than HD-DVD? Considering HD is outselling blu-ray 3 to 1. And Sony is still having problems with the blue diodes that it uses to make the beam?

Not to mention it's about $300 cheaper...

HVD (Holographic Versatile Discs) will blow them both away, anyway. So why does it really matter??

Listen New Technology almost always starts out Glitchy and I think sony will have these Problems Figured out sooner rather than Later.

[Spartacus]

I'll go out on a limb and predict that Microsoft will come out with a portable system in 2007.
I'll also predict that there won't be any more Xbox games released in 2007. At least I hope not. I'm fairly close to having a complete Xbox collection and frankly, I don't need to see any more frackin' Xbox games!

[Richter Belmount]

First rule of all engagements, know your opponent. Trying to bully me into a flame war isn't going to work. Well i don't sink to your level and start calling people jackasses without provocation and i certainly don't make baseless claims.

You wanted more evidence so i shall provide it.

Most of the Super Monkey Ball Minigames have control issues, Red Steel is lamented by many for it's poor control, motion controls in the legend of Zelda feel tacked on and offer little extra in terms of immersion and Boxing in Wii sports is so randomly unresspoinsive it's not even funny.

If you'd like to take the issue outside fo just controls we can do that as well.

- Poorly designed online service
- slow interface for navigating the online Store
- many VC titles are over priced and in some cases we've already seen prices start to rise
- opting not to support HD because SD has a higher precentage of the market, then turning around and opting for Wifi only even though wired has most of the market
- lack of first party component cables at launch. Slow arrival post launch
- lack of wired eithernet to USB adapter until january (And they don't allow 3rd party ones to work)
- Lack of USB keyboard support
- Ridiculously short battery life and no rechargable battery pack
- Lack of any truely impressive titles that aren't mini-game collections
- Lack of forthcoming 3rd praty exclusives with major appeal
- Lack of forthcoming 1st party exclusives until late next year

I'm sure there's lots more i haven't mentioned as well.

Now here's a little lesson for you. The greatest debate of all is that which takes place with in a court room and in a court room it is the person who makes the original claim (i.e. you) that is required to prove it, the person disputing the claim (i.e. me) is only required to offer proof that discredits your proof. Your job is to prove your claims to us, not to bitch and moan when we say, "Sorry don't beleive you"

Now i've been good and offered more objections to your theory on the Wii, why don't you try offering some proof for your claims? Especially your claims against Microsoft since the are beyond absurd.



For me it's all in good fun.

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=1622174
Arguing is fun

[Rogmeister]

Spartacus said:

I'll go out on a limb and predict that Microsoft will come out with a portable system in 2007. I'll also predict that there won't be any more Xbox games released in 2007. At least I hope not. I'm fairly close to having a complete Xbox collection and frankly, I don't need to see any more frackin' Xbox games!

I think it's pretty easy for me to predict that there WILL be Xbox games released in 2007. I don't see them shutting them off like a faucet. That wouldn't be great public relations to XBox owners who haven't upgraded to a 360... :D

[GarrettCRW]

My predictions:

-The 360 will establish itself as a solid #1 in the US and across the globe. (Well, except in Japan.)

-The Wii will rise to #2 in the States and worldwide, but will be the most popular console in Japan.

-Mario Galaxy and Halo 3 will be massive hits and start up huge Nintendo/MS fanboy wars, especially when the two games split the major GOTY awards right down the middle.

-Nintendo will score a mid-level exclusive sometime in 2007, surprising many.

-Microsoft will score a AAA-exclusive *WORLDWIDE* (yes, including Japan), astounding everyone, and inciting fanboy flamewars like nobody's business.

-Sony, in need of good news amongst moribund sales across the board, will make a big announcement that grabs lots of attention. Whether or not the results help Sony won't be known until 2008.

-Dragon Quest IX will be a smash hit in Japan, and when released in the US 2008, will actually sell like hotcakes here as well, pleasing Enix diehards to no end.

-Nintendo will begin releasing translated versions of Japan-only games like Mother, Fire Emblem, and Famicom Wars on the Virtual Console. However, they'll still piss everyone off by cracking down on the burgeoning translation and reproduction markets online.

-Sammy will announce plans for a console, to be launched somewhere around 2008 or 2009. It will not be Sega-branded, and will be met with skepticism.

[njiska]

-Sammy will announce plans for a console, to be launched somewhere around 2008 or 2009. It will not be Sega-branded, and will be met with skepticism.

Wow where did that come from? I mean Sammy making a console is one thing, but not using the Sega brand would be pretty odd.

[Captain Wrong]

I would buy a Sammy console in a heartbeat, Sega branded or not.

<=== has damn near bought an Atomiswave more times than he can count.

[Half Japanese]

I predict that in 2007 gamers will continue to disguise prejudices and baseless assumptions as predictions and forecasts for how companies will do/are doing.

[suckerpunch5]

-Nokia will unveil & begin selling the N-Gage's follow up and I will be one of twenty people world wide who care even a little.

[Lothars]

I predict that in 2007 gamers will continue to disguise prejudices and baseless assumptions as predictions and forecasts for how companies will do/are doing.

True enough, it's sad that it happens but I am guilty of it as well.

though it's just one of those things I guess.