Wii & PS3 - A Year Later
It's hard to believe a year has already passed since the launch of both the PS3 and Wii here in the US. What's more amazing is how a year can drastically change perceptions and opinions. After being the laughing stock of the gaming industry and gamers alike and being labeled as a "fad" the Wii has turned into the fastest selling console in videogame history. The PS3 was being praised as the future of gaming and media entertainment, the undisputed favorite to come out on top, and now, merely a year later, it can barely sell a third as much as the Wii even though Sony has dropped its price multiple times. Developers have turned to badmouthing the PS3, but even worse is the tremendous drop in support.
What was the shining light of the videogame industry has now become a bane to Sony who has lost millions upon millions with its failed console - doing everything it can to prevent the ship from sinking including ripping out backwards compatibility in spite of how much they lauded it. Even today Sony is still announcing price cuts with the halving of the price of its development kits. Needless to say the 10 year lifespan of the PS3 doesn't look so wonderful to Sony right now.
The Wii's success has been groundbreaking, but it still has obstacles to overcome. The videogame industry, like an old, grumpy man, is hard headed and set in its ways. In the eyes of many technology is king and graphics rule the gaming world. The Wii has undoubtedly proven these people wrong, but they won't change their views or sup at the Wii's table. They would rather make a game for the PS3 and go bankrupt than work with Wii. Even the videogame media has shown their distaste for the Wii by taking cheap shots in reviews, judging the Wii and its games by a different and unfair standard and even promoting blatantly false articles about it.
More importantly is the incredible lack of effort many game companies have shown on the Wii. Even though things are turning around many companies have a long way to go before it can be said that they made a good Wii game.
There are still lots of things to come, but it's still intriguing to see how things change. I wonder what the next year will bring, and how different things will be then.
