Launches are weak software-wise. This has been the case for three cycles now. Why anyone is still surprised by this I do not know. I attribute part of the weakness to the death of the arcade. It used to be when a new home console came out, it would often come with a port of a popular arcade game, and based on that port, people would lose their freaking minds. I remember when the Genesis version of Altered Beast looked about on par with the arcade version and that blowing me away. Remember the Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur and the PS2 version of Tekken Tag murdering the arcade versions? That's the problem, there's no bar set for new generations any more, nothing that is so technically impressive that the ability to duplicate it blows people away. Sure there are PC games, but they aren't as high profile as arcade games were. Nobody fucking cares if you make a prettier version of Cryis.

Consoles used to share DNA with arcades... remember the System 246 hardware? Anyway, I think that has a lot to do with why launches feel underwhelming; there's no "big brother" platform that had games the consoles being replaced simply couldn't have done.

I'd rather they just take the formula and design philosophies of the series and create a new IP set in a sci-fi world.

You know, kind of like Darksiders.

Don't see this becoming a thing for years; several generations at best.

What I really find funny is that there are all these problems with these new technologies that ask too much of the consumer. Is your room big enough? Is it well lighted? Perhaps moving the lights around will help. Is furniture getting in the way? Perhaps rearranging the room will help... Do you get motion sickness? Here, take some dramamine a half hour before playing.

I mean, it's all pretty fucking absurd, really. I don't mean that as a knock against the tech, which is admittedly VERY cool, but when you have to worry about your users barfing from using it, that's kind of a thing.

Hahaaa BURN

Wow, that is quite the ass beating. Don't worry, Areez -- people are still buying it for games. A few of them anyway. :)

Okay, I didn't REALLY mean your vagina had sand in it. I don't even know if you live near a beach.

While they have done better than I expected (I already mentioned that in my first post) they have lost a tremendous amount already. All one needs do is look at the data from the last three years to see that they have gone from leading Sony by a healthy margin to losing marketshare in this first month both in hardware and software.

They're where Sony was when transitioning from the PS2 to the PS3 -- they had the market; it was theirs to mess up, and mess it up they have. Sony is now not only competitive, but leading them in North America, and globally. They are leading in software sales too. Don't you get it? This shouldn't have even been a fight...

I don't see this console generation being anything at all like last generation. Last generation was fractured, with two overpriced systems in one corner and a disruptor in the other that ended in ruin. I see the numbers already beginning to coalesce around one player. We'll see if that continues, but I am betting it does.

While that certainly isn't a bad strategy (confining Microsoft to North America ensures they will be uncompetitive globally, pretty much ensuring a favorable outcome for Sony), I don't think Sony is going to let them up in December. I expect December to remain close simply because the demand is still showing signs of being massively pent up here in America. I think Sony can still sell as many as they want, and that's why I think they'll take December as well.

It would appear you don't because if what you asserted were true, the Bone wouldn't be trailing the Playstation.

That aside, what does all the convergence do for companies that want to sell games? As a game maker and publisher, why would I want the platform I am developing for to give the owner of the console a dozen reasons NOT to play games? You keep talking about the evolution of the console, but if the overarching purpose of them is going to continue to serve as game players, and the market is already seeing issues with software sales last generation, why would anyone want to provide further distractions to getting someone to flip a game on as soon as their ass lands in the seat?

I can assure you that game companies want these consoles focused on playing games. They NEED them to be focused on being game players.

I didn't say no one bought it for the games, but if you've been following sales data on the Xbox for any given amount of time, you would know that the base was voracious when it comes to games, and had been, literally since the 360 launched. Now that position has shifted and (early on at least) the multiplatform sales numbers have shifted. In fact, they haven't merely shifted, but lurched as the PS4 has a higher attach rate than both the PS2 and PS3 at launch. Those are devastating numbers.

So what does this tell us? Besides the fact that the higher cost leaves the buyers with less money for games, it leads to the very real possibility that a good portion of the audience is not buying it for games. I don't know why this is shocking to some seeing as Microsoft has marketed it as more than a games console; has since the very first reveal.

My point is that publishers and developers will take notice of this if it becomes a pattern, and that is why putting features in that COMPETE for a player's attention is contrary to the one goal that every developer and publisher seek to accomplish, and that is to sell games.

In summary, your intent was to purchase and play games and I'm sure that was the intent of many, but there are many also who are not buying games, at least not with the ferocity that the Microsoft crowd is known for.

Well, at least you find your delusions funny, so I guess it hasn't totally been for nothing. :P

You've got nothing to back your argument up, and the sales of the new consoles just took a giant shit all over your whole theory. Maybe the reason people act like you are hearing voices is for good reason, dude.