And by Malstrom gamer, I mean the gamer who is disgusted and bored by gaming but liked what the Wii has to offer. Believe me, there are more of people like me out there than you can believe.
A leaked Sega document shows Sony planning to release a motion controller and a software strategy into early 2010. I do hope Sony plans to release some software for their motion controller as well. A motion controller isn’t going to do so hot without any software.
What is more interesting is the software release. Sony plans to put its PS2 library online for digital distribution as well as Dreamcast games.
Sony is really making a right move by focusing on games instead of being a media center. And while Sony fans are arguing with one another about backward compatibility and why Sony’s “version” of backwards compatibility is you buying all the games over again, let me have a word:
Sony isn’t targeting you.
Sony is targeting me.
The purchase of PS2 games online is really for those who didn’t own a PS2.
There have been some major ‘walls’ in preventing someone like me from purchasing a PS3:
-Games not in my taste (PS3’s library is atrocious that is full of ‘hardcore’ games)
-Controller sucks.
-Not affordable.
Systematically, Sony has been dismantling these walls. PS3 is now much more affordable than it was. The Sony Wand could remove the ‘controller sucks’ wall as Wii-mote did to the Gamecube controller. As for games not in my taste, having PS2 and Dreamcast library available online is definitely tempting. Even someone as jaded as I can find some games I would like with such libraries.
Guys like myself purchased the Wii not just because of what it offered with the motion controller and Wii Sports, but the potential for new content in that context (which Nintendo is failing miserably with, “User Generated Content” killed any ‘potential’ Wii had in many people’s eyes). Wii also embraced old games which increased the content one could enjoy from perfect Gamecube backward compatibility to the Virtual Console. Such a console was a no-brainer for someone like me to get.
Sony embracing older libraries really puts its value up for a hardware purchase.
Of course, Sony has said many things before and done it all wrong. PSP Go’s price point shows that Sony still doesn’t truly get it.
But there is a window for Sony to go through, a window that Nintendo opened with their disastrous move to user generated content. If Sony marries their motion controller to game content (which is what Wii owners were looking for since the beginning), and if Sony embraces previous game libraries and puts them all up which supplements and fixes the dismal PS3 game library, Sony could pull this generation away from Nintendo.
Nintendo had so many problems with the Genesis because Genesis stole all the sports gamers. This is why Nintendo has done such an excellent job with motion controls and sports games, both first and third parties. However, other game content has not been married to the motion controls.
Nintendo had an opportunity to steal FPS gamers away from the HD twins. Games like Conduit were way too mediocre and way too late. Someone is going to steal the FPS gamers with motion controls and pointing. Probability shows that it would be Sony (and it would be a triumph of Sony over Microsoft since Natal can’t do anything decent with FPS).
There is other game experiences the motion controls can also do such as various action games, RPG games, and so on. But FPS is the big one aside from sports.
I believe this could be why Retro is suddenly talking about a multiplayer Metroid game. Nintendo has to see this ‘window’ they have accidentally opened up.
Sony is the one to watch in 2010.
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What prevents me from getting a Xbox 360? There are three ‘walls’ that are deal breakers:
-The controller sucks. I mean it sucks even more than normal. I like the games available on the 360, especially the Live Arcade. But the D-Pad on the controller is horrible, and it is broken.
-Online is not free but is a subscription. This is a deal breaker. I am not that stupid to pay for online that is free everywhere else. I see online as part of the platform. I want to OWN the platform, not RENT it.
-Xbox 360 hardware sucks and breaks down all the time. I want my game consoles to last at least ten years or more.
Microsoft should have fixed the hardware issue by now. They’ve made ‘improvements’, but the problem is still there.
Online can be made free. Microsoft doesn’t want to do it because they want Live to be a ‘platform’ you rent.
A fixed Xbox 360 controller can easily be made. Microsoft has replaced controllers before. But Microsoft just doesn’t give a damn even on something this easy.
I see Sony dismantling the walls preventing someone like me from purchasing their system. Microsoft doesn’t see the walls at all. They think that joke called ‘Natal’ will bring in those Wii owners. Natal won’t do it. But Sony Wand might.
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