This seems odd as now it should be the exact opposite because of the following reasons:
- More competition: Nintendo Ultra 64, upcoming Matsushita M2.
- Lackluster new line of next-generation platform games (Mario, Sonic style games):
- Nintendo has Super Mario 64 which is a true 3d platform game.
- Sega has Nights and Sonic Extreme.
- All Sony has is Crash Bandicoot which is a 2d platform game with 3d polygon characters.
- Lack of on-line gaming and internet capability from possible hardware expansion limitations:
- Sega has their Sega NetLink slated for this fall (full fledged Internet capability such as WWW browsing, Email and on-line gaming).
- XBand has their Sega Saturn XBand internet system slated for this fall.
- Nintendo has announced at E3 and other shows that they will be creating an Internet system for the Ultra 64.
- Sony executives continually state that the Sony Playstation will have no Internet support.
- The graphics edge that the Playstation had over the Sega Saturn has now been eliminated and in some cases surpasssed by the Saturn (programmers have learned the Saturn hardware).
- Games for Sega Saturn such as Daytona USA, MechWarrior 2, Virtual On are all slated to have Internet multiplayer gaming support. The Playstation at most can only link two of them together via serial cable and two TV's in the same room (which the Saturn can do as well).
ADVANTAGES PLAYSTATION HAS THIS YEAR:
- Hit games such as Tekken 2, Mech Warrior 2, Id Software's Hexen will be coming this fall.
- Con: All these games have immense on-line gaming potential. The Sega Saturn versions and possibly later Nintendo Ultra 64 versions will have on-line gaming capability.
- Final Fantasy 7, THE most anticipated RPG of this year. The developers who are named Square Soft are one of the most respected RPG developers in the world. They abondoned Nintendo and are exculsively developing games for the Sony Playstation for now.
- The most impressive sports games line-up.
- Con: Sega is now closing this lead and their games have the potential for on-line multiplayer games.
- The Playstation will have mere head to head whereas the
Saturn version has the potential for actual teams of human
players to battle it out over the Internet!
The rise in stock may have more to do with expectations based on Sony Playstation sales from last year to the present. The Sony Playstation is the most popular next generation game system in North America at the present.
However, in my opinion their future is not looking very good as their advantages they had before are being nullified and Sony has no plans to bring Internet capability to the Sony Playstation.
This lack of Internet capability is the Playstation's achilles heel as all of their competitors are basing most of their future plans on the Internet to take the game machines to the next level.
A next-generation console with Internet capability is a serious contender to PC's, the 'web boxes' (Apple's Pippen, Sun's and Oracle's machine, etc.) and the standard game console (Sony Playstation).
An all-in-one machine for $400 that can be used for practical uses as well as games turns the 'kiddies' video game machine into an integral part of a family's living room - something Bill Gates has been trying for years to accomplish on PC's and has still been unsuccessful.
My best suggestion now is to be cautious with Sony. Although many people don't remember this, the NEC Turbografx 16 was outselling the Sega Genesis during it's first year much like the Sony Playstation is doing to the Sega Saturn now.
One year later the NEC Turbografx 16 sold pitifully and was pulled off of most retail shelves. The Sony Playstation could suffer the same fate if they don't get their Internet capability going.
They had the exact same advantages over the competition then as the Sony Playstion has now:
- More games and a bigger variety.
- Superior graphics (with a few exceptions).
The competition (most notably the Sega Genesis) caught up in a year and acquired a larger game libarary with more variety. Furthermore, the programmers learned how to program the Sega Genesis properly and made games that were technically superior graphically.
The Super Nintendo came in a year later with the best hardware out of all three and even though there was a slow start with software, they managed to come back and stay neck and neck with Sega.
The NEC Turbografx 16 became extinct about 3 years after release.
This exact situation is occurring now with the battle between the consoles.
Sega is doing their traditional 'our technology is up first' and 'learn how to program it properly later but give it plenty of power and room to expand'. Nintendo is doing their standard 'let's see the rest of the competition and make something better'.
Sony is doing what the Turbografx 16 did - 'flood the market with lots of games' and 'make the console easy to program'. Sounds good except the fact that little room is left for the system to grow from a hardware and software upgrade standpoint.
The games on the Playstation now look exactly the same as they did last year. The Sega games have improved tremendously. And Nintendo's games at introduction are right on par with Sega's and Sony's titles.
The problem with Sony, as the NEC system had is that their software cannot evolve technically and one year from now the Playstation will have a huge disadvantage from a hardware (Internet capability - online gaming) and software standpoint (successive generations of titles will have no or very little technical improvements).
The Turbografx faced the same problem from the software standpoint and their hardware problem was that their cartridges had a maximum size of 6 megabits. The Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo have cartridges that evolved from 4 megabits to 32 megabits.
Watch out for Sony. They could really succeed if they fix their hardware limiatations but this may even be short lived since their software cannot evolve.
Marc |
