The price IS tricky, but the console is currently showing less "oomph" than the current gen (on paper it's better, but on paper, the Wii was better than the PS2, but most games looked like PS2/Game Cube quality) - that's down to:
a) Developers just porting lazily
b) Nintendo in-house games using graphical styles that just simply don't benefit from being "next gen".
So it's considerably more than either a 360 or PS3 and doesn't offer anything new to anybody. The tablet just isn't a sell as the Wii-Remote was because people have been using tablets for years now, the Wii was a revolutionary concept to the public (the tech was very old - left behind by both Sony and Microsoft, which is amusing - but Nintendo packaged it perfectly).
The PS2 was only popular in the same way the Wii has been. It sold on the back of the PS1 popularity (akin to Mario et al really) and the tech advantage of the DVD drive (akin to the Wii-Remote).
It didn't sell massively because it was a hardcore gaming console. Attach rates for the PS2 games were worse than for the Game Cube, but there were more titles available and (same as the Wii), larger numbers mean lower attach rates statistically.
The PS3 has only gained
any success due to Blu-Ray. It didn't quite top the drive the DVD player created (or come close to it), but that's because the tech revolution moving from VHS to DVD was huge and ubiquitous, the HD/Blu-Ray revolution is much slower and still continuing. Much like the Wii U and the tablet, the PS3 was against too much similar technology, competing technology and no unified kind of sales strategy that didn't border on arrogance.
Microsoft continue to sell massively on the strength of their core, which is X-Box Live. Yes, it's a premium service, but they bloody understand and get it right. Sony and Nintendo are STILL floundering around 10 years later and don't have a service which touches even initial X-Box Live; it's ridiculous.
They also excite with big, bad and bold IP that appeals directly to their core audience, the FPS fans. They know exactly what they're doing and the gamers who own their systems - I don't think there is anybody more on the ball than MS. It doesn't suit me personally as the games are too samey and not a genre I like, but that's fine, there are 80 million people besides me who it does suit
So when the NextBox and PS4 are released, unless Sony can match MS's online offering, they'll really struggle - no matter how strong a platform they are for interesting and new developments - it's got to be the people who adopt for the big names and big games. If match making is torture, people won't buy a PS4 for their COD or BF4 or whatever and that's a huge chunk of sales directly to Microsoft.
The thing is, even if the new MS and Sony consoles come in at £500+ (I doubt it, I reckon the NextBox will be around £350 and without new technology like the Blu-Ray player, so will the PS4), they'll stil lsell by the shed load. They tend to do (initially at least), very good backwards compatibility with their prior software and your accounts will move and your downloaded software pretty seamlessly come across too. People invest heavily in software on both those consoles (much more than with the Wii), so it's a huge selling point to be able to easily move to the new console.
As the price drops and "gamer's favourites" become available, the Wii U will no doubt pick up sales and, I reckon in three year's time, will easily have over 20 million sales.
The other two..? Want to know what's interesting?
For every "generation", the second "big name" console to market has been the best seller. Pretty much without fail. I have no doubt there's a degree of coincidence, but (and I wrote a very long description of this which could have been submitted as a Phd thesis) there definitely seems to be a very solid consumer cycle for buying hardware.
Being the first to market with "next gen" isn't always enough. If the old market is still very active, then all you do is make people aware that their stuff is "getting old". Most people are slow to absorb the fact and to gather the money (or idea of finding the money) to do their replacement.
When the second console is released, the producer tends to have learned from the mistakes of the first to market, they know how to brand and sell the console and they work on developing hype and a "must have" feature to go with launch.
So when launch happens, the buying public is ready for it all AND they can be excited by the marketing approach. They also see the first console as "old tech", when in reality they're often more powerful.
I don't know if MS could have gone against the Wii or PS3 if released at the same time, I think it needed the extra year head start and (as I mentioned above, with the superb XBox-Live service) it offered enough to get enough people on board to make it a success. MS are also pretty **** hot on a lot of things - as I say, they understand their market.
The PS3 would have failed a year earlier, as it was too close to the change from VHS to DVD. When it was released though, it was a prime time for people looking to HD things (again, the 360 will have helped people along the road to considering HD, and the PS3 took complete advantage of that mindset base). Though if it had had a lower price and maybe a two month bigger head start in the market, it could have trumped the Wii - sadly, Sony were semi-fools, but Blu-Ray has definitely saved the PS3.
So yeah, Rayman Legends then. Bound to be a great game, but just the same as Origins which will have been around for 12 months, won't sell the console (or many copies I reckon
).
The biggest worry for Nintendo is their stock. The Wii massively built the company funds and made stock worth a lot. If the Wii U fails, then investors pull out and can cause significant problems for the company - even if they are making money. Then you end up with cancelled developments (bye bye F-Zero X
) and fewer and fewer risks taken. you end up with the same IP dragged out over and over and over in ever diminishing returns as gamers are over saturated and care less and then the company is seen as a failure because it can no longer even sell a Mario game (the fifteenth one in 2016 just didn't do very weel for some reason :roll: ). Though that's a worst case Sega kind of scenario
For
Pierre there's a Vita sale on at the moment. Lots of goodies to pick up (Modnations for £6.50, Ridge Racer complete for £10 and Golf for £7 I think) for a decent price and none "on plus for March". Though to be honest, I imagine with the slow rate of releases for the Vita, they'll all end up there pretty soon anyway.
