Playstation 3 arrival triggers console wars
At the video game industry’s annual trade show, E3 Expo, Microsoft said many consumers will choose to buy both of their machines for the price of one PlayStation 3.
The bad blood between Sony and Microsoft has escalated over the last few days, with both sides trading barbs at the Microsoft entered the next-generation game console market first with its Xbox 360, last November.
Sony aims to extend its market leadership with its upcoming PS3, while Nintendo plans to offer a new game machine called Wii in the fourth quarter.
“Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3?” Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president, said in an interview. “People are going to buy two [machines]. They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3.”
Microsoft predicted it will have 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market before Sony launches the PS3. The high-end Xbox 360 sells for $399, but it does not include a built-in high-definition DVD video player that comes with Sony’s PS3.
Sony plans to sell a premium PS3 model for $599, when it debuts in North America on November 17, and Nintendo has not yet disclosed pricing for Wii.
Wii comes equipped with motion sensitive controllers to allow users to mimic the motion of wielding a sword or swinging a tennis racket.
Sony currently dominates the worldwide video game market with a 66% share, while Microsoft and Nintendo each hold 17%.
“We have 100% market share of the next-generation, and their job is to take that from us,” said Moore.
Nintendo has not specified the cost of their new Wii game system, saying only that it will offer “more fun for less money.”
Andy Bates of Apple was among many who waited to try the PlayStation 3 on several HD flat-screen stations at Sony’s sprawling E3 display.
“It was a lot of fun, the graphics are just fantastic,” Bates said.
Other expo attendees consider game philosophy an important factor in deciding between the competing systems.
“Out of all three, I’m most excited about Nintendo,” said Nick Hyman.
“Nintendo seems to be the most about having fun and playing games. In terms of technology and interactive fun, they lead the pack,” added Mr Hyman, a Los Angeles producer for WayForward Technologies.
Bill Gates visited the expo to sell a new vision of ‘anywhere’ gaming that would link video game consoles, cell phones and computers.
Gates introduced a plan called Live Anywhere that aims to capitalise on the success of Xbox Live online play, to tap into a network of over 150m users already playing games on computers that run the Windows operating system, and more than one billion cell phones ready to play video games.
Live Anywhere would allow participants to play certain games against each other regardless of whether the user was on a mobile phone, PC or Xbox console. It would also enable players to start a game on the Xbox 360 console and later pick it up on their mobile phone or PC.
Microsoft also said the next game in the Grand Theft Auto series will be released in October 2007, simultaneously on both Microsoft and Sony platforms for the first time.
