Technovations

Wii and Playstation 3 launch

With the launch of the Wii and Playstation 3 this last week the next-gen console wars have officially begun. Outside gamer circles, the Nintendo and Sony platforms have garnered a lot of mainstream press with their cultural event launches.

Sony for the less than successful rollout of the Playstation 3 aiding in some very frustrated consumers and retailers. From riots to robberies, anyone standing in line for their chance to own the first batch of Playstation 3’s risked not only wasted time and money but also a chance to spend the night in the ER or a police station. Sony made Microsoft’s less then stellar worldwide release of the Xbox 360 look tame in comparison.

Nintendo surprised many with the lack of problems facing the Wii launch. Most people looking to get their hands on the Wii were able to and without mobs or threats of violence. And they paid a lot less, try $249 versus then their $599 Sony counterparts.

While Nintendo’s strategy with their next-generation machine is not to compete but rather offer the gaming public something different, a good player experience. Instead of putting all their eggs in one basket with new High Definition technologies, Nintendo hopes to entice more casual gamers into the market with easy to use, fun to play games. A refreshing difference compared to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 machines that initially only offered games with amazing graphics but little else. A problem 360 developers have overcome in the last year since its launch. Now, the world will have to sit back and wait to see what Sony releases as game developers work out the kinks of working on the Cell based system.

I’m not about to bet on a sure fire winner in this contest. This is only the beginning of what we are going to see from each of these companies. What makes this interesting is how the public is going to respond to the games released in coming months and years. For complacent Sony who once concretely owned the top video console slot the competition Microsoft is giving them can only be good for the consumer. Let’s hope they push for a better standard with their Playstation 3 games then with Playstation 2.