Lunchtime Discussion: Console Sellers
Can one title justify a console purchase?Published 12/01/2010 at 12:00 by Raen
GW: Is Console Gaming Turning Elitist? [29]
GW: Consoles Vs PC [47]
GAME Reveal UK Console Numbers [78]
Today nofi invites the TSA community to discuss whether one title could really sell a console to you, or if that’s not quite the way it works.
Console exclusives are big business, and just in terms of the two current ‘HD’ machines, both Microsoft and Sony spent vast amounts of money securing the rights to keep certain games off the opposition’s machine. Sony, for example, have the likes of Killzone 2, WipEout and LittleBigPlanet whilst the guys in Redmond are sticking to Halo, Splinter Cell and Alan Wake.
But which game would make you finally splash the cash on the other console? Would the unmatched visuals from Guerrilla tempt you to save up for a PS3, or are you currently stashing the pennies away for an Xbox 360 just so you can experience Alan Wake? Or is the concept of buying a console just to play a specific game something that’s completely alien to you?
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Deathbrin | 12/01/2010 12:02
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I’ve considered a console just to play Final Fantasy titles, and getting a PS3 was mainly so i could play FFXIII when it launches. After the purchase, though, i came to understand there’s much more to owning a console, and it’s great really.
jonny_bolton | 12/01/2010 12:04
Chooses The Impossible
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I said it recently, and I’m deadly serious. I would honestly consider buying an XBox 360 for Splinter Cell: Conviction. I have watched the E3 footage of that game about 10 times now and I get more and more excited everytime I see it.
However, there’s a niggling little voice in the back of my mind that says that “not all exclusives are exclusives” and, seeing as Splinter Cell has been on the PS3 already, I can’t help but get the feeling that Conviction may make the transition over to Sony’s black beast.
cc_star | 12/01/2010 12:15
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Give it a few months or a year at the most
Zoddi | 12/01/2010 12:06
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It can be an initial cause for buying a console but i think no cause for everyone to buy only one console.
glennpfc | 12/01/2010 12:06
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I chose the PS3 over the 360 for Littlebigplanet
masoke | 12/01/2010 16:59
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+1.
I knew I was going to buy one of them. LittleBigPlanet swung it for me more than anything else (as did free online play and the fact I could go and buy a PS3, rather than work out what model Xbox came with what etc.).
double-o-dave | 12/01/2010 12:06
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It’d be one hell of an expensive game if it was the case!
Watchful | 12/01/2010 12:14
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I bought a 360 for Gears of War. I didn’t buy another 360 title until Forza 2 the following Summer. The amount of gaming I got out of just Gears with friends online justified the purchase for me.
Three years on, my 360 game collection has only expanded to include Bioshock, Halo 3, Gears 2, Left 4 Dead, Halo ODST and Forza 3. Compared to the roughly 40 PS3 Blu-ray games I have that’s not very many.
Of course, I didn’t have a PS3 when I bought my 360, so things would likely have worked out differently if Gears had released after the PS3. Given how firmly I am in the PS camp, buying a PS3 was always a given. Are there still system selling games today? Hell yes. Look at the PS3 figures from the launch of FFXIII.
Deathbrin | 12/01/2010 12:18
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That’s a shame you missed the PS3 version of BioShock. The new intro, extras, correctly priced plasmids, the Survivor difficulty which was called by the fans over at 2K Forums “the way BioShock is meant to be played” and “the most balanced” mode, and of course, the challenge rooms (two puzzles and one kill-them-all). The experience is so -not- complete without those.
jonny_bolton | 12/01/2010 12:20
Chooses The Impossible
1986 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I didn’t realise there was a different intro on the PS3 version…interesting. I got my housemates finally playing Bioshock yesterday, now I really want to have a crack at Survivor…maybe not the doing it without dying challenge just yet though!
Deathbrin | 12/01/2010 12:30
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I meant the intro movie that comes up when you wait long enough on the start-up screen. Not the first level where you dive in a batysphere. Though i honestly don’t know about xbox, but i had it confirmed that such an intro movie isn’t present in the PC version.
Deathbrin | 12/01/2010 12:32
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You can turn off the Vita-Chambers in the options so when you die, you just load a savegame. You should also note that although there is no limit on how many times you can save, the XMB will freeze if there’s too much saves (way over 100, though, i assure you
).
Watchful | 12/01/2010 16:32
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I didn’t miss it. I later bought it for the PS3 as well for the challenge rooms and an excuse to play through it again. Don’t think the intro is any different to the 360 though.
lemming64 | 12/01/2010 12:18
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I gotta say the Final fantasy series generally being exclusive to playstation in the past was a major driving force in me buying a PS3 (obviously before we heard about it coming to xbox too) but it certainly wasn’t the only reason.
cc_star | 12/01/2010 12:39
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It got reviewed at 4/10 by a Hong Kong mag recently for being linear as hell and having a rubbish combat system
Roynaldo | 12/01/2010 14:55
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marmite
cc_star | 12/01/2010 15:23
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Marmite is 11/10
Apnomis | 12/01/2010 12:51
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Regardless of FFXIII being multiplatform, the PS3 still has (for now) console exclusivity of FF vs XIII and FFXIV, although all that could change again at E3 of course… From what I’ve seen of the games it’s FF vs XIII that interests me more anyway…
jonny_bolton | 12/01/2010 12:19
Chooses The Impossible
1986 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I was about to make a point along the same lines as Watchful.
Whilst I would consider an XBox for Conviction I genuinely don’t believe there are enough exclusives that would make it a worthwhile purchase overall.
If it was the other way around and I had an XBox I would most certainly consider picking up a PS3 for LittleBigPlanet. Then once I’ve got a PS3 the choice of exclusives is many. Uncharted 1 & 2, Ratchet and Clank, Singstar (so much better than Lips), Metal Gear Solid to name but just a few.
shields_t | 12/01/2010 12:45
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I have had my PS3 since launch day and I’m flush with games to play on it, I took the plunge and bought an XBox Elite mainly for the extra GTA content and Gears just before Christmas and I must say I’m a little disappointed with the exclusives. I have found 6 so far that I am interested in, Forza 3, Halo 3, Gears 1 & 2, GTA Liberty City Stories and Perfect Dark.
Aside from Mass Effect 2 and maybe Alan Wake, I can’t see myself buying any other XBox games this year.
Deathbrin | 12/01/2010 12:47
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6 is alot to be honest.
shields_t | 12/01/2010 13:13
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6 may be a lot, but when I consider LBP, Uncharted 1 and 2, Killzone 3, Wipeout, Rachet and Clank, the Pixeljunk games, GT Prologue and inFamous as exclusive games I regularly play on the PS3, which I understood to have an inferior software catalogue, I know what get my vote.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to slate the XBox here, I wouldn’t have bought one had I not been keen to play on it, and Gears is superb but I’m a little disappointed to not find a whole lot of games to get excited about given the 360 has been around for about 4 years now.
simplebob | 12/01/2010 12:21
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I think the lines between different consoles are a lit slimmer than they used to be as there seem to be less exclusives around and more multi platform titles. I switched from Nintendo to Playstation for Final Fantasy VII, but cant see me switching for anything yet this generation, unless Microsoft have something utterly amazing up their sleaves that no ones heard about.
bunimomike | 12/01/2010 12:26
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I suppose, in a logical sense, it can be justified. Someone could buy a PS3 to play Oblivion and get 300 hours worth of fun from it. Which isn’t far off £1/hr of entertainment. However, thankfully, there are always other great titles out there so the whole “console sellers” are usually titles that tip the balance in our decision making. We’re always looking for justification (no matter how ludicrious our reasons are) to buying new stuff and this is one of them. Obviously, if someone bought MW2 and a PS3 (or 360) just to play the single player campaign then that person would need sending to the TSA Asylum, as I believe a decent hooker would be a cheaper and more entertaining waste of time.
sanmartinez | 12/01/2010 12:27
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I bought my PS3 to play uncharted 1, then a couple of months later, bought a XBOX 360 to play Blue Dragon, now I’m waiting for AvP and FF XIII. But I still prefer PlayStation because we have been together for about 15 years, and I’m too used to use a DualShock, so the controller of xbox isn’t my thing
flatspikes | 12/01/2010 12:28
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Quite oddly a combination of GTA: DLC and Monkey Island HD were the two games I wanted badly and thus bought an Xbox… Neither are obvious system sellers (especially as one is on PC) but there you go. Since added Dragon Age (out before PS3), Fallout 3 GOTY (£15 cheaper than PS3) and midnight club complete edition. It’s the range of Live Arcade titles that has kept the box in my house though, the range of games still seems superior to PSN. Trials HD, Shadow Complex, Splosion Man, Peggle (now on PSN), Turtles Arcade (for shame!) and for demo access.
cc_star | 12/01/2010 12:37
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Demo access is amazing something I really want on the PSN, and the range of titles oN the Marketplace is great, but I wouldn’t be without Flow, Flower, Trine, Critter Crunch and of course Warhawk, WipEout HD and PSOne Classics
cc_star | 12/01/2010 12:29
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Surely everybody who likes Halo already has a 360
The PlayStation does seem to have a wider variety of forthcoming system sellers to add to Uncharted2 which arguably is the key title so far which makes 360 owners want a PS3
Alan Wake was interesting in concept but now the gameplay has been shown off I don’t think it adds anything to videogaming as a whole, perhaps it helps fill a hole on the 360 fir the lack of story driven action titles.
My current train of thought is; if I was a 360 owner I’d feel I was missing out on uncharted 2, ModNation Racers and a few others maybe LBP and Heavy Rain (if it works out) SingStar is also unrivalled and I think the experience of that and Buzz is far better than it competing products, but mainly Blu-ray movies. It is only on this medium that a large tv and surround sound make real sense, it’s nothing short of freakin awesome.
If I was just a PS3 owner (which I am) I feel I’m missing out on very little other than a curiosity towards Crackdown/2 and maybe the Fable series, I can’t think of anything else which doesn’t have a similar title on the PS3.
Splinter Cell sure looks good, and that is quite a coup for MS, but I’ll be able to play if on my laptop so I’m not gonna rush down the shops for a 360 just yet
shields_t | 12/01/2010 13:18
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I think my mistake as a PS3 owner was thinking I was missing out on a whole lot, whereas the reality for me is much like you put it. Aliens Vs Predator aside, the vast majority of games I am eager to get my hands on this year are exclusive to the PS3.
jimmy-google | 12/01/2010 13:22
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I’m in the same boat as cc_star but for me its Gears of war that interests me but not enough to buy one (I do keep a look out for a really cheap blocked one as online gaming doesn’t interest me – so not have access xbox won’t bother me). If I find one for £40 I’ll pick it up just fors Gears 1&2.
teflon | 12/01/2010 12:37
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It wasn’t any one game that made me get the PS3, but a big long catalogue of awesome exclusives.
Apnomis | 12/01/2010 12:45
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As I said in yesterday’s lunchtime discussion, I had no interest in consoles until I was hit by the one-two punch of playing Resident Evil and Tomb Raider in a weekend – not long after that I went out and bought a PlayStation/Tomb Raider bundle complete with Lara Croft CD-Clock!
Since then I’ve kept with the Sony brand as generally I find them to have more games (and franchises) that appeal to my tastes and I appreciate that their money goes into creating unique new IP’s and true 1st party exclusives that literally can only ever be played on a PlayStation console. There are occasionally titles that catch my attention on the 360 (Bioshock was one of them) but I just can’t see myself getting another console just for one game (especially when most of the 360 games are timed 3rd party exclusives), I simply don’t have the time and as it happens the vast majority of my friends are PS3 gamers anyway. If I won the lottery and retired to a life of 12 hour a day gaming sessions I would probably get a 360 too just for the hell of it, but until that glorious day it is the PS3 that wins my spare spare time…
About the only thing I can think of that would make me get a 360 now (other than winning the lottery) would be if Natal turns out to be amazing, when you think of the quantum leap in difference between the likes of Mario and Sonic on the SNES/Mega Drive and playing ‘grown up’ games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider it’s easy to see why so many people like me joined the console party with the original PlayStation, it would take something equally earth shattering for me to find time for two consoles.
bunimomike | 12/01/2010 12:51
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Same here, fella. I didn’t have any time for consoles until Sony whipped its Playstation out for the lads.
No looking back since then.
jimmy-google | 12/01/2010 13:25
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Me too