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Wii will stay on top, says Activision

Earlier this week, EA told the media and investors its belief that the Wii would stay on top and that PlayStation 3 would outstrip the Xbox 360 in western market sales throughout 2008.

Although Activision didn’t dispute its competitor’s prediction on the ongoing sales of the Wii, it did put the Xbox 360 ahead of the PlayStation 3 for the year in North America.

Activision revealed during to Q3 earning call that it expects the Wii to sell more than 6 million units, the Xbox 360 to sell 4 to 5 million units, the PS3 somewhere between 3-4 million and the PS2 trailing off at 2 to 3 million.

The games publisher also was pleased to announce record holiday sales, up 80 percent over the previous year with $1.48 billion in sales and $272.2 in profit. Big titles helping to drive Activision’s positive report are Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4.

Slated for 2008 will be more games that Activision hopes will bring it another record period. According to Variety, Guitar Hero 4 will hit in the fall, but not before two other spinoffs in spring. The publisher also has the rights to release an adaptation of the upcoming James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

With Activision the top publisher in the U.S. in 2007, the company’s next target is to unseat EA in Europe. "That's the low-hanging fruit for us," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said. "We have No. 1 market share in the U.S. but not Europe, and there's no reason we see why ‘Guitar Hero' shouldn't be the No. 1 product in Europe as well."

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Well Duh
By PAPutzback on 2/8/2008 4:44:26 PM , Rating: 3
I have zero friends with a ps3. Of course I'll buy a unit that I can join my friends with.




RE: Well Duh
By Obsoleet on 2/8/2008 4:49:30 PM , Rating: 3
Yeah that sums it up for a lot of us. I don't have any problem with any of the consoles (we all know most people are fanboys of something or other), but most everyone I know has the 360.
It's just more fun with friends ?


RE: Well Duh
By BansheeX on 2/8/2008 5:14:54 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
It's just more fun with friends?


Okay, imagine it's the beginning of 2007 and the PS3 is a year away and one of your friends commits and buys a 360. It's just dominoes from there. In order for you to play online games with him, now his friends are much more inclined to choose the 360. This is why Microsoft was so adamant about sacrificing billions to get out just a year in advance.


RE: Well Duh
By EglsFly on 2/8/2008 5:16:24 PM , Rating: 4
Most everybody I know has a PC.
Sure, some also have an XBox/360, some have PS2/3, others have Nintendo, but most people I know and most posting here have a PC!
I can play COD4, BF2 and other games as such FREE online with my PC. I don't play any games that are going to cost me monthly to play it, like WOW, and the same goes for XBOX live (fees).


RE: Well Duh
By Hydrofirex on 2/8/2008 7:00:24 PM , Rating: 2
I'm with you - add Xfire and you even have a system to track stats, chat with friends, follow them into servers, and many of the other "community" features that consoles now boast. Consoles just make it easier.

COD4 definitely looks and plays infinitely better on PC. Contrary to a previous post I have to say I'm enjoying it now!

HfX


RE: Well Duh
By aju on 2/8/2008 6:44:14 PM , Rating: 4
I concur, I have an xbox, xbox 360, and Wii. I only play on the 360. It is stunning on my 52” 1080p LCD TV. I am a software developer, and I don’t know anyone at my office who has a PS3 and only 1 other person with a Wii. However, I know of at least a dozen others at work with xbox 360s. I have watched an xbox 360 and a PS3 side by side at BestBuy and the PS3 had nothing visually on the 360. In fact, the PS3 was very unimpressive.

I have tried the Wii, but I feel like I am playing sesame street games. I guess some people feel that swinging a Wii remote around what makes a game immersive. However, I find games like Oblivion, Gears of War, and Halo 3 are far more immersive to me. Playing games on the Wii that have you killing phony pixilated NPCs or playing various sports against what looks like Jimmy Nutron and his neighbors just does not cut it for me. Not after standing against a Berserker in Gears, the flood in Halo 3, and seeing the fantastic beauty and complexity of the indoor and outdoor environments in Oblivion.
A Wii cannot compare in this field with its standard definition display capabilities and pixilated graphics.

You can play high definition games on a PS3, but why bother when they don’t look any better or maybe even worse. If you have waited this long to buy a console, you might as well buy a 360. They are in stock (unlike the Wii), competitively priced (unlike the PS3) and there is a massive game library to choose from (unlike either the Wii or PS3).

The only way the PS3 could outsell the 360 is if every prospective console buyer lost all common sense. Of course there are those out there who just buy what they are told is cool like all those owning Apple products. Maybe Sony should hire Apple to market their products.


RE: Well Duh
By Hydrofirex on 2/8/2008 7:02:40 PM , Rating: 2
If you like the environments in Oblivion you should play the Witcher. It's not as free-roaming, but the world is still more immersing and beautiful. It's the best RPG I've personally played since FF3 on the SNES.

HfX


RE: Well Duh
By troublesome08 on 2/8/2008 8:01:18 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. Great game (so far). I'm about half way through, it looks fantastic, especially with everything cranked up!

And also to respond on topic, I noticed alot of people saying that most of the people they know own 360s. I on the other hand have noticed completely the opposite in my circle. Other than myself, no one has bought a 360 in the last year, only PS3s, I think about 5 or 6 of them now.

Seems mostly related to the 360s reliability issues (i've been through 3)


RE: Well Duh
By Noya on 2/8/08, Rating: 0
RE: Well Duh
By SlyNine on 2/8/08, Rating: -1
RE: Well Duh
By SlyNine on 2/8/2008 10:52:30 PM , Rating: 1
Im a PC guy though so I could really care less. The biggest problem with the 360 is the fualty units.

If it would have released with a Harddrive on all system, And if they could have prevented all these RROD problems. Then I'd say the PS3 wouldnt even come close. But as it stands MS made Sony's job a whole lot easier.


RE: Well Duh
By someguy123 on 2/9/2008 12:33:25 AM , Rating: 4
actually its not 1080p or even 720p native, its run at an awkward 1136x640 so that they could have two buffers for high and low dynamic range.
http://www.gamerawr.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09...
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topne...

the 360 elite(other systems as well?) upscales it to 1080p.


RE: Well Duh
By SlyNine on 2/9/2008 2:56:07 AM , Rating: 2
Wow thats pretty messed up of them , Since they have been touting ture 1080P. Glad I have a PC.


RE: Well Duh
By porkpie on 2/9/2008 11:34:31 PM , Rating: 3
Whats "messed up" is people focusing on numbers instead of how a game actually looks. If you need someone to tell you a game isn't 1080p, then what does it really matter?


RE: Well Duh
By SlyNine on 2/11/2008 3:47:45 AM , Rating: 2
That may be a good point to some extent. But I get the feeling that a lot of Xbox360 games are a lower res then advertised just by looking, I was just going on what MS was saying.


RE: Well Duh
By Aikouka on 2/11/2008 8:39:38 AM , Rating: 2
Only a handful of games have been advertised as outputting true 1080p rather than being upscaled by the 360's hardware scaler. Some basketball game and I believe Sega's last Tennis game are two that I recall. Some others that follow it more might know a couple more titles.


RE: Well Duh
By walk2k on 2/9/2008 12:12:46 PM , Rating: 4
no games are 1080p on the 360, the max is 1280x720 and the elites upscale.

to be fair, few games are 1080p on the PS3 either, most are 720p. but at least there are some and likely will be more in the future as coders get a clue about how to program for it.


RE: Well Duh
By DingieM on 2/11/2008 5:56:01 AM , Rating: 2
There are some true 1080p games on the Xbox360, reportedly begin Virtua Tennis 3 and Pirates of the caribian...
If I'm not mistaken...


RE: Well Duh
By BansheeX on 2/9/2008 2:45:34 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
You can play high definition games on a PS3, but why bother when they don’t look any better or maybe even worse.


Probably because it has many additional and desirable attributes not available on the 360:

-its netplay is free while the 360's is fee-based
-it's much quieter while gaming because games use the slower-spinning/higher-density blu-ray drive
-its well built and has a much lower risk of failure
-it has high definition movie playback at no additional purchase
-it's capable of linux and folding@home for emulation and basic PC tasks
-it has wi-fi connectivity
-it will take any 2.5" hard drive upgrade while MS forces you to buy their own
-mouse/keyboard support is available for many FPS games while MS refused to cannibalize their PC platform

quote:
The only way the PS3 could outsell the 360 is if every prospective console buyer lost all common sense. Of course there are those out there who just buy what they are told is cool like all those owning Apple products. Maybe Sony should hire Apple to market their products.


Or people just see the PS3 as a more complete product and don't want to get nickle-dimed to death. Trust me, the PS3 has always been the more desirable product, it's simply that many people couldn't wait or weren't willing to pay for the initially ridiculous price. Considering this years game lineup and the PS3's inevitable cut to $300, most analysts are predicting the PS3 to outsell the 360 from here on out. I'm not sure what Activision is smoking.


RE: Well Duh