April NDP's: Lesson 2

As we previously mentioned, the April sales numbers for the gaming industry have massive implications for where things are headed in this GTA IV-centric gaming quarter. Though impressive sales of the game weren't exactly a major blow to the Nintendo Wii, the game's impact on this month's sales numbers are inarguable (thanks mainstream media, for your lack of investigation!)

In case you missed it, the system sales for April were:

1. Wii: 714,200
2. Nintendo DS: 414,800
3. PSP: 192,700
   
4. Xbox 360: 188,000
5. PlayStation 3: 187,100
6. PlayStation 2: 124,400

Despite the release of the best-selling media in history, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 had relatively poor sales figures in April. Playstation 3 barely outsold Playstation 2 (that's two-- the old one). Meanwhile, the Wii continued it's rampage of domination, boosted by the release of Mario Kart Wii.

Next Generation has a pretty in-depth analysis of what the GTA IV release means to the console-war.

Arguably, Liberty City is more fun on a 360 than it is on a PS3 (though we couldn't tell you the difference.) And though the gaming public at large is spending their time arguing about native resolutions and pop-in, the poor sales figures for both consoles proves that not all consumers are looking for an expansive, in-depth gaming experience. Most just want to go curling, man.

Double Vision? (or) Michael Pachter Confuses the Shit Out of Me

Grand Theft Auto IV is less than a month away at this point and (especially after just finishing Crackdown) all of us here at QPHQ are psyched as, well, as everyone else we suppose. The battle is heating up over where the game is going to end up; Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 were the last two games with similar selling power to be released, the latter of which being one-console exclusive. Grand Theft Auto has always been associated with the Playstation brand, though all previous versions have ended up on Xbox as well as the PC, selling considerably less and finding their way to retail shelves months later. However, this time Microsoft has secured exclusive downloadable content for the newest installment in the franchise as well as pushing marketing strong like bear.

Honestly, in our opinion, things could go either way. We're betting on two-to-one sales or more on the Microsoft side of things, but that's just our humble opinion (having been gaming retailers ourselves on more than one occasion.) Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Morgan Securities, of the analyst breed, has offered his opinion on the subject in more than one instance -- unfortunately his responses somewhat disagree with each other. In the most recent episode of Bonus Round, the GameTrailers.com show hosted by Geoff Keighley (yes, that Geoff Keighley, our hero) Pachter was quoted as saying, regarding which console may bring home the most bacon:

"Perversely, I think it's still coming out for PS3 primarily. And I know there are more 360s out there but....much like Halo has been branded as an Xbox game and now an Xbox 360 game, people who own a 360, who own an Xbox consider it their game. GTA has always been a PS2 game. I think there's a large number of PS2 owners who've been waiting to buy their PS3 until this game comes out. So I think you're gonna see a big spike in PS3 sales."

Keighley, putting Pachter on the spot, asks, "What do you predict for the April sales for PS3 and 360?" Pachter's response was, "Xbox 360 sales will be 350(thousand) and PS3 sales will be 500(thousand). I think it'll be that kind of a difference."

Oddly though, Pachter is claiming quite the opposite to Take-Two, GTAIV's developer, in a recent research report, stating "he expects the company to sell nine million units within the first year of its release, six million of which will be on Xbox." Anyone else confused? We're not exactly high payed economics analysts, but this don't make no sense. Ideas?

Reasons to Believe: Insomniac Games

If this isn't reason to go out and buy a PS3 (yes, Insomniac Games only makes games for Sony), then we don't know what is. Pffft, LittleBigPlanet -- whateva. These guys know how to make a ridiculous music video. If this video doesn't make you believe in the Playstation brand, nothing will (and you probably don't have any soul.) That being said, we hope more than Resistance 2 is coming from these guys. We get the feeling they could do better...way better.

Dell, Apple Courting Sony for Blu-ray Notebooks

If you weren't already convinced that Blu-ray has completely dominated HD DVD, here's more in the vein of coffin nails: apparently Apple and Dell are both heavily courting Sony for Blu-ray drives on their respective notebooks. According to Electronista, Apple's Macbook Pro could come sporting a Blu-ray writable drive as early as...right this minute:

"Development is said to have been progressing far enough that the drives may have appeared in the most recent update to the portables but were held back by quality issues with both the blue laser and slot-load mechanism, forcing Apple to postpone its plans."

Sigh. Much like the iPhone, we're waiting for a lower price point and a generation or two of bugs worked out before we even start looking at any shiny new Apple products. And as for Dell, well, take a wild guess as to which route they're taking with Blu-ray (a feature already optionally available on certain Dell notebooks):

"...Dell plans to offer one of the least expensive Blu-ray notebooks yet, according to statements by technology strategist Brian Zucker. Without providing many details, the expert claims his company will have a portable below the $1,000 mark in March that can at least read Blu-ray media, setting a new point of entry for the format."

We don't know about y'all, but us here at QP, we still don't even own a PS3 (not for lack of wanting one, mind you.) Blu-ray sure looks nice, but it also still has a high barrier to entry. Aren't we supposed to be planning for a digital distribution future anyways? Yep, we heard that one before too.