Quote: "What it boils down to is you shouldn't judge a console on it's capabilities, whether hyped or not, judge the system on the games that get released for it, that's why my loyalty sits with a game developer, not a hardware manufacturer."
Developers will follow whatever system sells the best. As such it's all about hype of the console.
Once gamers start to believe the hype, that's it.
As s result the Playstation 3 is likely to propel Sony to the top spot, but even the analysts are saying the Microsoft will have a much larger market share this time. That said these are the same analysts who claim that Nintendo will go under.
See this is what I've always hated. It's never been about the games that stand out. Nintendo through-out thier history has quite frankly relied on innovation and the games. There was the whole NoA bashing campaign on Sega, for some reason that never actually happened this side of the pond (or back in Japan actually).
The previous console was hasn't been fought on the technology field, nor was it fought on the gaming field. It was fought in the hype and advertisement. Both Microsoft and Sony once again are going to try to achieve the same. Once again Nintendo seem to be biding thier time, trying to make sure the hardware and games will speak for themselves.
This said, something is different this time. When they unvieled the GameCube and Nintendo 64, it was introduced majorly with complete (and realistic) technical specifications.. being able to post impressive abilities. This time, focus isn't on the machine itself. It's on everything else.
While Microsoft provide minor updates to Live! and Sony ignore SonyOnline altogether. Nintendo have completely overhauled thier system to provide online gaming services that quite frankly will rival the PC in accessibility yet with complete control over being able to play anywhere, anytime.
Another point is while both rivals have shown off thier new machine designs and controllers, as well as some next generation 'prototypes'. Nintendo again showed nothing, they simply announced officially the console then focused on the here'n'now.
This is going to be a publicity war, and right now Nintendo seem to be deliberaly hiding from the spot-light. It might be a lead up to a much bigger impact on the market when things are officially announced.
Right now everyone has thier cards on the table in a simple pissing contest. Personally I see everyone counting Nintendo out, but from what I've heard, and seen so far. When they finally do decide to make an impact it's going to be huge.
The way I see it after reading some interesting articles about the next generation consoles. There is quite a big likelihood that Nintendo will be able to push out a console more powerful than both of the competitors.
