The 10 commandments of a console launch

by Blake Snow { Feb 7th 2007 at 5:30AM }

Now that the PS3, Wii, and 360 have all launched, the gents at Gaming Nexus have put together a set of standards for console manufacturers to abide by next time they decide to launch new platforms. Commandments if you will. And wouldn't you know it, there's 10 of 'em; 10 things we as consumers don't want to see happen again. For example: thou shall have more than 100k units at launch, thou shall make accessories readily available, and thou shall only launch with one SKU. Read on for the full list peppered with old school ecclesiastical prose. Thou shall entertain.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Grunge @ Feb 7th 2007 5:49AM

Okay folks, to get your fanboyism out of the way, here's the tally:
PS3: 1,3,4,5,6,7,10
Wii: 1,2,7
360: 1,8,9,10
You may now return to your regularly scheduled flame war.

KineticOnline @ Feb 7th 2007 5:58AM

(deeds in brackets are the sins that hath been committed)
1. Thou shall deliver on thy promises
2. Thou shall do a global launch (ps3)
3. Thou shall market thy console at a reasonable price (ps3)
4. Thou shall not use a propitiatory storage format (360 hdd storage and nintendo's discs)
5. Thou shall provide all consumers with the same features (roll out that video marketplace)
6. Thou shall charge the same price for digital content globally
7. Thou shall not limit video support to thy propitiatory format, charge if thy must but provide support (xbox 360)
8. Thou shall have sufficient product available at launch.
9. Thou shall not allow content providers to charge for cheats (xbox 360 with EA)
10. Thou shall release any digitally distributed game in its entirety (lumines)

� PINION CORPORATION � @ Feb 7th 2007 6:05AM

how about a proper worldwide launch... none of this several months down the track and more expensive BS.

Rubang B @ Feb 7th 2007 6:16AM

Article said 600K at launch, not 100K.

Catprog @ Feb 7th 2007 6:33AM

What about wii sports/wii play and all the VC games in 7?

Dan @ Feb 7th 2007 8:49AM

They said that the only first party game released for Wii was Zelda. Have they never heard of Excite Truck or Wii Sports? Unbelievable.

jonathan @ Feb 7th 2007 7:24AM

Yeah I'm still scratching my head over 7. Wii has Zelda, Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids, 3 fantastic launch titles.

Gavin @ Feb 7th 2007 7:22AM

How about: "Thous shalt not have a half-baked online setup."

Martin @ Feb 7th 2007 7:23AM

" I'm not discounting Zelda but it was the only first party title Nintendo released with the Wii)."

Then how did people come about Wii Sports and Excite Truck... I guess they weren't released with the Wii but born with it... and yes Excite Truck might be mediocre, but so was PD0 and Kameo... (which were both really just N64 titles converted to the Gamecube, converted to the XBOX, to finally be released on the 360 (which isn't wrong at all and they are both good games (especially Kameo), just stating incase people use the Zelda is a GC game crap!)

V @ Feb 7th 2007 7:32AM

Why do these people never research.
It says Wii only had one first party title at launch.

What about Excite Truck, and Wii sports.
And in japan they had Wii Play and Warioware also.
All these games (sans Wii Play) Scored and or sold better then Kameo and Perfect dark Zero.
And both those games were Gamecube ports that never made it on the cube but have been in developement for 5 years.

Martin @ Feb 7th 2007 7:32AM

Actually Grung, Wii was only 2,

1 and 7 they succeeded on.
They "launched" with plenty of consoles. The commandment only asks for at least 600,000... which Nintendo did. And no one that I know of killed for one on launch day... and Number 7 is just wrong. Nintendo had 3 first party titles as already listed, plus first party VC titles.

JayMD @ Feb 7th 2007 7:45AM

Based on these commandments, Sony is going to gaming hell!!!

jay @ Feb 7th 2007 8:04AM

There were loads of accessories for the Wii around here, just no damn systems! It's now been months since it launched and my girlfriend is still struggling to get hold of one.

Despite the fact I'm only ever going to use a Wii this gen (anti-flame suit; less free time, more RL commitments, sick of regular controllers even in the Cube days) I think that list was just made as another "Yey, Wii victorious" topic. Yes it's good, yes it's great fun, yes it's a sign of where the industry should be going. We don't need reminding!

idioteraser @ Feb 7th 2007 8:36AM

4. Thou shall not use a propitiatory storage format (360 hdd storage and nintendo's discs)

This goes more for the PS3. Nintendo Wii can take two different formats one of which was the old gamecube mini dvd-rom.

Matthew @ Feb 7th 2007 8:30AM

How about, "Thou shall not recommend your user-base get a second job to pay for your system"? I always thought that statement was just plain wrong.

Grunge @ Feb 7th 2007 8:37AM

"There were loads of accessories for the Wii around here, just no damn systems"

Check the internet - if you find a website that has them in stock, tell me, because I only have one Wiimote/Nunchuk. All the stores in my area are sold out of both, and have been since I got my Wii (this includes two Gamestops, a Best Buy, two Wal-marts, and a Target).

D @ Feb 7th 2007 9:06AM

How about these for the 360:

** "thou should include next generation technology as a standard if you want to be called a NextGen product (lack of of HDMI and HD-DVD)"

** "thou shall a warranty greater than 90 days" (until people bring a lawsuit against you and you decide to change it - dumb dumb dumb)

** "thou shall properly design a product that doesn't overheat when you shine a light on it"

** "thou shall not codename your consoles after war theaters that crushed an enemy and then try to sell to them (xbox 1.0 here - "Project Midway")

** "thou shall realize that the world does not care about American football and basketball so please stop saying these are suitable launch titles"

** "thou shall not rely on a single franchise to carry your console - especially when it pales in comparison to PC games"

** "thou shall not micro charge us to death after e pay an additional $50 to be part of your elite online users"

** "thou shall make a console that doesn't have a power supply that is half the size of the console itself"

** "thou shall..." awww never mind - these points are lost on the fanboys anyways..

Sam @ Feb 7th 2007 9:15AM

Thou shall not steal blog ideas from Major Nelson.
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/06/marketplace-10-commandments.aspx

Grunge @ Feb 7th 2007 9:14AM

"these points are lost on the fanboys anyways.. "

I just hope that you someday realize the irony of that.

Jake @ Feb 7th 2007 9:26AM

@7 Martin
A lot of people, myself included, like to call Zelda TP a Gamecube game because that is the console we waited for it on and are playing it on. There is a difference between that and, say Kameo. You can't play Kameo without a 360 (big loss :).

@17 D

Thou shalt not exaggerate the negativity of the little stuff while ignoring things like game quality.

Thou shalt not launch a console a year late with no increase in graphics or game quality.

Thou shalt not claim thine system to be capable of much more than thine competitor, then release the same games with noticeable decrease in graphical quality unless thine customer is too dumb to notice or care.

Thou shalt not lie in general to the customer repeatedly unless thy customer is too ignorant to give a damn.

Thou shalt not focus thine console resources on pushing an expensive HD format while ignoring the needs of the gamers.

Thou shalt not release multiple games offered by thine competitor months or even a year prior.

Thou shalt not release multiplatform games that lack online when thine competitor does not lack online.

Thou shalt not produce a console that is no longer sold out mere weeks after launch.

Thou shalt not take an extra year to launch with a less thorough launch lineup.

Thou shalt not base thine entire existance on the release of sequels that others have played, plus an over-rated dragon flying game and a hacknslasher with cloth physics.

That is kind of fun. I think that was 10. Coulda come up with more. Can you guess which system I was picking on without reading the last entry?

Grunge @ Feb 7th 2007 9:31AM

Okay, now someone do the Wii ten commandments. I would, but I can only really think of about four.

Slaziman @ Feb 7th 2007 9:56AM

How are these for the Wii:

Thou shalt release more than just lame party-games full of minigames

Thou shalt offer DVD playback on thine console in 2007

Thou shalt not name your console with a wacky name that will make thine costumers embarrassed to talk about it

Thou shalt offer online gameplay right out of the box

Thou shalt not let thine console consist of Gamecube and Playstation 2 ports with tacked on motion controls

Thou shalt not charge 5-10 dollars for really old games without any form of update

Thou shalt not underestimate the success of thine console, and manufacture more units for launch

Thou shalt tone down the prices for thine controllers

Thou shalt not allow a gaming drought of several months

Thou shalt realize that there are really stupid people in the world, and make thicker wrist straps

Disclaimer: I own a Wii, not a 360 or PS3, I'll beat your ass if you call me a fanboy

Matt @ Feb 7th 2007 10:17AM

"Thou shalt release more than just lame party-games full of minigames"

Thank you! I feel like I'm the only one that notices that the current Wii lineup is nothing more than minigames and a GC port. I'll buy a Wii eventually, but not until they have some real games for it.

Slaziman @ Feb 7th 2007 10:19AM

I like my Wii, but apart from Zelda I really can't get a good single player experience out of it. I hope they fix that shit because I don't live for multiplayer only!

Jake @ Feb 7th 2007 10:45AM

I think we have pretty good user made commandment lists for each console. Although, the Wii one doesn't contain anything about graphics. ;)

Matt @ Feb 7th 2007 10:46AM

@ Jake

How's this

Thou shalt not make games with N64 graphics for a next gen console

Slaziman @ Feb 7th 2007 10:54AM

The graphics of the Wii are one thing that don't bother me though. My TV can't even handle 480p :(

that guy @ Feb 7th 2007 11:24AM

Slaziman - you want an amazing single player experience on Wii? Haven't you heard of Trauma Center - Second Opinion?

One of the best games of 2006. Get it.

Bizarrohulk @ Feb 7th 2007 11:26AM

Thou shall not release thine hardware until thou hast at least one great game (Every console in the past 15 years)

mj @ Feb 7th 2007 11:42AM

I'd love to comment, but I've got to add a gallon of gel and gray streaks to my hair and beard. Charlton is the MAN! Then I'm going to start throwing tombstones around and muttering about golden calves.

Slaziman @ Feb 7th 2007 11:42AM

Trauma Center isn't out in Europe -.-

Thou shalt not fuck over the poor people in Europe

Jake @ Feb 7th 2007 11:51AM

Matt,
I would have said xbox graphics. N64, that is a bit harsh, though some of the ports are pretty sad looking :(

But graphics and epic big budget 3rd party exclusives aren't everything.

Kye @ Feb 7th 2007 12:28PM

Thou shall not ranteth on and on about how we should playeth together then, not haveth many online games.

Oh how I knash thy teeth and shaketh thy's fist at not being able to play Wii sports tennis online. Would it hath been too hard for thee? Would it really?

Scoundrels

It hurteth thy's head when thy wonders if the people playing next to me on Wii Sports bowling are live or merely generated by thou's computer.

Why hath thou forsaken me Nintendoth? With thy cubic building headquarters and thine honerable Sir Iwata and Squire Shiggy at thine Helm. Why doth thou mock thee to buy an extra controller so that thee doth not have to play alone, when the whole point is that "Wii" are playing t(w)ogether.

Snake oil thou hath sold thee in the guise of £250 incl. 2 games and an over-priced SD card at yonder HMV.

I haveth visions of thee dancing thine merry jig on my cash as I scribe.

But the last laugh with be thines. For upon the third incarnation of Halo I will cross yonder forge and join ye ranks of 360 fanboys.

Once again I will pwn noobs it will be sweet. It will be sweet.

Matt @ Feb 7th 2007 12:49PM

Jake,

I wasn't referring to the power of the Wii, rather Nintendo's decision to essentially not use that power. Witness Wii Sports or WarioWare. Just because the focus of the games isn't on graphics doesn't mean that they have to look like they were designed by a 3rd grader. The Wii is capable of more and we should expect more from it.

Laser123454321 @ Feb 7th 2007 12:59PM

@14:
"14. 4. Thou shall not use a propitiatory storage format (360 hdd storage and nintendo's discs)

This goes more for the PS3. Nintendo Wii can take two different formats one of which was the old gamecube mini dvd-rom."

I kind of disagree with that seeing as how the PS3 uses any notebook harddrive, and the BlueRayDisks. Yeah the blueray disks and burners are in short supply but so were the DL dvd disks and drives. So, yeah . . but does anybody know what filesystem the ps3 uses? Im not seeing FAT.

Frank Mondana @ Feb 7th 2007 1:06PM

I have to love that myth that console hardware is sold at a loss. It's snappy accounting that dictates that.
Quick business lesson. When any company produces anything there are 2 accounting terms; burdened rate and hard cost.

Burdened rate is the accounting method used to dictate how much you have to mark up materials and labor. For example, a guy on an assembly line somewhere is making $15/hour. His time however is billed at $35/hour because that is what the company needs to "bill" in order to make a profit.

Hard cost is the method where all accounting is done at actual costs. This is self explanatory.

So when you hear that Sony is losing X dollars on each unit, they are giving you the burdened rate. Take a look a the guts inside any console. I would be suprised to find that any of these machines cost more than $100/unit to produce when hard costed.

By the way, that same principle works when you hear about movie budgets. Ever hear how the producers behind "Forrest Gump" claim the movie never made a dime? Same accounting practice at work.

The reality is that there is no company that can sell anything at a loss and hope to make it up with "quantity" or secondary products.

Vidikron @ Feb 7th 2007 1:18PM

@36

I really don't think you understand the console industry at all. You don't think the PS3 costs more than $100 to produce when it has a BR drive, a 60 GB laptop hard drive, a cell processor, a good GPU, gigabit ethernet, bluetooth, WiFi, USB, etc...? You're on crack. The estimates I've seen given by 3rd parties on the PS3 were hard costed and much higher than $100.

Slaziman @ Feb 7th 2007 1:22PM

Frank Mondana is obviously not a business man

Jon @ Feb 7th 2007 2:30PM

@ 36

Have you heard of economies of scale, where things become cheaper to produce when you make alot of them?

All consoles though history have sold below cost at some time, only to become made using popicle sticks and gum 6 years later and selling for $39.95.

brent @ Feb 7th 2007 1:29PM

@ 33 ... methinks thou hast gone overboards ...

@ 11 ... actually, i'm almost positive sony is the gaming devil ...
( kinda like the robot devil - http://firepile.com/images/Robotdevil.jpg )

The Wii has a few good single player games,
although i guess it all depends on personal opinion ...

Since a lot of people seem to have trouble finding fun Wii single player, i'll give some quick reviews of what i've played:

- Zelda
no brainer, most fun i've had with a game since Resident Evil 4

- Elebits
way more depth here than I expected, and i'm a sucker for a map editor (especially when i can send the maps to other people)

- Excite Truck
awsome fun in small doses, seemed small and disapointing at first, until i realized you actually you have to unlock most of the game ...

- TH Downhill Jam
havent played much of it yet, but same jist as excite truck

**** FPS Catagory ****
(i love FPS's so i've played through all 3 on the Wii so far, 4 if you count elebits i guess)

- Red Steel
Controls feel clunky at first, but its been given a bad rap.

Essentially, you need to realize its not UT or Halo, play it slower and more deliberate, and you will have a much better experience.
Runing out into the open and trying to play Rambo will get you killed every time.

The story was decent, the graphics were the best i've seen on the Wii so far (a bit beter Halo 2)

And the Soundtrack ... the music for this game was phenomenal ... and it synced with the levels and gameplay perfectly ... best original score for a game in my recent memory.

-Far Cry
An abysimal buggy port of a game with Wii controls tacked on. Ubisoft's buget for this must have been around 20 dolars ...

It has its moments ... but i think thats just because its a FarCry game at heart ...
(control is slightly better than redsteel ... sometimes)

-Call of Duty 3
Best Wii shooter to date.
The controls are great, much beter than Red Steel or FarCry. Not perfect, but still very good.

It gives me a lot of hope for FPS games on the Wii, because it really is refreshing to play an FPS this way.

Now if only the game itself was a bit better...
For the most part I like it, and if you want to play an FPS on the Wii right now, COD3 is the way to go...

I know this post kinda makes me look like a Fanboy,
but i'm not quite, i'm more like a reverse-fanboy, really i'll try anything that dosent say Sony on it

Vidikron @ Feb 7th 2007 1:36PM

@40 Brent

Except for your comment about Sony at the end, you didn't sound like a fanboy at all in your post. Just seems like honest opinions on the Wii games to me.

themikey @ Feb 7th 2007 2:58PM

Can I ask what the hell is wrong with using proprietary storage? Aside from the lot of you pirates being too damn cheap?

Grunge @ Feb 7th 2007 1:43PM

@ 36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades

Read that, and stop spouting off about things that you know nothing about (hint: if you're disagreeing with everyone in the room, there might be a chance that you are wrong).

Jake @ Feb 7th 2007 2:19PM

#36 is obviously wrong. He would be surprised if a PS3 cost more to build than $100. He must be very exciteable and dramatic then, being surprised so often. Actually, if you go strictly by raw materials, you would just have a pile of sand, a hunk of polymers, and some metal. That pile wouldn't cost more than $10.

Brent,
Your comments aren't fanboyish except the last. But, you really can't say the Wii has good single player games. You listed some games and gave your honest critique. Trust me, though, you will play much, much better single player games on the Wii by the time it is said and done with. COD3 and Elebits do not compare to some of the single player games on 360, for example, right now. You'll look back on liking Red Steel as some painful distant memory from your youth.

1p is one of the Wii's current weaknesses. Expect it to change, but don't feel obligated to be happy with what is there now. If everyone bought and was happy with cheaply made, shallow games on the Wii then you would be stuck playing VC, Nintendo, and PS2 ports for the next 2 years. It will get much better.

Far Cry on the Wii is just as bad as it is on the 360. Absolutely friken horrendous to the near point of unplayability. You don't have to sugar coat it. You don't owe them nothing. Have high standards.

Matt @ Feb 7th 2007 2:33PM

Grunge,

People often cite that razor and blades model as an analogy where you have one product loss leading for another one. The problem is that razors aren't really the loss leaders in the razor industry. What's a razor? It's a plastic handle. It's nothing. The blades are the part that are complex and expensive to manufacture, which is why they cost more.

Video games are more akin to the ink-jet printer industry or cell phones. All are intricate machines that cost hundreds of dollars to make. They're sold at a loss and supported by cheap products (plastic disks, ink, minutes) that are sold at highly inflated prices.

I'm not trying to nit pick. Your point was correct. I just don't like when people use that as an example. As people have already noted Frank Mondana is incorrect in his assertion that consoles are sold for profit. One need only look at Microsoft's losses on the original Xbox ($4 billion) to realize this.

James Kochalka @ Feb 7th 2007 2:43PM

It's weird that he discounts Wii Sports simply because it was a pack-in with the system. It also happens to be THE killer app of this generation. Wii Sports is the whole reason the Wii is a smashing success. Never, ever underestimate it's power and importance.

Mr Khan @ Feb 7th 2007 3:50PM

The only things i think Nintendo did bad with their launch was
1: the lack of a good, original "hardcore" game (Zelda doesn't count, i could've gotten that on my GC, even though i didn't)

2: lack of Online, although we really don't know where Nintendo plans to go with their online model, but their silence either indicates that it will either be just as bad as we suspect, or impossibly better than we suspect

Crono @ Feb 7th 2007 5:19PM

"Can I ask what the hell is wrong with using proprietary storage? Aside from the lot of you pirates being too damn cheap?"

I wasn't aware than any of the next gen consoles used proprietary formats. 360 uses DVD9 with 360 filesystem. Wii uses DVD9 with Wii filesystem/encryption (which has been cracked), PS3 uses standard blue ray discs with PS3 filesystem.

The formats ARE standards. Its the filesystem that proprietary. And thats all done in "software" at the time of the pressing. It doesn't cause a line of presses just for Wii games.

Revo @ Feb 7th 2007 7:33PM

"34. I wasn't referring to the power of the Wii, rather Nintendo's decision to essentially not use that power. Witness Wii Sports or WarioWare. Just because the focus of the games isn't on graphics doesn't mean that they have to look like they were designed by a 3rd grader. The Wii is capable of more and we should expect more from it."

I recently read through a forum thread in which the first poster came forth with the same complaint about WarioWare as you. Virtually every subsequent poster in said thread proceeded to defend the stylistic choice made by Nintendo, whether they were fans of the Wii or not.

So while you're certainly entitled to your opinion that the stylized graphics in the games you mentioned are somehow inferior, you would do well to recognize that most gamers disagree.

brent @ Feb 7th 2007 11:04PM

@40 and 42

I guess i'll have to clarify and print a slight retractment ...

I don't mean to imply the Wii has the best single player at the moment, by any means, I'm just saying its not that bad ...

I dont have a 360 at the moment because i cant afford one, so Wii is the only next gen gaming i can get at the moment ...

i dont see myself owning a PS3 unless it was free/gift ...

And i dont mean to imply that ps games are terrible either,
i have more of a grudge against the corporation sony, particularly involving its Rootkit dealings ...
even still, Wii and x360 have more games i'm interested in than PS3 by far ...

Consoles currently in our appartment:
All nintendo consoles, Xbox, Slim PS1 & Slim PS2,
(and my gaming PC)