Varian

LunarDuality is absolutely correct. Advertisers have lost the precious young male demographic and want to use video games to target it. There is an agenda currently to 'squeeze' out information that these games are seen by more young male eyes than ever. So Call of Duty 2 isn't just bought by 2 million, no, it is seen by 9 million pairs of eyes!! What a joke.

Even Neilsen is getting into the act. Remember, Neilsen's focus is on the 'TV Universe'; they are interested in what TVs are being used for. In order to help boost the 'perception' of a larger console installed base, Neilsen did a no-no and combined a current generation console (Xbox 360) with the combined total of last generation systems (anyone can boost the installed base of consoles in homes when you combine generations). In the Nielsen's report, it even starts praising the popularity of IP TV among other top box functions. This is incredible since these functions are not even released yet!

Now is the time for game journalists to show they are real journalists. Let's do some little investigation into these reports and show these people for what they are. Remember, MANY media and advertising companies were counting on the 'success' of the 'Top Box' console.

I hope next generation companies will stop seeing gamers as a bunch of wallets and zombies for 'early adopters' for lazy cashflow ideas. Gamers are savvier than the average entertainment customer.

"SOunds like someone is still trying to make their PS3 "worth it" in some respect, last I heard the PS3 got Lemmings and Sudoko, The Virtual Console has no ORIGINAL games."

It's about content. How many games a week does XBLA get compared to the Virtual Console?

But thanks to XBLA, I get to play Pac-Man in HIGH DEFINITION (OMG, how did we ever play Pac-Man without the yellow wedged wheel with low resolution?).

And yes, the Xbox 360 is selling on par with the original Gamecube (or Xbox). What is sad is that the Xbox 360 has had no competition for a year and still can't outsell a six year old PS2. Xbox 360 is dead in Japan, essentially dead in Europe, and stalling in America (500,000 sold in November in America? Very weak.) Microsoft gave retailers $100 last month to market the system which many retailers bundled games (like Gears of War) with the system for the $400 price. Keep in mind that if any system sold 400,000 for November, it would be considered 'dead'. Xbox 360 is right above the 'dead' levels.

The reason why Xbox 360 is not selling is because of the content. The console is too focused on violent shooters and lacks content to draw in other demographics. People eagerly spend $400 on Ipods but the mainstream are not touching the Xbox 360 with a ten foot pole.

If you love shooters, then you'll 360. But a console wins the market by having the largest game library, not releasing one shooter game after another.

Unless PS3 doesn't get its act together (which it should since Sony is betting their company on the system), Xbox 360 is this generation's Gamecube.

Wow, look how sensitive the X-bots have become. Maybe they ought to ask Microsoft for another Kameo Uno Pack. When Uno is the best selling XBLA game, you know there is a problem!

But if I was a fanboy of a console selling at the same rate as the Gamecube, I'd probably go bonkers too.

"Varian, it appears that any hope for a Gears of War PC port is long gone. In 2005 the game was considered a "PC 360 exclusive," but no site on the internet to the best of my knowledge has reported anything on the PC version since 2005. Will you get a port in the future? Looks about 50/50 right now, maybe 60/40 leaning towards a no."

Did you not read my post? I said I GOT WORD FROM EPIC that it is in testing now for the PC. The information came from Epic, not any Internet site.

My guess is that official word of Gears of War for PC will not be out until after the holidays so Microsoft can lie to everyone in saying that the game is 'exclusive' to the Xbox 360 (by not saying how long).

So if Gears of War is coming to PC, is it fair to call it a Xbox 360 killer app? (I'd say yes. Halo went to PC and it was a Xbox killer app.) Then you'll also have to reconsider Zelda as well.

Gears of War is coming to PC soon (its already in testing now) so Xbox 360 still will have no killer app.

Video game industry has not been growing. In Japan, it was in pretty bad decline until the arrival of the DS. In America, it is flat when population growth is adjusted. Even worse, household penetration rate is around 33% which is what the NES had.

This problem has been cleverly hidden by many by reporting only the money of sales. Compare this generation to last generation. Consoles and games are costing more. The dollars 'sold' have incrased but not the number of players. In fact, they do not report the number of players as studies show a decrease of interest in video games in America (look at the Piper Jaffrey studies for example).

Another reason why gamers don't see this is because they tend to look at worldwide sales of consoles. The number of Playstation systems sold is not by penetrating more of the potential market in traditional territories but by being the first worldwide console (and the first to 'win' all three major markets). The Playstation never 'grew' gaming.

The growth of the industry has been in multiple console ownership, not in additional number of gamers.

Sorry gamers. You have never been mainstream. You have always been a niche which is why there is so much stigma against gaming.

Interest in the Xbox 360 is fast evaporating with Wii and PS3 launches. The reason for these Halo 3 'previews' is only as a desperate attempt to shore up SOME sort of interest in Xbox 360 especially for November.

The reason why 1up got the previews is because Che, a former 1up employee, now works at Microsoft.

It's all pretty sad if you ask me.

Sounds like Joystiq is jealous. In the old days, it was customary for the designers to put their name on their game. Think of M.U.L.E. with Daniel Bunton's pictures glossed on it. We need more of this stuff instead of this bloated body of artists that consists of most development teams. When games are designer based, as opposed to production based, this is common and ought to be.

Because of the DS's success, Japan's console video game market now is LARGER than the American market. Check out the stats for this year so far and you'll find Japan ahead of the USA.

To those who said Japan doesn't matter... haha. It looks like Japan will be the spoiler in the next console war.

This will not be the 'killer app' that people are hoping for with the PSP.

1) These games are old. Retro games never have been system sellers.

2) Most of the PS1 Generation games haven't aged well.

3) These games aren't built for a handheld. When a game is built for a handheld, it has plenty of saves and is designed more around a quick nature. This could prove to be a barrier.

Nostalgia is fueling people's perspective on this now. When they are actually playing the PS1 games (which they could do anyway with the PS2 but now on a smaller screen), the hype will just drain away from this very fast.