The bananas have steered Nintendo false!
Resolution Listed as #1 Reason for PS4 Eighth Generation Dominance
A study conducted by Nielson has this week revealed the top five reasons for owning a current generation console, as cited by owners of that console. Predictably, the top reason for owning a PS4 was given as resolution, which roughly translates into practical terms as the system having been chosen due to its tendency to provide superior ports to the Xbone. The second most common reason given for owning a PS4 was for the system’s functionality as a Blu-ray player, which seems a little odd given the fact that these days there are far cheaper options for Blu-ray playback, not least of which is the PS3. The third most common reason for PS4 ownership was for the system’s burgeoning game library, which next month is set to be bolstered by the highly anticipated console exclusive, Bloodborne. The fourth most common reason listed for PS4 ownership was faster processing power, a quality which [in terms of consoles] the PS4 has in spades, while the fifth most common reason given was simply that the PS4 is what the family wanted. These last two factors really sum up exactly why the PS4 is dominating the Xbone and Wii U to such an extent – it is the most technically proficient machine of the three, while also being a crowd pleaser among families. It is this wide base of appeal which continues to drive the PS4’s sales forward in 2015.
Xbone owners are corporate thralls, case in point the number one reason given for Xbone ownership among its installbase was brand. The second most cited feature for Xbone ownership harkens back to the days of forced Kinect, being as it is innovative features. The third most common feature cited was faster processing power, which the Xbone at least possesses in relation to the seventh generation consoles and Wii U, while the fourth most commonly cited feature was because of its exclusive games and content, a point which one would have though would place higher on the list. Perhaps the decreasing relevance of console exclusives to the Xbone is simply an indication that Halo has lost a certain degree of mind-share in the face of annualised releases of Call of Duty and Battlefield. Finally, the fifth most cited feature leading to Xbone ownership is an admittedly a great reason to have given: fun factor.
Fun factor might have been of relatively high importance to Xbone owners, yet it is of paramount importance to Wii U owners, placing as the number one reason that Wii U owners made their purchase decision. It is not hard to see why this is the case given that the Wii U’s library is the most traditionally gamey of the three consoles, and is stocked with titles that focus on fun while not putting on airs. The second most cited reason for Wii U ownership is an obvious one: the console is better for kids, while the third most cited reason is a bit of an odd one: price and value. Granted, the Wii U is the cheapest of the three consoles, but not by that much. The console features ancient hardware at a premium price, and Nintendo is notorious for cheaping out in any way they can. As such, the Wii U seems to offer significantly less value to gamers than even the Xbone. The fourth most common reason given for Wii U ownership is backwards compatibility, marking it as an important feature, at least to the Wii U’s anemic installbase. No doubt the oracular bananas will look at this statistic and determine that Nintendo’s next system requires Wii U backwards compatibility at any cost! Finally, the fifth most cited reason for Wii U ownership is for exclusive games and content. It is quite puzzling that the importance of Wii U exclusives should place so lowly on the list, though perhaps Nintendo owners have grown so accustomed to having vastly superior console exclusives in comparison to the competition that they take it for granted to an extent, making them less inclined to scrap in the console exclusive trenches with PS4 and Xbone owners.
All the money are belong to Sony.
Sony Platforms Lead the Market in worldwide Digital Revenue
When looking at the same Nielson study as seen above, it is possible to see that both the Wii U and Xbone installbases are largely derived from their respective seventh generation predecessor consoles, whereas the PS4’s installbase is comprised of a fair chunk of gamers that Sony has been able to wean away from Nintendo and Microsoft consoles. The demography of Microsoft and Nintendo users remains relatively stale, with 76 percent of Xbone owners having previously owned a 360, and 86 percent of Wii U owners having owned a Wii. Put another way, Microsoft has only managed to attract 24 percent [or roughly a quarter] of [presumably] first time Xbox owners to their camp, while just a meager 14 percent of the Wii U’s userbase is comprised of fresh blood. By contrast the PS4 enjoys a healthy mix of first time owners and returning Playstation customers, with 66 percent of the userbase comprised of PS3 owners, and 34 percent of the userbase comprised of people which [presumably] belonged to Sony’s competitors during the seventh console generation.
The effect that Sony’s ascendency is having on the gaming landscape has already been making itself felt in the digital marketplace, with the PS4 pulling out well ahead of its console competitors. During January of this year 1.1 billion dollars was spent on digital games in the global market, of this 263 million dollars was generated by traditional console hardware. When looking at the top ten best performing digital titles of January, the PS4 can be seen to rake in a massive 43 percent of their global revenue, while the Playstation family as a whole [including the PS3 and Vita] can be seen to accrue a whopping 63 percent of global revenue, leaving Nintendo and Microsoft to fight over scraps.
Because people are going to confuse a tower defense game with this bullshit!
Bethesda Has Returned to Patent Trolling
With the eighth console generation in full swing one would have thought that Bethesda would be busy developing one of their janky, bug-filled open world messes – but apparently not. Much like irredeemable clowns such as King and Tim Langdell, Bethesda sincerely believes that they own the exclusive rights to words in the English language. Previously we have seen that when Bethesda were not busy suing Oculus Rift on account of sour grapes, they were equally committed to suing Mojang for having the audacity to use the word ‘scrolls’ in their game’s title. While Notch was more than wealthy enough to take a stand against such absurdity, this week has seen the sad results of what happens when the arseholes at Bethesda elect to ride rough-shod over a real indy developer, and the results look a lot like rape.
“Congratulations Bethesda. You won. You beat us. You showed us who’s boss.”
These were the words of Xreal founder, Howard Marks, who until this week had been working on a mobile tower defense game called Fortress Fallout. Sadly for Marks, Bethesda feel that they own the exclusive rights to use the word ‘fallout’ from now until the end of time, and that anybody wishing to use this perfectly commonplace word in the English language can just choke on their greasy legal cock. In a just world this sort of nonsense would be laughed out of court, yet in the imperfect world in which we live little developers like Xreal simply do not have enough fiscal resources to be able to see off this baseless bullying in the legal arena. Now they had better just hope that they do not get sued by Square Enix for the name Xreal looking too much like Xenogears!
