Sounding Off: How Wrong we Were

Considering Sony’s PlayStation 2 has sold almost 140 million units since its Japanese release in March 2000, it’s almost impossible to believe that as we end the decade it’s Nintendo who stands as the industry leader. So drastic has the shift in power been, that the one-time all conquering leader has now found itself in third position, and only showing small signs of being able to right the ship. Although SEGA’s demise from an iconic console developer to multi-format publisher came as a shock to hardcore fans, the writing had been on the wall for some time. No one really thought Sony would suffer as it has.

The console war never seems to end, and the Noughties have seen two rather heated battles play out in front of us, both resulting in a clear winner. The PS2, Xbox and GameCube fought it out (the Dreamcast had died before the party even started), but there was only ever one winner. Sony’s PS2 destroyed the competition and continued to push gaming into the mainstream as its predecessor had. Nintendo stuck rigidly to its tried and tested formula, focusing on key franchises while receiving the worse end of the stick when it came to third-party support. Microsoft had made a solid start to the industry, and it was laying the foundations for what was to become one of the decade’s most important new features: online console gaming.

During the original Beta for Xbox LIVE there was a feeling that it was going to be a great addition to the Xbox, but no one could really have predicted just how important Xbox LIVE was to become. Online console gaming is now a big deal. Release a game without an online component and it’s instantly seen as an inferior product, but include a game mode that’ll have gamers playing for months and you’ve got a multi-million selling mega hit on your hands. The way Microsoft has gradually improved the service has meant it’s always stayed ahead of the competition, and now it’s hard to imagine how we gamed without it. Microsoft might not have won either of the wars this decade, but it’s certainly taken the lead in the online arena.

Since the Wii and Nintendo DS arrived the war has certainly been fought differently. In the early part of the decade Sony lived not only on brand name recognition, but through by far the best software line-up. The PS2 is home to some of the best games ever made and offers a software catalogue more diverse than any other platform. Yet these years of good will and entertainment proved to be worthless when the Japanese platform holder wanted everyone to migrate to its new console. Being able to shake a remote control while stood in front of your TV might not have been what the real hardcore wanted, but it struck a chord with millions of non-gamers, with results that simply couldn’t be seen coming.

Can you remember the fuss made over the name “Wii”? The promo video was released and everyone thought it was a fake, such was the disbelief that Nintendo would name its next console something so seemingly stupid. It was real though, and how dumb we all look now. The Wii quickly became the world’s must-have family entertainment device and has gone on to sell over 50 million units.

Microsoft and Sony are still fighting it out for the hardcore, but Nintendo at times has seemed to ignore us completely, merely throwing us nuggets now and again to make sure we haven’t lost interest completely. On the back of Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit everything else doesn’t seem to matter. There’s an argument for saying that the Wii would still be in an incredibly strong position even if its software line-up from Nintendo was simply those three titles.

Of course, games like Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Metroid Prime Corruption and Mario Kart Wii have all gone on to achieve critical and commercial success, but how much they drive console sales is debatable. A well produced promo video showing a family playing virtual tennis is simply too irresistible, and the lure of keeping fit by balancing too good to be true. The casual gamer has arrived in a big way, but as numerous excellent Wii games have proved, this new kind of gamer generally only buys titles from the big N. Third-party publishers can surely only be burnt by the Wii for so long.

More than anything else, this decade has shown that gaming should no longer be kept secret. Last Christmas friends of my family, completely unprompted, started talking about the Wii and Guitar Hero. People talk about music, film and TV all the time, yet talk of video games among a group of middle-aged parents felt like a landmark moment. People argue that Modern Warfare 2’s airport scene shows how immature the industry still is, but Infinity Ward’s blockbuster sequel has done wonders to legitimise gaming as a hobby for adults. People feel like they need to be part of it, to experience it, to live it, and surely that will only become more common in the years to come.