Console Manufactures

Here are the three biggest console selling manufactures; in next generation gaming and in the world
all three of them manipulate the game market in their own specific way. In this project I am going to
look in depth at the differences and similarities between them and what makes them each unique. I
will explore facts and figures and features that gives them a competitive edge over there main rivals.
Microsoft
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by
Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and
Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360)

The Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005, in the United States and Canada; December 2,
2005, in Europe and December 10, 2005, in Japan. It was later launched in Mexico, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India,
and Russia. In its first year on the market, the system launched in 36 countries, more countries than
any console has launched in a single year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360)

The main assets of Microsoft is the Xbox, in 2001 Microsoft launched the first Xbox, while this was a
new field for Microsoft it did not show as the Xbox was quickly sold out and selling an estimated 6
million copies in Europe.

This is the Xbox 260 released 2nd of December 2005

Features
Microsoft have inbuilt varies unique features within the Xbox 360, and have recently introduced
more such as kinect which is a motion detector which allows you to play a game via your own
motions. The main features that the Microsoft Xbox possesses are as followed:

 Wireless controllers
 Upload music
 Xbox live
 Facebook
 Window messenger
 Sky player
 Kinetic

These are the main features that the Xbox 360 has; the wireless controllers will allow you to move
around i.e. you will be able to sit further away from the Xbox without having any wire constraints.
Uploading music allows you to involve yourself by adding music that you personally enjoy; you can
listen to the music at the Xbox dashboard or listen to it in game. Xbox live allows you to play with
your friends or anyone around the world. When connected to Xbox live you will be ranked according
to the number of gamer points you possess; and will be matched up with people at the same level as
you or you will be able to play people that are at a higher level than you are. Other medias that the
console provides are Shy player, on this you will be able to watch Sky TV if you are a Sky TV
subscriber, another big company that the Xbox accommodates is the biggest social networking site
Facebook on here you are able to connect with friends and you are able to upload your best in game
moments on to the site.

International sales figures

Region Units sold First available
Canada 870,000 as of August 1, 2008 November 22, 2005
United States 18.6 million as of December 31, 2009
EMEA region 10 million as of November 13, 2009 December 2, 2005
(Europe, Middle East and (Includes UK sales)
Africa)
United Kingdom 3.9 million as of January 13, 2009
Japan 1,235,975 as of March 2, 2010 December 10, 2005
Australia & New Zealand 1 million as of April 19, 2010 March 23, 2006
Worldwide 44.6 million as of 30 September 2010
Microsoft first announced that they would be entering the gaming market in 1999 and then released
the first Xbox console in 200l. It sold numerous units an amount that caught many people by surprise
and taken notice. Here are the sales for the first Microsoft Xbox console.

Region Units sold First available

(as of May 10, 2006)

North 16 million November 15, 2001

America
Europe 6 million March 14, 2002
Asia 2 million February 22, 2002
Worldwide 24 million

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox#Sales)

In November 2005 Microsoft released the second series of there gaming product, Microsoft released
the Xbox 360. Microsoft showed very good marketing skills by taking a sales march on their
opponents in the run up to the release; they opted to release the game a good 4 months or so
before Sony released the Play station 3 and also Nintendo were also caught out. Here are the sales
figures for the Xbox 360:
 Top 5 games
The 2007 Game Critics’ Awards honored the Xbox 360 platform with 38 Nominations and 11 Wins -
more than any other platform. By March 2008, the Xbox 360 had reached a software attach rate of
7.5 games per console—a record for any console in history, in EU the rate was 7.0 while its
competitors were 3.8 (PS3) and 3.5 (Wii). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Games). The most
selling game in Xbox history is the Halo 3 that was released in 2007.

Gears of War would become the best-selling game on the console with 3 million units, before being
surpassed in 2007 by Halo 3, with 8.1 million units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Games

Top 5 games:
 1. Halo 3
2. Gears of war
3. Call of duty 2
4. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
5. Saint Row

Marketing

This is a good way of advertising the Xbox 360 because Watchman fans would
want to but this console because it appeals to them because it caters there
interest in watchman which would make them spend money o this limited
edition console.

This is Sony’s PS3 and PSP as you can Sony have a lot of
ventures in the gaming business which is not very surprising given for the huge pedigree in
the industry.

The PlayStation 3 was first released in Japan on November 11, 2006 at 07:00. According to
Media Create, 81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS3#Launch
On January 24, 2007, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 would go on sale on March 23, 2007 in
Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and New Zealand. [14][15] The system sold about 600,000
units in its first two days.[40] On March 7, 2007, the 60 GB PlayStation 3 launched in Singapore with a
price of S$799.[41] The console was launched in South Korea on June 16, 2007 in a single version
equipped with an 80 GB hard drive and IPTV.[42] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS3#Launch

After the success of the original play station Sony introduced a portable gaming system
which was called the PSP. The PSP would prove as a hit and sold many units, even though
from fierce competition from the Nintendo DS.

The PlayStation Portable is the first handheld video game console to use
an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other
distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media
capabilities and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs, and the
Internet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSP

Features
Sony stated before the release of the new console that they would be making lot
refinements to the console which will differ a lot from the other systems.

Here are the main features which give the PS3 the extra edge over its rivals:

 Multimedia

 PSP connectivity

 Blu-ray disc

 Wireless controllers/motion controllers

 Internet

 Built in Wify

 YouTube
Here are the main features that the PS3 offers to fans; there are a lot of changes made to the PS3 to
make it more successful than the first PlayStation console. PS3 released there system a few after
Microsoft released there’s. This is mainly due to see the impact that the Xbox would have and try
and better there console and overcome Microsoft in the market.

PSP features:

 Wide screen
 Multimedia
 Connectivity with PS2, PS3 and other PSP’s

Sales figures
Region Units sold First available
Canada "about 1.5 million" as of 6 October 2010 November 17,
[233]
2006
Europe 16 million as of 17 August 2010[234] March 23, 2007
(May include UK & other PAL
regions)
Japan 5 million as of 13 April 2010[235] November 11,
2006
United Kingdom 3 million as of 26 January 2010[236] March 23, 2007
United States nearly 12 million as of 14 April 2010[237] November 17,
2006
 Worldwide 41.6 million as of 30 September 2010[2] November 11,
2006

The PS3 sold rapidly in the first month on release, Sony’s main benefactors as shown on
theses statistics did not fail. Europe and USA were the biggest areas where Sony thought
that they would make the most money and that was not a hoax.

Sales figures:

Region Units sold First available

Japan 15 million (as of December 28, 2009)[1] December 12, 2004
United States 17 million (as of March 14, 2010)[108] March 24, 2005
Europe 12 million (as of May 6, 2008)[109] September 1, 2005
United 3.2 million (as of January 3, 2009)[110] September 1, 2005
Kingdom
Worldwide 62 million (as of September 16, 2010)[1]

Best selling games

In the games department there a lot of competition between Xbox and PlayStation,
PlayStation have specific licensed games that are not available to Xbox and vise versa. This
mainly to attract mall minorities of fans those are interested in a specific game. As of
September 30, 2010, there have been 350.6 million games sold for the PlayStation 3

Here are the PS3 best selling games:

1. Resistance: Fall of Man

2. Ridge Racer 7
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
4. Virtual fighter 5
5. MotorStorm
Marketing

This is an example of how Sony will get the product across to the public, by cutting prices
making cheaper. This will get fans to buy the PS3, this also a way to get the customers that
do not know which console to decide between PS3, Xbox 360 or the Nintendo Wii. This is
also more interesting to the audience because there is also an offer with the deal, the offer
being that you will also being purchasing games and a controller.

The PSP poster is slightly different; the PSP poster has a little snippet on what fans can
actually expect in the console. At the bottom of the poster it says “Go connect. Go play. Go
anywhere”. This tells the audience and potential
fans that you can go online anywhere you are and
be able to play people around the world or your
friends.

Nintendo have also developed two big

selling products much like Sony, when the Wii was developed
it came with a new feature that made it stand out from the rest, it was the was the first
console that actually had motion. Gamers are allowed to play the game by there own
movements. Although this has also been adopted by Microsoft and also Sony Nintendo
where able to make a lot of sales from this.
The Wii is Nintendo's fifth home console, the direct successor to the Nintendo GameCube,
and able to play all official GameCube games. Nintendo first spoke of the console at the
2004 E3 press conference and later unveiled the system at the 2005 E3. Nintendo CEO
Satoru Iwata revealed a prototype of the controller at the September 2005 Tokyo Game
Show. At E3 2006, the console won the first of several awards. By December 8, 2006, it had
completed its launch in four key markets.

As of November 2010, the Wii leads the generation over the

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales and in December 2009 broke the record for
best-selling console in a single month in the United States.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii)

The Nintendo DS is the biggest selling potable gaming device in the world way ahead of the
PSP. This just shows how much power that Nintendo have in the gaming market.

Features
The main feature that the Nintendo Wii had was the motion controller, this gave the Wii a
completive edge and many people opted to switch to Nintendo. This is one of the reasons
why both Sony and Microsoft introduced there own motion controls. Here are the main
features on the Nintendo Wii:

 Wii remote
 SD card (memory)
 Wii balance board
 Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth
 Game cube controller

Here are the features for the Nintendo DS:

  Free Wi-Fi
 SD card
 Nintendo MP3
 DS camera
 Motion pack

Sales

Since its launch, the monthly sales numbers of the console have been
higher than its competitors across the globe. According to the NPD Group, the Wii sold more units in
the United States than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined in the first half of 2007.

Date Japan Americas Other Worldwide

2006-12- 1.14 1.25 0.80 3.19
31[27]
2007-03- 2.00 2.37 1.47 5.84
31[28]
2007-06- 2.95 3.81 2.51 9.27
30[29]
2007-09- 3.67 5.46 4.04 13.17
30[30]
2007-12- 4.99 8.85 6.30 20.13
31[31]
2008-03- 5.90 10.61 7.94 24.45
31[32]
2008-06- 6.43 13.11 10.08 29.62
30[33]
2008-09- 6.91 15.19 12.45 34.55
30[34]
2008-12- 7.80 20.40 16.76 44.96
31[35]
2009-03- 7.96 23.54 18.89 50.39
31[36]
2009-06- 8.17 24.42 20.03 52.62
30[37]
2009-09- 8.68 25.99 21.48 56.14
30[7]
2009-12- 9.72 32.02 25.71 67.45
31[38]
2010-03- 10.34 33.40 27.19 70.93
31[39]
2010-06- 10.52 35.20 28.24 73.97
30[40]
2010-09- 10.79 35.91 29.20 75.90
30[4]

Here are the sales figures for the Nintendo Wii, this shows how dominate the Wii has been
since release. It is a similar story for the Nintendo DS; the device is the biggest selling hand
held portable gaming device in the world ahead of the PSP.

5 top selling games

1. Wii sport
2. Mario- kart Wii
3. Wii Fit
4. Wii sports resort
5. New super Mario bros Wii

Here are the best selling Nintendo DS games:

 New super Mario bros Wii

 Nintendogs
 Brain age
  Mario kart DS
 Pokémon diamond pearl

Marketing

Here is a marketing technique for the Nintendo DS; this is a good way of catching the
audience’s eye by adding celebrity endorsements to the products. Fans of girls aloud would
be keen to but the product because there role models are using it.

Here is a promotional advert for the Nintendo Wii; this picture shows that the Wii is very
enjoyable game with family. This would give the audience an activity that brings and bonds
the there family together and have fun.

Bibliography
Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS3#Launch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox#Sales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1339&bih=556&tbs=isch:1&q=nintendo%20Wii%20advert

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
q=nintendo+Wii+poster&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=aZvtTOKwApKShAfbwIj
MDA&sa=N&start=36&ndsp=18&biw=1339&bih=556

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
q=nintendo+Wii+poster&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=XpvtTJrRIcyxhAfEmujM
DA&sa=N&start=18&ndsp=18&biw=1339&bih=556

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1339&bih=556&tbs=isch:1&q=nintendo%20Wii%20poster

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
q=Nintendo+DS&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=0ZrtTKXhEoixhAfMtYTODA&sa=
N&start=36&ndsp=18&biw=1339&bih=556

http://www.google.co.uk/images?
q=Nintendo+DS&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=yprtTO2xFsq2hQfbuInMDA&sa
=N&start=18&ndsp=18&biw=1339&bih=556

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