- 13,716
- Indiana
- ViperManiac
From PSM:
Despite some early fumbles, PS2 has become the undisputed king of the videogame hill. Nearly two years ago, the PS2 was launching with half the number of units Sony had been promised would be on store shelves. The "beginning of the end" of PlayStation's dominance over the videogame world was at hand. Today, more than eight million PS2's have been sold in the US -- a far cry from that initial 500,000 -- and its two competitors, launched one year later, are locked in a distant battle for second.
PS2 has made history: for the first time, one console brand has dominated consecutive generations of gaming. It is also maintaining the largest lead over its nearest competitor -- 7 million systems -- and has already sent one competing console (Dreamcast) to an early grave.
War Is Hell
According to sales figures published in late March, PS2 has sold more than 8.3 million units in the US (since October 2001) and is currently selling more than 65,000 units a week. Xbox and GameCube have sold 1.4 million and 1.3 million systems, respectively, and are running nearly neck-and-neck in weekly sales at a pace of approximately 30,000 units every seven days. Its even more important to note that PS2 sold nearly twice as many systems during its first three months on sale (back in the fall of 2000) than Xbox or GameCube have in their first four months -- despite shortages.
It would take a miracle for either to catch the PS2 at this point; Sony could lose half its weekly sales and still maintain a massive lead until the next generation. This is important for gamers, because game publishers (at least those who want to make a profit) are going to throw most of their weight (and games) behind the market leader. The fact that developers are now beginning to praise PS2's hardware and development tools rather than bemoan its difficulty to learn should also play a big role in broadening its already massive software library.
Big In Japan
The story is similar in Japan, but the numbers are even more telling. PS2 has sold 1.2 million units there since January 2001 alone, at a current rate of 85,370 a week. GameCube is a distant second for the year at 341,933 total units as of March 24, at a rate of 34,448 a week. Xbox has sold a dismal 184,036 units as of the same date (it launched there in Feb.) and is selling only 2,000 a week; barring something big, it looks like the game is already over for Microsoft's machine in Asia.
Japanese developers were already targeting most of their releases for PS2, and these latest figures will certainly tip the scale even more in the system's favor. Japanese games have always played a make-or-break role in how well game systems fare in America, and PS2 has the most by far; given its D.O.A. status in Japan, most of Xbox's games are going to be U.S. developed, and while GameCube has decent support in Japan, the games are still few and far between.
The Dark Side Of Success
Standing alone at the top of the mountain has its downsides, too. Where's the motivation to continue innovating? Luckily, Sony seems to be encouraging new concepts and gameplay experiences from its own developers and others.
Then there's the question of developer relations -- why bend over backwards to please them when there's no one else to realistically run off to? We've already seen the Resident Evil series go to GameCube for reasons rumored along these lines, but even now Capcom seems to be second-guessing its move, given sales of its RE remake and the console itself.
This is nevertheless a problem Sony has to deal with, since it can only make PS2 more successful in the long run.
Full Speed Ahead
That long run looks to be a bright one. At its current pace, PS2 is set to outsell even the PSOne by the end of its run -- and that's nothing short of amazing.
Will PS3 go unchallenged -- will a videogame standard finally be established? It's too early to tell (its competitors both have huge war chests and have given no indications of a Sega-like surrender), but at this rate, it's going to be an increasingly losing proposition for them with each generation that passes.
Just because there aren't going to be a lot on inter-system salvos fired this generation, there should still be plenty of fireworks -- and on PS2, we've got the best seat in the house.
o7:
why are you here if all ya gonna do is take the piss a wanker like you should have better thins to do like wank over your xbox playing dead or alive 3 no sorry you don't like women you like abe 
