History of video game consoles (seventh generation)

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History of…
Video games
Video game consoles
First generation (1972–1977) Second generation (1976–1984) Video game crash of 1983 Third generation (1983–1992) Fourth generation (1987–1996) Fifth generation (1993–2002) Sixth generation (1998–2006) Seventh generation (2004–)
Arcade games
Golden Age of Arcade Games

In the history of video games, the seventh generation, which is also the current generation, primarily focuses on the consoles released since 2004 by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony.^[1]

For home consoles, the seventh generation began on November 22, 2005 with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and continued with the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 11, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduced a new type of breakthrough technology. For example, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 offered high-definition graphics, while the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors instead of joysticks^[2] (The Playstation 3 also employs motion sensitivity, but not to as great a degree). All three consoles have wireless controllers.

For handheld consoles, the seventh generation began on November 21, 2004 with the North American introduction of the Nintendo DS as a "third pillar", alongside Nintendo's existing Game Boy Advance and GameCube consoles.^[3] The Nintendo DS features a built-in microphone and supports wireless IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) standards.^[4] The PlayStation Portable, released later the same year on December 12, 2004, followed a different pattern. It became the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage media.^[5][6] Sony also gave the PlayStation Portable handle a robust multi-media capability,^[7] connectivity with the PlayStation 3 and other PSPs and have Internet connectivity.^[8][9] Despite the fact that the Nintendo DS lacks these additions, PlayStation Portable sales have consistently lagged behind the Nintendo DS.^[10]

[edit] Home consoles

[edit] Xbox 360

Main article: Xbox 360

Microsoft's Xbox 360 gained an early lead in terms of market share largely due to its early launch date which was one year before its rivals. Sales in North America and Europe have continued to be strong, even after the release of the Wii and PlayStation 3. Like its predecessor, the Xbox 360 received a muted reception in Japan,^[11] attributed to the lack of content aimed at Japanese gamers.^[12]

This early launch did come with some trouble, as technical problems appeared in a portion of Xbox 360 units sold. The most well known problem is the "red ring of death", which received a great deal of attention due to some users' claims of having to replace their consoles multiple times. Microsoft addressed this by offering a three year warranty on all affected consoles and repairing them free of charge.^[13] It also retroactively reimbursed owners of affected systems who paid for repairs.^[13] According to The Mercury News, new models of the console featuring 65-nanometer technology will address this and other issues; the new technology is expected to reduce heat production, which will lower the risk of overheating and system failures; although, this has not been officially confirmed by Microsoft.^[14]

As they share many cross-platform games and compete for the same audience as their predecessors, frequent comparisons are made between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[15] The PS3 uses the Blu-ray format, while the Xbox 360 uses a standard DVD. The Xbox 360 is less expensive to produce, and analysts expect that a mid-revision will allow Microsoft to break-even on manufacturing costs,^[16][17] while industry consensus is that the Xbox 360's conventional architecture is easier to develop for.^[18][19]

At the end of first half of 2007, the console stabilized at 11.6 million units shipped as sales dropped 60% while its rival, Wii, gained momentum and Sony announced a competitive price drop on the PlayStation 3.^[20][21] Microsoft's strategy to boost sales with the release of the highly anticipated Halo 3 in September 2007 paid off, outselling the Wii that month in North America.^[22] Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division experienced a huge increase in revenue, largely driven by the release of Halo 3, and posted a quarterly profit for the first time in two years.^[23]

In August 2007, the first price drop was announced for all Stock Keeping Units (SKU's) of the Xbox 360.^[24] The Core system's price was reduced in the United States by $20, the Premium by $50, and the Elite model by $30.^[24] Also, the HDMI out port, previously exclusive to the Elite system, was added to new models of the Premium and Core systems (and the new Arcade system).^[25]

[edit] PlayStation 3

Main article: PlayStation 3

Sony's PlayStation 3 was released roughly a year later on November 11, 2006, with a higher price than its direct competitor, the Xbox 360. The system's reliance on new technology such as the Cell microprocessor and Blu-ray format has caused difficulties in manufacturing, especially the Blu-ray diode, leading to shortages at launch and the delay of the PAL region launches; however, by early December 2006, Sony announced that all production issues had been resolved.^[26]

Market analysts^[27] and Sony executives have stated that the success of the PlayStation 3 and the Blu-ray format are dependent on one another; Rich Marty, VP of New Business Development at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment stated that the “PS3 is critical to the success of Blu-ray,"^[28] while Phil Harrison stated that the PlayStation 3's success will be ensured because "the growth of the Blu-ray disc movie market ... is a positive factor which will play more into the consumer psyche ... as more consumer electronics firms launch standalone disc players, as more Blu-ray disc movies become available, and as more shelf space is dedicated to the category at retail."^[29]

Sony will provide support for its console with new titles from acclaimed first-party franchises such as Gran Turismo and God of War, and has secured a number of highly anticipated third-party exclusive titles, like Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, and Tekken 6. The loss of exclusivity of the Devil May Cry,^[30] Ace Combat,^[31] Virtua Fighter,^[32] Monster Hunter,^[33] Dragon Quest,^[34] the timed-exclusivity of Grand Theft Auto series,^[35] and announced exclusives titles like Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War Fatal Inertia,^[36] and Assassin's Creed;^[37] and a PlayStation 3 version of Beautiful Katamari^[38] fueled rumors and fear that Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, and Tekken 6 would also be available for Xbox 360;^{[39][40][41][42][43]} however, these three games are currently still PlayStation 3 exclusives.^[44][45][46] Sony has blamed lower-than-expected sales on the lack of titles in the PlayStation's slim software library, its higher price, and stock shortages.^[47][48][49]

In July 2007, Sony announced a drop in the price of the console by $100.^[50] This measure only applied to the 60 GB models and was exclusive to the United States and Canada, where those models are no longer in production.^[51] When stock of this model runs out, only a new model with an 80 GB hard disk will be available, and for the same as the launch price of the 60 GB version.

On October 18, 2007, Sony announced a $100 price drop for the 80 GB model and a new $399 40 GB model to launch on November 2, 2007^[52] with reduced features such as the removal of backward compatibility with PS2 games. Within weeks, Sony announced that sales of the 40 GB and 80 GB models by major retailers had increased 192%.^[53]

[edit] Wii

Main article: Wii

Nintendo entered this generation with a new approach embodied by its Wii console. The company planned to attract current hard-core and casual gamers,^[54] non-gamers,^[55] and lapsed gamers by focusing on new gameplay experiences and new forms of interaction with games rather than cutting edge graphics and expensive technology.^[56] This approach was previously implemented in the portable market with the Nintendo DS.^[57] Nintendo expressed hope that the new control schemes it has implemented will render current conventionally controlled consoles obsolete, leading to Nintendo capturing a large portion of the existing market as well.^[58]

So far this strategy has paid off, with demand for the Wii outstripping supply throughout 2007.^[59] Since Nintendo profited on each console right from the start unlike its competitors,^[60] it has already achieved very positive returns.^[61] With only a few exceptions, monthly worldwide Wii sales have been higher than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3,^[22][62][63] eroding Microsoft's early lead and widening the gap between its market share and Sony's.^[57] On September 12, 2007, it was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times that the Wii's sales had surpassed the Xbox 360, which was released one year previously, and became the market leader in worldwide home console sales for the current generation.^[64]

As in previous generations, Nintendo has provided strong support for its new console with popular first-party franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Pokémon, among others. To appeal to casual and non-gamers, Nintendo has also created the Wii Series of games, where players make use of the motion-sensing abilities of the console and its peripherals to simulate real world activities, such as sports, table games, music, or doing exercises.^[65][66]

Nintendo hopes to continue its momentum with the releases of key, highly anticipated, major exclusives like Wii Fit. Also, publishers such as Ubisoft, EA, Capcom, and Majesco continue to release exclusive titles for the console, but the Wii's strongest titles still remain within its first-party line-up. Analysts speculated that this will change in time as Wii's growing popularity persuades third-party publishers to focus on it;^[62][67] however, some third party developers are beginning to express frustration at low software sales. Goichi Suda, developer of No More Heroes for Wii, noted that "only Nintendo titles are doing well. This isn't just because of the current situation in Japan, as this is happening outside Japan. I am very surprised about the reality about Wii, because before I was making this game, I wasn't expecting that Wii would be a console targeted only for non-gamers. I expected more games for hardcore gamers. The reality is different to what I expected."^[68] Jon Hare, a British computer game designer, remarked that "it is just a shame that this time [Nintendo] had to put so many other publishers and developers noses out of joint in order to ensure that their titles received such high priority on their hardware formats," blaming the format-holder approval process for delaying production of third party games and for lowering their quality, concluding that "Companies such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft should feel lucky that at present no international law forces them to open up their platforms as free technical platforms..."^[69]

Yet NPD Group revealed sales data showing that, while Wii's life-to-date attach rate is low, in December 2007, it reached 8.11—higher than the attach rates for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in that month.^[70] Wii's low overall attach rate could be explained by reference to its rapidly increasing installed base, as financial analysts have pointed to the Xbox 360's high attach rates as indicative of an unhealthy lack of installed base growth, and warned that what actually benefits third-party developers is “quicker adoption of hardware and a rapidly growing installed base on which to sell progressively more game units,” which tends to lower the attach rate of a product.^[71]

[edit] Comparison

[edit] Discontinuations and revisions

• The PlayStation 3 20 GB has been discontinued in North America^[97] and Japan.^[98]
• The PlayStation 3 60 GB has been discontinued for NTSC territories. When the remaining stock in stores is sold, the 80 GB version will serve as its replacement.^[99]
• The PlayStation 3 60 GB has been effectively discontinued for PAL territories. When the remaining stock in stores is sold, the 40 GB version will serve as its replacement.
• Sony announced before the PS3 launch in Europe that the Emotion Engine would be removed from it for cost savings, and all backwards compatibility would be software-based.^[100] It is also the same for the 80 GB launching in the North American market.^[101]
• An HDMI out port was added to the Premium Xbox 360 in August 2007.^[102]
• The Xbox 360 Core system has been discontinued and replaced with the "Arcade" version at a price of US$279.99.^[103]

[edit] Backwards compatibility

As of November 19, 2006, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii have all been released. This new generation for the first time has all of the major consoles focusing on online integration and wireless controllers. Initially only the Wii was fully backwards compatible with its previous counterpart with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 only offering partial support, until online updates gave them full support too. The European PlayStation 3's firmware is constantly being updated to give better backwards compatibility with both PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles, but is available for download over the internet (via broadband connection) and may possibly be added onto a disk in the future. The Xbox 360 uses software emulation for backwards compatibility via game-specific patches automatically downloaded via Xbox Live or downloaded and burned to a CD or DVD from the Xbox website.^[104] Some titles are now available for download via Xbox live, eliminating the need for the original Xbox disc. The Wii is fully backwards-compatible with the GameCube and has backwards-compatibility via the Virtual Console, which provides the ability to emulate various older gaming platforms, though each game has to be repurchased and saved to the console's internal memory.

[edit] High definition video

Both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 support 1080p full high definition video (Full HD) output;^[105] however, the output signal may be protected by digital rights management and may require an HDCP-compliant display if HDMI is used. The Xbox Live Marketplace service offers HD movies, TV shows, movie trailers and clips for download to the Xbox 360 hard drive.^[106] Sony does not offer HD movies or TV shows on its service.

While there is only a limited number of games available which render the picture in 1080p, all games can be automatically scaled to this resolution.

[edit] Sales standings

See also: List of best-selling game consoles

Retailer figures are based on data from the manufacturers. The Canada and the United States figures are based on data from the NPD Group, and the Japan figures are based on data from Famitsu/Enterbrain.

Console	Units shipped to retailers (worldwide)	Units sold to consumers in Canada[107]	Units sold to consumers in Japan[108][109]	Units sold to consumers in the US[110]
PlayStation 3	13 million (as of April 21, 2008)[111]	342,400 (as of February 1, 2008)	2,009,492 2,009,492 (as of March 30, 2008)	04.29 4.29 million (as of May 1, 2008)
Wii	24.45 million (as of March 31, 2008)[112]	689,500 (as of February 1, 2008)	5,695,579 5,695,579 (as of March 30, 2008)	09.51 9.51 million (as of May 1, 2008)
Xbox 360	19 million (as of April 25, 2008)[113]	736,400 (as of February 1, 2008)	0,602,558 602,558 (as of March 30, 2008)	10.08 million (as of May 1, 2008)

[edit] Handheld systems

See also: Comparison of handheld game consoles

For video game handhelds, the seventh generation began with the release of the Nintendo DS on November 21, 2004. This handheld was based on a design fundamentally different from the Game Boy and other handheld video game systems. The Nintendo DS offered new modes of input over previous generations such as a touch screen, the ability to connect wirelessly using IEE 802.11b, as well as a microphone to speak to in-game NPCs.^[114] On December 12, 2004, Sony released its first handheld, PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation Portable was marketed at launch to an above 25 year old^[115] or "core gamer" market,^[116] while the Nintendo DS proved to be popular with both core gamers and new consumers.^[117]

Nokia Corporation plans to revive its N-Gage platform in the form of a service for selected S60 devices. This new service launched on April 3, 2008.^[118]

[edit] Comparison

Note: First year of release is the first year of the system's worldwide availability.

[edit] Milestone titles

See also: List of console game franchises

• BioShock (Xbox 360, PC) is considered a major influential and artistic game of this generation^[133][134] with a plot that quickly created controversy with the decisions the player makes during the game.^[135]

• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360, PC, PS3), At Game Rankings, Oblivion holds an average review score of 94% for the Xbox 360,^[136] 93% for the PC, and 93% for the PlayStation 3 version. In general, most reviewers praised the game for its immersiveness and scope, winning the game awards from various outlets.^[137] The television program X-Play, citing similar reasons, awarded the game a 5/5, with Eurogamer stating that the game "successfully unites some of the best elements of RPG, adventure and action games and fuses them into a relentlessly immersive and intoxicating whole". In Japan, game magazine Famitsu awarding it a 38/40, giving it their "Platinum award". GameSpot called the game "simply one of the best role-playing games ever,"^[138].

• Gears of War (Xbox 360, PC) had preorder sales were second only to Halo 2 in the studio's history.^[139] Gears of War was also the first Xbox or Xbox 360 game to sell out and reach the top ten charts in Japan.^[140] On November 7, 2006—the day that it was released—it became the most popular game on the Xbox Live service, overtaking Halo 2, which had held the spot since its launch in November 2004.^[141] By January 19, 2007, just ten weeks after its debut, over three million units of the game had been sold.^[142]

• Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360) is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North. A few Hollywood producers have set precedent by beginning to browse video-game release dates to check for conflicts due to Grand Theft Auto IV's potential harm to the May 2, 2008 release of Iron Man.^[143] The PS3 and Xbox 360 version has taken the second and fourth positions of Game Rankings' best-rated games of all time, respectively;^[144] as well as being the first console game since 1999 to receive a perfect rating from IGN,^[145] and the first title to receive a perfect rating from GameSpot since 2001.^[146]

• Halo 3 (Xbox 360) broke many first day records, including preorders (1.7 million+), and first day sales (US$170 million+), surpassing its predecessor, Halo 2, in both of these fields.^[147][148] It created a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, making the enemy AI a formidable figure; however, the player's allies could easily be considered to be far poorer in intelligence quality.^[149][150]

• Mass Effect (Xbox 360, PC) has advanced the single player narrative in games with an evolving storytelling system. Sold over a million copies a month after the release.^[151] Further sales were spurred by controversy when FOX news mistakenly reported the game contained explicit sex scenes between the characters.^[152]

• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), currently one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the seventh generation, sold more copies in its first week, including over 500,000 in the US, than any other game for the Mario title in the history of the franchise.^[153] It is third only to the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the overall best-reviewed game of all-time, as listed on Game Rankings, along with being the recipient of many game of the year awards.^[144]

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) is a product of a landmark joint cooperation between former rival companies, Nintendo and Sega, along with the help of Konami.^[154][155] It is the third in a series of cross-over fighting game and is the first Wii game to strongly support online play.^[156] It dominated sales during both Japan and the United States release dates, selling 820,000 in its first week in Japan and 1.4 million in the US.^{[157][158][159]}

• Wii Sports (Wii) has been attributed as a major factor in the Wii's worldwide success.^[160] The game, along with Wii Fit, has been cited as attracting more casual, female, and elderly gamers.^[161] This is a rarity among seventh generation games, as developers tend to try and attract young males.^[162] It has also been cited as one game that can provide a bonding experience among family members,^[163] and as a means of exercising and losing weight when played regularly.^[164] As of March 31, 2008, the game has sold 21.56 million copies worldwide—including bundled copies, making it the best-selling Wii game published by Nintendo.^[79]

[edit] Other systems

Gizmondo (Tiger Telematics), March 2005–February 2006[citation needed]	GP2X (GamePark Holdings), November 2005–present	HyperScan (Mattel), 2006–2008[citation needed]	Evo: Phase One (Envizions Computer Entertainment), October 2006–present
Game Wave Family Entertainment System (ZAPiT Games), October 2005[165]–present	The Phantom (Phantom Entertainment), never released

[edit] Remakes

Atari Flashback 2 (Atari) August 2005

FC Twin Video Game System (Yobo) November 20, 2006–Present[166]

[edit] References

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