So Micro$ft thinks they can take the videogame world by storm this fall do they? eh eh not so fast sonny because it would seem that there are others who have already staked a claim to that territory.

Sony: Despite critisisms over some of it's games the Ps2 has mananged to so far sell upwards of 12 million systems worldwide. Of course of lot of these sales were hype sales, but it is still phenominal. As far as strategies against Microsoft Sony has by far one of the best. First off $250 million in advertising is by far more than enough for a system which virtually everyone from young kids to old men know about. I assume most of this money will go toward advertising for games, as well as partnerships with big name companies or food chains. As for games Sony is planning on bombarding Microsoft with a slew of great games this November. From Metal Gear 2 to Devil May Cry, Jak and Daxter, State of Emergency, The Lost, Wipeout Fusion, Deus Ex, and more PS2 will look mighty attractive to the casuals, those who have yet to buy a system, and have been leaning toward Ps2 anyway. Plus add that to the fact that there will be 20 million systems on the market by year end and you can see why sony has plans to stay #1.


Nintendo: After a great E3 Nintendo is concentrating on making more buzz around their system at Spaceworld. GC will be coming out 3 days before Xbox, and at $100 cheaper. Combine that with the strong expected sales of PS2, and Xbox looks to get hit where it hurts, and hit hard. Let's not forget that there will be a Mario title at launch ~hopefully~, and Mario knows how to sell hardware.


Xbox: With the facts presented it looks like Xbox will fail, or at least be 3rd sales wise this holiday season. Halo and Munch are'nt enough to make the system a hit. Probably the biggest nail in Xboxs coffin is timing. It's coming out 4th in the U.S. which gives Sony plenty of lead time, but Japan is where timing is going to be the systems death. not to mention Japan is'nt to keen on the system anyways. Then there is Europe where it wont see release till spring 2002 missing out the crucial Holiday season, and giving Sony more time to build their lead. As far as units are concerned 600,000-800,000 is not enough. Sure its more than anyone has put out before, but there will be 10s of millions of people looking for a new system this holiday season, and with those numbers even if Xbox was the greatest thing ever, there would still be many a shortage. I give Xbox till early 2003. If MS loses a truckload of money on it this fall, and never really gains it back which is what most financial reports are saying, they'll pull the plug on the system just like Sega did on DC.