Xbox set to fall to 3rd place; Halo Reaches for Natal; Worms 2

Posted by admin on June 30th, 2009 at 03:29pm

There’s this market analyst called Michael Pachter who works for Wedbush Morgan Securities. Apparently this position gives him the insight to be able to predict the future for the game console market 6 years ahead.

Leaving aside that this guy’s expertise is probably more relevant to stock than gaming, it’s worth remembering that the recent disaster called the Credit Crunch significantly failed to be predicted by any of these so-called experts. So when he says that by 2015, the Xbox 360 will have fallen to third place behind the PS3 and the Wii, we can maybe take what he says with a big pinch of salt. [Source]

His analysis is based on the fact that the PS3 comes with BluRay, while the Xbox is currently stuck with an inferior technology. Since Sony owns the rights to license BluRay, and MS is its arch-rival on the console front, this might seem like a nobrainer. But there’s a gamechanger in the wings, and it has nothing to do with movies…

Project Natal’s developer kit for Microsoft’s camera driven full body motion controller is already out with game manufacturers (according to a piece in the UK’s Daily Mirror). It’s not due for release until the end of next year, but a new motion controlling “wand” for the PS3 is due out early next year – even though very few developer kits have been made available, which seems pretty strange.

Halo Reach is also due out at the end of next year, and Harold Ryan of Bungie says it “could” be enabled for Natal. Given that MS has made most of its money so far from the Halo franchise, it wouldn’t be surprising if this was the plan, or at least part of it. [Source]

And finally… If you’re a Worms fan, you’ll be pleased to know that the xbox live title Worms 2 is now available, and according to Team Xbox it’s worth playing. They give it 8.8, which is pretty good.

Technorati Tags: camera driven motion controller, full body motion controller, Halo Reach, project natal, Worms 2

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