411 Games Fact or Fiction 09.14.09: Holiday Season, PS3 Slim, Madden Franchise, More

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 09.14.2009

Should EA release Madden every two years? Will this holiday season be one of the worst in sales? Was the lack of digital audio a big deal for the Nintendo Wii? Our own Rod Oracheski and Lee Price give their two cents on these topics and more in this week's edition of Fact or Fiction.



Who's this guy hosting Fact or Fiction this week? Why it's your friendly neighborhood Games Editor. But enough of the introductions as I'm back for this week while Rod Oracheski, our 411 Games veteran takes on recent Games addition Lee Price. Now let's get right to it!

Round 1: You expect this holiday season to be a disappointment in overall game sales given the current trend.

Rod Oracheski: FICTION - Halo 3: ODST, Modern Warfare 2, NBA 2K10/NBA Live 10, Smackdown vs Raw 2010, and GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City will all move an obscene number of units. I'd be willing to bet Borderlands, the God of War 1/2 disc, and Forza Motorsport 3 both move a good number of units as well, plus there's the perhaps misguided belief that Gran Turismo 5 is going to make a surprise appearance - if it does, that'll move quickly as well.  Then there's the more unknown quantities like Alpha Protocol and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - will they move units? 

I know some people who are saving money for the year-end rush of games, and if there are a lot of people out there doing the same then I think we'll see big numbers in the last three months of the year

Lee Price: FICTION - As Rod pointed out, there are a lot of potentially superb sellers coming out over the holiday period, and I expect Halo especially to shift a hell of a lot of units along with Modern Warfare 2 over here at least. The UK will also have the annual iterations of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, which are sure to sell like hot cakes now that England has officially qualified for the World Cup, but then they always sell well anyway.

I also see where Rod's coming from with people saving up money for this particular period, and I can see many families doing to same, having budgeted specifically for Christmas. So while I think there will be a small drop-off in sales, I don't think it will be big enough to class as a disappointment and I'm sure the major releases will sell like major releases.

Score: 1 for 1

Round 2: It would be a better idea to have a new Madden come out every 2 years.

Rod Oracheski: FACT - I don't know how you could really disagree with more time spent on development resulting in a better game, and that should really be all the consumer cares about - not what impact that'd have on EA's bottom line.  If they decided to do that, I'd hope they do something big with DLC in the interim year. Give gamers a $20 update that revamps not just rosters, but also rules, animations, maybe even some graphical tweaking.

Lee Price: FICTION - This is a difficult question as it can go either way depending on which way you look at it. From the consumer's viewpoint this is a definite FACT, juts because it would save them a bit of money getting, say a roster update or something to that effect over Live and PSN after the first year. It would also give EA more time to tweak the game engine or rebuild it.
 
But I go with FICTION solely because Madden pretty much always sells a ton, or at least a good enough amount to justify to effort, or lack thereof, that EA put into the game. Its the same with the FIFA and Pro Evo series over here, yearly updates with big promises that don't amount to much. But people still go out and buy them, and EA will be happy to milk that cash cow for as long as they can.

Score: 1 for 2


Round 3: Having Valve bring over two Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters to try the game out was a brilliant idea.

Rod Oracheski: FICTION - It's good fan community PR to do it, but why bother other than that?  The two nerds tapped for it were going to buy the game anyway, and they're not going to quiet their rumblings about Valve selling out just because they got to go see it.  They were a little starstruck by the experience and said some good things (albeit somewhat reservedly) about the new game, but all that the visit is probably going to end with is an overblown sense of their importance in relation to Valve's development process and a belief that they'll be tapped for advice again in the future.

Valve should just spend their time and money making sure Left 4 Dead 2 is every bit as awesome as it appears to be.  Once people can play it, nobody's going to care what some whining nerds had to say early on.  Then Valve can go back to spending five or six years making a game while fans worship without question.

Honestly, they're complaining we're getting a great sequel to a great game...too quickly?  Seriously?

Lee Price: FACT - But only just. I pretty much agree with everything Rod says about the strange little people who moan about getting a sequel to a great game so quickly but as a PR exercise if these two guys come away raving about the game, Valve can use that to get the sheep to fall back in line which can only be good for the overall sales of the game when it comes out.
 
It will also help that we won't get anymore idiots whining about getting a new, and what looks to be a top quality, game. I think Valve no exactly what they are doing and as long as the little stunt doesn't detract from the development of the game then they should just go for it. Of course it could all backfire if the two come away unsatisfied, so this only gets a FACT because I think they will be shut up and have to accept that the game isn't hell-spawn.

Score: 1 for 3

AND NOW FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS

Round 4: You're thoroughly disappointed with the offerings on Nintendo's DSiWare but a virtual console with Gameboy games would make you feel better.

Lee Price: FACT - I would say FACT to this certainly, there is pretty much nothing on the DSiWare that gets my attention, and certainly nothing I'd be willing to fork over money for. But having said that, the lack of Gameboy and GBA games on the Virtual Console has long grated with me so I think that is the perfect thing to do for the DS. After all the Wii Virtual Console has been a good money spinner so I'm sure that Nintendo would get similar results from a DS version with their classic handheld titles on offer. They could even expand on it and offer Game Gear or NeoGeo games as well. So a Virtual Console on the DS would have massive potential, and I feel would do a damn sight better than DSiWare is doing.

Rod Oracheski: FICTION - Offering up older games would be nice
but wouldn't really fix the problem of DSiWare games, for the most part, not being worth checking out. If they do it alongside ramping up those offerings, then so much the better, but just adding in a GB/GBA store would be ignoring the problem.

Score: 1 for 4


Round 5: The PS3 slim will get Sony back into the thick of things (sales have soared over the past few weeks).

Lee Price: FACT - Sony have been slowly crawling their way back into the console race and while they are still pretty much bottom in the console race, the release of the Slim should at least help them claw back into a more respectable situation sales wise. Not only from the upsurge in sales that the Slim will provide, but also from cut price sales of the older stock too, so the figures should show a decent surge for Sony in that department.

Of course whether or not they make much money is another matter altogether. It is pretty well known that Sony, along with Microsoft, lose money on each console sold and will also surely lose a ton on the old stock now that it is pretty much getting rid of it. For as much dislike Nintendo have generated in some sections with the Wii, you can't argue the fact that they have been making a profit from day 1. Sony still have a long way to go, but the Slim will be a good step I think.

Rod Oracheski: FICTION - They're going to sell quite a few more consoles, especially over the next two to three months, but that's a long way from getting back into the race. In the North American market alone (one of the few we have anything approaching 'real' numbers for) the PS3, as of August, is something like six and a half million units behind the Xbox 360. They'd have to massively outsell the 360 for more than a full year to even put a dent in that kind of lead.

That said, the buzz generated by the Slim and price drop should get Sony a good cut of Christmas retail sales and that kind of popular momentum goes a long way towards solving their next problem - increasing software sales. Sony's not going to win the console sales race, but if they can get enough momentum going that might not matter. Developers support whatever platforms are moving software, which has been Sony's problem with the PS3 - not enough consoles out there was one issue, but not having enough rabid game buyers among the established base was the other, arguably larger, problem. If they can get software sales up, and August's numbers for Batman showed that it's possible to stay close to the 360 in first-month sales, even if it means shelling out money for exclusives, Sony might get the PS3 back on even keel that way.

Score:1 for 5


Round 6: You're still pissed that Nintendo didn't include digital audio on the Wii.

Lee Price: FICTION - Am I a bad person for saying that I'm not all that bothered about having the best sound quality in a game? I'm plenty satisfied with the Wii's audio so sure it would be nice to have digital audio, but its not something I kick up a fuss about. I'm more pissed that I'm not getting Saturn games on the Virtual Console.

Rod Oracheski: FICTION - To be honest I don't even think about it. Given the hardware shortcomings of the system, I never really held it to the same standard as the 360 or PS3. Is it ridiculous that it doesn't have it? Sure, but lowered expectations make that somewhat less of an annoyance. I have to admit that I find it funny that after the SNES made me more aware of how important sound and music was to games, successive systems from Nintendo have fallen short in that regard.

Final Score: 2 for 6 - Well looks like Rod and Lee won't exactly be over at each other's houses for Christmas with all the disagreeing going on but hey, no one ever said it had to be friendly right?

Now we want to know what you, our readers think. Fact or Fiction? You decide!