Is the Console War Good for Gaming? - Page 2 of 3

Is the Console War Good for Gaming?

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The videogame industry is a cutthroat business just as any other consumer electronic medium. Competition breeds better products. Without the NES, Sega wouldn't have had the gusto to improve upon their floundering (except for in Brazil, oddly) Master System and release the Sega Genesis. That, in turn, made Nintendo wake up and release their Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, one can't forget the other victim of competition: failed consoles.

There are a number of worthy systems that deserved the axe. No one really wanted a Virtual Boy or a Sega 32X. But there are some consoles that died far too early. One box that immediately comes to mind is the Sega Dreamcast, Sega's last foray into the console race. The looming PlayStation 2 simply killed the Dreamcast based on hype (and the Emotion Engine, Matrix-like network, etc.) alone. The graphics certainly weren't lacking (just look at Shenmue), but Sega spent far too much money trying to gain that number one spot in the industry; much like the Soviet Union did during their collapse.

The thing is, we've always had that "Soviet Union" in our industry. We've always known that one company who has horrible money management, yet still wants to be Rocky Balboa, running to the top of those museum stairs, exhausted yet cheery when he finally makes it to the top. However, it rarely works out that way. You often see said company tumbling down those stairs, heaved into oblivion. It has happened numerous times before, and, sadly, it could happen again.

At the moment, Sony and Microsoft are battling to be number one in the console world. One could be the U.S., while the other could represent the U.S.S.R. It's hard to believe, seeing as how each company does much more than videogames. They're billion dollar companies, right? That may be, but Sony is placing all of their chips on the table with the PLAYSTATION 3. They need both the console and, attached with it, the Blu-ray disc format to succeed. If not, Sony, who is already in some deep business trouble, could lose some intense ground and stumble much like Sega has.

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