NPD January 2011

[patsu]

Yes, you have crossed over the barrier of Move vs DS3 comparison. You are convinced of Move's value in Socom. Not all are yet.

For Sony to sell tons of casual games with Move, they will need to market it directly to the non-gamers, or wait for gamers to buy for their families (probably easier). ^_^

 

[mrcorbo]

Too early to tell. It depends on many factors at the moment. Traditional gaming itself is also changing. As I mentioned above, I believe it will take a few years to pan out. All I know right now is: Wii is packaged for the casuals. Move is more tailored for core gamers, by observing what Sony said and did. You can use Move for casuals, but the spearhead is pointing at Sony's core fan base.

EDIT: It's also clearer now that Sony will target casuals via Playstation Suite and other avenues.

I would argue that Move isn't tailored towards the hardcore instead of the casuals and actually Sony seemed to be targeting anything and everything and has found the most success among the hardcore. It's a bit of an argument of semantics, but the difference is that where you see the result as coming from intent, I see "Let's throw a bunch of stuff at a wall and see what sticks."

 

[patsu]

There is some element of that when the management said Move is for everyone. But if you look at where they direct their marketing articles, it's mostly at the tech folks and core gamers. The Move casual games benefited from Kinect and Wii marketing, when the media did the inevitable comparison.

 

[mrcorbo]

There is some element of that when the management said Move is for everyone. But if you look at where they direct their marketing articles, it's mostly at the tech folks and core gamers. The Move casual games benefited from Kinect and Wii marketing, when the media did the inevitable comparison.

I'm thinking more about the KB ads where "the whole family can play!" and how the majority of the Move-required titles are casual-focused. It looks obvious to me that they were trying to appeal to the casual market, at least at the start.

BTW, I don't understand what you mean by "marketing articles".

 

[patsu]

I meant reviews, placements, comparisons, interviews about Move.

KB's ads indeed refer to "For Everyone". I believe Dr. Marks and Anton also mentioned that it can be used for all games. They also had TV ads in other regions. That's the device's capabilities. But the fictitious VP is a gamer's character. My wife or kid doesn't know him, and won't appreciate his words. Gamers can introduce Move to their families (Dancing and exercising, EyePet, some casual Wii ports/enhancements would be good fit).

If you look at Move games, most of them are targeted at gamers too. Sports Champions is rather intense compared to Wii Sports and Kinect Sports' leisure pace. You have other titles like Ruse, LightsOut and existing PS3 core games supporting Move.

Until they go beyond their "precision motion controller" message for Move, it will most likely be most effective at selling core games -- unless the casual title itself is a natural fit and hit.

EDIT: They can rely on Kinect and Wii ports/enhancements for casual titles though.

 

[Nesh]

I meant reviews, placements, comparisons, interviews about Move.

KB's ads indeed refer to "For Everyone". I believe Dr. Marks and Anton also mentioned that it can be used for all games. They also had TV ads in other regions. That's the device's capabilities. But the fictitious VP is a gamer's character. My wife or kid doesn't know him, and won't appreciate his words. Gamers can introduce Move to their families (Dancing and exercising, EyePet, some casual Wii ports/enhancements would be good fit).

If you look at Move games, most of them are targeted at gamers too. Sports Champions is rather intense compared to Wii Sports and Kinect Sports' leisure pace. You have other titles like Ruse, LightsOut and existing PS3 core games supporting Move.

Until they go beyond their "precision motion controller" message for Move, it will most likely be most effective at selling core games -- unless the casual title itself is a natural fit and hit.

EDIT: They can rely on Kinect and Wii ports/enhancements for casual titles though.

Kinect Adventures (and Kinect sports demo I have tried) were quite intense too, cenrtainly more tiring games than what you could find in Wii games

Sports Champions' problem I think is mostly in the presentation, It looks more serious and less welcoming to the non-gamer. Kids prefer something like Wii sports characters and XBOX Avatars than some mucho man or some sexy chick. The more defined a character is the less you identify with it in those kind of games

 

[patsu]

Hmm… the games may start off pretty accessible, but Sports Champions is intense in the sense that it scales rather steeply to challenging difficulty in Silver and beyond. Yes, presentation looks more un-Wii. ^_^

For baseball, look at MLB The Show 2011 (also Move compatible), and WiiSports Baseball.

I'm not saying Move will never be for casuals. Sony will do extra work to err… soften it.

 

[Nesh]

Well we need our Move core games too

 

[NavNucST3]

535K? For February?!?

 

[AlphaWolf]

535K? For February?!?

That's just insane. Kinect > halo.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Kinect is at 10 million units, supposedly. Without any real system seller title.
MS has struck gold there.

 

[scently]

Oh wow, would you look at that. In Feb no less.

 

[Arwin]

535K? For February?!?

Impressive numbers for everyone if you ask me.

 

[NavNucST3]

Impressive numbers for everyone if you ask me.

I was on my phone when I posted that and it was slightly after Aaron Greenberg tweeted it and way before any FEB NPD threads went up anywhere. Having said that I concur but we can probably keep the talk to the FEB NPD thread now.