Oddly enough GTA3 is what sold me on a PS2, and im sure there are many others who can say the same. All i ended up playing was GTA, MGS2, Silent Hill 2, Twisted Metal Black and trying the failure that was Socom (couldnt find any enjoyment in it with a controller) before i dumped the system and the games to a friend. It was the prospect of playing that 1 title that pushed me over the edge though, and i think a lot of others would say the same about their console purchases.
I did not completely rule out gamers that bought a PS2 for certain games such as MGS or FF. Lets not be absolutes here. You transfered your purchase too, something that the majority doesnt
I myself differ from the majority that bought a PS2. Some characteristics of mine apply to the majority, some do not. Actually the majority of casual gamers have totally different tastes than mine. But I am trying to see the bigger picture here
There are more than 100 million that own PS2's, of which around 10% own GTA. Not all of these GTA owners bought a PS2 for that game specifically. GTA additionally continued to sell a lot on PS2 even after it was released on PC's and XBOX. With better visuals.
Once a console starts to sell great from the beginning it is hard to go back. Support increases and a group of titles will keep selling the console even if they are not exclusive since mind share is there.
After it got a huge install base yes, it shipped with like 6 titles.
Of which none was as huge as the top examples you mentioned. Still it sold like hotcakes. Why? Because PS2 automatically translated into "the huge varied gaming experience of PS1 moving on to PS2".
It's not rocket science here, the assumption that heavily marketed well reviewed titles are only picked up as an afterthought is silly.
You are the one that said
"only". I did not say that
I have sales figures backing me up.
For which you have a one way interpretation
It's not just the title its the hype and advertising surrounding the title.
Which is irrelevant to what I just said. Or perhaps it is relevant from one point of view. It is easier to hype games on consoles that already has a much bigger userbase than it's competitors.
More people own gears and halo than any 10 of the games you mentioned. Gears and Halo have sold to 1/3 to 1/2 of the 360 user base.
I did not deny that. I am fully aware of this.
If what you want to say is that the PS3 will benefit more from 100 average titles than just MGS and KZ2, I'd agree with that, but saying that a few of these average selling titles are more important than those 2 is just ridiculous and so far you've failed to provide (non-anecdotal) evidence to back up your claim, until you can, I'm done with it.
You are putting words in my mouth. Multiplatform titltes include average, crap and highly rated games. Rainbow Six, COD, Pro Evo, GRAW etc are not considered average. Actually in many occasions they are considered must haves. PS2 could benefit from all kinds of multiplatform games including crap, average and great due to the huge mind share that it built.
The bigger the userbase the easier is for even more people to join, try games and prefer that certain console even if many of these games are available elsewhere. From that point and onwards it is easier to market new and exclusive games and hype them more succesfully.
PS3 will not benefit from 100 average titles, and my point is that it doesnt benefit from 20 highly rated multiplatform games while 360 can because the PS3 mind share is so limited while 360 has managed to build it.
It is hard for PS3 to even turn heads with exclusive highly rated games at its current state. PS3's presence in the market is very limited and the more limited it gets, the harder it will be to make people notice.
