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March 10, 2013   360, 360, Opinion Articles, PC, PlayerEssence Original Content, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One   38 Comments

Pachter has lost his mind: RAM Equals Innovation, Xbox 720 wins Because of Skype & TV

By Furious Francis

The world’s greatest gaming analyst, Michael Patcher, conducted a presentation at the SXSW Interactive 2013. In his Powerpoint presentation, he had a lot of interesting things to say about the PS4, Wii U, and Xbox 720. The highlight being that the PS4’s huge RAM will likely lead to innovation. And, the Xbox 720 will be the next generation console victor.

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First, Pachter says this will be the last generation of consoles. Pachter literary contradicts himself in his own Powerpoint. We’ll talk about this more later. Then he goes on to say “at the current sales rate, Wii U likely to sell 30-50 million units lifetime”. Pachter thinks the Wii U is too similar to current generation consoles (specs wise) and will be priced too close to the PS4 and Xbox 720 to thrive.”

A couple of things to note here. Nintendo has not released their big titles. I think it’s premature to say “at the current rate” when you know sales will turn when Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, and other big name games come out. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the Wii U will not continue on its “current” path of sales. Plus, Pachter doesn’t know the cost of the PS4 and Xbox 720. Microsoft will be charging for online play, so that’s a “hidden fee” when discussion the price of the next-gen consoles. Nintendo could always issues a price drop around the time a new 3D Mario hits. Remember the 3DS Pachter? Of course you don’t, the 3DS is still doomed by tablets and smartphones right?

Pachter also states the PS4 is likely to sell 85-95 million units lifetime. I wonder how he got this number, when the PS3 is right around 73-75 million units sold? Sony is moving their focus away from Japan and into the West. Can somebody explain to me how Sony is going to sell 20  million units more than the PS3, with a lack of first party Japanese software? Tablets, smartphones, PC’s, the Xbox 720, and the Steambox are all direct competition in the West. Sony is going to have a hard time reaching 95 million units in the next 6-7 years. However, the PS4 could reach those numbers in the next 10-13 years.

Let’s get to how Pachter contradicts himself. He states this is the last console generation, then says the PS4 and Xbox 720 will sell upward of 95 million units. Obviously, that’s a huge success, why would Sony and MS stop there? Those sales would warrant another new system. Since RAM equals innovation in Pachter’s eyes. The consoles still have plenty of catching up to do, considering how much RAM top of the line PC’s have. How can you say: RAM leads to innovation, PS4 will sell 95 million units, and this is last generation of consoles, all in the same Powerpoint presentation? If Sony and Microsoft sell more 95 million consoles each, there will be another console generation.

Many gaming PCs have more than 8 GB of RAM, including mine. Games have not been any more or less innovative on PC, even with 16 GB of RAM. A lot of the indie games that don’t push the PC’s capabilities at all, are the most innovative. RAM has nothing to do with innovation. More RAM equals better textures, faster  multimedia capabilities, and better graphics. RAM doesn’t usher in innovation. Chrono Trigger is one of the most creative and innovative games of all time. Chrono Trigger was developed on a system with far less RAM than the PS4. Great minds innovate, if your relying on RAM to lead to gameplay innovation, you’ll end up like Crysis 3.

The best part about Pachter’s pathetic powerpoint (say that three times fast), is he gives himself an out, when he is eventually proven wrong about the Wii U. Check this line out.

- Wii U performance to date is underwhelming
- Essentially a DS split into two parts (game pad plus TV)
- Not innovative enough to drive huge interest, but
- It’s possible that exciting new titles will reinvigorate growth 

Laughing out loud…. really Pachter? It’s “possible” new games will boost the consoles sales? When has new titles NOT boosted a consoles sales? What Pachter really meant to say was: when 3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, Xenoblade 2, Bayonetta 2, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem , Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, Star Fox, Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101, Kirby, Yoshi, and whatever else Nintendo has up their sleeves come out, the Wii U will probably sell like hotcakes, because Nintendo software ALWAYS sells Nintendo hardware.

I don’t see the Wii U as a “DS split in two” at all. The Wii U Gamepad has off-TV play, an IR sensor, NFC technology, a bigger screen, 9 axis gyro controls, and two clickable thumbsticks. They both have two screens to enjoy games and a touchscreen. However, DS games have their own unique feel when compared to Wii U games like ZombiU. I don’t think Pachter has spent much time with the Wii U or DS.

Lastly, if Michael Pachter didn’t already look foolish enough, he went and said this:

“Microsoft wins the next generation. The TV tuner and Skype are killer apps,” 

Wow, I can’t belive he said this. Microsoft will win next generation because of Skype and a TV Tuner? Not games, like how most consoles “win”, but apps that only Xbox Live Gold members will be able to use. Pachter has lost his mind. Or he’s just really pulling for the American company? Pachter, you do realize the Xbox 720 will be a non-factor in one of the biggest gaming regions in the world right? Japan will not buy the Xbox 720, how the hell is Microsoft going to beat Sony and Nintendo, when they can’t sell in a major region? It seems like Skype and a TV Tuner would be features to compete against Apple TV, not Sony and Nintendo.

Sony and Nintendo both have past gaming devices that have broken 100 million units sold LTD. Japan played a big part in each of those console’s success. Pachter completely ignores Japan in all of his ‘predictions’. Microsoft might have lost the trust of a lot of consumers after the RROD epidemic. Will people buy the Xbox 720 when they got burned bad with the faulty Xbox 360 hardware? We have to wait and see on that one. Microsoft will also have to compete against itself, as the company sells Xbox 360’s for as low as $99.99 with a two year agreement to Xbox Live.

Pachter claims Xbox 720 will sell just as much as the PS4 because of the TV functionality, with the potential for MSO subsidy. That’s what’s going to make people buy the next Xbox? Not games, or new online gameplay features, similar to the PS4, or Master Chief delivering you a personally autographed copy of Halo 5, but TV functionality. Sorry, but no, games sell consoles, and the last time I checked, MS is lacking in the first party department. If TV functionality and Skype are the main selling points for the Xbox 720, then yes, this will be the last console for Microsoft, just not Sony or Nintendo.

Don’t take anything Pachter says seriously, because he’s usually wrong. Pachter has investor money tied into Microsoft and Sony. Of course he’s going to say whatever it takes to get investors to believe Nintendo is going to fail. Weather he’s ignoring Japanese sales to make his points against the 3DS, or claiming the PSP will crush the DS because of graphics, it’s clear that most of Michael Pachter’s predictions are wrong. Two or three years from now Pachter will be eating his words, like always.

Have anything to add to the discussion? Please let them be known below.

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Author: Francis@PE (19851 Posts)


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  • Richard Allen

    So you a no one on a no-name website no one knows hardly anything about have more knowledge about the game industry than Pachter?

    Pachter is an analyst, he lives and breathes this stuff in a whole other level that we don't. You are making some objections to some of what he has said without really digging into WHY he said those things. You merely just dismiss everything and call him out for being wrong when you have little to no evidence to support that claim.

    At least Pachter has a reputation and a 6-figure income that he is paid to be the expert he proclaims he is.

    • Furious Francis

      @ Richard Allen

      - Please save the BS. Pachter\’s income has no barring on his opinion being more relevant than mine. So he makes more money than me. And…. He said the PSP would beat the DS. I said it wouldn\’t. So you should take his opinion over mine because he makes more money? That\’s just stupid.

      Most game journalists make around what I make and far less than Pachter, should his word be taken over ours. BS.

      And I think you need to read the article again. I provided plenty of back ups to my claims. All you have to do is look at history.

    • Holyfire

      Sup Richard. Everyone here is right bout Pacther sadly. Pacther has been and still often is blatantly wrong. Literally and in its upmost incorrect.

      Just mentioned to someone else here bout an article titled along the lines of ‘Pacther Flip Flops’. It actually took all his quotes together, proving that in many cases he predicted incorrectly and that from one of his statements to his next statements he’s actually changing his predictions to a complete opposite opinion.

      I think he pisses a lot of ppl off (very much like myself) because he’s getting paid a fortune more than u or I to literally just guess everything. I think if u investigate further U’ll find he himself probably has little to no involvement or hobby playing games. He’s guessing on things he has no first hand experience in. And in this particular article again, he’s making bold and elaborate predictions on a system (720) that hasn’t announced an ounce of official information yet. Telling us what 720s focus will be, making 6 year sales estimates in the most volatile market in the world. What could his ideas on 720 possibly be based on ???

  • sergio111293

    Oh my God, The haters are coming, the haters are coming!
    *sigh* This ignorant new generation of gamers don't know the Masterpiece that is Chrono Trigger or how a Wii game like Xenoblade is Much more innovative and creative than a game with better graphics like FF XIII.
    Patcher is a Scumbag in the Gaming industry, anyone who believes a word that comes out of his mouth is an idiot.
    Every time I read an article by Patcher, My brain loses a few IQ points.
    Patcher is nothing more than 1 of the many people POISONING the young gaming community with his LIES & Hate!
    And Unfortunetly, The oldest, most well known, Most Innovative, & Possibly the Greatest GAMING Company Overall, Nintendo, is the Wrongfully Disrespected Victim. -_-

  • NachoKingP

    You are correct that game play leads to innovation, but you can't compare PC RAM to game system RAM. As another commenter pointed out, PCs are not dedicated systems, and the Operating System takes up a HUGE chunk of the available RAM. Yes, multimedia game consoles have OSes too, but each generation of a game console gets a new OS, and those OSes are built from scratch to be optimized for current multimedia needs and built to work the most optimally for the hardware they're designed for. PC OSes are totally bloated and must work on a huge variety of hardware, not to mention they must also perform other tasks that a gaming console simply would never have to do, like word processing, photo editing, etc. Also, OSes like Windows have been built on a base architecture that is over a decade old, so it's far from being optimized. There is no way you can make that comparison, I'm sorry.

    Pachter is 100% right about the TV tuner being important tot he capability of the Next Xbox. Like the blu-ray player for the PS3 and motion controls for the Wii, it is a differentiating factor for the console. Right now almost everyone rents their set top boxes from their cable company. Being able to buy a games console and eliminate the monthly charges to rent those boxes should not be underestimated. I for one would love to have a single box that could tune my TV, act as a Media Center Extender, stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and play games. Less clutter, less components, less wires, less power consumption, lower monthly bills, that sounds like a winner to me. I know I'm not the only one. I'm sure that a $500 price point would be too high for consumers to consider a Next Xbox as a viable STB replacement, but when that system drops to $300 like the current gen is at now, people won't just see it as a games console, it will be a multimedia hub that ALSO plays games and possibly can act as a DVR, which will put it ahead of things like a Roku, TiVO, and other similar boxes. The only concern I have is that cable companies might not support the hardware. Rental prices are very important to their bottom line, and if someone made a mainstream STB that would possibly eat away those fees, I think they would potentially block the ability for consumers to use that box in homes. What MS needs to do is create some business partnerships with at least one major provider, if not two. Comcast and Verizon would be big wins for them, and maybe it will take some money, but that's something MS certainly has enough of.

    You also seem to be forgetting that MS has Xbox Live, which IS the premiere online gaming service. Yes, Sony has its own that is free to play, but XBL is a superior service, and I think the majority of people agree with that. They don't have a game development division for first-party titles, but neither does Sony really. Sure, there are devs like Santa Monica and Naughty Dog, but while Sony owns them, they are a unique entity and I think you will see that the time of console exclusive titles is going to come to an end soon and companies can't afford to exclude large consumer bases. In this generation, the PS3 architecture was so vastly different than the 360 architecture that it was a lot of work for a company to port a game over from PS3 to 360. However, once the PS4 was announced to have Intel architecture, it immediately made me think that the "killer app" scenario was going to die soon because with similar architecture, the barrier of entry into the Next Xbox is too small for any companies to ignore when they consider the possible sales figures they could have. It is already happening in this generation. Final Fantasy moved to multi-platform. Splinter Cell HD Collection was available on PS3. Silent Hill HD collection and Metal Gear Solid HD Collectionss were available on 360. You're only going to see more of that, I promise.

  • NachoKingP

    This article is really weak in a number of areas. First of all, Pachter didn't contradict himself, and I think he MAY be right, this COULD be the last generation of home consoles. Just because the next gen will sell well, that doesn't mean that there will be another gen of home consoles, there will be a different type of games system be dominant. I think we probably have one more after this, but unless we see trends changing, I think the dedicated powerhouse home console is going to be a thing of the past. I think once we see a rise in semiconductor technology, display technology, and the like, we will see mobile game platforms become the dominant force in the games industry. Imagine a game system that can play the best current games available and you can take anywhere to play any time. That appeals to the consumer because they don't have to stop playing because they're not home and it appeals to game devs because they can move away from game media and go towards a digital distribution system that eliminates their hated "used games market" that they think is cannibalizing their sales (which they aren't).

    Nintendo is in serious trouble, and while you are correct that their big first-party games and third party exclusives will push the Wii U, it's not going to be anywhere near what the Wii was. While the Wii did well this generation, Nintendo made a big mistake in its long-term hardware strategy by releasing that underpowered system. They are now basically a generation behind as the Wii was only a little more powerful than the Gamecube was. Now with the Wii U, sure, it's more powerful than the current gen, but only just a little more powerful, that's why it doesn't cost a lot more than the 360 and PS3. The major cost in the system in my belief is the Gamepad, which will stand to bear if they ever sell it as a standalone accessory, as they currently do not, is the most expensive part of the hardware, which if is true shows that the actual guts of the system are well below the power of what the Playstation 4 and the Next Xbox will be. Sure, the Wii sold lots of units, but it sold them not because it was a great games console, it actually wasn't. It sold them because it had mass appeal to a casual gaming community. You don't see many 360s sold to retirement communities or grandparents. You don't see parents buying too many 360s for their 4 or 5 year old kids. Sure, maybe some do, but overall the Wii sold based on the motion control gimmick making the games accessible to everyone. Hardcore gamers hated the system and the only games that really appealed to true gamers were the first-party juggernauts like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. I can tell you, I barely touched my Wii after the initial few "new and shiny" months of fun, and I never touched it once Kinect and Move came out.

    Sony shifting its focus into the west is not going to hurt their sales, it's going to help them. They are still going to sell like gangbusters in Japan because the Japanese are fiercely loyal to homegrown products. They don't need to push as hard there to sell. And the fact remains that the Japanese game developers really ARE falling behind. Developers in the west are increasingly making good games, and Japanese devs are falling behind in creativity and sales outside of Japan overall. Sure, you still have major players in Japanese software like Nintendo, Kojima, etc., but Capcom, Square-Enix, and others have seen major slips in quality and sales have been affected as a result. The most to the west will only bolster their overall numbers, as will the most to PC architecture, which will make more Western devs happy and make it easier to build games on their platform.

    Also, the PS3 isn't done yet, and it's going to sell a lot more than 73-75 million units. Look at the PS2, it sold nearly 200 million units and sold steady and hard well into the current generation. That's because once the PS3 came out they dropped the price of the PS2, which made it more appealing to consumers. The games for it were now cheaper since many of the best games were "classic" titles and could be gotten for under $20, and the system itself was available for $100-$150 at the end of the cycle. You will see the same thing happen to the PS3 once the PS4 ships. I know I want another PS3 but I'm waiting for the price to come down. It's still the best blu-ray player around, and playing games is a nice bonus, so would I buy another one or maybe two once the price hits $150 or $100? Hell yes! I can tell you for a fact that the PS3 sold a lot of units because it was the first blu-ray player, and still remains one of the best ones. That's its "gimmick" that it has over the other two consoles. The PS4 doesn't have a unique feature like that, and that is going to hurt its sales long-term when its gaming capabilities are diminished 8-10 years down the road.

    • Holyfire

      Wow Nacho. Your replies are an article in themselves. Honestly didn’t even read all of u just cause of the length. But the article is relatively correct about Pacther. Unless these journo’s are missing info on his statements, he never seems to back up his statements. He has been caught out doing major 180s on his predictions countless times (was another article dedicated to pointing that out. Think it was titled ‘Pacther Flip Flops’ or something)

      Suggesting this COULD the last gen…, well lots of ppl are saying that for a start. He’s not making an educated prediction, he’s just muttering others general consensus. And anything COULD always happen. Funnily enough as u defend him, u seem to even predict another gen ahead. Indirectly u’ve just said he’s wrong. And as an analyst, and someone in likely a far higher ranking and influencial position than you, he shouldn’t be making likely wrong decisions

      And couple last quick topical points. To be brief ,RAM is almost irrelavant to gaming innovation. PS4 can have as much as it likes, but an FPS on PS4 will still be a daft affair on dual analogues. It will be clumsy, non-precise gaming still. Same as what a PS1 offered really.

      And on the ‘last gen of consoles point’, u mentioned something bout mobile gaming being too viable with processing power… Maybe… But mobile systems are still highly likely to lack sophisticated control interfaces. Making a home based living room unit akin to a console still likely. If they sell 100 mil units this gen by chance, they would follow the footsteps again

      • NachoKingP

        I wasn’t defending him, I just was reacting to some of the Punta made in the article. The only time I defended him was when I said he didn’t contradict himself. I still think some of what was said in the article was correct, but there were some points I think missed the mark.

        • NachoKingP

          Points, not Punta. Damn you autocorrect.

          • Furious Francis

            I like Punta, LOL!

          • NachoKingP

            And for the record, you are right, Pachter is wrong a lot of the time and I wonder why his opinions are relevant myself. I just happen to think this particular time he makes some good hypotheses.

            As for mobile gaming, there are a lot of options coming out soon that would give you the sophisticated controls you want. Notably are the Wikipad and Nvidia's Project Sheild. Both of those could prove to be serous contenders to the traditional games consoles because they also act as full Android tablets.

  • Bay2OnWiiU4Life

    Michael Pachter is nothing but a hypocrite and a flaming douchebag. 'Nuff said.

  • Jason

    PlayStation and the rest of Sony are going to be destroyed next gen.

    • revolution5268

      saids who?

      • Da Geez

        Developers like ME : )

        Trust me… Microsoft have the superior tools and pipeline… again.

        sony completely shit on the developer this generation with the ps3. EVERY developer that I've worked with HATED the ps3. It was a convoluted piece of SHITE.

        sony has got their act together this gen… but as you can see… tey are constantly in 3rd place now… constantly playing catch up. The Jap dev community is a weak and poor shadow of it's former self… and sony has lost it's crown to Microsoft.

        • Furious Francis

          Microsoft doesn't have the games to support the Xbox 720. A TV tuner and skype doesn't cut it.

        • PermanentlyAngry

          @Da Geez, if you are a developer you'll know that developing for the PS3 actually wasn't about 'superior tools' or 'pipeline' issues. It was more a case of the architecture being a bit of a basket case in comparison with other platforms out there (PC) that all shared similarities.

          Sure the Cell was… erm… interesting, is the kindest thing I can say about it. The RSX GPU was just not needed and felt bolted on as an afterthought. The RAM and how it was allocated made a homogenous development program impossible. Hence why specific teams were often employed to do the PS3 version. I've actually met a number of developers who actually enjoyed what they could achieve with PS3, it's just for many it was just far too labour intensive to squeeze the performance out of it.

          As to Sony being in 'third place' well, that can switch around quite sharply in this industry, just ask Microsoft who were third last gen. I also think that given the troubles that Sony have had to overcome with the PS3, to get the sales that they have, and quite frankly be on parity with 360 now shows just what a formidable competitor they are. The tools and development environment for PS4 is a lot better, as are the tools and it' going to be more open than what Microsoft offer to devs. Any one who underestimates Sony this generation will be slapped upside their head!!!

          Microsoft certainly aren't being as complacent as you would have them being. They know Sony have thrown the gauntlet down and they need to respond. Furious Francis is right, a TV Turner, Skype, Kinnect 2 and Illumiroom aren't enough. If the final specs end up being around the last dev kit build they'll be significantly underpowered compared to PS4. Fact. And no amount of idiot proof dev tools will help them.

  • http://ign.com Shango

    Well i agree with pachter yes Ram equals innovation, Chrono tiger walking dead and journey name it all this games wouldn’t be possible without 256 megabytes of ram and not every developer is a genius in making games most developers are crying out loud for more ram so they could do more things and try more things without limitations the journey studio was almost bank rupt when it finished making journey. What your trying to say is that you want every artist to be da Vinci draw with two hands and be everything that da Vinci was well it isn’t happening Give the developers an easy life more ram more freedom for them, Nobody what’s to make a game fighting with pixels and ram every year more innovation will happen with more ram and processing power.

    • revolution5268

      they had freedom all this time its called PC, guess what they never use it.

  • Holyfire

    How the hell does this Pacther guy get a pay check? How can someone so daft with so many wrong predictions get in the media?
    Didn’t he also recently claim PS4 would outsell 720. Loose definition of XBOX winning.
    Playstation is only getting attention cause they’re hard marketing now, nigh on no news from Microsoft and Nintendo playing it very subtle at the moment.
    Is everyone forgetting this scenario is almost identical to last gen , in which PS3 was at the bottom of the ranks in every department till just recently. They only just caught up with PS3

    • darkgamer001

      To answer your first question in particular, this douchebag earns his money from the lowest form of attention whoring on the internet - flaming people. For example, take even this site, look at the comments on other articles, then back to this. See how much attention it generates? This attention will of course, also result in huge view counts on his Crap-Attack shows, and that's pretty much how he earns his paycheck. Not to mention that many investors don't have a clue on how the gaming industry works, and will take his word for it just because he's famous.

    • jdrm03

      how does he earn a paycheck? by not giving away his best analytical predictions for free.

      you think the stuff that he says/posts is what he gives to the investors that pay him to predict?

      dude has a MBA and a JD. He knows what he is talking about, he just doesn't say the coherent stuff for free.

      • Furious Francis

        He gets the obvious stuff right, but when it comes to gaming, he doesn\’t know his head from his ass.

        1. He said the PSP would beat the DS
        2. He said the PS3 would beat the Wii
        3. He said the Vita will catch the 3DS
        4. He said the 3DS will sell a lot with no software
        5. He flipped flopped and said the 3DS is a failure, now its at 30 million
        6. He said last gen was the last generation
        7. He said the Wii HD was coming in 2008
        8. Then in 2009
        9. Then in 2010

        Sorry, Pachter does NOT no anything.

        • RicardJulianti

          Forgot these:

          1. Claimed the Wii U was a mistake Nintendo will likely "never recover from"
          2. Changed his mind a week later and said "Nintendo isn't going anywhere"
          3. "GTAV will be out in 2012"
          4. "GTAV MUST be out by March 31st, 2013."
          5. EA will buy Take Two
          6. PS3 will outsell 360 by the end of 2008 (Didn't do so until VERY recently, if at all)
          7. "Borderlands is being sent to die" (9.29 million sales to date)

          The man is a fool. Just because he has an MBA, doesn't mean he knows diddly about the gaming industry. He believes this gen is the last gen…..even though the PS4/720 will sell almost as much as the Wii did last gen. It makes 0 sense.

  • John

    Nice Article…..Gamer's will prefer PS4 over next Xbox…..i have skype on my phone, laptop, i dont want it in gaming consoles……

    • Da Geez

      I'll skip the Failstation4…. Xbox720 will be the clear and obvious winner.

      But the best games are on Xbox… always have been.

      The best experience by far was Xbox360 this generation. The same multiplatform games are going to be coming to Xbox720(Infinity) as the failstation4.

      The NextBox will have exclusive games just like the Xbox360. It will have exclusive timed releases and DLC…

      Basically this whole article is written by someone who clearly has no idea about game-development. Please remember that Microsofts dev tools are utter superior to sonys… there is no doubt about this. Microsofts tools and pipeline is being designed to cater for multiplatform release and the ease of developing across multiplatform(Consoles/PC/Tablets/Mobile).

      Microsoft are planning ahead… a long way ahead… it's this foresight that will win them the next gen.

      sony is DEAD… FULL STOP.

  • Ma Hu

    Pretty good article. Some typo's but I enjoyed reading it.

  • adam

    You are skipping the point that Michael Pachter is God

    • revolution5268

      hell no he is no god

  • David

    "Nintendo has not released their big titles. I think it’s premature to say “at the current rate” when you know sales will turn when Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, and other big name games come out. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Wii U will not continue on its “current” path of sales."

    Remind me again how Mario Sunshine, Zelda Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, Mario Kart, Star Fox Adventures and SSBM managed to turn the Gamecubes sales around? Hmm?

    "Pachter also states the PS4 is likely to sell 85-95 million units lifetime. I wonder how he got this number, when the PS3 is right around 73-75 million units sold? Sony is moving their focus away from Japan and into the West. Can somebody explain to me how Sony is going to sell 20 million units more than the PS3, with a lack of first party Japanese software?"

    Because as we all know, the Japanese market is so veeeery important. Thats why Japanese companies like Capcom and Konami are definitely NOT outsourcing to American devs.

    "Many gaming PCs have more than 8 GB of RAM, including mine. Games have not been any more or less innovative on PC, even with 16 GB of RAM."

    Ah good, another non dev who thinks he understands how game making works, and therefore thinks direct translation of RAM across machines is in any way applicable.

    Even if you call your PC a dedicated gaming machine, it is not, and never has been. It remains a desktop computer, and as such, must run a full Desktop computer Operating system in the background, which in turns means gigantic fucking portions of the RAM is taken up, and not going to your game. All told, your 16 GB's of RAM on that gaming rig means maybe 3.2 going to the actual game.

    • Furious Francis

      Remind me again how Mario Sunshine, Zelda Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, Mario Kart, Star Fox Adventures and SSBM managed to turn the Gamecubes sales around? Hmm?

      —Without Mario Sunshine, Zelda, Pokemon, ect. the Gamecube wouldn\’t have sold at all. The Gamecube\’s problem wasn\’t software by Nintendo, it was lack of online play that did that system in. And why are you using Gamecube as an example? How about the Wii, or 3DS? The 3DS was in the same situation the Wii U was in, then Nintendo had a price cut, released Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land. Then sales went through the roof.

      Because as we all know, the Japanese market is so veeeery important. Thats why Japanese companies like Capcom and Konami are definitely NOT outsourcing to American devs.

      —Yes, the Japanese market is important, Konami isn\’t outsourcing Metal Gear are they? Metal Gear Rising? Platinum Games. Metal Gear Ground Zeroes? Kojima Pro. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? Japanese developers. A few games being outsourced doesn\’t mean Japan isn\’t important. Look At how much money Nintendo is making in the Japanese market. Animal Crossing New Leaf has sold over 3 million units, Dragon Quest VII over 1 million units, Monster Hunter Over 1 million combined units. Japan is still a major player in today\’s market.

      Ah good, another non dev who thinks he understands how game making works, and therefore thinks direct translation of RAM across machines is in any way applicable.

      Even if you call your PC a dedicated gaming machine, it is not, and never has been. It remains a desktop computer, and as such, must run a full Desktop computer Operating system in the background, which in turns means gigantic fucking portions of the RAM is taken up, and not going to your game. All told, your 16 GB\’s of RAM on that gaming rig means maybe 3.2 going to the actual game.

      —All I said is RAM doesn\’t lead to innovation. Chrono Trigger will probably still be better than Final Fantasy Agni\’s Philosophy or Final Fantasy 15. Gameplay makes games innovative, not graphics. And remember, the PS4 is going to have a lot of multimedia functions as well, so a couple GB of RAM will be eaten up on the OS.

      • David

        Without Mario Sunshine, Zelda, Pokemon, ect. the Gamecube wouldn't have sold at all. The Gamecube's problem wasn't software by Nintendo, it was lack of online play that did that system in. And why are you using Gamecube as an example? How about the Wii, or 3DS? The 3DS was in the same situation the Wii U was in, then Nintendo had a price cut, released Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land. Then sales went through the roof.

        —-Because the Wii was a complete fluke? And as I recall, there was a poll showing consumer demand for the 3DS before the Price cut. No such thing happening now, with near zero demand for the WiiU, as everyone knows the machine will be utterly outdated within the year.

        Yes, the Japanese market is important, Konami isn't outsourcing Metal Gear are they? Metal Gear Rising? Platinum Games. Metal Gear Ground Zeroes? Kojima Pro. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? Japanese developers. A few games being outsourced doesn't mean Japan isn't important. Look At how much money Nintendo is making in the Japanese market. Animal Crossing New Leaf has sold over 3 million units, Dragon Quest VII over 1 million units, Monster Hunter Over 1 million combined units. Japan is still a major player in today's market.

        —Oh, if only Western titles could pull in such lofty sales as a milllion units. They're stuck with such low sales, that a million units is considered cripplingly underperforming and a sign to cancel the series.

        All I said is RAM doesn't lead to innovation. Chrono Trigger will probably still be better than Final Fantasy Agni's Philosophy or Final Fantasy 15. Gameplay makes games innovative, not graphics. And remember, the PS4 is going to have a lot of multimedia functions as well, so a couple GB of RAM will be eaten up on the OS.

        —Translation - Blah blah blah blah nostalgic bleatings blah blah blah this utterly generic game had a slightly above average plot for its time, so my childish brain latched onto it as great, and years later I am incapable of recognising its mediocrity blah blah blah RAM can only be used for graphics because I have no clue how games development works blah blah blah.

        Oh, and the Ps4 doesn't have to play movies and play games at the same time. Having to run games as indistinct from any other program means that the computer still has to divert resources for other programs.

        • Furious Francis

          Because the Wii was a complete fluke? And as I recall, there was a poll showing consumer demand for the 3DS before the Price cut. No such thing happening now, with near zero demand for the WiiU, as everyone knows the machine will be utterly outdated within the year.

          —Learn what the definition of a fluke is first. The Wii was nothing of the sort. And what poll are you talking about? Since when did polls dictate sales numbers. Weren\’t there polls saying people really wanted the Vita? Yeah, moving on. The Wii U just needs software. Your weak, slash unproven \”polls\” excuse for the 3DS turnaround cute though. The 3DS starting selling because of games, and a price cut. Plain and simple. Had nothing to do with polls. The Wii U will do the same. Wait till this holiday. You\’ll see.

          Oh, if only Western titles could pull in such lofty sales as a milllion units. They\’re stuck with such low sales, that a million units is considered cripplingly underperforming and a sign to cancel the series.

          —Not exactly sure what this statement means…. but yeah, I guess?

          Translation – Blah blah blah blah nostalgic bleatings blah blah blah this utterly generic game had a slightly above average plot for its time, so my childish brain latched onto it as great, and years later I am incapable of recognising its mediocrity blah blah blah RAM can only be used for graphics because I have no clue how games development works blah blah blah.

          —Chrono Trigger….and generic in the same sentence, from a modern gamer? Ok Boss, whatever you say.

          Oh, and the Ps4 doesn\’t have to play movies and play games at the same time. Having to run games as indistinct from any other program means that the computer still has to divert resources for other programs.

          —So the PS4 can use a full 8 GB of RAM it has on games without splitting it with the OS? I think you need to research the PS4 and how RAM works in multimedia consoles man.

          • PermanentlyAngry

            While I disagree with David's tone, and in some cases what he says, he does make some salient points. Just for the record Furious Francis the full RAM allocation and indeed GPU, CPU function in the PS4 is open to games and games developers to utilise. I know that might be hard to comprehend for some folks, but this generation of consoles has found some nifty work arounds for OS overheads. The PS4 contains an ARM processor as well that will handle a number of functions in the background without putting loads onto the CPU/GPU. The OS will only start using system resources to any serious extent when called upon to use resources, like if you press the share button and go into the video editing mode.

            Whether any of that will lead to innovation in games design is a moot point in some respects. What it does is give games developers all of the power at their finger tips. However, it's up to developers how they use that power, do we just go for way bigger draw distances, higher res textures etc? Or do we do interesting things with AI and the physical construction of the virtual worlds we create? I agree it's not a logical step to conclude just because something has more RAM, or that more of the systems computing power is given over to the development community that this will automatically lead to innovation. But, it can't hurt to give developers what they've been asking for. Sony have done that.

          • Justin

            I think both you and David have completely missed his point. His argument was NEVER "the PS4 has inadequate RAM." or "The PS4's RAM statistics are misleading." The only point he was making there at all was that RAM does not equal innovation as Pachter was stating. He then showed his point with the example of the indie game scene being one of the best places out there for innovation.

            Also, David I have to take issue with your Gamecube bashing. While the Cube wasn't a massive success, it was hardly a crippling failure. It sold around the same units worldwide as the original xbox, but had a much higher profit margin and far superior software sales making it the #2 of its generation.

          • PermanentlyAngry

            And Justin you've missed the point of my response, which could be my fault for not explaining myself adequately. Or indeed your fault for not reading properly. I was pointing out to Furious Francis that he was wrong with some of his assumptions with how the PS4 will work. Just like there have been some miss informed assumptions about Microsoft's next console. I also never said that he had claimed the PS4 had inadequate RAM. I also pointed out that whether or not more RAM leads to innovation in games design at this stage is a moot point, i.e. it's pointless. The platform that Sony have provided will give games designers the power and the tools to do things how they want. That could mean making prettier versions of CoD… or as I believe it might do, lead to some pretty interesting experiences for gamers. There's a lot of excitement and buzz in the development community right now about the next generation consoles and what can be done with them. That was my point. If you don't get that, or don't understand it, fine. But please don't try and say I've said something when I clearly haven't. Thanks.

    • yourdad

      Wow, what a stupid article! Yes, Patcher got nothing to back his theories but the person who wrote this article is just retarded or pretends to be. RAM easily leads to innovation. How? Because with more RAM, devs can make the game calculate more things (its not just about texture resolution you tard!). Many more background processes etc will lead to more innovative games. Why it was not the case with PC? Because all games are built so they can work also either on current gen consoles or slow pc's. Once console generation skips to next, PC games will do the same. Seriously, kid wrote that article or what?

      • Furious Francis

        @ yourdad

        Calm down

        I Don\’t think RAM leads to innovation. The PS3 and Xbox 360 have far more RAM than the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. Yet all we got was un-innovative First person shooters and Third Person shooters. Gears, Uncharted, Resistance, Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Assassin\’s Creed, ect. Where is the innovation in those games.