Did you read that right? Yes, you did! While many have been glued to the thought that Microsoft now owns Bethesda, Sony has been making some sneaky moves to force Nintendo into an acquisition! I have seen a lot of crazy moves over the years in the gaming industry. Things that I never expected to see like, Activision buying the rights to Crash Bandicoot! SEGA going out of the console making business, Microsoft entering the gaming biz and tons more! I remember when I first heard about Nintendo suffering from financial woes and possibly filing for bankruptcy. The end of Nintendo seems all but real and the big N made it out of the hole and has some rather well competing with handheld devices. Well, it may have seemed like they were out of the hole, but Sony has gone on to prove otherwise. In a private announcement that only I was privy to for some reason, Sony let me in on a huge secret. They had in fact manipulated Nintendo into a financial agreement that states in the fine print, if Nintendo did pay back a full Ian amount and interest by March 31st, 2021, Nintendo would forfeit all of their licensed properties to Sony and the PlayStation brand! Holy crap, I can’t believe Nintendo fell for that! Sony reps went onto state that the rumored Nintendo Switch Pro is in fact not a hardware upgrade, but it is code named for a major software update that will allow players to download, install and play digital copies of Nintendo’s biggest Switch releases! Not only that, all consoles made by Nintendo will come to a halt on April 1st, 2021! This will free up microchips to help ramp up the production of the PS5! Killing one console market to ensure another is born seems like a monopoly play to me, but what do I know? At least I’m not an exec at Nintendo right now. Am I right? Anyway, thank you for taking a moment to read on my April’s Fools satire this year! This is in fact a joke, but could imagine if Sony did manage to buy Nintendo’s properties? I love Nintendo and their franchises, but I often wish they really would close up the console shop and become a third party developer like SEGA did. That’s just me of course. Happy April Fools Day!
Sony ending production of most PS4’s in Japan and Microsoft based the Xbox on PS2?
Hi everyone, thanks for dropping by to catch up on some of the latest news in the world of gaming. In light of everything that has been going on in the United States, I’m a few days late on my regular report and I apologize for that, but we’re not here to discuss that. We’re here to discuss video games! So, Nintendo is expected to outsell the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S in 2021, according to several industry analysts. It won’t just outsell the latest generation of consoles, but it is expected to be the top console all year. Word is, there will be a new “pro” version of the Nintendo Switch and if that is the case, it would only help bolster Nintendo’s sales even further. Let’s be honest here, none of these companies are hurting for money right now and it’s nice to see someone else outselling the PS console at the moment because it will only pressure companies to up the ante and compete for top spot! There is no doubt that Nintendo has created a great little console and in some ways it is in a market of its own, but with the pandemic world wide, Sony and Microsoft alike are having trouble producing enough consoles to meet the demand. 2021 is surely going to be an interesting year for consoles and games. Speaking of producing consoles, Sony has announced the company will stop production of all PS4 models in Japan, except for one slim model. The PS4 has been outselling the PS5 in Japan and some of the reasoning sighted is the issue with low production, so cutting back on the PS4 should increase the number of PS5’s available, right? Of course, there seems to be a decline for Playstation products in Japan, so that could also play a part. If analysts’ predictions are correct, there will be enough consoles for everyone that really wants one by April, so if you have been waiting, it shouldn’t be too much longer. In other console tidbits, here are a bit of some interesting facts about what was going on pre-original Xbox development. Before Microsoft came up with the Xbox console, they shopped around for a few companies that had already been in the industry. MS looked into purchasing companies like Electronic Arts, but EA kindly declined as they the company wasn’t up for sale, even more interesting, Microsoft went onto to ask Nintendo if they would consider being bought out. Ahh, to be a fly on that wall, huh? As it turns out, the execs at Nintendo busted out in laughter and seemingly laughed throughout the meeting. The idea really makes you wonder what things would be like if that transaction actually happened. I think if either Microsoft or Sony did manage to buy Nintendo, that would forever end the console wars and would ultimately create the most powerful game company in history and likely the future. The possibilities for Mario and … Read More
What if Nintendo and Sony went through with their partnership?
It’s a question that I have thought about many times over. It isn’t a heavily discussed topic, but it is certainly an intriguing one. What if Nintendo and Sony managed to partner up back in the 90’s and actually moved forward in the gaming industry together? Just for the sake of “in case you didn’t know,” back in the early 1990’s, Nintendo had tapped Sony to build a CD-Rom variant for the Super Nintendo console. Nintendo then backed out of the deal and went with the company Philips, to develop for them instead. From there, Sony further developed their CD-Rom and the PlayStation was born. Sony has always been a very different company than Nintendo. From the moment the first PlayStation console dropped, Sony was offering content that was more mature for gamers. Nintendo was and still is considered the more family friendly console. Sony carved a space for the PlayStation brand in the gaming industry and changed everything. Sega was seemingly pushed out of the console making space and became a third party developer after the Sega Dreamcast failed to make sales needed to keep the company a float. We watched as Nintendo began to struggle and Microsoft entered the gaming space with the highly successful Xbox, thanks to the release of the PlayStation 2, which still holds the record for most units sold as a single console. The PS3 had a staggering start when it released one year after the Xbox 360 and came with an extremely high price tag. What may have very well ended another company, Sony came back with additional models of the PS3, lowered the unit price and did manage to outsell the Xbox 360 in lifetime sales. While Sony and Microsoft battled it out for the market, Nintendo did manage to comeback with the Wii console and of course, dominated sales in regard to handheld devices. Since then, Sony has dominated the market with the PS4 and both Nintendo and Microsoft have managed to stay in the game… No pun intended, but it is fitting. Now in present day, we prepare to see the Playstation 5 revealed and by holiday this year, the ongoing battle for top console sales will start over once again. With that, I circle back to PlayStation’s beginning. What if Nintendo didn’t back out of the deal it had been working on with Sony? Let’s speculate, shall we? There are many possibilities to what could have happened. In all actuality, we will never know, but here is how I imagine things could have gone down. After Sony had gone ahead and announced a partnership with Nintendo, the big N, graciously confirms said partnership. With excitement in the air, Nintendo and Sony make waves in the gaming industry. The tides are turning and not only does this partnership excite gamers around the world, but SEGA is getting excited too!. SEGA was far ahead of the curve when it came to video game tech. Maybe … Read More
Nintendo Starts Work on New System: Is Sony Far Behind?
In December 2014, Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the major game developers at Nintendo, dropped what some consider to be a bombshell announcement: Nintendo is already working on its next console, the successor to the Wii U. Miyamoto admitted that they were still in the early planning stages, but that a dedicated team was working on new hardware while the majority of Nintendo was focusing on making software for the Wii U. Is it possible that Sony is doing the same thing for the PlayStation 5? If Sony wasn’t working on the PS5 now, you can bet they are getting in gear after Miyamoto’s announcement. We recently brought you news about the New Business Creation Department at Sony, whose sole purpose is letting ideas from any branch at Sony flourish. It’s safe to say that plenty of new ideas revolve around the PlayStation 5, giving Sony the groundwork it needs to build a powerful new console with some innovative features. We can safely assume that Sony is already looking for ways to maximize the next console’s graphical powers; with Sony currently on top in the console wars, they will need something unique to keep their momentum strong when they unveil the PlayStation 5. Like Nintendo, we can assume that Sony has a small “think tank” of its top researchers and developers testing out new ideas that would make the PS5 one-of-a-kind. However, it’s also safe to assume that whatever Sony is working on depends on the trends of the next few years. A lot is riding on virtual reality, and with Morpheus yet to be released for the PlayStation 4, it’s uncertain if it will catch on with the gamer populace. Sony is likely not investing in these ideas too heavily, because if virtual reality is a flop and the PS5 is being planned around it, it could set the console back years as Sony would need to restructure the whole system. At this stage in the game, the focus is likely to be squarely on graphical output, seeing if any improvements can be made to the DualShock 4 – small details that will definitely play a part in the next console, as dictated by the history of gaming. For instance, it’s a given that there will be a DualShock 5, as the controller is now synonymous with the word PlayStation. We don’t expect Sony to make an announcement any time soon stating that they are working on the PlayStation 5; right now, the PS4 is still selling great, with Sony securely in first place in this console generation. Nintendo likely made this announcement because the Wii U contains a number of faults that have landed it in third place in the console wars, and Miyamoto is likely trying to assure its fans that Nintendo is already looking to fix its mistakes. The only thing we can be certain of is that Sony is intensely watching the PlayStation 4, noting what works, what doesn’t, what the players enjoy and what they … Read More