Michael Pachter, de analist die iedereen wel kent door zijn vaak belachelijke voorspellingen. Desalniettemin hechten nog steeds veel mensen waarde aan zijn woorden. In een interview over wie van de drie grote console-fabrikanten de show op de E3 zouden gaan stelen, vertelde Pachter wonderwel eens een keer geen lariekoek.
Allereerst dan misschien wel het meest controversiële: volgens Pachter moeten we de Sony Move gewoon zien als de Wii HD.
- “Nintendo is on the verge of – certainly not dropping into third place or anything – losing its dominance, because I really truly believe that Sony Move is the Wii HD.
I really believe it. That’s been my quote: I told everyone a Wii HD was coming this year, it just happens to say PS3 on the box. It is the Wii HD.
That’s a very easy upsell for Sony to say, ‘If you have a Wii and you really want to play high-def games on your new big high-def TV, we’ve got ‘em’.”
Volgens hem rolt Sony dan ook in het duel met Nintendo op het gebied van hun consoles uit als de winnaar. Op het gebied van de handhelds zal Nintendo echter weer een grote slag slaan.
- “Sony is a winner and Nintendo is a loser on the console side, because the Wii Vitality Sensor isn’t going to excite anybody. But the 3DS will. If you look at Nintendo’s line-up, everything we care about is either out or known by now.
If the 3DS is anything like those little 3D point-and-click cameras, because that screen technology is pretty cool and I’m sure it is that, it will really get people excited.
Question is: what does it cost? If they get $189 for a DSi XL, do they think they’re going to get $300 for a 3DS? I don’t know. Maybe they will, but that’s a tough purchase for me.The 3DS is coming along at a really good time for them. I don’t think it’s good for the DSi XL. If they launch the thing [the 3DS] prior to holiday, I can’t imagine why anybody would buy a DSi XL this holiday.
Longer term, Nintendo does really start to look bad as Apple really starts to push the iPod Touch as a gaming device, and that’s happening this holiday.
Again, the gaming press hasn’t figured it out. The gaming press doesn’t really understand the 12-year-old customer, nor do you guys care. Who plays DS games? Them, not us. Nintendo’s got problems this year but the 3DS will make them look great at E3.“This is more a hardware show than in the past.”
Vanzelfsprekend gaf Pachter ook nog zijn mening over Natal van Microsoft.
- “People are going to like Microsoft more than we expect. Microsoft isn’t concerned about the gaming community with Natal, they’re concerned about the gaming community’s mothers and girlfriends.
I really do think the gaming press has completely missed the mark on this one, that Natal is not intended for you to get up there and pretend you’re holding a rifle and playing Call of Duty. It’s intended for your mum to use the frickin’ 360 to download a movie or watch Netflix and to make it less intimidating.
The cool thing about Natal is the voice command. “Xbox on.” I mean, that’s cool. People will really like it when they see it and they begin to appreciate what it is.”