Your Guide to the Box Wars
On a planet called Earth, four empires are at war. The Houses of Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft have launched sophisticated and expensive campaigns to win the allegiance – and the financial assets – of Earth's sentient inhabitants (called humans) by converting them into gamers.
In order to expand their empires, and at the same time defend their current market share, the houses have each developed high tech brainwashing weapons (called consoles) designed to conquer without bloodshed by immersing gamers in a variety of violent, grotesque, and sex-laden scenarios. In the early days, blocky characters and a limited 8-bit palette were enough to lull humans into submission. But after years of escalating battles, these weapons have become sleek entertainment devices that use fluid photorealistic animation, high-fidelity stereo sound effects, and expanded bandwidth to hijack the human nervous system.
The empires launch massive propaganda campaigns to persuade humans to buy their consoles (and thus pledge allegiance to a platform). To further entice, the houses sell consoles at about half their manufacturing cost. They are happy to lose money on the sale, because riches come flooding in when humans purchase games (and game-related extras like toys, books, and videos) that are sold at an enormous markup.
It has been this way for as long as most humans can remember. And so it will be for generations more – with one exception: Four houses, all intent on world domination, cannot share the spoils equally. One, and maybe two, can grow strong, but the others will collapse. The battle rages on …
Hiroshi Yamauchi House of Nintendo
Title: President Age: 74 Realm: Tokyo, Japan Legend: The oldest of the gaming powers, Nintendo has built its empire over the course of a century, mobilizing an army of millions of young humans who are hopelessly addicted to its hypercreative characters and happy-go-lucky classic games. But Nintendo has been weakened by its enemies in the House of Sony, and its earnings have plummeted. Lord Yamauchi has laid out a plan to recapture lost gamers with edgy, depraved titles like Conker's Bad Fur Day. The company has also developed a powerful new weapon – the GameCube. The console is engineered to be the ultimate gaming machine, with features like the S3TC hardware-based compression system than squeezes textures to one-sixth their size!
GAMECUBE Launch date: October 2001 Price: $150-200 Polygons per second: 6-12 million Processor: 405-MHz IBM Power PC Gekko Network: Optional 56K and broadband peripherals Media: 1.58-Gbyte mini-DVD Memory: 43 Mbytes Audio channels: 64
Robbie Bach House of Microsoft
Title: Senior VP, Games Division Age: 38 Realm: Redmond, Washington Legend: Microsoft, the house built in 1975, expanded its empire during the Cubicle Wars, enslaving humans with its unstable, poorly designed "business" tools – the software that earthlings use at work. (Gamers would like to be jacked into their game consoles all day, but toil they must, for games cost money.) Now the house, with its half-billion-dollar marketing war chest, has launched an ambitious plan to take over the gaming world. The Microsoftians are new to the gaming battle. And they are cocky. But they are reputable fighters. The house has established alliances with the best gamesmiths and is developing a weapon it hopes will destroy its enemies: the Xbox.
XBOX Launch date: Fall 2001 Price: around $300 Polygons per second: 125 million (raw number; actual rate will be less) Processor: 733-MHz Pentium III Network: 100-Mbit Ethernet Media: Standard DVD-ROM (games also read from 8-Gbyte hard disk) Memory: 64 Mbytes Audio channels: 256 Maximum resolution: 1,920 x 1,080
Ken "KK" Kutaragi House of Sony
Title: President and CEO Age: 50 Realm: Tokyo, Japan Legend: The Sonysians, with their strong position in the Consumer Electronics Galaxy, stormed the gaming world in 1995 with the sleek PlayStation console and now control 65 percent of the market. But dark clouds are rumbling over the House of Sony. The PlayStation 2 is an unparalleled gaming machine – with daunting specs and a streamlined design – but the weapon is expensive to produce and difficult to develop software for, which has left serious game developers cold. There are rumors within the gamesmiths guild of planned defections to Microsoft. Unflustered, KK is forging ahead with plans to position the PlayStation 2 (and PlayStation 3 – due out in 2005 and rumored to be 1,000 times faster than its predecessor) as a fully Net-connected family entertainment box.
PLAYSTATION 2 US launch date: October 2000 Price: $299 Polygons per second: 16-38 million Processor: 300-MHz Toshiba-made chip Network: Ethernet peripheral Media: Standard DVD-ROM Memory: 32 Mbytes Audio channels: 48 Maximum resolution: 1,280 x 1,024 Number sold: 10 million
Isao Okawa House of Sega
Title: Chair and president Age: 75 Realm: Tokyo, Japan Legend: Sega is the fallen house! Hardcore gamers revere the company as the true gaming power, as much for its Dreamcast console as for its vast armory of addictive titles. But its vaults are close to empty. So, in January 2001, the company dropped out of the console arms race, deciding to build on its strength in the software realm. The house plans to create a line of games that will run on Motorola and Palm devices, and is already developing titles for the PlayStation 2, the Game Boy Advance, and – if the whispers are true – the Xbox. Sega's software masters are legendary, but it will not be easy for the house to develop games for other platforms.
DREAMCAST Launch date: September 1999 Price: $99 Polygons per second: 3 million Processor: 200-MHz Hitachi SH4-RISC Network: 56K with optional broadband peripheral forthcoming Media: 1-Gbyte double-sided CD-ROM Memory: 16 Mbytes Audio channels: 64 Number sold: 3.4 million
Shigeru Miyamoto
Affiliation: EAD Nintendo, Japan Special Powers: Star of the Nintendo empire, Miyamoto's accomplishments include Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and the Zelda epics. A master of plotting, Miyamoto's attention to sound effects, scoring, and timing laid the groundwork for adventure games. With a promised minimum of five titles for the GameCube launch in Japan this July (one of which will likely star Mario's neglected brother, Luigi), Miyamoto holds Nintendo's fate in his hands. Big hit: Super Mario 64 (5.5 million units)
Peter Molyneux
Affiliation: Lionhead Studios, England Special Powers: Molyneux – creator of the classic strategy game Populous and, indeed, the progenitor of the entire god-game genre – is one of the most technically skilled artists in the gamesmiths guild. He has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence and real-time simulation. His latest role-playing title, Black & White, is one of the most anticipated since Myst. Big hit: Populous (4 million units)
Hironobu Sakaguchi
Affiliation: Squaresoft, Japan Special Powers: The undisputed master of the role-playing game. Squaresoft's Final Fantasy titles have mesmerized millions of gamers with their addictive combination of gameplay, stunning visuals, and wonderful music. Sakaguchi deserves much of the credit for bringing a cinematic approach to videogames. His next title – The Bouncer – continues this tradition: It's an action-packed game that plays like a great story. Big Hit: Final Fantasy VIII (7 million units)
Joel Jewett, Scott Pease, Mick West
Affiliation: Neversoft, USA Special Powers: The Neversoft trio merged the adrenaline rush of a racing game with the radical moves of extreme sports to invent an entirely new genre with their Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise. Easy to play yet challenging to master, the Hawk games have consistently topped sales charts for PlayStation and Dreamcast. Tony Hawk 3, debuting in late 2001 on the PS2, packs the skating environments with pedestrians, vehicles, and other hazards, for an even more extreme ride. Big hit: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (3.5 million units)
Hideo Kojima
Affiliation: Konami, Japan Special Powers: Kojima is the creator of Metal Gear Solid, the fast-paced action game that supercharged early sales of the PlayStation. A gritty, cinematic thriller, MGS incorporates well-developed dialog and plot sequences to create a game that requires players to think before thumbing a button. Sony is hoping for a similar hit with Metal Gear Solid 2, which should hit the shelves in late 2001. Big hit: Metal Gear Solid (6 million units)
Scott Orr
Affiliation: Electronic Arts, USA Special Powers: Orr is the king of sports titles, making him one of the most sought-after game designers. In 1990, he created the first Madden title for Sega Genesis, and that franchise still represents the ultimate in the football genre. Madden -heads love the in-depth, real-life play of the games, which have only become more realistic and feature-packed with every year. Orr has kept ahead of the pack with upgrades like AI technology and a physics engine. But his real talent is his keen sense of detail – like putting fresh grass stains on the quarterback's shirt after he's tackled. It's these small visual elements that define Orr's style – and have players waiting for Madden NFL 2001. Big hit: Madden NFL 99 (2 million units)
Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin
Affiliation: Naughty Dog, USA Special Powers: Nintendo has Mario. Sega has Sonic. Sony has Crash Bandicoot – the series created by this gamesmithing pair. Rubin and Gavin's graphically stunning Crash franchise delivers nonstop action (and tallied nearly 20 million units in global sales). After the designers dropped hints of an Xbox title last year, Sony bought Naughty Dog outright. Now the Crash team is working on an all-new 3-D character-action game. Big hit: Crash Bandicoot 3 (5.7 million units)
Yu Suzuki
Affiliation: AM2, Japan Special Powers: Suzuki is the creator of the stunning Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, and F355 Challenge – the heart-pumping races that trumpeted the arrival of 3-D polygonal games. For 15 years, Suzuki has been developing arcade hits for Sega, and he is regarded as the best 3-D game creator, bar none. Shenmue, Suzuki's Asian gang-war epic, introduced a new level of reality. The upcoming PS2 version – Shenmue II – will feature a world 10 times the size of the original. Big hit: Shenmue (461,374 units)
Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper
Affiliation: Rare, England Special Powers: A veteran gaming duo and the bad boys of Nintendo, the Stamper brothers are the creators of Golden Eye 007. The James Bond title was far from the original first-person shooter, but it's become the pinnacle of the genre (and remains one of the best-selling videogames in history, raking in an unbelievable $240 million). But what else would you expect of a game that blends the shoot-'em-up thrill of Doom with the intricate plot of a 007 mission? The Stampers' latest N64 title, Conker's Bad Fur Day, pushes good taste to the limit with obscenity-spewing characters and near-nudity. Look for the GameCube sequel to their N64 hit Perfect Dark. Big hit: Golden Eye 007 (4.8 million units)
Kazunori Yamauchi
Affiliation: Polyphony Digital, Japan Special Powers: Yamauchi didn't invent the racing game, but he practically reinvented it with Gran Turismo, the PlayStation title that combines rubber-burning action with unparalleled realism. Racers can choose from among 150 cars, each of which responds on the videotrack much as it would on the road (thanks to the game's advanced engine that calculates each car's actual specs and applies the laws of physics). Yamauchi's Gran Turismo 2 ups the ante with a force-feedback wheel, and the rumors are that the third version will be networked. Big hit: Gran Turismo 2 (3 million units)
Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna
Affiliation: Oddworld Inhabitants, USA Special Powers: Longtime ally of the House of Sony, Lanning and McKenna recently defected to the Microsoftians. Lanning is known as the developer of the mind-bending and whimsical Abe series for the PlayStation, which incorporates a proprietary creature-AI program called Alive to give its characters remarkably complex personalities. With the Oddworld team in its service, the Xboxers are almost guaranteed an original hit with the upcoming Munch's Oddysee. Big hit: Abe's Oddysee (2 million units)
Sega unaligned Microsoft Sony Nintendo
NUMBER OF VIDEOGAMES SOLD IN 2000 BY GENRE Adventure/Role-Playing 10,199,110 Sports 10,167,610 Action 9,589,408 Simulation 5,320,537 Child (under 12) 2,621,826 Arcade (classic) 1,996,498 Strategy 1,549,521 Family Entertainment 1,107,515 Miscellaneous 349,074
FIVE BEST-SELLING GAMES OF 2000 Pokémon Gold 1 million units Pokémon Silver 950,000 units Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 610,000 units Driver 2 600,000 units WWF Smackdown! 2 590,000 units (PC Data)
INSTALLED BASE OF VIDEO CONSOLES, PCS, AND DVD PLAYERS IN 2000 PCs 97,000,000 Consoles 8,019,940 DVD Players 8,000,000 (PC Data; Consumer Electronics Association)
US MOVIE BOX OFFICE SALES VERSUS THE VIDEOGAME MARKET FOR 2000 Movie box office sales $7.5 billion Videogame industry $6.4 billion (PC Data; Variety)
GAME TITLES AND AVERAGE SELLING PRICE BY PLATFORM
| Number of titles| Average selling price
| PlayStation | 1,000 | $28
| N64 | 276 | $42
| Dreamcast | 192 | $40
| PS2 | 44 | $49
(NPD)
GAMING POPULATION BY AGE 13-17 19.8% 18-24 17.8% 25-34 18.6% 35-44 22.8% 45-54 15.4% 55+ 5.6% (PC Data)
TOP CHARACTER FRANCHISES BASED ON 2000 SALES Pokémon $414,800,290 Mario $126,280,160 Zelda $93,103,817 Final Fantasy $61,899,388 Donkey Kong $41,517,999 Lara Croft $28,874,777 (PC Data)
US game software revenues for 2000 Console Software $3,300,000,000 PC Software $1,600,000,000 Portable Video Software $783,000,000 (NPD)
| DEATH MATCH
| Raw Data
