Gamasutra Asks: Are Gamers Really Saying “I Want My HDTV!”?
Great article up on Gamasutra tackling the question of HD and games and if the console developers have jumped in to early. They spoke to three industry experts re: twobig questions: “Are Microsoft and Sony emphasizing HDTV too much, not enough, or just enough? Has Nintendo made a mistake by not providing HDTV resolution for the Wii?”
As we reported earlier, microsoft claims that 90% of xbox360 gamers either own an HDTV or plan on purchasing one soon. So based on that data point, the gamers have spoken and they want HD.
GigaOM also has there take on it here:
“Amazingly, all three analysts are bullish on HDTV, particularly Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities (”I think HD resolution is the essential difference between this cycle and the last”) and Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies. (”I do not think the gaming industry is jumping in prematurely at all”) In my read, only Mike Wolf of ABI Research couches his bullishness with caution, saying “HDTV is a critical feature of the new generation of consoles, particularly down the road 2-3 years.”
For us xbox360 game content is already in great HD and here today, so we don’t see a reason to wait 2-3 years. But given that the gaming console has a life cycle of 4 or 5 years, it does seem odd that Nintendo elected to not include HD support in the Wii - a decision that could come back to bite them.
6 comments October 11th, 2006