Seventh generation of video game consoles
The Xbox 360 offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks.
Having sold eight million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device".
[6] The PSP became the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format as its primary storage media.
In 2014, Sony announced they were discontinuing the production of the PSP worldwide, and the release of new games for the DS eventually ceased later that year with the last third-party titles.
The most well-known problem is the "red ring of death" and Error E74, which received a great deal of attention due to some users having to replace their consoles multiple times.
Microsoft attempted to address this by offering a three-year warranty on all affected consoles and repairing them free of charge.
[22] It also retroactively reimbursed owners of affected systems who paid for repairs,[22] and ultimately made several adjustments to the console's design to improve reliability, consulting with "an established ASIC vendor".
[23] As they share many cross-platform games and competed for the same audience as their predecessors, frequent comparisons are made between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
[28][29] Microsoft's strategy to boost sales with the release of the highly anticipated Halo 3 in September 2007 paid off, outselling the Wii that month in North America.
[30] Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division experienced a huge increase in revenue, largely driven by the release of Halo 3, and posted a quarterly profit for the first time in two years.
[34] The Xbox 360 has managed to gain a simultaneous release of titles that were initially planned to be PS3 exclusives, including Devil May Cry,[35] Ace Combat,[36] Virtua Fighter,[37] Grand Theft Auto IV,[38] Final Fantasy XIII,[39] Tekken 6,[40] Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance,[41] and L.A.
Having sold eight million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device".
The system's reliance on new technologies such as the Cell microprocessor and Blu-ray format caused difficulties in manufacturing, especially the Blu-ray diode, leading to shortages at launch and the delay of the PAL region launches; however, by early December 2006, Sony announced that all production issues had been resolved.
"[48] Sony would provide support for its console with new titles from first-party franchises such as Gran Turismo, Team Ico, and God of War, and secured a number of highly anticipated third-party exclusive titles, including Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Yakuza 3 and Valkyria Chronicles.
The previous Grand Theft Auto titles were originally timed exclusives on the PlayStation 2, before making their release on other platforms, such as the Xbox, months later; however, Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest installment, was released simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
[51] Sony blamed lower-than-expected sales of the PS3 on the loss of exclusive titles in its software library, its higher price, and stock shortages.
[55] In July 2007, Sony announced a drop in the price of the already-discontinued 60 GB models of the console by $100 in the United States and Canada.
[71] With only a few exceptions, monthly worldwide sales for the Wii were higher than those of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3,[30][72][73] eroding Microsoft's early lead and widening the gap between its market share and Sony's.
[74] As in previous generations, Nintendo provided support for its new console with first-party franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Pokémon.
[79] Goichi Suda, developer of No More Heroes for the Wii, noted that "only Nintendo titles are doing well" and that he "expected more games for hardcore gamers.
[83] The Wii's low overall attach rate could be explained by reference to its rapidly increasing installed base, as financial analysts have pointed to the Xbox 360's high attach rates as indicative of an unhealthy lack of installed base growth, and warned that what actually benefits third-party developers is "quicker adoption of hardware and a rapidly growing installed base on which to sell progressively more game units," which tends to lower the attach rate of a product.
[102] Third- and later slim redesign-generation models dropped support for all PS2 titles via disc, but some games in digital format, marketed as "PS2 Classics" via the PlayStation Store are still compatible via software emulation.
^b There is a variety of other input devices available for all three consoles, including rhythm game controllers, microphones and third-part gamepads/controllers.
^c All consoles are capable of producing 3D images using anaglyph or frame-compatible systems (side-by-side/SbS, top and bottom/TaB), as these do not require any special output hardware.
When purchased, the game is saved to console's internal memory or, optionally on the Wii, to an inserted SD/SDHC card.
As of November 2009, the Video Download service present on the American PlayStation Store will be available for select European countries.
In the September 2009 issue of Game Informer magazine, survey results were published in which among nearly 5000 readers who responded, 54.2% of those who owned an Xbox 360 had experienced a console failure for that system, compared with 10.6% for PlayStation 3, and 6.8% for Wii.
Generally, they are either niche products or less powerful.For video game handhelds, the seventh generation began with the release of the Nintendo DS on November 21, 2004.
The Nintendo DS offered new modes of input over previous generations such as a touch screen, the ability to connect wirelessly using IEEE 802.11b, as well as a microphone to speak to in-game NPCs.
