2006

PlayStation 3
Sony’s PlayStation 3 was a heavily anticipated 7th generation release after Sony’s dominance of the market with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Sony originally released the PlayStation 3 in its home country of Japan on November 11th 2006, the US on November 17th and in the EU on March 23rd 2007. Originally planned for a worldwide release in November, Sony made the controversial decision to delay the launch and stagger it across different countries, creating an issue whereby many thousands had been pre-ordered for the original expected release date (which was much later than the Xbox 360’s).

The PlayStation’s release was also marred by its relatively high launch price compared to the 360, its main competitor. Compared to the successful launch of Microsoft’s 360, these issues counted heavily against its success in the important first few weeks.

PlayStation’s issues were further compounded by a lack of heavy-hitting release games. The PlayStation 3’s hardware was superior to that included in the Xbox 360, but it proved to be very difficult for developers to program games for, with claims that even after 8 years its graphical potential has still not been fully realised.

The console’s inclusion of a Blu-Ray player was well received. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were two formats battling at the time to become the next leap from DVD, with Blu-Ray receiving major support from use as a PS3 medium and eventually pushing HD-DVD out of the market.

The PS 3 has gone through several iterations over its life cycle, with the original nicknamed “The Fat Model”, followed by “The Slim PS 3”, and completed by “The Super Slim PS 3”. Each new form brought with it software and hardware improvements, such as a more reliable OS and quieter fans (where overheating was a problem with the original model).

Nintendo Wii


The Nintendo Wii was an innovation at the time in games consoles, breaking away from the traditional format of gaming. The Wii invited the user to engage in the game physically, by using a handheld remote with sensors to detect movement.

The Wii first released in North American on November 19th 2006, followed by Japan and Europe on December 2nd & 8th respectively. The Wii was a successor to the Nintendo GameCube, and as such is backwards compatible with its games.

Nintendo’s 7th generation console differed from their main competitor’s in many ways. The controllers contained accelerometers and IR emitters to allow 3D simulation of action, as well as traditional buttons. The Wii also utilised flash storage with an option to add more using SD cards. Nintendo developed its own bespoke media for games, the 12 cm Wii Optical Disc.

The console met at first with favorable reviews for representing a breakaway from tradition, but has somewhat stagnated since. In the first years of its release, the Wii garnered several awards and accolades. The Wii could not keep up with the graphical or processing power of Xbox and PlayStation however and as such saw fewer third party developers supporting the console towards the end of its life. Many did not consider it to be in the same bracket as the Xbox 360 and PS 3 in terms of a leap in development.