This is a new weekly feature that we’re doing here at Sarcastic Gamer.  Each week, either Rothbart or I will have “Spin Control” on a particular issue.  This means that each week, we’ll argue about something gaming related, but the author with “Spin Control” will get the last word and then the sides will flip for the next week. 

 This week I, Lono, have Spin Control.  Got it?  Good.  Let’s get started.

The NPD numbers are out for September.  To no one’s surprise, the Xbox 360 dominated in sales, largely due to Halo 3’s dominance.  The question is:  Can the Xbox 360 continue in its sales dominance in October? If not, why?

I think that their dominance will continue in October.  First, there will be a spill over effect from the late September release of Halo 3.  Second, they have a really strong October line up filled with Xbox 360 exclusives such as Beautiful Katamari, Ace Combat 6, PGR 4, and timed exclusives such as the uber popular Orange Box. 

The Playstation 3, on the other hand has … Folklore? 

The Wii has a bazillion titles coming out in October, but we know that nobody buys Wii games anyway.  If we must look at the October titles, only Victorious Boxers or maybe Battalion Wars 2, are even remotely compelling, but BW 2 doesn’t even come out until 10/31/07.  When Wii Play is your biggest seller of 2007, you know that either a) Wii gamers really wanted a second controller or b) Wii gamers are braindead/thought Pokemon was a revelation… Yikes!

Based on the exclusive games alone I’ll make my prediction that the Xbox 360 out sells just about every gaming console except for the DS in October.

 What say you Rothbart?

Well, sure, 3/4 of October has passed and it wasn’t a compelling month for the Wii or the PS3.  As the last month is already on its way to the glue factory (buried a ”beating a dead horse” joke in there somewhere), let’s talk about something a bit more interesting than “Can you confirm the 360 kicked ass this month?” 

The last week of October (which won’t leave enough time for the “monthly” numbers to accumulate) will see Ratchet & Clank Future:Tools of Destruction (R&CF) for the PS3 and Guitar Hero III on everything known to man.  I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see both of those titles go on to sell more copies than Orange Box regardless of its “value” of being 5 titles in 1.   PGR 4 and Beautiful Katamari… I can’t even believe you chose those two to single out.  EGM said BK is overpriced at $40.  That says a lot right there.  PGR 4 has the potential to do well and has gotten decent reviews… my problem is I’m a racing fan that’s not liked a single PGR game yet and didn’t like the PGR 4 demo either…  I guess I’m of the mindset that PGR 4 is too arcadey to be a sim-racer and too sim-racer to be an arcade racer…  Plus, I’ve already seen the “awesome” that is Burnout Paradise and it’s just too hard to accept any other racer until I play the perfection Burnout Paradise looks like it’s shaping up to be on the PS3.

A much more interesting topic to discuss would be predicting how November will pan out.  Just referring to system exclusives that’ll matter, we’ve got a certain Italian plumber hitting mid-November that with 10M+ install base could clobber Halo 3’s sales to date (in theory). You’ve also got a new franchise from Sony/Naughty Dog by the name of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.  I predict great sales for this title (keep in mind this prediction’s coming in before any official reviews or scores; R&CF has already received some review scores and it did really well, and frankly, how can Super Mario Galaxy do poorly?  Even if it doesn’t get 10’s, it’ll sell like crazy.)

Who cares about October NPD numbers?  Is October considered part of the “holiday” season?  I don’t think so.  Next month will show some interesting numbers with true competition of big titles across all the systems.

Lono’s turn! Since I have “Spin Control” this week, I’m getting the last word. 

Rothbart will have it next week. 

To answer your question Rothbart, yes, October is part of the holiday season.  Heck, I’d even throw September in there. IMO, it is the buying season that leads up to Christmas.  I’m sure there’s some smarmy analyst that would give me an exact date, but he’s the same guy that predicted that the PS3 would overtake the 360 in June and July…

As for the PS3’s November, I don’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict that it probably won’t go all that well.  Just a guess… Heck, I’d be surprised if they sold more than 200,000 units.  Is it me, or does it feel like their ship is really starting to sink.

I don’t see how the 360 won’t sell the most units in October, excluding the DS.  As for November,  unless Drake’s Fortune is a system seller, its going to be a while before the PS3 can even be in the same conversation as the 360 and Wii. 

Eh, Drake’s Fortune will probably suck.

That’s the bottom line.

Join us next week, when Rothbart picks the topic and tears me apart in Spin Control #2!

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