THE NINTENDO Wii U vs.

THE PLAYSTATION VITA

A small analysis on the press coverage through the use of Facebook By Jordy Bossen

Introduction The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as the E3, is the annual video games conference of the year. This years edition, from the 7 till the 9 of June, was marked by two major announcements; the release of the Playstation Vita (PS Vita) and the Nintendo Wii U. The Playstation Potables (PSP) successor PS Vita can, according to Sony, be seen as the next generation of mobile gaming and will offer brand new ways of play which can transform the gamers world. PS Vita transforms the way the user experiences his or her favourite titles. New technologies like the front multitouch screen, rear multitouch pad, motion-sensors and rich graphics bring the biggest and best games to life in a whole new way. The front and rear cameras are equipped with Augmented Reality (AR) technology which can turn the real-life world in to a gaming arena; the kitchen counters could turn into a fighting ring or office boardrooms into battlefields. Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities allow users to pinpoint the location of nearby opponents, send friends on treasure hunts, or keep the world updated on game rankings. The PS Vita has no boundaries anymore; gaming at home or on the go, location based services and gaming in real-life worlds. Nintendos new home console the Wii U can be seen as the successor of the Nintendo Wii. The Wii U offers an exciting new way to enjoy home entertainment. It has, according to Nintendo, a revolutionary new touch screen controller, precision motion controls, and full HD graphics. It creates a whole new world of play styles and gaming possibilities. According to Nintendo [t]he time is coming to truly expand your idea about what a game console is-and can be (nintendo.com). The new touch screen controller is the most important feature of this new console. It offers new possibilities like drawing with a stylus, viewing a zoomed image in the game or showing your inventory. It can also be used while the television is set on another channel, so the user can still enjoy gaming with the Wii U. Both the PS Vita and the Wii U were announced during the E3, this small assignment will research which announcement got the biggest coverage on social networks. By analyzing the likes through Facebook this research will visualize the data flows on both announcements in order to see which announcement won based on coverage. In this the research will only focus on the posted articles concerning the official announcement of these two hardware systems during the E3 period on the three biggest video game websites; ign.com, gametrailers.com, and gamespot.com. In order to get the data this research will analyze all articles, on the three biggest websites, related to the announcement of these new hardware systems by counting all Facebook likes. These likes represent an extra exposure on social networks, but dont necessarily mean an extra constructive exposure. The gathered rough data is processed in a visualization tool called Gephi, which can
th th

generate a visual of the data flows. In this way the extra exposure is visualized, in order to see which announcement got the most press coverage and exposure. Analyzing and Explaining the Infographics On the next two pages two infographics illustrate the press coverage on Facebook. First these infographics show all articles related to the hardware announcement of these two companies. In this we can see that the Nintendo Wii U has generated more articles during the E3 than the PS Vita; 13 against 7 articles. The press coverage on the Wii U also generated more likes on Facebook; 6395 likes against 598 likes. Looking at these likes we can see that gametrailers.com generated the most likes (2/3 of the likes) on both announcements. This can be explained because of the use of video content; gametrailers.com uses videos as their main resource of info. By liking these videos theyre automatically posted on Facebook in order to get watched by others within the social network. In this way the posted Facebook content is more interesting for other users within these social networks.

Looking at the infographics we instantly can see that the announcement of the Wii U generated more articles and likes. The pie charts show the absolute numbers and the visuals illustrate the data flows from the initial article to Facebook. Each dot represents an article and the amount of likes it generated. The bigger the dot, the more likes generated. This first can be explained by the amount of news value. Prior to the E3 conference the PS Vita already got a lot of press coverage due to leaked information which fed rumours and speculations. Therefore the announcement of the PS Vita didnt really come as a surprise. Secondly the Wii U is more likely to get more exposure because of its technical innovations. Comparing the Wii U to the PS Vita we see that the PS Vita is more or less a technical improvement of the PSP, but the Wii U is a real innovative improvement. The use of this new 6.2 inch controller offers a new kind of game experience that is never been seen within the game industry. In this way Nintendos hardware device generates more news value. Conclusion This small research analyzed the amount of press coverage and exposure on Facebook generated by the announcement of two major new hardware systems, the Wii U and the PS Vita. By processing the rough data (Facebook likes) this research has shown that the Nintendo Wii U has generated more press coverage on the three biggest video game websites during the E3 and also generated more Facebook likes. This means that the Wii U got more unintended exposure than the PS Vita. This doesnt necessarily mean that there is more interest in the Wii U than the PS Vita, because this analysis doesnt exclude if its positive or negative exposure. We do can say that the Wii U has more news value because of its innovative improvements. Further research could analyze all articles and websites in order to find out if these websites prefer Nintendo above Sony due to bigger sponsor deals or other privileges.

New Console Announcement 7 June, 2011 E3 conference, Los Angeles

The announcement of the upcoming new next th generation home console of Nintendo was on the 7 of June on a press conference at the E3 conference in Los Angeles

Facebook likes on the articles regarding the announcement of the new home console Nintendo Wii U by the three biggest video game websites IGN
www.ign.com

E3 2011: Playing the Wii U - http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1173582p1.html E3 2011: Nintendo's New Console Is "Wii U" - http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1173491p1.html E3 2011: Wii U Console Revealed - http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1173549p1.html E3 2011: Wii U Controller Revealed - http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1173521p1.html

499 408 158 183

GAMETRAILERS
www.gametrailers.com

E3 2011: Iwata Asks - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii-u/715362 - 87 E3 2011: Controller Debut Trailer (Stream) - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii-u/715095 E3 2011: Full-Length Zelda Tech Demo (Cam) - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii-u/71 E3 2011: Controller Features Walkthrough (stream) - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii E3 2011: Introduction & Revelation - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii-u/715105 - 109 E3 2011: Wii U and 3DS Interview - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-wii-u/716198 - 78

87 3000 548 232 109 78

GAMESPOT
www.gamespot.com

E3 2011: Nintendo Wii U: Everything You Need to Know: http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6317703/ E3 2011: Wii U tablet limited to one per console: http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6318760/e3-2011-wii E3 2011: Wii 2 touch-screen controller confirmed Report: http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6316949/wii

750 81 252

Likes on press coverage about the reveal of the Nintendo Wii U GAMESPOT
1083 LIKES www.gamespot.com

IGN 17% 20%

1258 LIKES www.ign.com

Total Likes

6395

GAMETRAILERS 63%
4054 LIKES www.gametrailers.com

Visualisation of likes on press coverage about the reveal of the Nintendo Wii U GAMETRAILERS
4054 LIKES www.gametrailers.com

IGN
1258 LIKES www.ign.com

GAMESPOT
1083 LIKES www.gamespot.com

New Handheld Announcement 7 June, 2011 E3 conference, Los Angeles

The announcement of the upcoming new next generation handheld system of Sony Playstation th was on the 7 of June during a press conference at the E3 conference in Los Angeles

Facebook likes on the articles regarding the announcement of the new handheld system Playstation Vita by the three biggest video game websites IGN
www.ign.com

E3 2011: Is PlayStation Vita Region Free? - http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/117/1174783p1.html E3 2011: More PlayStation Vita Details - http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/117/1173602p1.html E3 2011: PlayStation Vita Revealed, Gets a Price - http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/117/1173228p1.html

13 1 121

GAMETRAILERS
www.gametrailers.com

E3 2011: Pricing and Release Announcement (Stream) - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011 E3 2011: Features Announcement (Stream) - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-playstation

173 156

GAMESPOT
www.gamespot.com

E3 2011: Vita tiered pricing lands at $250 and $300 - http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6317441/e3-2011 E3 2011: Sony TM's 'PlayStation Vita' in Europe - http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6317184/e3-2011

104 30

Likes on press coverage about the reveal of the Playstation Vita GAMESPOT
134 LIKES www.gamespot.com

IGN 22% 23%

135 LIKES www.ign.com

Total Likes

598

GAMETRAILERS 55%
329 LIKES www.gametrailers.com

Visualisation of likes on press coverage about the reveal of the Playstation Vita

GAMETRAILERS
329 LIKES www.gametrailers.com

IGN
135 LIKES www.ign.com

GAMESPOT
134 LIKES www.gamespot.com