Don't Count Sony Out Yet 172
Eurogamer is hosting a GamesIndustry.biz article, an editorial that wants readers to make sure not to write Sony off yet. From the article: "Even if Sony is failing to endear itself to the media, to analysts or to gamers at the moment, that's no reason for the reality of the next generation console battle to be ignored. Judging from reports in the past fortnight, it would be easy for an outside observer to assume that it's all over already; the media paints a picture of Microsoft being victorious before the first shot is even fired, with Sony's overloaded battlecruiser set to sink before it even leaves port."
Sony who? Already sold my shares (Score:4, Insightful)
Face it, day late and a dollar short, even if Sony suddenly "decided" to sell PS3 at $299, they've already lost mind share and many game developers have already added Wii support (not originally planned) and are shorting the number of game units they're planning to ship for PS3, according to the news reports in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal
Wah? (Score:2, Insightful)
Uh, and where exactly are these media stating anything of the sort?
Can't be talking about Japan...
Can't be talking about Europe...
Can't be talking about the trashing MS took over botched backwards compatibility...
Can't be talking about the insane numbers of defected consoles that the media has been reporting...
Can't be talking about the lower than first Xbox sales the media has been reporting...
Can't be talking about the ridicule almost everything is met with in the media from any of the Xbox execs...
If there is good press for the 360, I'd love to see it.
Re:Thanks, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Once the PS2 gets down to the $200-300 price point I'll consider it, but to drop $70 on one game means it better be one hell of a good game.
As I've grown older, my interest in videogames has waned anyway, and I think Nintendo's approach of pick-up games will work better anyway, which is another reason I'm writing Sony off: The people who can afford it aren't the target audience, and the target audience will have a hell of a time convincing the parents to drop that kind of money on a videogame machine when it works out to two average car payments just for the console.
Re:Too much for a console. (Score:3, Insightful)
The PS3 is trying to be a cutting edge entertainment system. The question is, will the BluRay player (err HD, whichever it uses) make enough value for consumers to buy it? If you are already in the market for a $300 HD/BluRay player AND a $300 console, then the PS3 makes sence. If you are in the market for a $40 DVD player and a $200 Console, then a Wii makes sence. If the high def video disk market doesn't pan out, then the PS3 is screwed.
-Rick
3-way tie (Score:2, Insightful)
We could actually see a 3 way split for the first time in history. It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo and MS do in 5 years when Sony insists their console will last til 2017....
Who says it's one or the other? (Score:2, Insightful)
Who says if Microsoft makes a bundle of money that there won't still be a bundle for Sony and Nintendo left over? I mean, I think all of the companies can turn a profit in this industry.
And besides, the PS3 is far from just a gaming console. The Blu Ray player capability is what some might call Sony's 'stratz 4 teh win'. I have never owned a Playstation or an Xbox (I play PC games) but even I am thinking about getting a PS3 now. Though I doubt I will, there's no reason for me to want Blu Ray until major rental outlets carry them in my area. I am not someone that wants to watch a movie a hundred times, so renting them is my game.
Anyway, like I said, there's enough pie for them all to get a nice piece IMHO.
TLF
Re:Too much for a console. (Score:2, Insightful)
That's not the target market, though. BD players are in the $1000 range (HD-DVD players are a bit cheaper, but still in the $500-1000 range). The type of person who's going to buy a $1000 BluRay player is not the type of person who will compromise with an integrated unit, because integrated units generally suck (the PS2 was a horrible DVD player, for example). What Sony is really hoping for is that they can get the people in the market for a $600 console, and have them decide to buy BluRay movies since they get a player for "free". The problem is that there's virtually nobody in the market for a $600 console. It doesn't help that the few people in that market (who normally wouldn't pay above $400 for a new console, but are willing to pony up $200 more because it's Sony) are quickly being alienated by Kutaragi's reality distortion field.
Besides, nobody wants to use a game controller as a remote control for movies.
If you're in the market for a $40 DVD player, buy a $40 DVD player. It'll still be a better DVD player than a Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3. The Wii's rumored to be priced in the "optimal" price range ($200-300) for a new console. The market for a $250 console is huge. Maybe you're not in that market (preferring to buy when prices are < $200), but your absence does not make the market any less significant.
Just like the PSP is screwed because the mobile video disc market didn't pan out? UMD sucked, and is thankfully (almost?) dead, but the PSP could pull it together and still be a kickass game machine. It probably won't, given the utter lack of must-have games (the few top-notch games have also seen releases outside the PSP, or will shortly -- GTA: Liberty City Stories on PS2, Lumines on Xbox Live Arcade). The PS3 could still pull off being a kickass game machine even if BluRay tanks as a video format. Sony is making a big bet by including BluRay (without BD, the PS3 would probably be priced the same as Xbox 360 -- $300-400), and that'll probably screw them whether or not BluRay takes off, but they just might pull it off.
There's going to be a winner in the console wars? (Score:1, Insightful)
And let's not get hung up on the "slashdot effect" in the real world. No amount of DRM, rootkits or media blubbering is going to stop Joe Sixpack Jr from wanting the latest gaming box. I know that a handful of naysayers on here think that they have the market cornered on common sense but let's face facts; if we really had that much insight into the market of home entertainment what the hell are we doing posting our analysis of the situation for on slashdot for free. People who truely have the market insight are snorting coke on a private jet to the Bahamas today on your dime.
As much as I'm not a console man myself (my last being a 2600) I don't see any real reason for this to fail. People I know paid over twice the market value for a XBox 360 when they came out and would have paid the same exact price even if it wasn't the thing to own, at the time.
You may call them suckers but they're the ones paying the bills.
PS3 better drop in price quick! (Score:5, Insightful)
Like it's really an either-or proposition. (Score:3, Insightful)
The PS3 is sure to make plenty of cash, and a lot of it will come from people who already own an Xbox360 and a Wii. Hardcore gamers don't care about money.
Re:Not endeared to ANYBODY (Score:5, Insightful)
Take me, for example. I own several Sony products, including a PS2, an NTSC monitor, and a receiver. Will I ever buy another product from them? Not in the foreseeable future. I've been shopping around for digital cameras and camcorders for the last few days, and I've been skipping right over the Sony models. They probably have exactly what I'm looking for, and in the right price range too, but that big SONY on the side of it might as well say 'Made by slave labor'. I'm not even going to give their offerings any consideration.
In other words, I don't like their business practices, so I won't give them my money. Not only is that not flamebait, it's completely pertinent to the topic! I was planning to buy a PS3 this generation, but not now. The high price that they've announced isn't even the deciding factor, since I was going to wait a couple of years for it to come down - the real reason is the rootkit, pure and simple.
That doesn't make any sense (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sorry, but that line of reasoning does not any sense to me. If you can afford an Xbox 360 now, I assume you could have saved up the additional money to purchase a PS3 when it becomes available later this year.
It's not as if the PS3 will cost that much more than the 360. It's just incrementally more. Yes, it is expensive, but microsoft isn't exactly giving the 360 away either.
I would have been more partial to your argument if you had said you were holding out for a Wii because that was your price-point.