Blu-ray's Hardware Woes Stacking Up 196
An anonymous reader writes "The bad news just keeps on coming for Blu-ray. First, Sony halved its U.S./Japanese launch shipments of its Blu-ray powered PlayStation 3, blaming a shortage of blue lasers. Then, in the last two weeks, both Sony and Pioneer delayed the releases of their new Blu-ray players, refusing to cite reasons. And this week, at Blu-ray backer LG's annual dealer show, a previously announced LG Blu-ray player was nowhere to be found. LG product development director Tim Alessi had this to say: 'We will provide an announcement when the time is right.'"
PS2 DVD vs PS3 Blu-Ray (Score:3, Insightful)
I could be wrong, but it seems like including Blu-Ray may be the biggest mistake that Sony made on the PS3; it will increase the cost of the PS3, reduce the supply, and has so little content for it that it probably will not increase sales. If the PS3 was to be released in Q4 of 2008 Blu-Ray would have probably been an amazing addition, but in Q4 of 2006 it seems like a massive disaster.
Re:PS2 DVD vs PS3 Blu-Ray (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a big supporter of the 360, but I have to admit that the Blu-ray drive might actually prove to be a big advantage to Sony in the long run. It makes the PS3 much more future-proof than the 360, which is already hitting the wall on game storage space. Along with the decision to include a hard drive STANDARD (MS's biggest bonehead move with the 360 was actually taking a step BACKWARDS with the tard box), this could prove to ultimately be a very smart move.
-Eric
Re:PS2 DVD vs PS3 Blu-Ray (Score:4, Insightful)
Sony is either smart or very dumb. The jury is still out (despite what most /. members think, like myself).
However, we need to look at it like this... what would have happened if Sony did NOT put blu-ray in their PS3? HD-DVD would have garnered a large early lead against Sony and probably would have killed of Blu-Ray. It's just one big obvious strategy. Sure, the gamers are largely unhappy about it, due to the increase in cost, but if they have a Blu-Ray on their game system (whether they want it or not), and they start to build a Blu-Ray DVD collection, they're more likely to purchase a Blu-Ray stand-alone since they already started a Blu-Ray collection.
It was more of a do or die strategy. The PS3 was the only thing they could guarantee that their technology would get penetration. Lets face it, when it comes to spending money, it's only gamers who would justify $600 for a video game system, just like they spend $400 for the latest video card for their PC or buy/build a $4,000 gaming rig. That doesn't mean YOU (or more appropriately MYSELF) would spend that much on a brand new system, but that's not to say there isn't people out there that would.
I just talked to a friend of mine who waited in line at Toy-R-Us for their PS3 system. While doing so, he found a famous Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver (American Football) trying to buy their PS3 system off them for $100 extra. He ran into the same guy later at the Casino and found out he bribed a Circuit City employee to put his name at the top of the Pre-order list.
This same friend, who purchased 2 PS3 (he went with his cousin), are doing the whole E-Bay thing, where the pre-orders are selling for upwards of $3,000 now. So, the point is, Sony will sell their PS3's. Did they hurt their PlayStation franchise to push their Blu-Ray player? Absolutely. Will their PS3 survive? Without a doubt. Will it loose market share? No question about it, at least for the short term. Does this put Sony's Blu-Ray in a competitive position to become the 'next' format. Yes, without doing this, it would not have been as likely to succeed. In this way, they didn't have much choice. If Blu-Ray succeeds, that means Sony will be making enormous profits for decades. If the PS3 loose a large market share, it will still retain some and it can still gain ground in the future with huge price drops. This isn't a PS3 strategy. This is a Blu-Ray strategy.
I'm not planning on buying one, at least not for probably 3-4 years. I only bought a PS2 a month ago. =P
Cheers,
Fozzy