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SCEA President Hypes PS3 Shelf Life Over 360 139

Posted by Zonk from the hype-from-sony-never dept.
kukyfrope writes "Sony Computer Entertainment America President Kaz Hirai recently talked to San Jose Mercury News about their upcoming console. His argument is that, by waiting to deliver Blu-Ray and performance hardware, even at a high price, the PS3 will be in greater standing than the Xbox 360 in the long run. Hirai also takes a cop-out on the amount of hype surrounding the PS3 hardware performance saying, 'It's all about the games. We all know that [...] This is a console that is here for the long haul and is not on a five-year cycle. Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do.'"
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SCEA President Hypes PS3 Shelf Life Over 360 More

SCEA President Hypes PS3 Shelf Life Over 360

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  • omg teh ps3 pwnzorz (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PSXer ( 854386 ) * <psxer@msfirefox.com> on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:17PM (#15490308) Homepage
    It is possible for MS to start shipping 360s with HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray if they wanted to) built in if that's what the market decides is necessary, you know. Of course, they wouldn't be able to put games on the new format unless they wanted to say "screw you" to the previous 360 owners, but I doubt people would be saying "Xbox 360 sucks because its games are on DVD!"

    In six years, Blu-Ray will either still be a niche market, in which case the average person won't care, or it'll be popular enough that you can get players cheaper than the PS3.

    As for the PS3 being more powerful, even if true, it won't matter. Did anyone in the history of gaming say "I'm getting Xbox because it's more powerful than PS2"? Well, somebody probably did, but not many.

    As to which will have better games, guess we'll just have to wait and see which one attracts more devs in the long run.

    • Re:omg teh ps3 pwnzorz (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:46PM (#15490496) Homepage
      It is possible for MS to start shipping 360s with HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray if they wanted to) built in if that's what the market decides is necessary, you know. Of course, they wouldn't be able to put games on the new format unless they wanted to say "screw you" to the previous 360 owners, but I doubt people would be saying "Xbox 360 sucks because its games are on DVD!"

      MS won't ship 360 games on HD-DVD for precisely the reason you give. And you're right that people won't dismiss 360 games because they're on DVD, but that's not really the point Sony's trying to drive home here. They're trying to push the idea that the PS3 is more "future-proof" than the 360 because of Blu-Ray. They're kind of right and kind of wrong.

      They're right in the sense that, yes, games continue to expand in size, so if the PS3 sticks around for more than 5 years then Blu-Ray's capacity advantage may shine.

      Where the theory goes wrong, however, is that it focuses entirely on the storage medium and ignores the rest of the system. If MS releases a followup console 4-5 years from now while Sony continues pushing the PS3, the new Xbox 1,440 (going with "720" is just boring) will, presumably, have a much more capable graphics solution and much greater processing capability (eight cores all running at 6GHz, or more). It would also contain a high-capacity disc drive which, by that time, will cost as much as a fast DVD-ROM drive does today. As a bonus, if the PS3 turns out to be successful at its high price point, MS will be able to charge more for their next console without setting a new pricing precedent.

      All that said, if folks actually believe that Sony won't have a PS4 hitting the market in 5-6 years, then they're more gullible than I think. :)
      • All that said, if folks actually believe that Sony won't have a PS4 hitting the market in 5-6 years, then they're more gullible than I think. :)

        We could still hope, though! Maybe if we're really lucky, the PS3 will suck bad enough to kill the company.

        • And give microsoft a shot at adding a video game/set-top box monopoly to their desktop monopoly? Are you fucking retarded?

          I know Nintendo could always make a huge comeback with Wii if Sony drops out. But if it comes down to Nintendo vs microsoft there's more than a good possibility that microsoft could and would just spending them out of the market or at least into a distant second supported solely by the big time Nintendo fans.
          • I'd like to think Nintendo is strong enough to compete -- you know they have had near-monopolies before... But you're right, no competition for Microsoft would be a very bad thing.
        • Uh yes, we should kill the company that had the best console the last two rounds.

          Repeat after me: Sony sold over 100m units each of the PS1 and PS2. They didn't do that because of hype, they did that because those consoles weren't dedicated Halo/Madden players (XBox), and had more of a library than Zelda/Mario/Metroid.

          If you look at the great gaming libraries (post NES), the PS1's and PS2's are maybe 2 and 3, with the ordering depending on your taste. The SNES's, of course, is first, followed by either the
          • They didn't do that because of hype, they did that because those consoles weren't dedicated Halo/Madden players (XBox), and had more of a library than Zelda/Mario/Metroid.

            You've got kind of a chicken and egg problem there. Does the Playstation line have such a deep lineup because of its large installed base, or vice versa? It's probably the former (the PS2's launch library was pretty sad, but it sold a lot anyway), but it's pretty much impossible to know for sure.
            • The question comes down to: why do people buy consoles? It's to play games, of course! How did Sony get a large installed base if it wasn't for the games? Consider the PS1. With the PS1, Sony had no momentum going in, since it was their first attempt at a console, and was facing competition from Nintendo and Sega, which had owned the console industry for nearly a decade. What made the PS1 sell so well against the Saturn? I'd argue it was a strong set of launch games, a good followup in the first year, and s

    • I doubt people would be saying "Xbox 360 sucks because its games are on DVD!"

      It sucks fitting games onto a DVD for the PS2! The large streaming worlds we are making are taxing the DVD as it is. With the absolutely massive texture sizes needed for HD and the expectation of streaming worlds for all games, the XBox360 is going to look like a cripple once the PS3 gets rolling. Possibly the XBox360 will have multiple-dvd games and that is how it will cope. However the data-read rate of a DVD is going to

      • Re:omg teh ps3 pwnzorz (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Actually, MPEG2 videos (not real game content) are what fill up most PS2 game discs. The same will be true of Blu-ray discs because the Cell can't decode MPEG4 at HD resolutions and do other stuff at the same time. The PS3 is also not going to do half of the promised "interactive" features of a standard Blu-ray player. Thanks to Sony strong-arming the committee, those features are now optional in the Blu-ray spec to accomodate the PS3. The 360 has no such HD video decoding problem because ATI (unlike Nv
        • "the Cell can't decode MPEG4 at HD resolutions and do other stuff at the same time."

          It's more than capable.

          "The PS3 is also not going to do half of the promised "interactive" features of a standard Blu-ray player."

          Why not? It's more than capable.

          "Blu-ray is necessary for all the old-school MPEG2 videos you'll see on PS3 RPGs."

          I guess that all the main memory will be used by "old school PCM audio" because the cell isn't powerful enough to decode perceptual acoustic audio and compressed wavelet video
        • LOL, PS3 not capable of decoding MPEG4 at HD resolutions, in realtime? Your having a laugh right? It's more than capable..
          • whats more ridiculous, is that two people modded the AC up...

            surely yet another sign that the xbox PR department has effectively infiltrated forums all over the net spreading FUD.
    • It is possible for MS to start shipping 360s with HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray if they wanted to) built in if that's what the market decides is necessary, you know. Of course, they wouldn't be able to put games on the new format unless they wanted to say "screw you" to the previous 360 owners

      Not really, especially if you can upgrade current Xbox360's with the HD-DVD drive to play those games. I don't suggest MS do it this year or 2007, but even if you had to buy the HD-DVD attachment at $200 2-3 years from now to pla
      • Having an add on optical drive would work out really well. It would put Microsoft up there with Sega and the highly succesful SegaCD. Expandablity in consoles has always been a great selling point, which is now doubt why the most exapandable console every made, the Dreamcast, was so succesful and put Sega on top as a console manufacture.

        On the other hand, like you said it's a good bet that no game within the next 2 years will use that extra Bluray space for anything other than "HI Def FMV". I mean It h

        • Having an add on optical drive would work out really well. It would put Microsoft up there with Sega and the highly succesful SegaCD. Expandablity in consoles has always been a great selling point, which is now doubt why the most exapandable console every made, the Dreamcast, was so succesful and put Sega on top as a console manufacture.

          On the other hand, like you said it's a good bet that no game within the next 2 years will use that extra Bluray space for anything other than "HI Def FMV". I mean It has he

      • > Not really, especially if you can upgrade current Xbox360's with the HD-DVD drive to play those games.

        Nonsense. Name one game console media add-on that has ever caught on in the U.S. market.
      • Of course, if high-def FMV really such a bad thing? There are lots of good games that use FMV instead of in-game cut-scenes, because even to this day, machines are not powerful enough to display that kind of detail in real-time. Should such games change their design just for disk issues, or drop to SD for cutscenes?

        There are lots of *good* games today for which a straightforward "next-gen" port could not be done within the confines of DVD. Star Ocean is a perfectly good game, FMV or not, and you'd need 3-4
    • I think about 20 million people said that.
    • People like to think that Microsoft will not deliver games on HD-DVD, because it would anger current owners.

      They are wrong.

      Microsoft will be forced to allow use of the HD-DVD drive for storage by angry game manufacturers. They will rationalize it by saying that you can always buy an external HD-DVD drive, and it will appeal to Microsoft's desire to push that format.

      Multiple discs are not really a good answer for a game maker because they have a fundamental problem - inherant linearilty of content. Once yo

      • Hello again.

        People like to think that Microsoft will not deliver games on HD-DVD, because it would anger current owners.

        Microsoft have repeatedly confirmed [eurogamer.net] that they will not ship games on HD-DVD.

        No-one wants multi-disc games, publishers as well as gamers, but they simply won't be necessary, even on DVD, for the vast majority of games.

        What takes up the most space on a disc? Not gameplay code, or even textures. It's cut-scene video - and there's many ways of reducing that. Faster, multicore CPUs can

        • What takes up the most space on a disc? Not gameplay code, or even textures. It's cut-scene video - and there's many ways of reducing that. Faster, multicore CPUs can use better compression algorithms (lower bitrates or resolutions are also possible, in a pinch). Game-rendered cutscenes take a fraction the space, are already popular, and getting more practical all the time. Even HD textures aren't a big deal - they can be compressed on disc with better algorithms too, and similarly, procedural (or procedura

          • HDR textures can take up something around 4x the space

            Only when uncompressed, and even then they need take no more than 2x. There are numerous fast and efficent representation method for stored HDR images that take up little more than non-HDR. This is something I have a lot of experience in. Oh, and less texture compression usually means slower loading, as there is more data to fetch from disc. Better to encode it tighter, get it off the disc quicker, then decompress it in the background with a spare CPU

  • It would take Sony a hell of a lot not to wipe the floor with Microsoft, but if they aren't trying their damnedest to fail...
    • Isn't it uncanny? Like, each and every announcement just makes them look worse and worse. The arrogance is absolutely astounding.

      I'm also getting so tired of informed people (i.e. Sony flack) bashing HD-DVD because *THE FIRST DISCS ARRIVING* are only 15GB. Double-layer discs are on the way already, and triple-layer are in development. That's going to give 45GB in the near future. They know this, but for obvious reasons don't share it.

      Blu-Ray is going to be betamax and minidisc rolled into one...only thi
      • Just who is going to buy this thing?

        Well not you... not too many 12-17 year olds... but then they weren't the ones paying $400US for the just launched Xbox360, Xbox, Playstation 2, Dreamcast, etc... hardcore gamers, high disposable income folk, tech enthusiasts.. these are the people that drive a launch. Prolly see heaps of PS3's under the tree at Xmas 2007 tho. I can see it now:

        "Dad: well what about this Xbox360? It's cheaper!"
        "Kid: nah that doesn't play high def movies, if we get the PS3 we get

  • Shelf life... (Score:5, Funny)

    by suv4x4 ( 956391 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:19PM (#15490318)
    SCEA President Hypes PS3 Shelf Life Over 360

    XBOX 360 has pretty short shelf life: when they put it on the shelf, someone comes immediately and buys it (well, except Japan... yet). That will happen with the Wii too. That sucks for them having so short shelf life.

    But PS3 will have a great shelf life...

    • Re:Shelf life... (Score:3, Informative)

      by AuMatar ( 183847 )
      There's a shelf full of them at my local game store. THe shortages thing was true for a month or so due to supply issues, but there haven't been any shortages for months.

    • Re:Shelf life... (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "XBOX 360 has pretty short shelf life"

      That was a dumb thing to try to brag about...

      Especially when everyone can see for themselves the stacks of unsold 360s in stores right now.

      Microsoft still hasn't sold through their initial 150k shipment to Japan - they are at the amazingly pathetic 130k mark as of now. So there are 360s over there with a seven month shelf life and seven months of dust on them.

      Microsoft is getting killed by Sony and the PS2 in Europe right now. The 360 has sold somewhere in the 500-600k
      • Oh, looky! The payed Sony fanboi is back again. Any other good fake talking points to repeat?

        Remember, when you've boarded a sinking ship...find a lifeboat.

      • The gimmicky controller gets old very quick.

        Which gimmicky controller? The Wii-mote or the DualShake? And have you actually played either one of them enough for the controller to get old? And if so, are you sure you don't just suck at using it and therefore get bored with it? Actually, I can understand how the DualShake would get old pretty quick, since the basic design has been around since, oh, I dunno, the PS1.

        Also, how about some links to back up your claims about 360s sitting on the shelves? The la

    • Still, think about it. How long was the PS2 around for? It's hung around for a while. I'm definitely not a Sony defender but why would I have any interest in an XBox360 when Microsoft decided to move on from the original XBox after only a couple of years of support. I personally prefer to have a console that I can keep around for a long long time and continue buying new games that push the system further. I'm not saying the the PS3 is necessarily that console. Nevertheless, compared to Microsoft's willingne
      • I started to play DOA on the 360. Man, that's a disappointing game. Am I the only one who felt like the hair movement in it is completely distracting?

        Yes. Hair movement. Sure. You were looking at the physics of her... hair.

  • Does it matter? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Clazzy ( 958719 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:21PM (#15490331)
    When Microsoft or Nintendo release a new console, Sony will have to anyway. People will move to the newer consoles because they'll have the impression that Sony isn't going with the times. Consoles nowadays seem to be released in cycles (i.e. N64, PS1, Saturn then Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox and PS2), and Sony will have to keep up with this regardless or risk losing fans.
    • When Microsoft or Nintendo release a new console, Sony will have to anyway. People will move to the newer consoles because they'll have the impression that Sony isn't going with the times.

      My firm belief is what Sony's CEO meant by "long PS3 shelf life" is that Sony's filing for bankrupt after the PS3 release.

      Reminds of me of their E3 press conference, where they've spent 90% of the time mumbling stuff like: "But moooom... high resolution and more polygons also matters for gameplay. See? It's 1080p, that's c
    • Sony already has a console coming with large storage, an advanced architecture and lots of input and output options. It has an HD in every unit so right off the bat game makers can take advanatge of it instead of watching sales numbers to guess if enounh consoles with HD's exist to add features that depend on it. Even a new console in a few years would be hard pressed to greatly exceed its capabilities at the same price (which will of course be lower by then).

      Even today Sony has not yet released a console
    • Launching early though doesn't necessarily help you out, if you're the odd-man that launches early. The dreamcast launching early didn't help Sega, and the XBox 360 launching early hasn't given Microsoft the enormous lead they'd hoped.

  • Hypes? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by codemaster2b ( 901536 )
    What do you mean "Sony Hypes shelf life"? In the article he claims that based on Sony's 10+ year market history, they can predict what will happen again. I don't see how this is "hype" at all. Hype gets me excited about whats coming by making big promises or revealing cool stuff. All this is is market forcast.

  • "It's all about the games..." (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CaseM ( 746707 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:33PM (#15490404)
    Why not remove the Blu-Ray and drop the price $200, then, genius?

    • Next Gen (Score:1, Troll)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 )
      Why not remove the Blu-Ray and drop the price $200, then, genius?

      Because a next generation console built on the concept of powerful graphics has next generation storage abilities - like large capacity game discs or hard drives in every model.

      Why would Sony give up such a huge advantage when the console costs only $100 more than a 360?

  • Even if (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Karem Lore ( 649920 )
    Even if MS brings out an external HD-DVD drive one year after the release of the XBOX 360, it still means that I will be able to get my hands on one before I can get hold of a PS3. And a hunch tells me that it will be approximately the same price as a PS3 minus the current cost of the XBOX 360 or possibly less...

  • Blah blah... (Score:5, Funny)

    by suv4x4 ( 956391 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:42PM (#15490468)
    Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do.

    Stupid Microsoft, having to come out with an accessory just an year after they launched.

    Do as Sony does: they've not even launched yet.
    • Yeah and they even make it optional in case you don't give a crap about the next-gen DVD crap and save money in case you don't. I HATE them! Give me what you want me to have make me pay whatever you want. I hate choices!!!!!

  • Do you need HD? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gakon5 ( 889774 )
    I like how Microsoft is doing this. Like, I can buy the HD add-on if I want, and if I don't, I can just ignore it and not care and save some money. Expensive prices are going to keep back plenty of people. Fortunetly for Sony however, they've got legions of fans just waiting to have their pockets emptied by Sony for a console that'll "replace PCs."

    Sony also likes to point out that games in the future may be upwards of 50 and 60 gig. I'm not quite familiar with console game sizes these days, but what
    • You're right on the price. The $500 price is definitely going to keep me away for at least 6 months to a year. Of course, I'm not buying an xbox 360 yet so it's not like either camp is really getting me. Neither has shown me that they have the games that I want to play for either price ($400 is a lot of money too).

      As for the 3 DVDs, I think that you could easily get there. People scoffed at the CDROM when it was first available and they'll scoff now too. If you give the developers the space, they'll us
    • Oh boo fucking hoo.

      I happen to want HD. It shits all over DVD quality wise. Fanboys can piss and bitch and moan all they want. I just want a Firefly that looks like my 720p Firefly trailer.
    • Sony also likes to point out that games in the future may be upwards of 50 and 60 gig. I'm not quite familiar with console game sizes these days, but what games will be on three DVDs? (as Hirai puts it) And besides, even if a game does take up multiple discs, whats the big deal in changing them? One of three discs should give a solid 15+ hours of gameplay, right? Maybe more... I have no idea. Or less.

      Multiple discs imply a more linear game to avoid disc swapping. I do not like media dictating game design.

      • The PS2 has already seen a number of two-disc games

        Early PS2s could only read 4.7GB from a DVD. Are there any dual-layer gamediscs for the PS2? Are there any two-disc games for the Xbox? Besides, there are many more possibilities today for keeping content size down than there used to be, especially if the game design is at stake.

        But what if [Sony] are right? That's a possibility that people seem to not understand

        Betmax. Minidisc. UMD. Memory Stick. The fact that it's Sony makes it less of a possibi

        • Early PS2s could only read 4.7GB from a DVD. Are there any dual-layer gamediscs for the PS2? Are there any two-disc games for the Xbox? Besides, there are many more possibilities today for keeping content size down than there used to be, especially if the game design is at stake.

          All of which involve compromise of one form or another, and add development time and resources.

          Betmax. Minidisc. UMD. Memory Stick. The fact that it's Sony makes it less of a possibility that Blu-Ray will succeed than it otherwise w

          • All of which involve compromise of one form or another

            Everything's a compromise. Sony's is to charge more.

            CD - developed primarily by Philips, as I recall. Firewire - Apple. Sony developed DVCAM, less sure about MiniDV, though they certainly pushed it in the early days. You're right, Sony has had its many successes too, but although it's way too early to say for Blu-Ray, UMD's recent and public failure didn't exactly endear Sony movie formats to the studios.

            You may have forgotten what 360's were going

            • You're right, Sony has had its many successes too, but although it's way too early to say for Blu-Ray, UMD's recent and public failure didn't exactly endear Sony movie formats to the studios.

              All is forgiven when you are putting millions of players into peoples hands. That's why Blu-Ray currently has a longer list of studios behind it than HD-DVD (even though there is some overlap) and Blu-Ray also has more exclusive studios (Disney and Sony at least, I think there may be others). I am pretty sure studio s

  • Great! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2006 @05:50PM (#15490524)
    Then I can sit in a corner and play with my Wii for a year or two, waiting for the PS3 price to go down and library to build up, then that awesome shelf life means that I'll still be able to get lots of use out of it.

    • Re:Great! (Score:2, Funny)

      by DoubleRing ( 908390 )
      Then I can sit in a corner and play with my Wii for a year or two

      You need to get yourself a girl, mate. Oh, wait, I forgot where I was for a second.

    • Re:Great! (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Then I can sit in a corner and play with my Wii for a year or two, waiting for the PS3 price to go down and library to build up, then that awesome shelf life means that I'll still be able to get lots of use out of it.

      Yes, that's exactly the plan. Sony intend to sell the PS3 initially to people who are willing to pay $500/$600 for it, then to gradually lower the price over time and sell to those who waited for a lower price. They may or may not have correctly judged the numbers of early adopters willing to p

    • My plan exactly. That'll give me the time to save up for a nice 40+ inch widescreen hi-def. You know, so I can get the full experience.
  • What I've never understood is that if the PS3 will loose money on each sale, and it depends on games, why does it cost about 200-300 more than the other consoles. That is money that could potentially turn into Sony game sales, which actually do make money.

    On a slighty offtopic note, has anyone noticed since the change of the Revolution to the Wii, all the names of the game consoles rhyme?
    PS3
    Wii
    Xbox 360

  • Keep talking..... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If Sony keeps talking (hyping), they will lose yet another customer. SHUT UP AND DELIVER!
  • "Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do"

    Ya, giving your customers choices is like soooo totally stupid. Please, shove your undead-Betamax player onto me.
    • Ya, giving your customers choices is like soooo totally stupid.

      So you'd claim the Sega CD was a stroke of genius?

      With consoles, choice in add-ons are giving people a choice of things people will not buy and game makers will not code for (and with the HD-DVD drive Microsoft claims it's not even something you can use to play games!)

      Why is delivering a $200 add-on that can't play games on a game console smart again?

      • ... it's not going to be used for games?

        It's for playing movies, nothing else. It will be bought only by people who want to play HD movies (because it's cheaper than a standalone player), and being an optional add-on, it has the not-inconsiderable advantage of saving money for everyone else.

        • Yes, and we all know how successful console add-ons generally are. How many people are really going to pay $200 to watch some fifteen discs of content (even if one of them is Serenity).

          There's no way they are going to have about a 10% purchase rate for these external players. Meanwhile every PS3 that ships is another Blu-Ray player in a house. Sony can point to those numbers alone and make a compelling case for a studio to provide a movie in Blu-Ray even if they also produce HD-DVD's.

          • As other people have pointed out, unlike all other console add-ons, this one doesn't require support from game developers to be useful. It's much more comparable to buying a 1/3-price standalone player, except that its market is limited to Xbox 360 owners. And, unlike Sony, MS don't care if they sell to a mere 10%, they don't have a vested interest in pushing the format on us no matter what.

            As for the "fifteen discs of content", come on, you can do better than that :-) Right now it's an infinite multiple o

  • Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do.

    Makes sense to me. It didn't work particularly well for Sega with the SegaCD [wikipedia.org] and the 32X [wikipedia.org]. Add-ons for consoles just generally don't go over too well.
    • The difference is that those add-ons were *required* to play games specifically designed for them. In this case the HD-DVD add-on is soley for watching HD-DVD movies, games will still be DVD based. In the end all this really is is a way for people who own an Xbox 360 to get a cheap (compared to a standalone) HD-DVD player. Not buying it will not hinder game playing at all.
      • Not buying it will not hinder game playing at all.

        That's an odd way to look at it... How about "Game playing is hindered whether you buy it or not." Streaming off a DVD is huge pain for developers. It is at least doable in the low-res low-poly current-gen market, but the fact that all PS3 devs can design knowing a hard drive is installed opens up a lot of possibilities there.

        That, coupled with the extra storage space available on Blu-Ray means that Sony developers don't have to worry about "legacy" ne

  • Let's say the ps3 is built to last. Then, when the next gen consoles come out, we wouldn't have to spend money on the ps4 but on the games instead. So, in Sony's point of view, they are making money where it counts - license fees of games. I'm all for the ps3 built like a computer. Only when it is absolutely necessary to upgrade (eg. Final Fantasy 20 needs a quad core) will I upgrade the ps3.

    On a side note about game pricing: Won't some games still be in DVD9 format for the ps3? Like budget-esque games
  • One risk with trying to expand the console cycle past the five year mark is that consumer trends change. The PS3 is not a pretty machine. The PS3 seems large and ugly TODAY, how will it look five years from now? Or eight? The answer: not any prettier.

    I am sure Sony could release new slim line models but then people have to go re-buy the same machine again. If the PS3 is going to be 'expanded', then won't it look the same ugly way for the next 5+ years?

    The reason why I mention this is that in the 70s, the wo
    • And I know Gamecube owners who can't wait for the Wii so they can remove the purple lunchbox away from their living room.

      Heh... they bought the purple one? Wow. You do realize that it was released in three colors at launch (purple, orange, and black), and has since had one color dropped and another one added (orange dropped, silver/"platinum" added), right? So, perhaps they should've bought a black one or waited a while longer for the silver one. (Or an orange one... Orange ones have to be worth $$$ now, si
  • If you think it's taking us a long time to come out with the PS2's successor, just wait!
  • I was never interested in the original Xbox. I bought an early PS2 (which is still running fine) when GTA3 came out and then I bought a Game Cube because it was damn cheap and I really wanted to play Rogue Leader which looked amazing on a projector. Nothing on the Xbox really grabbed me. I bought Halo for the PC and it was OK but I just didn't like anything else. Well, this time I decided to give MS a chance and bought the 360. On the plus side, it is actually very well made and presented. I've only b
    • Want to see next gen graphics? Get Fight Night: Round 3. Or Oblivion. But FNR3 uses the graphics to drive next-gen gameplay. I have never played a more intense, absorbing fighting game. And a good part of that is the no-interface presentation. You have to watch yourself and your opponent to see your health and stamina - facial expression, breathing, how they hold their hands and bodies. Much more interesting than a couple of bar graphs.

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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