Can Sony Convince the World?

Gamasutra's regular feature asking a question of the game development community is back. This week's question cuts to the heart of the reporting from the Tokyo Game Show: Can Sony Convince Us it is Still Dominant?. From the article: "All that Sony needs to do is stop acting so arrogant. People can forgive any number of faults if the company generally acts responsible for their mistakes. When the PSP came out and people complained about the square buttons getting stuck and not being as responsive as the other buttons, Sony said 'There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to.' We have to adapt to their broken button... Comedic at best. When everyone said the price of the PS3 was rather high, Sony told everyone that 'people will buy it no matter what.' What do they say about PCs? 'The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC.' - Dave Fried, The Collective"

Enough, Zonk. Enough.

[Anonymous Coward]

You gave it your best shot for the past year with your Sony and PS3 tirades, FUD, snide commentaries.

All realtime PS3 titles:

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748483/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2628 [gametrailers.com]

http://www.level5.co.jp/products/shirokishi/index. html [level5.co.jp]

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748488/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748480/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/733/733921p1.html [ign.com]

The PS3 is just over a month away from hitting the shelves in the US and Japan. Both pricepoint versions now have HDMI standard.

Give the console world a rest and let all of us enjoy the next month in peace. If that means you have to go throw yourself on your bed and have a good cry, please do so. It's time to move on Zonk.

PS no longer the console of exclusive games

[ConfusedSelfHating]

The Playstation 3 will certainly have a number of exclusive games. It will simply not have the number of exclusive games that the Playstation 2 had. Previously, if a developer wanted to make a game for a single console, PS2 was the optimal one. There are 100 million PS2s out there and less than half that number of Xboxes and Gamecubes combined. Look at the number of games which were only released on the PS2. It made a lot of sense because there was a very large install base.

With the very high price of the PS3 (which Sony appears to be cutting before launch), a lot of developers will hedge their bets with a dual release on the PS3 AND Xbox 360. The Wii's unique controller scheme will prevent direct ports, but the low cost of development should mean more third party developer interest. Now Sony will have to pay for exclusivity, opposed to having the default console.

Even if Sony cuts the price of the PS3 quickly, a lot of the damage has already been done. Many developers who would have created PS3 exclusive games have started Xbox 360 development in parallel. There are a lot of games that will be produced for the Wii on the chance that it takes the dominant position in Japan away from the Playstation brand.

Does anyone honestly believe that there will be 100 million PS3s out there in 2012 and only 50 million Xbox 360s and Wiis combined?

Re:Enough, Zonk. Enough.

[Milktoast]

If you look on the games section, Zonk has 3 stories about the PS3, two of them are positive about the console. But yes the PS3 has gotten some negative press lately, and not just here at /. It's not his fault that general reaction around the PS3 has been negative as hell lately. Not everyone has your fanboy-colored glasses on.

Personally I'll wait to see if the PS3 is going to have some decent games into buying-into the system as you seem to have already.

 

Re:Everyone loves the Wii

[trdrstv]

Actually, both Peter Moore [slashdot.org] of Microsoft [gamepro.com] and Phil Harrison [gamepro.com] of Sony had various words of praise for the Wii. Peter's was more like an endorsement than Phil's, but if everyone buys the Wii as their second console, then it is the #1 player over all.

Those who don't know history...

[RyoShin]

Sony's arrogance is a problem, but I think its history precedes it. After the PS2 launch, there were many, many reports of problems with the PS2, and I don't believe they ever got DVD playback down pat. Even outside of the PS2, Sony has done a lot of things in the past year or two that turn (knowledgable) consumers off from Sony products- the rootkit fiasco has made me very anti-Sony products, to the point that I've passed up things that were exactly as I needed just because they were made by Sony. So, in my case, and others I have talked to, the decision to skip the PS3 was made before the real details were even announced.

This time around, people are going to be wary about buying a $500 system that could break as easily as the PS2 did, and so far BluRay has not taken the world by storm like the DVD did, so having an included player isn't as much of an enticement.

Sony not only has to tone down (and maybe even apologize) for the arrogance, but they will need to make amends for their previous stunts, as well, before the informed consumer will welcome them back into their home.

Re:They are starting to.

[Salamande]

Historically you're correct, but I have to say, the Xbox 360 kinda changes that dynamic. You can take it home without 1 game and, as long as you have an internet connection, you can download demos all day and night without paying a cent through Xbox Live Silver. And I'm talking really nice demos like the ones for Lost Planet and Dead Rising. That's one thing MS did absolutely right.