Playstation 3 Not A Video Game Machine

Gamespot has coverage of a pair of interviews with Ken Kutaragi in which he states that the PS3 isn't really a gaming console. Instead, it will be an all around device that will allow the owner to experience all sorts of different types of new entertainment. From the article: "The PS3 is the product we have been aiming for since the establishment of SCEI...We haven't been creating our [past] PlayStations for the sake of games. Our belief, and the motivation behind running our company, has been to [explore ways of] applying the power of computers to entertainment and enjoyment. We equipped the original PlayStation with a 3D graphics chip, and we equipped the PS2 with the Emotion engine. The PS3 isn't designed to lean towards games. It's not a computer for children. In the sense that our goal has been [to create] a computer that's meant for entertainment, you could say that the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 had existed as steps towards the PlayStation 3."

Comments

Sony = MS?

[theantipop]

Is it me or is Sony starting to sound like Microsoft?

Re: Sony = MS?

[ZephyrXero]

All I have to say is score another one for Nintendo. The revolution's gonna play DVDs and CDs, but beyond that it's just a gaming system, plain and simple. I think Nintendo has proven that you don't have to be #1 in popularity and sales to remain successful. Of course that all depends on how you judge success... Some would say whoever makes the most money is more successful, I'd say the one who gets to make the games they want, the way they want and still be profitable with plenty of loving fans is more successful.

Re: Sony = MS?

[vitaflo]

Some would say whoever makes the most money is more successful.

Then Nintendo is still pretty successful. It made more profit than Sony did during the 32/64 bit gen, and it's not far away from Sony in profits this gen (given how far behind it is in market share). Nintendo is a profit master, always have been.

Re: Sony = MS?

[Anonymous Coward]

The concept: If you aren't going to use it, you shouldn't have to pay for it.

And THAT is why you shouldn't count out Nintendo!

[briancnorton]

It's easy to say things like this and wave the flag of digital convergence, but time has shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that (American) consumers prefer simple, function-specific devices to big clunky overcomplicated do-it-all boxes.

We like iPods, we like Cell phones, we like digital cameras, but we don't buy PDAs that do all three. Even camera-phones are tremendously underwhelming to all but tech-nerds and 14-year-old girls.

I would suggest that Nintendo is poised for a MAJOR comeback if they do the system right. They have said in no uncertain terms that the revolution is about games, not convergence. You heard it here first.

Sony's BS Machine

[PyroMosh]

We went through this before with the PS2.

Tell me what an emotion engine is, exactly, and why anyone should care? It's a processor. Woopty doo, you gave your video game machine a processor.

Unprecidented.

The PS3 will not be a supercomputer. The PS3 will cost $300 - $500. When an IBM workstation with dozens of PowerPC cores costing half a million dollars can only do 40 or so GigaFLOPs, there's no way in hell that the PS3 (based on the same basic Power Processor architecture) can do 2 TeraFLOPs. Not if they're measuring the same thing anyway. Otherwise, why doesn't IBM just use those in it's big iron instead of Power PCs, and market themselves as offering "A Gazillion YottaFLOPs!!!!"

Because IBM has a reputation to uphold, and they market to people who aren't teenagers dazzled by the biggest number they can think of. The people they market to will hold them to their promises.

Sony is just hype.

Yes, digital convergance. Yes, bringing it all together. Blah blah blah. Sony, you're not the only one working toward this goal, and frankly, you're not NEARLY in the position MS is in to offer it. Their market penetration on the desktop PC gives them a powerful edge, as does the fact that they started doing it in the last generation, so people who were looking for that kind of convergance already found a good thing with the X-Box.

Sony should not be allowed to market.

Re:Sony's BS Machine

[Trepalium]

Sony, you're not the only one working toward this goal, and frankly, you're not NEARLY in the position MS is in to offer it. Their market penetration on the desktop PC gives them a powerful edge, as does the fact that they started doing it in the last generation, so people who were looking for that kind of convergance already found a good thing with the X-Box.

I was with you until this point. Sony nor Microsoft are in any better or worse position for this convergance, they merely have different working bases. Microsoft is working from the PC being the central control, whereas Sony works from the home entertainment system. Microsoft's focus is in software, Sony's is hardware. They have different areas of strength which explains their different strategies. It also explains why Microsoft touts their software features, and Sony touts their hardware specifications.

Secondly, the X-Box had virtually no 'digital convergance' value. There were unlicensed software for it that added that feature, but because it was unlicensed, you cannot call that a feature of the platform. The X-Box was virtually the same as the PS2 in the regard, a game console that could also play DVD movies.

Sony should not be allowed to market.

Neither should Microsoft, but that's beside the point. You might want to take your blinders off, though, because this stupid hype marketting thing is being committed by both sides (MTV, anyone?).

Re:Sony's BS Machine

[jericho4.0]

The cell is capable of doing single precision floating point calculations, very, very fast. Single precision is not very useful for most "supercomputers". The cell can also do double precision calculations, about an order of magnitude slower. This is still very fast. I'm not making this up. Toshiba demoed a cell decoding 48 MPEG-2 streams, using 6 (of 8 available in the full spec) of the SPE's. Oh, that's right, you think the cell is a PowerPC. It's not. It's 8 SPE's, independent processors highly optimized for scalar operations. The PowerPC is there to keep the SPE's fed.

The linux patches have started to come in, papers on algorithms have been published, and IBM has started a services division to push the cell. All of them indicate the same thing, that the cell is very good at what it's designed for, and you can start working with it. No, the next LLL purchase probably will not be made of cells. But your next workstation might, especially if you work with 3D, video, etc. And I guarantee, it'll make whatever is on your desk now look like a 8088. (within this domain, at least)

Nintendo always sounds best

[MBraynard]

Even though I've got an Xbox and am buying a 360 and probably won't ever buy a Nintendo, I always like their 'talk' best - "We are a gaming company making a gaming system."

When I get home from work and before going to bed, all I really want to do is load something up and get some thrills from killing people with a big noisy gun. Whoever delivers that best wins.

Re:Nintendo always sounds best

[UWC]

And yet you've bought into the MS BS and gotten an XBox anyway. Seems like they know what works.

His point was that Nintendo's public assertions concerning their purpose is more to his liking, and that he bases his purchases on the games offered. It seems that he likes games in which he can "kill people with a big noisy gun." Ignoring my opinion that a nice PC can compete on that front, XBox definitely leads the current consoles in the killing-with-a-noisy-gun genre. It's the only console with Halo, Halo 2, and Doom 3, with Half-Life 2 on the horizon, and the cross-platform games tend to play and/or look best on the XBox (e.g. the Splinter Cell games. And yeah, the PC versions can look even better, but this is about consoles).

I think I'll probably end up with a 360 and a Revolution in the next round (accidental pun!). I like dedicated gaming systems, but I'm interested to see how well Microsoft handles their convergence efforts. PS3 is a toss-up for me, based on game selection and price, but I'll probably wait regardless.

New Entertainment?

[jazman_777]

it will be an all around device that will allow the owner to experience all sorts of different types of new entertainment.

What are all these types of new entertainment? What have I missed?

Fine then.

[cttforsale]

Nintendo. It is all about the games.

Re:The obligatory

[Koiu Lpoi]

Why can't a GAMING console stay a GAMING console? The reason you buy a GAMING console is to play games, not for a DVD player/wtf.

And, honestly, what new things are we going to see to make it really worth it? Can you really improve on DVD playing technology that much?

The set top box is an illusion

[ZosX]

My take on consoles is that they should always just be exactly that, a gaming platform. What, with DVD players going on the ultra-cheap these days (though finding DivX players for cheap is not so easy), who the hell needs their gaming platform to play DVDs? Streaming MP3s is a whole other thing entirely and that my friends will bring a lot of usefulness, imagine selecting your background music from your selection of MP3s. Gran Turismo anyone? I know that the games are all getting stale and while in my heart I always feel that Nintendo has it right in a lot of ways, so much of what they do is unfortunately so boneheaded. It will certainly be interesting to have similar processors between the three consoles and I predict that a lot of big publishers *cough*EA*cough* will spend a lot of development money on porting between the three.

As much as I love the Gameboy SP and its clamshell I finally got to see someone actually playing a PSP the other day. It was 989's Baseball game and I'll not waste anytime talking about 989's games or baseball, but I was totally and completely stunned. If Sony just digs in and keeps the PSP around for five years until its price can get closer to $70-90 (the average cost of a Game Boy), people will buy it like there is no tommorow. I asked about battery life and he said 7-8 hours on average. That really isn't all that bad is it? I don't think I'll give up the GBA any time soon for a lot of reasons, but when the PSP ever gets to below $100, I'd certainly have to at least think about it. The DS is so gimicky, I mean the best they got coming is dog raising sim? That's pretty sad, and while I realize that the PSP has mostly puzzle games, there already seems to be stronger third party support for it. I hate to say it, but the gamers just want games and they will buy whatever console has the most games. In case you were born yesterday the third party developers have a firmer and firmer hand in deciding the "console wars."

My point is this. The new features would be nice, and with all the power in the next generation of consoles it really doesn't make sense to not make the box somewhat more multipurpose, but I doubt many people will care about such things and will end up buying the machine for what it is, a video games console.

Of course Microsoft and Sony want to be a part of your whole entertainment experience. The want to control the content you download, be it games, movies, tv shows. They don't want just a slice, they want the whole pie. They both see set top boxes that record what you watch and offer you services on demand as the future. I don't see everyone buying it personally, but with downloadable games and what not the future is certainly looking interesting. Look at it this way. Kids destroy video games all the time. Now there is no disc. No fuss. Having the Nintendo catalog on demand may cause a huge number of people to buy a Revolution, but quite honestly I can emulate a whole bunch of consoles on a computer as well as old DOS games and just about anything my retro heart desires. Hell, give us new Mario games or something original.

Like I said, gamers will always go where the games are.

Re:Obviously

[brsmith4]

I guess you've never played a movie before? This whole thread is so stupid. The guy said that the PS3 will be for more than just games and you've all made some big deal out of it... WTF is the big deal?

Re:And THAT is why you shouldn't count out Nintend

[Tofino]

We like iPods, we like Cell phones, we like digital cameras, but we don't buy PDAs that do all three.

Which of course is because that nothing that does all three does any of them particularly well. Link me to a device that will play my music with at least 20 gigs capacity, allow me to use it as a drive, and have features at least approaching an iPod or another highend mp3 player; be a cell phone with entertaining ringtones (ok, this isn't hard); and is a digital camera with at least 5 megapixel reso and optical zoom, very good pixel quality, and other "good" digital camera options, and I'm all over it. Oh, and throw in features of a low to mid end GPS as well, and some generic PDA features. And it better be pretty small as well -- should fit in my pocket with no problem. And it should all integrate with my PC.

Helluva task for some designer, not to mention keeping the price of this down since you're miniturizing everything.

Re:I have an 'all in one magic box', it's my compu

[cowscows]

The thing is, this convergence box, regardless of who makes it, is going to be somewhere in between a console and a computer in terms of complexity and cost.

Cost is a big issue, because it's one of two things that consoles really have going for them (the other being ease of use, which I'll get to in a moment). Basically, consoles can deliver a whole lot of bang for the buck because they've historically used less powerful hardware, but been much much more optimized specifically for gaming. You can either despecialize the hardware (and become more computer-like), or just throw enough raw power into it that software can pick up the slack. The second option seems to be sony's chosen path, and the high price tags being thrown around for the PS3 reflect that.

Ease of use is the other one. How functional beyond games can something get with a game controller as a primary interface? Once you add a keyboard and a mouse, you're going back to a computer. I guess the point is, this convergence thing is going to be a simplified computer, or a beefed up video game console.

I'd have more faith in a computer company (Apple comes to mind first), successfully paring down their knowledge into something workable than I would a company like Sony kludging together a bunch of different pieces well.

Like the parent post said, the computer is an all in one magic box. It's already here, it's been around for a while, people have experience with it. All that's left is to strip out some of the extra parts and make it easier to use. Sony still has to build something that works first, then strip out the extra stuff, and make it easy to use. That first step is hard.

MS would seem to be in a better position than Sony to do this, except stuff that just works has historically been rather difficult for them.

Re:I have an 'all in one magic box', it's my compu

[brkello]

Bah, using the example of the N-Gage is a bad one. It failed because it was designed poorly. If they "got it right" then everyone would be walking around with them. You state all these reasons why being multi-prupose is bad, yet you state an example of a fantastic multi-purpose device in your subject. I know the Slashdot mentality is to put down things that do more than one thing...but that always strikes me as hypocritical...seriously, look at what you are using to access Slashdot. Now to be surprised that gaming consoles are going in that direction is not surprising. Gaming consoles are computers! You still get the advantage of it being a console because every single box is the same hardware so the software companies can focus on making games rather than having to test it on every video driver/processor on the market. People complain that it will add complexity and thus make it easier to break. This argument is weak at best. A machine is only as strong as its weakest component and it is pretty clear that most problems are in the dvd drives failing. Your consoles are not going to gain much more complexity from a hard drive and an internet connection and a few more input/output ports. It honestly isn't a big change from what you have now. What will change is the software written for consoles. It will allow you to do so much more than before. And if you don't care...don't care and just play games on it. Seriously, I know the old delphian knife argument...and if it were true, then we should have an e-mail machine, a web surfing machine, a game playing machine, a word processing machine, etc etc. In summary, consoles are computer and software will allow them to successfully be multi-purpose.

3DO...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that you?

What are you doing in Sony outfit?

Re:I have an 'all in one magic box', it's my compu

[PhoenixOne]

Good points. I wasn't clear when I said an "all in one" box was the next step. Doing spread-sheets on a PS3 is a silly idea. I meant to say "all in one *entertainment*" box.

Games, movies, music, VVoIP (voice and video chat), PVR, etc. All things you can do on your PC, but they could be done easier on a next-gen console.

Over time, I can see this expanding to cover things like web-browsing (as people switch to HDTVs and websites adjust content) and on-demand news and entertainment.

I don't see this becoming an "all in one" box for everything a computer does now, but it would be great if I could off-load all those things to my console and just use my PC for "real computer stuff" (like Programming and Porn!).