PlayStation 3 May Play Too Much

Businessweek has a piece looking at the PlayStation 3, worrying that Sony is confusing the consumer with all of the technology it's trying to work into the console. From the article: "Some question whether Sony is trying to cram too much into the new box. The PS3 is expected to cost $350 to $400. While it has the potential to be a megahit, Sony's message might get muddled in the process of going after too broad a market, says Deutsche Securities analyst Takashi Oya. 'It would be difficult to sell PS3 initially as anything other than a game machine,' Oya says. Sony declined to comment on such concerns."

Comments

It'll grow into itself.

[Raven42rac]

Much like buying a child a shoe that is a half size bigger, the PS3 will grow into itself. There's no such thing as "too much" on a gaming console. The more you can do with it, the better.

Re:It'll grow into itself.

[engagebot]

No, there's definitely a such thing as 'too much' on a gaming console.

Remember the Dreamcast? Dial-up modem, the whole thing. It tried to do too much at the time, before the consumers were ready for it.

I don't care if blue ray IS the next big thing. Its not the big enough thing now to get the word out that the PS3 is more than a game machine.

Re:It'll grow into itself.

[engagebot]

The 'rampant success' of the PSP you speak of is nothing on the scale of what they're trying to accomplish. PSP may be big to you. Personally, i know two people that have them, and they're kids (relatively).

If they're gonna get on in every living room, marketeing it as the next gen HD movie format, they're gonna have to sell it to my mom and dad too. I don't know anybody's mom and dad that watch movies on their PSP. You see the difference in scale i'm talking about?

Re:It'll grow into itself.

[Threni]

> Remember the Dreamcast? Dial-up modem, the whole thing. It tried to do too much at the time,
> before the consumers were ready for it.

The Dreamcast was nothing special. I know there are always a few people who say "No, I liked $game" but it just didn't inspire people to buy it. But they certainly didn't fail to buy it because they were afraid it would do too much.

There's "costs too much". The PS3 might do alot of stuff, but the problem at the mo with Xboxs and the like is that they only really add `playing games` to a list of things which you can already do on a £30/$50 DVD, but they charge ten times the cost of that DVD player to do it. Unless you're a hardened gamer, or very well off, that's just really terrible value for money.

Re:It'll grow into itself.

[BewireNomali]

PSP's success isn't rampant. Game Boy's success is rampant.

People don't want to be able to do everything with one device. The Treo isn't a rampant success; it's just successful relative to other devices that try to combine multiple functions. And the Treo isn't that good of a device.

I'll give you a poor analogy - I work in film, and film meetings go like this: "This is a great idea, but we need to dumb it down." The intelligence benchmark used by the film industry is a 12 year old boy. This isn't to say that they gear products toward 12-year old boys (although they do) but to say they assume the avarage audience, regardless of age or demographic, to be that smart. Why? Because people hate feeling that they're not smart - or that there's something going on behind the curtain they can't comprehend. The worst thing that happens with a dumbed down film is that people figure everything out (and feel good about themselves for doing so). In this instance, the industry did its job in serving up an opiate. Hence IPOD - one wheel - anyone can use it. Hence the dumbest movies making the most money. Most people would rather something banal and predictable because it affirms them, rather than something that does not.

To conclude, you do not want a device that does all things. Complex technology often reminds people that they know little to knowing of tech. It smacks of purposeful obscurity (I've witnessed marketing tests where test subjects get mad, bang the unit on the table like an ape, then complain that the designers don't want the working man using their products). Nintendo is right in that most people don't play games because the user interface looks intimidating from the outside in (You have to step into the shoes of someone unfamiliar with tech and just sees a bunch of buttons). Sony is in a can't lose situation - the PS installation is so huge, all they have to do is shut up about the device and deliver it soon before really good games start coming out for the 360. The only way they lose is if they self destruct. They've already started down the path.

Standard in films is that the classic hero doesn't do much talking. Why? Talking is considered weakness in films - most people talk not to convey something, but to hide something else. Sony is doing a lot of TALKING RIGHT NOW. People are justifiably nervous.

Re:It'll grow into itself.

[Antifuse]

Hrmm... I don't really think the reason the Dreamcast failed was because it "did too much". Dreamcast was a great platform with some great games, but Sega did basically dick all to promote it. Add in the fact that 3rd party developers like EA didn't hop on board (love em or hate em, if you don't have EA on your platform it's going to be a lot harder to get the frat boys to jump on the bandwagon) and suddenly you are looking at a console flop.

Too Broad A Market?

[ivan kk]

People won't adopt it because it has too many features?
Who comes up with ideas like that. If anything more features will drive more sales. Don't need to buy a blu-ray player, the ps3 will do it, along with movies and music.
Both Sony and Microsoft are trying to put a media pc in our lounge rooms, and they're free to compete for my dollar.

This is how it works

[thefirelane]

says Deutsche Securities analyst

This is how it works when you are an analyst: Make anything sound negative. Either it has too little features, or then it has too many. Never is anything just right, or well done.

That way, if it fails, you can say "See, I called it". If it succeeds, you say it did so in spite of those shortcomings. That's how it works.

In other news...

[Last_Available_Usern]

Chrysler announces it's latest offering of cars will not come with air conditioning or a back seat amongst other features. They are quoted as saying they want to focus on the "driving experience" only for now. They fear some potential buyers might be scared off by the superfluous features.

I use my PS2 for 3 things

[bhunachchicken]

1. Playing PS2 games
2. Playing PS1 games
3. Watching Movies

Hopefully I will use my PS3 for 4 things

1. Playing PS3 games
2. Playing PS2 games
3. Playing PS1 games
4. Watching Movies