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Console War Just Sony's Side Quest
Next Generation is running two pieces today about Sony's upcoming console. In 'Console War a Side Quest for Sony?', they examine an analyst report suggesting that the company is more interested in winning the movie format war than in taking the lead on this generation of consoles. They also have a piece wherein some industry figures weigh in on the PS3. From that article: "The impact will be enormous. Digital distribution will allow for new ways to generate excitement for these games - from being able to purchase new game packs that extend the life of gameplay and purchasing cool new items that make your character and experience unique, to the emphasis the consoles will showcase linear programming much like an iPod or OnDemand service does. With something like Steam, the entire console channel is avoided, and suddenly the game developer is selling directly to a consumer.
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I think it's not so much a side quest as it is that they think they've won when the PS3 is released.
Everything I've read about the PS3 makes it sound like a power house. Sony is claiming it's supposed to last double the time of the PS2 (5 years) so this console is meant to last 10 years. So that means that they won't release another console for 10 years. With that much confidence, they think they won the console war.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these things.
Then again, maybe it's good that I retain a social life for a while longer...
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
Considering neither HD-DVD or Blu-Ray have been released, that's a big assumption. Personally I suspect (and hope) that the VHS vs Betamax war will still be in many people's minds, and both new formats will end up flopping. If that does happen, then WMS's own analysis suggests the PS3 may crash as well.
Don't you just hate it when people reply to your signature?
Any one using the phrase or concept of 'first-mover advantage' in discussing the console market has discredited themselves from having anything relevant to say on the subject.
The next gen console race is over. It has been over for months and months. Just like every other console market cycle. The battles are won and lost months to years before the actual hardware hits the shelves.
The 360 has sold a miserable 1.7 million consoles in its first six months on the market. That is the worst selling console since perhaps the 3DO a decade or so ago. The 360 is getting outsold by a wide margin by the six year old PS2 - and that was before Sony cut the price on the PS2. The 360 is completely dead in Japan. And the 360 is selling at half the rate of the US. The 360 is a walking corpse.
And Nintendo had a chance of selling N64 level numbers with the Revolution. In a week we will see if they pulled off the greatest marketing stunt in console history or simply committed marketplace suicide with a product named that brings to mind urine in English speaking countries.
Inane articles like the one referred to in the summary are almost cut and paste copies of Dreamcast/Pre-PS2 hitting the shelves era predictions. Don't worry, we only have another week to go and we won't have to read any more articles like these. The PS3 and Rev will be unveiled and reality will take over from journalistic fantasy.
The PS3 is in a vastly stronger, as incredible as that sounds, position than the PS2.
Speculation running rampant! Monkeys flying out of butts! People reaching into other people's asses to make up stuff about the future! Crystal ball outdated, rub your nuts and hum a tune to get in touch with the spirits that know what's what! All this an more, after the Bat boy article in the Worlds News at your local convenience store check out!!!!
Wii will bury you!
It's been obvious the PS3 is Sony's trojan horse for Blu-Ray since they accounced that the it will use the format. Gaming may be profitable, but becoming the standard format for movies and possibly data is several orders of magnitude more profitable. Between hardware and HUGE cash cow on their hands.
They seem to believe that PS3 will establish their beachhead in the new DVD format wars and/or digital distribution, but even if they sell as many PS3s as they hope, will that really help? How is PS2's market penetration compared to DVD players in general?
Let me be clear: I think micropayments definitely have a future (on consoles, as well as on the Net), but the way they are doing it now ; by making incomplete games at first, and then releasing items/gameplay-variations for money, is imho a complete rip off.
It's funny how this comment,
- The impact will be enormous. Digital distribution will allow for new ways to generate excitement for these games - from being able to purchase new game packs that extend the life of gameplay and purchasing cool new items that make your character and experience unique -
is describing game-mods in its purest form: But no, they won't open up the Marketplaces for third party mods, as it would snoop away from their own (unimaginative at least) by-products: And people would actually notice that paying 2 dollars for some random model is complete bullshit.
When the pre-Xbox360 hype was going on, it was mentioned a few times how MS would like to interact with the community (eg. hinting on being able to sell/offer (custom playercreated) content on Live), but the only interaction that I've seen until now is one-sided: MS offers, 'we' buy.
They really should have a look at how Valve's model of great mod/tool support has lead to -alot- more sales of Half-Life, as well as HL2.
This is wonderful news.. I hope Sony continues down this doomed path. We've seen what luck Sony has had in the past with this mindset. Maybe then we can finally get back to the core of gaming. The games
Kent Simon Multitheft Auto
Is why they didn't at least try and put any kind of compatibility with UMD discs?
They're fighting a two front war of media, and they should have used the bigger brother to try and force through at least the umd aspect, even if it would be inferior on larger screens and such, they could have at least given the option and given people a little more incentive to pick up the media, instead of locking it into a psp.
...when we have to turn to finance firms to find out which console will R0xxo|R (Wedbush Morgan Securities in this case).
At my local target last week, I asked if they had any xbox 360s. They did (to my amazement). They were all core :P This is at the end of April. The xbox 360 was launched at the end of November. That was 5 months ago.
Moral of the story: you can only sell 1.7 million xbox 360s if you only have 1.7 million xbox 360s to sell.
The PSP on the other astounds graphically. Very nice indeed. GTA Vice City is amazing that that can be played in your hand. Pity the hardware is so cheap (pixel problems), the interface is kinda bad (the joystick just isn't a joystick) and a lot of the games are boring and not really handheld games.
Then again, the PSP has one mobile advantage over the DS. Safe anywhere. Just briefly switch off the power and resume where you left off when you power back on.
Compared with Nintendo Animal Crossing slow slow save it shows that Nintendo can still learn a thing or two.
frankly the way things are going at the moment? I think we are going to see a repeat of the last generation. PS3 will still be the big console BUT Sony will still barely make any money of it. MS will still subsidize its losses through losses and Nintendo will survive because of the handheld and be the smallest player yet be the only one to actually turn a clear profit on their consoles.
The only thing that could change it is if the Revolution launches with a killer title. So far I am not aware of one being announced.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
From what I've seen and read in the past, Sony has a desire even greater than Microsoft to become the world leader in all things electronic. That includes PCs, Video, Audio and related. This article doesn't change my mind one bit.
I honestly wouldn't be suprised if someday in the near future, Sony makes a move to supplant Microsoft in the home-based software business. They can do this either by purchasing a OS vendor such as Apple or one of the Linux Distributions, or they could even licence some version of Windows NT for use on entertainment units. Somehow, given that they probably oversee much of the DRM work in the world, they could simply DIY operating system and leave it at that. (IIRC, sony has a MIPS OS on the PS/2 and may have a *nix OS on the PS3 - http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=14043 )
Personally, I am more leery of Sony than I am of Microsoft these days.
All your playstations are belong to us!
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
How exactly is the PS3 a 'Trojan Horse' for BluRay.
Sony has done nothing but talk openly about BluRay being one of the benefits of buying a PS3 since the very beginning.
Just like the psone has only recently been taken out of production despite the ps2 coming out 5 years ago.
Hmmm... Pie...
Then again, the PSP has one mobile advantage over the DS. Safe anywhere. Just briefly switch off the power and resume where you left off when you power back on.
Have you ever closed your DS, come back an hour later, and opened it up to the exact same spot?
Compared with Nintendo Animal Crossing slow slow save it shows that Nintendo can still learn a thing or two.
When the PSP writes a 256 KB file to the Memory Stick, is it any faster?
The xbox hasn't been on shelves for six months in "certain" areas. Here in ohio in our sam's clubs we are selling very few xboxes. Theres tons rotting on shelves in japan as well.
There are places where the xbox isn't even on shelves but it's more of a distribution and not a lack of supply issue.
Hmmm... Pie...
It can't be compared with blu-ray which will have actual standalone players (umd's could only be played on the psp not standalone portable movie players) made by companies other ten sony.
Hmmm... Pie...
That games will be played on and the GAME DEVELOPERS concentrate on their forte, games. Sony's hardware division is pushing blu-ray onto the ps3 along with alot of other cool stuff to make the console more then a console. But what is so wrong with that?
You're going to get a massively powerful piece of hardware (cell processor, 512 megs of ram, hd-addon, and a hdtv encoder, linux).
It's modding potential with linux is amazing.
Hmmm... Pie...
One of their long-time dreams has been to build a new kind of personal computer and control the living room. I don't think this combination is simply a coincidence.
Hmmm... Pie...
"The 360 has sold a miserable 1.7 million consoles in its first six months on the market. That is the worst selling console since perhaps the 3DO a decade or so ago."
The 1.7 million is a reflection of supply, not demand. In the first 6 months there was never a 360 that sat on the shelves for more than a few hours.
The console war is simple. All the multi-platform games will look exactly the same. Microsoft has the best individual single-platform game (Halo). But the big factor....
A $300 360 will be marked down to $250 when the $600 PS3 is released. The only people who will buy a PS3 will be fanboys that would spend 2 grand on a calculator wrapped in a box with PS3 written on the side.
As for speed of writing and reading. No competition. Nintendo has chosen not to have onboard save. That no doubt saves them money meaning that Nintendo makes a profit on a cheaper console but now the save file has to be in the game catridge and it is not going to be top of the line because of again the cost issue.
AC:WW takes about 30 secs to load and 30 secs to save. Since I love the DS lite for its ease of use in those lost 5 minutes that is a bit too long. The PSP is a bit to large to carry in my pocket but it allows me to play faster and quit faster.
DS is a good console but I wish they had spend just a few more bucks on it. On the other hand, I wish the PSP had a touchscreen. No pleasing me I guess.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The PSP is OFF while the DS remains on. Consuming less power to be sure but still draining the battery. The really big difference? If power fails because of an empty battery the PSP can resume where it left off as if nothing has happened. The DS loses its progress.
How long are you away from AC power anyway? And have you timed how long it takes from entering DS sleep mode on a full charge to empty battery? "Nintendo DS" on Wikipedia claims that sleep mode lasts for "a few hundred hours" (that is, at least a week) from a full charge. And have you tried yanking the battery while the PSP is in "off" mode?
AC:WW takes about 30 secs to load
How long does WWE SmackDown vs RAW take to load? There are some poorly architected games on both systems.
If Sony really wants to win the high definition DVD "war" why not save all that money developing the PS3 (something like $900 million I read on Slashdot) and simply sell a new BluRay DVD player at less than $300. If you're going to lose money on a game machine, why not lose less on a DVD player? Hell, why not do both?
I don't understand the thinking behind selling a game machine that cost $900 million to develop for $400 that will play BluRay DVDs and then also selling a BluRay DVD player for $1000. Why would you ever buy the BluRay DVD player?
"It is not the same. The PSP is OFF while the DS remains on. Consuming less power to be sure but still draining the battery. The really big difference? If power fails because of an empty battery the PSP can resume where it left off as if nothing has happened. The DS loses its progress."
Not true. The PSP, if left in sleep mode, will die out. It still periodically refreshes its RAM, even if the cores are turned off entirely. I own(ed) a PSP and left it sleeping. When it was totally dead (would not resume from the button), it did the fully power on Sony logo the next time it was plugged in, and had lost all progress in the game. The PSP does not sleep to flash.
"As for speed of writing and reading. No competition. Nintendo has chosen not to have onboard save. That no doubt saves them money meaning that Nintendo makes a profit on a cheaper console but now the save file has to be in the game catridge and it is not going to be top of the line because of again the cost issue."
What!? I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. It's true the DS doesn't have a save slot in the device, because the carts can have a little flash spot in them.
"AC:WW takes about 30 secs to load and 30 secs to save. Since I love the DS lite for its ease of use in those lost 5 minutes that is a bit too long. The PSP is a bit to large to carry in my pocket but it allows me to play faster and quit faster."
I'm not sure you're quite aware of the time factor required to seek around on those PSP UMDs. They are no where near the speed of ROM or flash. I can fold my DS up instantly and have it sleep for about 4 days of standby time (equivalent to the PSP sleep mode), but startup is way faster. Getting into Brain Age is a matter of tapping the screen a few times. With Lumines, "Now Loading" pops up, and then a whole lot of seeking would happen. Some games have upwards of 45 second load times!
I load a lot more than I save, and it seems to me that the DS is better optimized for this usage.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Welcome to the Real World. See, you don't make that much money with just one replaceable product (i.e., a commodity), no matter how good it is. Someone else soon makes a better or cheaper one. Even if it's a piss-poor replacement, if it's just one stand-alone product, probably enough people can live with it. E.g., even if you somehow cornered the bread market, you can't milk and gouge it for every penny, because more people would start eating their food with rice or potatoes instead.
This is one thing that "there is no such thing as a monopoly, the government is just persecuting successful businessmen" apologists -- e.g., every MS-funded think-tank -- loves to repeat over and over again, pretending that all products were by definition stand-alone and replaceable.
So that's not where everyone wants to be. Where you want to be is having an interlocking whole of several things, to raise the entry barriers _massively_ for everyone trying to compete with you. So anyone trying to compete with your Product A, would _also_ have to have a replacement for products B, C, and D. And in the process you use Product A to drive up sales of Product B, and viceversa.
E.g., when you look at MS, their monopoly isn't just about Windows. If MS sold _only_ Windows, and it was a commodity stand-alone product, it would have been replaced long ago. Most people don't care about the OS as such, they just care about what programs they can run on it. So the way to keep it a monopoly is to control several other things that run only on Windows.
And file formats, connectors, etc, are the WMDs of such a monopoly. Owning, or better yet patenting, one makes it that much harder for someone to compete with one product, and thus with the interlocking whole.
That's why for example Sony always wanted to have its own audio codecs, its own disc/tape/whatever formats, and so on. That's the way to pwn the market. If any of those formats actually succeeded you'd have people saying "yeah, the iPod is cute and all, but can it play the songs I just bought on mini-disk? Without re-converting them to MP3/AAC/whatever with more audio loss?" or "yeah, the DS is cute in its gimmicky way, but what about all these shelves of UMD movies I bought? Can it play _those_?"
And while you already knew that about Sony, the point is that's where everyone else wants to be. That's what everyone is talking about when they talk about "vertical integration" and the like. Occasionally "synergy" too. They're not just meaningless marketting buzzwords, they're veiled ways of saying "we want to be a monopoly, and thus in a position to gouge and milk the customer for every penny.
That's why, for example, in the OS arena the Unix fragmentation happened: noone wanted to be yet another replaceable Unix box vendor. They wanted people to have a really painful time replacing a Solaris box with an AIX box or viceversa. They wanted managers to get goosebumps just thinking of porting all their programs, some which were bought without sources or were an obfuscated mess and the original programmer had quit, and re-training the whole IT department. And beancounters vetoing any such plan in any case.
Or since we're talking formats, there's been at least one connector patent.
The fun of a successful monopoly is that you can even make one product a loss leader, just to ensure that anyone would go bankrupt trying to compete with that part. But the fun part is that while product A doesn't make you much money, product B depends on it and costs an arm and a leg.
E.g., that's why MS cheerfully bundles the network client in their OS, because that helps sell the _much_ more expensive server products. And viceversa, ensures that once you have their servers, your IT department will only consider MS Windows on all workstations.
E.g., let's just say that the DRM-cemented union between iPod and iTunes works like this: on the average Apple sells something like 10 songs for each iPod. So while they made less than 1 dollar profit from each iPod buyer
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
You're a fucking retard. Halo the best single platform game? Even if you're excluding PC games both Sony and Nintendo have huge libraries of exclusives, most of them a hell of a lot better. I can't even be bothered to complete Halo 2, and I'm a huge fps fan. Perhaps you should actually play some PS2 and cube games?
Take your microsoft advertising to someone stupid enough to care. Good luck finding that someone.