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Sony's Conference The Day After
I believe the best way to describe the reaction to yesterday's Sony Press Conference would be underwhelmed. The Guardian Gamesblog always says it well: "Jetlag means I'm not entirely sure what day it is, but what was Sony's excuse? Today's conference was a muddled mess that essentially confirmed widespread rumours of a problematic PS3 launch build-up. The games shown were of varying quality, with perhaps only Heavenly Sword really showing the undoubted potential of the PS3 ... Sadly, on today's evidence, 360 owners shouldn't worry about missing out, as the PS3's visuals seem broadly similar to their machine. Impressive then, but not the leap we had truly hoped for." Chris Kohler nails the real problem with the lower-priced model: "This just made Microsoft's $299 Core Pack look like a genius idea. At least it's possible to upgrade an Xbox Core. I don't know what kind of arcane magick will have to be executed to give a crippled PS3 actual functionality."
...Nintendo's conference, it's revealed that the Sony's was fake and that they'd be doing whatever Nintendo said they would be doing.
I enjoy great looking games as much as anyone else, but I play games not just for the graphics, but to have a lot of -interactive- fun. If I just wanted to stare at pretty graphics all day, I'd go to the movies.
I am glad to see Nintendo innovating rather than just extending their past consoles, which it seems like all Microsoft and Sony want to do ("MORE POWER, ITS LEET!!! WOOO!!").
I was going to buy a PS3 for Metal Gear Solid 3 and Gran Turismo, but now I might just have to get the Wii.
From what I've read about the press conference (and from the various opinion pieces I've read on it), it seems that Sony has grown overconfident--and with over 65% market share, can you blame them? Sony is just as much a marketing company as they are a technology company and they know that for much of the mass market of video games, Playstation is the only thing these people know because to them Sony is like a god. They also know that the mass market goes "ooo, look how powerful" and buys it (*cough*PSP*cough*). However, that's the AMERICAN mass market. If the PSP has taught them nothing, then they should know now that having a "do everything" device that's "more powerful" than the competition isn't enough. Of course, maybe that's why they "stole" the motion detection from the Wii? Any way, it seems like a fumble (but more than likely not a crucial one). If Nintendo and/or Microsoft can pull some good tricks out of their hats, then Sony might at least drop down to less than 50% of the market share (and you better believe I hope they do--as this overconfidence is bad for the industry).
Read my blog posts on usability.
Seriously, wait for PS3 to launch, and since it packs everything you need in your life so "tightly" and you can't afford one, put money together with some friends and Buy One!
Glass house. Stones. Throwing discouraged.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
So let's get this straight. Instead of having two price points consisting of A:) The console and B:) The console with extras, We have *two different consoles*.
Gee, I hope you know, that they weren't expecting anything innovative in the way of games that might rely of features that half of shipped PS3s won't have.
This is the same shoot-yourself-in-the-foot mistake that MS made with the 360. Only, at least with the 360 you can actually upgrade your "core" system later. You know, buy a hardrive.
Oh wait...I get it, Sony will release upgrade kits consisting of some prebuilt ICs, a hacksaw, a soldering iron and a 300-page manual!
I'm not gonna mention the half-assed motion sensor implementation...
I'm no fan of Sony, not since their arrogantly stupid root kit stunt in particular but I'm always interested to see what such companies can do in terms of pushing out new technology. But this is turning into a complete shambles so far...
Bah..One console is gonna be a pile'o'poo, one violates my (admitedly shaky) code of ethics and the third sounds like part of my early morning wake-up ritual. Although it's clear which one I'll end up purchasing.
So disapointing...I need a hug!
"...So I hung back and lurked. For 18 months. Can't beat a good old-fashioned lurking."
Okay really, get over your fanboyism Pot, meet Kettle. Kettle, Pot.
You are in a maze of little twisting passages, all different.
It's still got a bluray drive in the cheap version, it just doesn't have HDMI+HDCP, so you can't watch (some of) your bluray discs in full resolution.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
A few thoughts here...
:)
Okay this guy is a total retard! "Happiest are those working for Mr. Gates?" Um, hello? The PS3 just blew the competition away, are you scared?
What does the PS3 have to do with the happiness of Microsoft employees, exactly?
I'm pretty sure that "blew the competition away" is a blatant lie here. From what I've seen, the response to the conference was "underwhelmed" at best, if not just plain let down.
He's whining about features the controller has and what it can do; Wow motion sensory that "wasn't" invented by Nintendo...
Nintendo didn't invent it, but they're the first to use it in a console to thos extent. And it's awfully fishy that Sony makes the announcement so long after we learn that it's a key part of the Wii playing experience.
Okay really, get over your fanboyism, if you even looked at any of the games (and, ahem I watched them in Low-res for Hecks sake) they ARE impressive!
Not $600 worth of impressive. They look like Xbox 360 games, for all intents and purposes, and you can get Microsoft's console for half the price.
And why pay that much money for another Metal Gear title when the PS2 is capable of playing three of them?
Seriously, wait for PS3 to launch, and since it packs everything you need in your life so "tightly" and you cant afford one, put money together with some friends and Buy One!
Oh yeah...like THAT would work. What would you do with it...keep it in a central location equidistant from everyone's houses? Game consoles aren't exactly the kind of thing you can split like that, buddy.
I've got a few issues with your use of "needs" here too; I don't know about you, but I don't need any more video games or a blu-ray DVD player.
Next, don't complain that Sony is entering the online realm. They may be boasting what Xbox Live has to offer, but there's one thing that Sony thought of that Microsoft didn't. That's free online service.
Just like Nintendo?
And for $600, you'd better expect free online service. I don't think there's any way Sony could justify a subscription when the initial setup costs that much.
Take that "I have One gamertag!" and that "I have one Friend's List" and tell yourself: "I don't have to pay for any of it..." Good, now march out there and work!
I don't know the details of the service, but I'd be willing to bet that Sony's going to limit the number of accounts a person can have, possibly by console. Anything else has a ton of potential for abuse.
Every GameCrazy in America will continue to rant about the 360 because its American-manufactured and joke about the "Wii" and bitch about how Sony can't come up with anything new.
I've never once heard someone in a game store complaining about Microsoft's American roots, and the Wii jokes are already getting old. Complaining about Sony, on the other hand...
But you wait and see what happens before making judgement. The Playstation 3 Was F'n AMAZING!
Thank you for defeating your own argument in the next sentence.
Goo goo g'joob.
And here's what Nintendo has been criticized for:
And on top of that, Nintendo's pre-presentation announcement of the name has gotten them far more attention than Sony's actual presentation.
The PSwii60 is awesome! $150 PS2 + $50 PS1 + $400 360 + $300 Wii = PSwii60 is HUGE SAVINGS!!!!1 Don't forget to buy a $100 PSwii60 online debit card so you can purchase all that awesome content that was left out of your $60 games. Such things as "the second level" and "the fourth wheel to your new car in GT4". This is truly next-gen!
Before the whining gets completely out of control, can we stop and look at the differences for a moment?
Smaller hard drive - yeah, but at least unlike the 360, the low-end model still has one. Since this is going to be used for downloadable content and caching from the optical disc, I can't see how the extra 40GB is going to make much difference. And after all, isn't the 360 hard drive only 20GB? I wouldn't be surprised if you could (unofficially) upgrade it by simply dropping a bigger laptop SATA drive into the box.
No wiffy - oh no, it's the end of the world, now I'll have to buy a $40 WiFi receiver and plug it into the gigabit ethernet port! Seriously, how is a game even going to know the difference? What kind of game would have a problem with a lack of wireless networking anyhow? Shut up, get a hub and a 50' Ethernet cable if that's what it takes to hook it up to your cable modem in the other room. I don't care, I wired my house for Ethernet, so I already have gigE in the living room.
No memory stick slot - maybe Sony's shooting itself in the foot here (since they love to put their own proprietary interfaces on everything in an attempt to shill their stuff - hell, I have a memory stick slot on my freaking Sony TV set), but I can't see why there couldn't be a $20-$40 adapter that plugs into a USB port. It is USB 2.0, you know, so it's not like it'll take an hour to fill up a memory stick.
No HDMI - and how many gamers even have TVs with an HDMI input? This should only be an issue for people who want to play BluRay movies on an expensive TV set. And if they can afford a $2000-$5000 plasma HD set, maybe they can afford the extra $100 for a premium PS3?
With the exception of the card slot, I wouldn't need any of that stuff, and I don't have any problem with paying $100 less to not get those things. But it's still too expensive for me. I'll be playing Twilight Princess on my new Wii-volution, and still have $150 left over. And that's before you shell out $60 for FF13, which will probably be about 25% pre-rendered cutscenes, 70% mindless leveling up, and 5% boss battles.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
Is the price point combined with the "expected" shipments totals of 2 million worldwide for the christmas season (slightly more than that since they "expect" 4 million by year end). But that is world wide. It was a given that no one would be able to get one but at a 499$/599$ price point those who would have held out have less reason to now.
The PS3 will have the same exact problems the 360 had last year with production, maybe even more if they keep throwing everything into the system (motion detection??) at the last minute. What makes this even worse is that christmas buyers get to stare at the cheaper and in stock 360s sitting on the shelves, waiting to be the alternate choice. Nintendo will do well but you won't see those sitting on shelves for very long either. Microsoft might just sell 10 million by year end that will definatly make them a player this generation.
Ves
"The Playstation 3 Was F'n AMAZING"
Well, I agree with you there. Everything about the PS3 was amazing. The price was amazingly high. The controller was amazingly ripped off from Nintendo. The game demos were amazingly unamazing...
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
For those bitching that the base model won't be upgradeable:
The unit has 4 USB 2.0 ports, which would imply that a USB memory card reader can be added on.
The unit has an AV MultiOut port, which would imply that HDMI could be added as a seperate dongle. Considering how many HD TV sets have been sold that don't have HDMI ports, I don't see what everyone is bitching about this for anyway. If the outputs include an Analog HD cable, then you're pretty much set. Sony and all the movie studios are already backing away from enforcing their movies to downgrade themselves because they know the public backlash from people who don't own an HDMI capable set would kill their chances of selling HD movies, so this really seems like a non-issue.
The controller sucks. Well, I'd be very surprised if Penguin or MadCatz doesn't make a controller with Rumble to satisfy your needs. Unless the PS3 comes with 2 controllers you'll likely end up bying an additional one anyway.
The base unit doesn't do Wi-Fi. Well, how many of you who own an original XBox or PS2 don't already have some kind of Wi-Fi adapter around the house, if that's your thing? Considering how quickly Wi-Fi speeds change and that the lifespan of a console is around 5 years, who wants a locked in Wi-Fi anyway, you'll just be bitching about how slow it is 3 years from now.
The price isn't cheap, but most of that's the Blue-Ray player. The higher price will help to ensure that the people who really really have to have a PS3 now will be able to get one while production ramps up and and prices can start to drop. There are many critics saying that the XBox360 is underpriced and it doesn't even have an HD DVD player.
Wow this console generation is sounding pretty crappy all around. PS3 - We have what could be an awesome console that's going to be handicapped by a ridiculously high price point (reminds me of the Saturn) 360 - We have a rehash of a previous generation console only with slightly better graphics and a few hundred dollars more and no good games Wii - A system where many of us will no doubt lose the controller to wherever the TV remotes vanish to. And this is honestly sounding to be the best of the three. Sega where are you!?
After all, how can they lose when the logo is basically two men staring at a pair of breasts.
Or am I the only one to see this?
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
I think there should be some sort of fanboy metric, based on the number of exclamation points used, with maybe some sort of multiplier if the word "total" or "totally" is used in the subject.
The xbox 360 has brought a lot of new things to the table in addition to some sweet graphics and sound for the home theater/HDTV crowd. I would definately call the concept of Xbox Live arcade a success and it is something that hasn't been done before. Not only that but they make it easy for people to check out new games without having to buy the latest issue of "Overpriced Console Magazine Monthly" through the use of demos and trailers. Don't forget the fact that you can push the X button in the center of the controller and talk to some friends while your games are loading, change music, or see what gamerscore you want to shoot for when you are ready to go. Then there is the fact that you can use the box as a Media Center extender, making it even more useful in your home. I know a lot of people here are not very big fans of the work that Uncle Bill does, but the technological advancements in making gaming a more social atmosphere through the use of xbox live cannot be denied.
Price, short term. The 360 and DS Lite launches prove that early adopters are willing to shell out twice the MSRP or more to get their grubby game-mitts on the system at launch. The h4rdc0re, Sony whores, and simply free-spending are going to be all over this thing, and the money goes to Sony rather than the secondary market. Of course, the higher price means any shortages-and-hype situation, if any, is going to be less impressive than the 360's, and time will tell whether it was a smart tradeoff, but it's not some kind of crazy gamble.
Price, long term. Anybody else expecting a price drop next spring? I wouldn't be suprised if they cut it to match whatever price the 360 is at by then. If they don't, yeah, it's probably gonna hurt them badly, but if the high price is just Sony planning around launch-day demand, then we can expect that they're not going to cede this area to Microsoft.
Crappy cheap version. For some gamers, the cheap version could actually be a good deal. In fact, I could imagine this being the case for a lot of people. No wireless IEEE? Statistically, only a tiny minority of console owners take them online in the first place- I think it was like four percent? Being limited to a 20GB hard drive probably isn't going to make a big difference for anyone- especially if you're one of the vast majority who aren't downloading any content. What's more, the hard drive thing, IMO, means the cheap PS3 is actually LESS crippled than the cheap 360.
The motion-sensor thing. I really think this is a bad move on Sony's part- but still, there are at least a couple ways this could work out for them. In the first scenario, Sony actually gets its motion-sensing shit together between now and launch. The controller still can't compete with the dedicated Wii controller that Nintendo spent so much time and money on developing, but if its basic functionality is solid, we could see ports of some Wii titles- at least, the ones that use the technology in fairly simple ways that the PS3 can emulate. The 360 would end up being the third wheel in this scenario, since everything on it that isn't exlusive (and Sony's probable exclusive properties are at least as strong as Microsoft's) is going to end up being ported to the PS3.
Second possible scenario? Sony's motion-sensing technology sucks ass but hurts Nintendo by confusing the market. Breathtakingly cynical and twisted if things do work out this way, of course, but what are you gonna do?.
You can sure tell who the fanboys are by the backpeddling they do.
d . Yeah the shortages are good for business, it builds hype, umm yeah. Oh by the way, do you know if Walmart has any 360s yet?"
... guys? Stop laughing already!"
Xbox Fanboy: "Uhh those shortages, it's going away next week. I heard they're bringing on another factory, I heard it myself from my sister's-boyfriend's-coworker's-friend-of-a-frien
Nintendo Fanboy: "Hey guys, it's just a name! Let's be mature now. The console itself hasn't changed. Guys
Sony Fanboy: "Actually, having two SKUs isn't that bad, it gives the consumer more choices, yeah that's it. And you don't REALLY need HDMI or WiFi or rumble-features. Oh, and the high price means that you'll really be proud once you finally afford that premium PS3! Blu-ray forever!"
-- jchenx
Wait, wait.
You're saying that the PS3 is junky and that irrational Sony fanboyism is more prevalent than irrational MS or Nintendo fanboyism?
Hahahahahaaaa
snort
(wipes tear from eye)
Thanks, I needed that.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife