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Sony To Go From First To Worst?
There have been many analyst predictions in the early days of the next-gen consoles, but rarely have they been so direct. DFC Intelligence President David Cole has gone on record saying there's a very real possibility Sony could lose this leg of the race to Microsoft and Nintendo. From the article: "Sony's clear strength is the first factor: brand strength and current market position. The glaring weakness of the PlayStation 3 is price, especially when compared to the competition. However, it is more than just an issue of whether the PlayStation brand strength can justify a premium price. Of course, Sony would like to point to the hardware horsepower and extra features like Blu-ray. The problem is that is only one factor in our forecasting matrix. Furthermore, with the competition having features like Xbox Live and the Nintendo Wii controller, the PS3 may not have that much of an advantage in the elusive 'Wow Factor.'" 1up Editor Sam Kennedy has further musings on this subject, with Next Generation reporting that there may be a problem getting high yields in the PS3 production process.
That really is the only question remaining.
The Xbox 360 has pretty much flunked out of the race.
Massive hardware defects. Shitty graphics that are getting laughed at by pc reviewers. Sales worse than the first Xbox. Sales worse the Dreamcast. A system that is a nightmare for developers to code for.
All the talk about Nintendo changing the gaming world with the Wii now sounds silly with a machine that has crappy graphics like the 360 and a pointing device. So you swing swords in some games and you point at stuff in others. Ok.
Where are all of these 'innovative' Wii games that are going to make millions of people who have never bought a console before rush out and buy a Wii?
If if the PS3 didn't play games it would probably still outsell both the Wii and effectively dead in the market 360 now that both HD-DVD and the image constraint token have died. For $499 you get a 1080p BluRay movie player to go with the dropping like a rock in price 1080p TV sets.
And you get 1080p games.
And you backwards compatibility with virtually every PS1 and PS2 game you already own.
And you can webbrowse and other stuff right from your PS2.
And you get free online gaming - unlike the 200-250 dollars Microsoft forces you to pay just to play online.
The Wii and PS3 will go head to head in Japan, and the PS3 will still dominate in the US and Europe. Nintendo really needs to show gamers something wild before launch, because all that good will they generated over the first half of 2006 is slipping away as gamers are seeing how bad Wii games look. Otherwise, the Wii is going to be a console you enjoy fooling around with at the store or a friends house for a few minutes and then return home to your PS3.
Every single system selling exclusive Sony had that got them 105+ million PS2 sales is on the PS3 and as the pc game market continues to die outside of MMORPGs - Sony is even getting the pc developers(big whoop).