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Don't Count Sony Out Yet

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the he's-a-fighter dept.

Eurogamer is hosting a GamesIndustry.biz article, an editorial that wants readers to make sure not to write Sony off yet. From the article: "Even if Sony is failing to endear itself to the media, to analysts or to gamers at the moment, that's no reason for the reality of the next generation console battle to be ignored. Judging from reports in the past fortnight, it would be easy for an outside observer to assume that it's all over already; the media paints a picture of Microsoft being victorious before the first shot is even fired, with Sony's overloaded battlecruiser set to sink before it even leaves port."

25 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Thanks, but... by Spazntwich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'll write them off anyway.

    I have no interest in a $600 console and $70 games.

    1. Re:Thanks, but... by Spazntwich · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I guess to more accurately state my intentions, I'd have to say I won't INITIALLY be buying one.

      Once the PS2 gets down to the $200-300 price point I'll consider it, but to drop $70 on one game means it better be one hell of a good game.

      As I've grown older, my interest in videogames has waned anyway, and I think Nintendo's approach of pick-up games will work better anyway, which is another reason I'm writing Sony off: The people who can afford it aren't the target audience, and the target audience will have a hell of a time convincing the parents to drop that kind of money on a videogame machine when it works out to two average car payments just for the console.

    2. Re:Thanks, but... by fimbulvetr · · Score: 2, Informative

      Judas, give the guy a break. Now the sony fanbois are using the "You should make more money, so you could buy one too" line?

      Sounds like they're getting wound up. What's next, blackmailing us? I make a pretty good living for being in the US. I have the normal stuff like a car payment, rent, 401k, and I'll have a hard time fronting the money for this because it's a minimum $900 purchase before I walk out of the store (A couple games, a few controllers, etc).

  2. Too much for a console. by GigG · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why should I spend $500-$600 on a console when I already spent $3000+ on an Alienware?

    --
    Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    1. Re:Too much for a console. by Doytch · · Score: 4, Funny

      Where to start... 1) Probably the most obvious, 4D 2) You can use your PSP as a rear view mirror in racing games 3) Innovation such as real-time weapon switching 4) The ability to flip over this crab and stab it in it's weak spot for MASSIVE damage 5) The ability to swing your controller around like someone with cerebral palsy while playing an average flying game 6) Crappy Yu-Gi-Oh games 7) Being on the cusp of innovation with Blu-Ray Honestly, I could go on and on...

    2. Re:Too much for a console. by RingDev · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I would actually venture a guess that the type of person who spends $3000+ on an Alienware is significantly MORE likely to buy the PS3. That kind of disposable income coupled with a strong desire for top-end/latest greatest.

      The PS3 is trying to be a cutting edge entertainment system. The question is, will the BluRay player (err HD, whichever it uses) make enough value for consumers to buy it? If you are already in the market for a $300 HD/BluRay player AND a $300 console, then the PS3 makes sence. If you are in the market for a $40 DVD player and a $200 Console, then a Wii makes sence. If the high def video disk market doesn't pan out, then the PS3 is screwed.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    3. Re:Too much for a console. by Osty · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you are already in the market for a $300 HD/BluRay player AND a $300 console, then the PS3 makes sence.

      That's not the target market, though. BD players are in the $1000 range (HD-DVD players are a bit cheaper, but still in the $500-1000 range). The type of person who's going to buy a $1000 BluRay player is not the type of person who will compromise with an integrated unit, because integrated units generally suck (the PS2 was a horrible DVD player, for example). What Sony is really hoping for is that they can get the people in the market for a $600 console, and have them decide to buy BluRay movies since they get a player for "free". The problem is that there's virtually nobody in the market for a $600 console. It doesn't help that the few people in that market (who normally wouldn't pay above $400 for a new console, but are willing to pony up $200 more because it's Sony) are quickly being alienated by Kutaragi's reality distortion field.

      Besides, nobody wants to use a game controller as a remote control for movies.

      If you are in the market for a $40 DVD player and a $200 Console, then a Wii makes sence

      If you're in the market for a $40 DVD player, buy a $40 DVD player. It'll still be a better DVD player than a Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3. The Wii's rumored to be priced in the "optimal" price range ($200-300) for a new console. The market for a $250 console is huge. Maybe you're not in that market (preferring to buy when prices are < $200), but your absence does not make the market any less significant.

      If the high def video disk market doesn't pan out, then the PS3 is screwed.

      Just like the PSP is screwed because the mobile video disc market didn't pan out? UMD sucked, and is thankfully (almost?) dead, but the PSP could pull it together and still be a kickass game machine. It probably won't, given the utter lack of must-have games (the few top-notch games have also seen releases outside the PSP, or will shortly -- GTA: Liberty City Stories on PS2, Lumines on Xbox Live Arcade). The PS3 could still pull off being a kickass game machine even if BluRay tanks as a video format. Sony is making a big bet by including BluRay (without BD, the PS3 would probably be priced the same as Xbox 360 -- $300-400), and that'll probably screw them whether or not BluRay takes off, but they just might pull it off.

  3. Sony who? Already sold my shares by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and bought a PS2 cheap to last until the Wii comes out this fall.

    Face it, day late and a dollar short, even if Sony suddenly "decided" to sell PS3 at $299, they've already lost mind share and many game developers have already added Wii support (not originally planned) and are shorting the number of game units they're planning to ship for PS3, according to the news reports in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal ...

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  4. Wah? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    " the media paints a picture of Microsoft being victorious before the first shot is even fired"

    Uh, and where exactly are these media stating anything of the sort?

    Can't be talking about Japan...
    Can't be talking about Europe...
    Can't be talking about the trashing MS took over botched backwards compatibility...
    Can't be talking about the insane numbers of defected consoles that the media has been reporting...
    Can't be talking about the lower than first Xbox sales the media has been reporting...
    Can't be talking about the ridicule almost everything is met with in the media from any of the Xbox execs...

    If there is good press for the 360, I'd love to see it.

  5. Not endeared to ANYBODY by sehlat · · Score: 5, Informative

    After the infamous ROOTKIT incident, I'm not interested in giving Sony a dime ever again.

    1. Re:Not endeared to ANYBODY by |/|/||| · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Hmm, this is currently modded flamebait, which strikes me as unfair. Is it not sensible to boycott a company that engages (or at least has recently engaged) in shady business practices?

      Take me, for example. I own several Sony products, including a PS2, an NTSC monitor, and a receiver. Will I ever buy another product from them? Not in the foreseeable future. I've been shopping around for digital cameras and camcorders for the last few days, and I've been skipping right over the Sony models. They probably have exactly what I'm looking for, and in the right price range too, but that big SONY on the side of it might as well say 'Made by slave labor'. I'm not even going to give their offerings any consideration.

      In other words, I don't like their business practices, so I won't give them my money. Not only is that not flamebait, it's completely pertinent to the topic! I was planning to buy a PS3 this generation, but not now. The high price that they've announced isn't even the deciding factor, since I was going to wait a couple of years for it to come down - the real reason is the rootkit, pure and simple.

      --
      [javac] 100 errors
    2. Re:Not endeared to ANYBODY by cthellis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      After the infamous ROOTKIT incident, I'm not interested in giving Sony a dime ever again.

      I'm curious, have you ever given a dime again to Ubisoft, Codemasters, or anyone that's ever used StarForce?

    3. Re:Not endeared to ANYBODY by setien · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To be fair, SCE and sonys music division are like 2 different companies.

      --
      Give me liberty or give me kill -s 9
  6. Re:Not a deer to ANYBODY by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2, Funny

    After the infamous ROOTKIT incident, I'm not interested in giving Sony a dime ever again.

    Come on, what's a few Ring 0 takeovers of your system between frenemies?

    Besides, the new PS3 includes Blu-Ray DRM as an extra bonus feature, and the controller takes over your toaster and makes it sing ditties about Sony movies! And then it makes the coffee pot ask if you'd like to replace Hot Java with Sony Java!

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  7. To be fair... by vertinox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Metal Gear Solid just looks freakin awesome on the PS3 that it almost made me cry when I saw the demo videos.

    That said... The PS3 price tag actually made me cry along with baby Jesus.

    I think my DS can hold me out for a few more years.

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  8. You guys have it so cheap its not funny. by bunbuntheminilop · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In Australia/New Zealand, we regularly pay $100-120 for games, and the Xbox360 is around $700 ffs. I WISH I could pay $600 for a console. That would be a dream! Instead, I paid nearly $1000 for my ps2 on the first day, and that didn't include the extra controller/games/memory card etc.

    You guys have it so cheap its not funny.

  9. lol by spykemail · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can't really lose to Microsft per se, you just sort of run out of money.

    --
    Haiku for you!
  10. PS3 better drop in price quick! by Brian_Ellenberger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First, let me start with saying I owned a PS1 and a PS2. I was waiting till I heard the price of the PS3 to decide whether to get an XBox360 or wait. When I heard $500-$600 just for the console I got a 360. Why? Because despite a great job, I have a family to support and could not justify spending that much just for the console. It doesn't matter how much better it is, or how many features it has. Just plain couldn't afford it. I think that probably describes a large number of people who aren't "single no kids"---whether they are buying it for themselves or their kids. The only response I have heard to that question is, "DUDE, YOU LOZER IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD ONE YOU SUCK TOO BAD YOU DON'T DESERVE ONE.". To which I shrug, and say fine. Wii looks pretty cool and I may pick one up with the kids are a little older. And if Sony wins the console wars, and lowers the price, I may trade in the 360 for a PS3. I'm not a fanboy. But right now, it just looks like it is out of the price reach for many people.

  11. Re:PS3 Baaaaaby! by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 3, Informative

    Stop posting this crap in every PS3 thread. 1080p over component does not exist, and several of your other points may not exist either.

  12. Re:3-way tie by ScaryFroMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're right. Xbox Live is far, far worse than the PS2 and Gamecube online capabilities. I don't even see why Microsoft can even call it an online service.

    --
    In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
  13. Like it's really an either-or proposition. by Politas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know of many gamers who own a high-spec PC, a PS2, an Xbox, etc, etc.

    The PS3 is sure to make plenty of cash, and a lot of it will come from people who already own an Xbox360 and a Wii. Hardcore gamers don't care about money.

    --

    Politas

  14. Sony's history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sony pulled the CLIE from the US market, despite the fact they where making a profit, just because they had no hope of dominating the PDA market in the US.

    Sony Connect music store remains poorly implimented and under marketed.

    Sony demostrated no loyality to it's Playstation 2 consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.

    Sony demostrated no loyality to being able to install a hard drive in future iterations of the Playstation 2. If a consumer's PS2 breaks down and they get the latest version of the PS2 then Final Fantasy XI unusable and ensuring that companies would not port other classically computer style games to the PS2.

    Sony demostrated no loyality to it's audio CD consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.

    Current reviews of HD-DVD's than Blu-Ray disks indicate that HD-DVD is preferable.

    There is currently more HD-DVD titles available than Blu-Ray.

    Sony's first priority for the design of Blu-Ray seems to be the triple copy-protection instead of any consumer friendly priorities.

    If you don't learn from history then you are doomed to suffer when Sony again pulls an anti-consumer move.

    Nintendo and Microsoft seem more interested in this latest round of consoles of delivering features to the consumer than pulling a fast one over on them and then excusing themselves from responsiblity.

  15. That doesn't make any sense by why-is-it · · Score: 2, Insightful
    When I heard $500-$600 just for the console I got a 360. Why? Because despite a great job, I have a family to support and could not justify spending that much just for the console. It doesn't matter how much better it is, or how many features it has. Just plain couldn't afford it.

    I'm sorry, but that line of reasoning does not any sense to me. If you can afford an Xbox 360 now, I assume you could have saved up the additional money to purchase a PS3 when it becomes available later this year.

    It's not as if the PS3 will cost that much more than the 360. It's just incrementally more. Yes, it is expensive, but microsoft isn't exactly giving the 360 away either.

    I would have been more partial to your argument if you had said you were holding out for a Wii because that was your price-point.

    --
    *** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
  16. Re:I love people's lack of memory by dr.banes · · Score: 4, Informative

    Where are you getting $600 from for a PS2?-You're memory is all fucked up!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation_2#History Price history North America * US$299.99 (October 26, 2000, Launch Price) (CAD$449.99) * US$199.99 (May 14, 2002) (CAD$299.99) * US$179.99 (May 13, 2003) (CAD$249.99) * US$149.99 (May 11, 2004) (CAD$179.99) * US$129.99 (April 20, 2006) (CAD$139.99) Japan * JP¥39,800 (March 2000, Launch Price) * JP¥35,000 (June 29, 2001) * JP¥29,800 (November 29, 2001) * JP¥25,000 (2002) * JP¥19,800 (November 13, 2003) * JP¥17,800 (June 2004) United Kingdom * GB£299.99 (November 24, 2000, Launch Price) * GB£199.99 (September 26, 2001) * GB£169.99 (September 1, 2002) * GB£139.99 (October 1, 2003) * GB£104.99 (August 18, 2004) Taiwan, Republic of China * NT$10,900 (January 24, 2002, SCPH-30007, Launch Price) * NT$ 7,980 (January 1, 2003, SCPH-30007) * NT$ 6,980 (2003, SCPH-39007) * NT$ 6,980 (October 10, 2003, SCPH-50007) * NT$ 6,480 (January 1, 2004, SCPH-50007) * NT$ 5,888 (June 1, 2004, SCPH-50007) * NT$ 5,888 (November 3, 2004, SCPH-70007) Australia * AU$749.95 (Original Price; the price begun to drop within weeks of its launch) * AU$249.95 (Slim PS2 Launch Price) * AU$199.95 (June 1 2006 Price Drop) Germany * DEM 869 [EUR 445] (Launch) * EUR 140 (August 2006) Russia * RUR 5500 (current) Middle East * US$149 (current) Philippines As of June 2006, shop bought warrantied units of PlayStation 2 Slim (SCPH-70006) run around US$ 217. A recent month long promo of a popular console shop offers trade-in of working or non-working PlayStation console to a brand new PlayStation 2 Slim for US$ 142. Portugal * EUR 129,99 (current) Poland * PLN 2,599,00 z (starting) * PLN 549,00 z for Black Slim and 599,00 z for Silver Slim (current) Finland * Eur 500 (Launch) * Eur 149 (current) Republic of Ireland * IE£ 379 (Launch) * EUR 149 (Current)

  17. Re:If Sony and Microsoft are battle ships... by PixelScuba · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or maybe in SPACE, where NONE of them can go!