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PS3 Performance Downgraded Again
Heartless Gamer writes "The PS3's performance has been downgraded again, according to the Inquirer." From the article: "We can't tell you why the GPU lost nearly 10% of it's clock, it could be an NVidia screwup, or it could be Sony/Cell. Either way, it just became much less of an overwhelming value, but you get a DRM infected drive for 'free' either way." Interesting, but keep in mind this is The Inquirer. 9 out of 10 doctors recommend salt with their articles. Relatedly, the choice comments from Penny Arcade this past weekend about Sony's console are wandering around the internets today. From that article: "We've already talked about it, there's no chance we're buying a PS3 at launch."
Joe Sixpack may not know Penny Arcade, but Sony of America sure as hell does.
Sony's response to PA's shit in donuts remark (way at the bottom of the page)
More music, fewer hits
Yeah, no clout with the general public.... My wife, who hasn't the slightest idea about video games, knows of PA. The fact that they made a comment that the PS3 is not for them is going to reverberate outside of the 'hardcore' gaming circles into the general public because of how popular they are. You obviously don't care, you have made your mind up that the PS3 is for you (why, I have no idea, but you have). But, for the non-hardcore who read geek news and those that don't, when major game 'celebs' make comments like PA did, people tend to take notice.
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel...
Much as I like taking cheap shots at Sony/PS3, this is a valid point. As news sources go, The Inquirer isn't exactly a pillar of journalistic excellence.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
XBox vs PS22 &name2=XB&type=2& name2=PS2&type=3
2 &name2=X360&type=26 0&name2=PS2&type=3
6 0&name2=XB&type=26 0&name2=XB&type=3
Hardware http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=PS
Software http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=XB
XBox 360 vs PS2
Hardware http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=PS
Software http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=X3
XBox vs XBox 360
Hardware http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=X3
Software http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=X3
I know you're just the AC Sony Fanboy Troll, but in North America the XBox 360 is performing in the same sales range (Hardware wise) as both the PS2 and XBox were at the same point in their life; software wise the XBox 360 is selling far more software then either the PS2 or XBox did after 9 months. I have no love for the XBox (or XBox 360) but only a fool would not see that it will be the platform to beat in North America; with Microsoft's lock on good simulation soccer games it could take a big chunk of the european market as well. Sony is going to lose a large chunk of their market share this generation, the only real question is how much they are going to lose?
When your entire Sales forecast for fiscal 2006 is $70.6 billion, but a single division is responsible for an operating loss of $2.6 in a single quarter, that division has a massive impact on the overall health of your company. Sony staked its future onto Blu-Ray and the PS3, and if these two tank, Sony will go down as well - or will have to get out of the gaming market.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
You apparently missed where Microsoft lied to everyone... http://1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153167
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
The problem is that programming games on the Cell is hard. Remember when Sony dropped the Aibo and dropped out of robotics and AI research? That was partially because all the bright people were needed to make the PS3 work. Non-shared memory multiprocessors with modest per-CPU memory are very hard to program. Their history, from the ILLIAC IV to the BBN Butterfly to the Ncube, has not been impressive. Whole new approaches are needed. In time for the game developers to be ready for the Xmas shopping season.
That's the problem. Sony needs a miracle of programming on a very short timetable.
Microsoft, however, does not. The XBox 360 is just a 3-CPU shared memory computer. It's quite conventional.
Progress is being made, but realistically, the games available for the PS3 at launch will probably be doing too much in the main CPU and the Cell processors will be underutilized.
On the hardware front, if Sony is making changes to the hardware spec this late, there's a good chance they will miss the holiday season. It's September already. As of late August, PS3 manufacturing hadn't even started. For the holiday season, merchandise has to be in the stores by November 1. And that's after shipping and warehousing. Realistically, Sony has about six weeks to freeze the product, get manufacturing running, and get product out in volume.
It's probably too late for this year. They might manage a small-volume prelaunch, like Microsoft did last year.
Sony's moneymaker for this holiday season will be the PS2, which, at $129, is going to look very attractive to parents.
They damn well should be as they're not in terribly good shape. Have you read the Wired.com article? Unfortunately they didn't include the charts from the print article, but there are still some choice quotations:
So, by March Sony will have burned through a third of its cash reserves due to losses from the PS3. I hate to think what that number's going to look like when you factor in the losses due to Blu-Ray players.
Now, before you label me a Nintendo or XBox fanboy, understand that I own a PS1 and PS2 along with several hundred games for each system and the fact that the PS2 played DVDs did factor into my decision to buy it first before I got a Gamecube. However, despite the fact that I earn a nice salary, $600 is way too much to pay for a console that I might play two or three times in a week. And Blu-Ray? Please. I already have a DVD player with a huge movie library and it's good enough for me. I think Sony's throwing their weight behind the PS3 + Blu-Ray because it's their last chance at survival.