Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Wired Dissects Sony as PS3 Effort Falters

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the already-on-life-support dept.

PetManimal writes "Wired has an excellent analysis of Sony as it struggles to overcome the failures of the 1990s and make the PS3 live up to its promise. Sony is counting on the PS3 turning around the company's fortunes, but it may have been too ambitious. Besides being hamstrung with an unusual company culture that emphasizes small hardware teams and proprietary formats, Sony's efforts to make the PS3 kill several birds with one stone and appeal to a wider customer base is turning off the PS3's core support network: gamers. From the article: 'Then there was the decision to build Blu-ray into the PlayStation 3. Sony's logic seemed ironclad: Not only would the hi-def drive's huge storage capacity allow for far-more-realistic and complex games, the PS3 would carry Blu-ray into millions of households and drive sales of HDTVs as well. As it turned out, however, Blu-ray has done nothing good for the PS3. Blu-ray was the main reason gamers weren't able to get the new machine last spring: The launch had to be postponed because the new format's digital rights management system did not yet satisfy every Hollywood studio.'"

4 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. State of Sony's PS3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The $499 PS3:

    1080p BluRay movies over component
    BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
    DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
    1080p Games over component
    Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
    Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
    Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
    Linux
    Online movie and music store
    Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
    Tilt controller
    Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
    All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
    Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

    For 100 dollars more you get:

    60 gig harddrive
    WiFi
    HDMI

    27 playable games are going to be shown at the upcoming TGS. HD-DVD sales are in the toilet, while Sony has been stockpiling hundreds of thousands of BluRay drives to launch in a couple million PS3s in November. 1080p sets are dropping in price like mad right now. Every electronic store is pimping 1080p sets with older sets getting pushed into the back. You will almost certainly be able to get a 1080p set for less than a grand by the start of next year. And here comes Sony with the cheapest 1080p HD BluRay player...

    Pre-orders are stronger than the 105+ million selling PS2 - and the demand is greatest for the 60gig/HDMI PS3.

    Falter? There are only two places Sony and the PS3 is faltering...the daily Zonk tirade here on Slashdot and teamxbox.com.

  2. Trolltalk Dissects #buttes as GNAA Effort Failures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll


     

  3. Check out Sony's other misdeeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    There is so much to dislike about Sony!
  4. I was not going to buy one, but now I am. by The+New+Stan+Price · · Score: -1, Troll

    All you anti-blue ray, anti-DRM, anti-capitalist, anti-Sony, anti-PS3 guys have finally made me want to go buy a PS3 when they first come out. Have you ever stopped to think that just maybe some gamers might want a game machine that will take full advantage of their expensive HD systems? What was Sony going to do, put a regular DVD player in their system? Is that called innovation? So what if they chose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD, most players/recorders will end up supporting both formats anyway. It isn't like Beta-Max, where even the physical dimensions were different. I'm sure Sony has learned their lesson from the MiniDisc fiasco. Besides, Nintendo has always had their own disc or cartridge format, so what's the difference?