Wired Dissects Sony as PS3 Effort Falters

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.'"

Comments

sweet

[dolson]

I was waiting for The Daily Dose. And here it is!

Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

...and I have no clue who to cheer for.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[AKAImBatman]

Nintendo.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[Frag-A-Muffin]

...and I have no clue who to cheer for.

Nintendo.

This is more insightful then you know. It's the only gaming company left that doesn't have some ulterior motive. Sony wants the PS3 to push its bluray format into every living room. Then you have Microsoft battling that by siding with the HDDVD camp, cuz THEY also have interest in the "living room".

Meanwhile, Nintendo wants to make games, and fun ones at that. You can argue it's motive is to try to tie in the DS and sell more of those (or vice versa). But at least it's still game related.

I for one am siding with Nintendo on this one, and not only because I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but because I want my gaming to not be affected by some stupid political battle of the formats. I don't want to be caught in the middle of a format war that no good can come of.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[voice_of_all_reason]

My checkbook made just made a funny noise and said: "YOU REQUIRE MORE VESPENE GAS"

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[Pluvius]

[Nintendo is] the only gaming company left that doesn't have some ulterior motive.

Are you kidding? The only reason Nintendo can't be said to have an ulterior motive is because they have no leverage with which to accomplish any ulterior goal. Am I the only one who remembers the draconian censorship policies and ludicrous licensing fees that existed back when Nintendo was the only store on the block?

Nintendo is a heartless corporation, same as the other two. You don't notice only because it has been mostly irrelevant for the past decade. I might not be rooting for Sony or Microsoft, but I'm sure as hell not rooting for Nintendo.

Rob

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[Lauwenmark]

Are you kidding? The only reason Nintendo can't be said to have an ulterior motive is because they have no leverage with which to accomplish any ulterior goal.

I don't think (s)he was kidding. Nintendo had no ulterior motive than making profit, by trying to monopolize as much of the gaming market for itself. Why did Nintendo experiment so many "unusual" gaming devices ? Simple: to attract as many customers as possible, grabbing them before less inovative competitors. Somtimes, it was a huge success (Gameboy, NES), sometimes it wasn't (VirtualBoy, NES64). But their core strategy stayed constant during the last 30 years: focus on the gaming business, and try to cut the grass before their opponent's feet by "being the first" in the innovation field.

So, how is that different from Microsoft and Sony ? Well, the goal of those two doesn't seem to make a lot of direct profit with their gaming devices, but rather use them as 'front-ends' to technologies they promote. They play a game of technological reputation: the one with the best-looking gaming device will won the label of "cool brand", and the key technologies associated with their machines will get a boost (PS3 is using Blu-Ray + PS3 is cool = Blu-Ray is cool; PS3 is a Sony product + PS3 is cool = Sony is cool). I think that Sony and MS don't care if XBoxes and PS3s are sold without any direct profit: they are seeking about indirect returns.

And Nintendo ? Well, their strategy seems to be very different. They are still focusing on gaming - and only gaming. They underline the 'social' trait of gaming. They push forward new input devices technologies to provide a new experience to players. Why ? I think that's because they're trying to make profit out of the gaming market itself, instead of using it as a display case for their technological skills.

In that respect, I think saying that Nintendo "has no utter motive" is quite accurate: Nintendo produces games and gaming devices to sell games and gaming devices, while MS and Sony produce those as advertisements for themselves and their other technologies.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[buzzzz]

While I understand the concept that Game Companies should focus on games, I for one am excited about the possibility of someone finally getting it right and integrating the living room into a single device. One can just let one's imagination run with the possibilities of that scenario.

Controlling devices in your house by doing stuff with in a game for example? :)

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[AKAImBatman]

Am I the only one who remembers the draconian censorship policies and ludicrous licensing fees that existed back when Nintendo was the only store on the block?

No, but apparently I'm the only one who remembers why they were so Draconian.

Hello? Video Game Crash of '83/'84 mean anything to anyone? What caused the crash? Too many poor quality cartridges hitting the market. What did Nintendo's contracts require? A limited number of cartridges per publisher.

You also seem to forget that Nintedo was the first company to embrace third parties rather than tolerate them. Atari never liked Activision and IMagic. Mattel and Coleco wanted all the profits to themselves. Nintendo said, "sure, sign on the dotted line."

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[SyncNine]

That amount of storage space for games would be nice to have, but really wont be utilized for a while, and only for certain types of games.

Actually, according to Microsoft (several times) the HD-DVD add-on will never be used for games, period, end of discussion. See reference material here and here and here, just to show a few examples.

Aside from that, I agree with your post. MS isn't doing this to promote a format as much as they're doing it to spur more sales of their console. $600 for an HD-DVD player is still a decent price at the moment, and if you consider that most people considering the add-on will already have the X360 at that point, it looks a lot more like $200 to them. Plus, it's a completely non-requisite component for the system -- as opposed to the PS3, where the BD-drive is so important to Sony that they've delayed the console launch TWICE because of it. I'm all for Sony taking as long as it takes to get it right, but there's a point where their 'top-of-the-line' console starts to look like a very, very expensive way for them to promote their new (and ultimately doomed, like UMD, betamax, and mini-disc) proprietary media format.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[AKAImBatman]

The crash had nothing to do with games being prurient; it had to do with them being bad.

That's actually an urban legend. The Video Game Crash was a result of too many games for the market to support, combined with a general feeling by the public that they were just a fad. While the likes of E.T. and Pacman didn't help anything, they certainly weren't the cause. The cause was attempts by retailers to clear their excess stock by marking down large numbers of titles. This started a chain reaction that lead the public to stop buying console games and focus on computers.

Re:Great, Sony vs. Microsoft

[buffer-overflowed]

Since 1985, there have been a total of 7 main-series console Super Mario games, one of which was an archive(All Stars). 3 for the NES, 1(or 2) for the SNES, 1 for the N64, and 1 for the Gamecube. A 7th(or 8th depending on whether or not you count All Stars) is coming out in 2007. It will be the third 3D main-series Mario title released in just over 10 years, and the 7th(or 8th if you count all Stars) game in the Super Mario series released for a console in just under 22 years. Now if we count handhelds(3 unique handheld games), cameos(tons), spinoffs and the like, that number increases(to 140 appearances in 26 years), but that's not really fair to do. Super Mario RPGs, the Yoshi series, the sports titles, etc. they're all different games, just sharing the same character. And the cameos may as well not even count.

Add one and subtract a few years from that if you want to count the original Mario bros. Oh and add one if you want to count both versions of Mario 2.

There have been a total of 6 actual console Zelda games(unless you count four swords), since 1987. 3 2D, 3 3D. A 4th 3D is coming out this year. It will be the 8th Zelda in just under 20 years. There were 4 unique portable Zeldas(first in 93), with a 5th due out early next year.

Metroid? 1 for the NES, 1 for the SNES, 2 for the Gamecube, 1 for the Wii. In just over 20 years. There's also 3 handheld games(with a 4th rumored). So 8 games in 20 years total.

Kid Icarus? 1 game. 20 years.

Mario Party? No fucking argument here, there's a new game of this almost every year.

In the meantime, Jak and Daxter, a game first released in 2001, has already seen 4 console games in the main series and one handheld game, with another 2 games supposedly slated for 2007(one portable, one console). That's just under 1 game a year. The same holds true of Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank. Metal Gear Solid will have seen 4 in 9 years(decent pacing). And Final Fantasy will have seen 7 main series titles in 9 years(little fast). Madden(and most Sports games) are 1 a year.

See the difference here yet? A lot of the franchises established not even 10 years ago are hitting 5th and 6th installments, while most of Nintendos are only slightly above that(three games max).. despite having been around a decade or more longer(in the case of the PS2 platformers, 15 years+ longer). Oh, and no one, and I mean no one, can challenge the Blue Bomber, Megaman, for sheer milking. There were 9 main-series Megaman games alone, another 8 X platformers, and 4 Zeros, and now ZX. This isn't mentioning the RPG spinoffs or the 3D games(of which there were 2!) or the Arcade games, etc.. Nobody, and I mean *nobody* drives a character/franchise into the ground like Capcom can(23 platformers total in 20 years! And that's being conservative!). I think if you total it up, there's been a new megaman game with basically minor tweaks(and a franchise update!) from the previous one, every year since Megaman's inception(sometimes twice a year!). He's like the Madden of platformers, only even older and slightly more promiscious(Castlevania is getting pretty bad here of late too, but mainly on portables).

Blah...

[GundamFan]

I am half expecting the PS3 to be a smshing sucess at this point.

I would like to call this the inverse internet expert principal or IIEP (in short the louder and more athoritative the armchair expert is the less accurate they become) but not only is the acronym probably taken... I don't think it is a new idea.

Blah... Why do I care? I'm mostly a PC gamer.

Can we declare Nintendo winners yet?

[Yvan256]

Between the high price of the PS3 and all its delays and problems, and the relatively high cost and problems of the Xbox 360 (along with the "Xbox 1.5" perception by most people), how can Nintendo not jump from 2nd to 1st place?

Yes, they were 3rd in the USA, but world-wide they were 2nd, just a bit ahead of the Xbox. Given their larger marketshare when you take the Nintendo DS into account (marketshare, i.e. which % of console(s) owners have a Nintendo system), you have to wonder what the future holds for Microsoft (still in the red with the whole Xbox division) and Sony (betting it all on the PS3, which seems to be a failure before it even starts).

Re:Can we declare Nintendo winners yet?

[masklinn]

Yes, they were 3rd in the USA, but world-wide they were 2nd, just a bit ahead of the Xbox.

They weren't. During the respective lifespans of the consoles, 21 million GameCubes were sold versus 24 million Xbox.

Now benefit-wise, Microsoft lost $2b while Nintendo once again racked in profits.

Re:Just for the record.

[Snarfangel]

Sony didn't invent the transistor radio. An American company did with the help of Texas Instruments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio

This sounds like a truthiness challenge. I'd say Sony is TI's Portugal.

My daily naive question

[UbuntuDupe]

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.'"

Blu-ray was the *main* reason? So, otherwise, they were basically ready to launch before May? So, a bunch of launch titles had *already* been completed by developers and should have had full functionality at E3, and it's possible to send reviewers ready-for-gaming (but crippled) PS3s with these games? And the "tilt controller" was ready to go then?

Is it just me, or were several other equally important issues preventing the Spring launch?

Re:My daily naive question

[dolson]

The Wii remote had nothing to do with the decision! Stop spreading lies! Clearly it was an innovation thought up by Sony - that's what they said - weren't you listening?

Re:My daily naive question

[Anonymous Coward]

The amazing sales of the PS2 are the real reason Sony pushed back the launch of the PS3.

The PS2 is flying off the shelves in all territories even during these usually slow Summer months. Sony could have launched in Spring without the upgraded HDMI spec and with smaller numbers of PS3s to stores. And obviously with less games, but the insane sales of the PS2 have given them the luxury of being able to chose their launch time. People like to claim the "Nextgen doesn't start until we say so" talk by Sony was just arrogance, it is really just a reflection of the utter dominance of the PS2.

We just learned that the PS2 is outselling the 360 in Germany some 27 to 1 each month, and the PS2 has outsold the 360 for almost every month in 2006 in the US.

Sony is in charge and is the sole driving force in the console industry.

Re:My daily naive question

[slofstra]

Your post sounds suspicious so I ran a search on the WSJ. An article posted on 28 July 2006, states:

"The games division, Sony Computer Entertainment, reported a 26.8 billion yen operating loss in the April-June quarter due to research-and-development costs for the PlayStation 3. Division sales fell 29% as fewer consumers bought PlayStation 2 consoles in anticipation of the next model."

Re:My daily naive question

[DDLKermit007]

Actually it's more Sony can't use rumble anymore so they HAD to put something in there. Copying Nintendo badly was the best they could do.

Re:My daily naive question

[Moofie]

"predating anything Nintendo produced."

Where can I buy one of these PC controllers that detect absolute position, not relative motion?

Myth

[generic-man]

Right beneath this article on my front page is one called Ten Gaming Myths Debunked. Myth #1: "The PlayStation 3 Will Fail"

The real winners in the Sony-Nintendo-Microsoft battle for console supremacy: on-line advertisers and opinion columnists.

Re:Just for the record.

[MoFoQ]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio

  It was Sony, then a small, aggressive concern, who produced Japan's first transistor radio, the TR-55 (in 1955). Sony's greatest success was the pocket sized TR-63 released in 1957. It was the first transistor radio to utilize all miniature components and was the first Japanese radio to be imported into the U.S.A.

They may have not "invented" it persay but they did make the first transistor radio to use all miniature components. It's just like Edison...he didn't invent the light bulb...just perfected it ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bu lb#History_of_the_light_bulb ).

Who cares?

[NineNine]

Who cares who is number 1, 2, and 3? Buy whatever you want. I personally don't give a flying shit what game "experts" say (that's an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one). I'm buying a PS3 because I want to.

Re:Who cares?

[CronoCloud]

And more character based run/jump/bop/shoot/whack platformers too! Almost all the good platformers are PS2 games. Which is unreal to someone like me who remembers the NES/SNES days. Insomniac (Ratchet and Clank) AND Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter) AND Sony (Sly Cooper) puts out three platformers... each in the time it takes Nintendo to do one? And it's not like they're low quality sequels, each game is considered as good as the first, if not better.

The PS2 is #1 with a bullet in almost every genre, more everything Because it's audience is so large it's got games in niches that other machines don't, because on the PS2 even a niche game can sell a lot of copies.

Yeah, it's all BluRay's fault

[Pluvius]

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.

Wouldn't that mean that Hollywood is the main reason the PS3 isn't out now?

Rob

Yes, Sony is Satan

[Mdentari]

Yes they were behind it all, all of it I say. WWI and WWII and the cold war! In every basement around the world they have shrines of man hate. The truth is out! Run you perfect, innocent ..dweebish uh I mean noble Nintento boys! RUN!

Re:Just for the record.

[arodland]

If you can't spell "per se" properly, then there's absolutely no chance that you understand it well enough to use it in writing.

Re:Just for the record.

[LWATCDR]

No they didn't.
The first transistor radio sold to the public was the Regency TR-1. Sony didn't get into the market until three years later. They made a good product and it is popular with collectors but it would be like saying Oldsmobile invented the automobile.
The transistor radio became a mainstream consumer item only when companies in Taiwan and Hong Kong started producing the super cheap little radios that you often see in sixties sitcoms.

Microsofts Lead

[Ironsides]

I hate to say it, but from what I've read about the PS3 and it's cost components, it seems to me that Sony should have followed Microsofts lead and released the 1st gen PS3 without Blue-Ray. As I understand it, that alone would have allowed a several hundred dollar price cut and would make it competitive with the 360. Also, given the lack of blue lasers out there, it would help with manufacturing as well. Then, in a year or two when the Blue Ray drives have come down in price, they could release the 2nd gen PS3s with Blue-Ray. One revolution per generation seems to be enough.

One thing I'm curious about. I wonder if one reason MS delayed shiping the 360 with an HD-DVD drive was to see if Blue-Ray would come out on top over HD-DVD and make sure that they didn't support the losing side prematurely. Basically, even though MS says they are commited to HD-DVD, if it flops they could just put Blue-Ray drives in the 2nd gen 360s instead.

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[Anonymous Coward]

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

You conveniently left out "Any place which discusses video games".

Gamespot, GameFAQ, Penny Arcade, PVP, all of them think the PS3 is a white elephant. A bunch of people in the traditional early adopter group say they'll buy it, "eventually, when the price comes down".

All together, it looks like It's going to be Microsoft and/or Nintendo in the lead, with Sony left in the dust.

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[MrJynxx]

your points are a little off and it appears your using your magic 8 ball again. Also I swear I've seen an identical post on another sony bashing article a few months back..

"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"

uhh yea ok buddy, dropping like mad. After checking bestbuy.ca and futureshop.ca I found 1 1080P HDTV and it was not 1000 bucks, it wasn't even close.. I've only seen a 1080p TV in a super high end audio/video store. And they didn't even have anything that could drive 1080p at the time. So I doubt this point has any merit what so ever for driving sales of the PS3.

another bad point

"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"

so they're stockpiling hundreds of thousands of bluray drives to launch a couple million PS3's. Anybody else see what's wrong with this statement? what about the other 1.5million PS3's that will supposedly be ready?

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

Ah this must be the mystical 8-ball I was referring to. Where the hell did you get this information? Also NO MAJOR RETAILER HAS YET TO HAVE ANY PRE-ORDERS. Maybe it's different in Japan, but since I don't live there I can't comment on it.

Look, I want PS3 to be kickass, make me grill cheese and do my homework. But if they don't get they're shit together and stop being arrogant assholes they're going to fall like sega (Next gen doesn't start until we say so, ok buddy, piss off).

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[Pluvius]

However, most folks don't have $1700+ bucks to spend on a console. (you have to figure a game and sales tax in that total).

Jesus, I knew California had a high sales tax, but that's ridiculous.

Rob

Nintendo was the bully when it was king

[jchenx]

I totally agree. Nintendo definately did a lot of bullying themselves, when they were the King of Console Gaming. I remember when Sony started this little thing called the PlayStation, nobody believed in it. But developers flocked to it, one reason was due to the licensing and censorship issues they faced in Nintendo at the time. (Anyone else remember the Mortal Kombat fiasco?) That was also the time of $60-80 video games, and this is NOT at today's prices.

That said, I think (maybe more along the lines of "hope") that the Nintendo of today is far different than the bully of years past. But to all the fanboys who think that Nintendo can do no wrong, they need to remember that these are still corporations we're talking about. Not people. They all will do what it takes to make money. Part of it, though, does mean treating customers with respect, and doing the right things for gamers, so that they'll come back to you time and time again. I think that's what Sony has lost (and arguably, that's what toppled Nintendo back then too).

Re: Nintendo is different under Iwata.

[trdrstv]

Nintendo is a very different company since Yamauchi left. Iwata is a very different person with a different style of management, and different views.

I'm not saying 'they can do no wrong', but Yamauchi retiring was a good thing for their company.

Is there any way to blame Microsoft for this?

[LibertineR]

I mean, come on. If only to protect my Slashdot Karma?

Throw me a bone, dammit! I AM trying....someone HELP me!

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[InsaneGeek]

Too bad it won't take a 1080p signal. You've fallen for one of the great wonders of the video world, advertising scalled inputs resolutions while actual native input resolution being something different hidden amongst the fine print.

Re: Nintendo is different under Iwata.

[Abcd1234]

And they've also been forced to do other questionable things simply because of the position they're in, such as making a gimmicky controller in an attempt to tap the non-gamer market.

Yeah, no kidding! It's like that other gimmicky thing they came up with that was supposed to appeal to non-gamers... the, whatsitcalled, the... DS! Yeah, that's it! Man, where's that ridiculous thing, now, I wonder...

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[powerlord]

First off, I'm not sure why the comment above is marked as a Troll, except perhaps the last bit knocking Zonk and Slashdot, and that is really more of Flamebait.

As far as specs go, the parent is pretty much on the money, although I'm not sure if Sony has announced about things like 1080p over component, we haven't seen what their on-line system is, and "we" (as a community) feel a bit burned after the PS2's "Linux Support".

On the other hand ...

- backward compatibility is something that Sony HAS shown it "gets" (as opposed to MicroSoft's XBox), and that opens up a huge library of playable games from day 1 (similar to the advantage the DS has over the PSP, yet people seem to remember it on the handheld but discount it on the console).
- I'm not sure if we've see a web browser announced for the PS3, but considering they got one in the PSP I wouldn't be surprised ... does it matter though?
- The prices on 1080p TVs are dropping like stones. The set that used to cost upwards of 10,000$ is now in the 2,000$ range. Is this higher than most people will spend? Sure. On the other hand, as the price drops it enters more people's buying range. As that happens, things like HDMI output, 1080p resolution and Blu-Ray DO become significant. The mandatory hard-drive is also a neat feature to have for hooking in extra content (or caching parts of a game that you might be working on).
- Yes, its a computer, but one available in only one configuration (the size of the hard-drive, and how it connects to the net should be transparent from the perspective of any program running on the OS). Isn't that all ANY console is?

I expect Sony to do a lot better than Slashdot expects (which seems to be as well as the Dreamcast).

From the launch of the iPod:
CmdrTaco's editorial on the launch under the News Blurb, "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
Comments went on to include:
"Unfortunately $400 is about twice as much as I'd want to pay for something the size of a pack of cards." , "iPod is a good product, but nothing to get excited over."

Not all the comments were negative, but if I went by those comments alone, I doubt I would predict that people are starting to consider the iPod as a monopoly product.

Why don't we wait until the PS3 launches, and then we can see how it does? (oh ... right ... the "pundits" need to pontificate)

Re:State of Sony's PS3

[iammichael]

After checking bestbuy.ca and futureshop.ca I found 1 1080P HDTV and it was not 1000 bucks, it wasn't even close.. I've only seen a 1080p TV in a super high end audio/video store.

One 1080p TV from Outpost.com (Fry's Electronics) for under $1000 right here.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4860630?site=sr:S EARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Too bad it won't take a 1080p signal. You've fallen for one of the great wonders of the video world, advertising scalled inputs resolutions while actual native input resolution being something different hidden amongst the fine print.

True 1080p does exist without needing to go to a super high end store. Westinghouse has a 37" 1080p LCD panel that takes 1080p input -- the LVM-37w3. It's not under $1k, but it's pretty close: $1299 from Crutchfield. I bought mine from BestBuy after having them match the price at my local store.

Re: Nintendo is different under Iwata.

[AKAImBatman]

But they still make bad decisions, such as calling the console "Wii."

Are you kidding me? That's the most incredible viral marketing campaign ever to hit the console industry! I swear, my dog knows what the Wii is, thanks to all the juvenile jokes that are spread about it.

The name is accomplishing its intended purpose. To advertise to folks who are traditionally "non-gamers". And it's managing to harness viral marketing without directly making Nintendo look juvenile. (A big problem with a lot of the viral marketing campaigns.) In short, it's not stupidity, it's genius.

Stringer is the wrong man for the job

[gamer4Life]

He is a media guy in charge of an electronics company. The media division is why Sony is in this mess in the first place. DRM and anti-copying technology for the sake of protecting it's media business is what's killing Sony.

"I bought shares in mighty Sony," cried a woman whose holdings had lost nearly two-thirds of their value. "What are you going to do about this?" It was hardly an unexpected question, and Stringer answered as best he could. Citing runaway ticket sales for Sony Pictures' The Da Vinci Code and the remarkable success of the Bravia digital TV line, he argued that Sony has entered a period of reemergence.

His answer shows his thinking. All he knows is media. He has no idea that the media division is crippling the hardware. If it weren't for Sony's disdain for mp3s, they could have easily came out with an MP3 player and beaten the iPod. That's worth more than a whole year's worth of blockbuster movies.

Blame Howard Stringer and his media cronies for infecting Sony. They've helped their positions by helping the media division at the expense of Sony's core strength - electronics.

Re:I was not going to buy one, but now I am.

[masklinn]

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?

Not for a second.

What was Sony going to do, put a regular DVD player in their system?

If it drops the prices of the console by a third? How about yes?

Is that called innovation?

Uh... you lost me there. You're not trying to imply that higher resolution + more storage = innovation are you? Cause if you were I've got bad news for you: my computer has 4 500Gb hard drives, and I can play in 2560*1600... I guess my currently available computer is somehow more innovative than your currently-non-existant PS3 isn't it?

I'm sure Sony has learned their lesson from the MiniDisc fiasco.

Yep, just as well as they learned their lesson from the Betamax fiasco before launching the minidisc and the memory stick.

Besides, Nintendo has always had their own disc or cartridge format, so what's the difference?

Mmmm let me guess... The N64 got beaten by the PS1, the GC got annihilated by the PS2 and the Wii uses perfectly standard DVDs?

Re:I was not going to buy one, but now I am.

[amuro98]

The XBox 360 supports HDTV and uses DVD.

Explain how Blu-Ray - by itself - will result in better HD gaming? Sure, Blu-Ray discs have added space vs. DVD, but we're seeing HD capable games on the 360 fitting on a single DVD with no problems. In fact, most PS2 and XBox games barely filled half filled a single layer DVD.

RPGs, which could run into problems with storage capacity, have been released across multiple discs since the days of the PS1, so this would hardly be something new to the market.

As for Nintendo's discs vs. Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, Nintendo's format is ONLY used to play games. Not videos. Sony expects to use the PS3 to help launch Blu-Ray into millions of homes, but this then means if the PS3 flounders, Blu-Ray is basically dead in the water.

Re: Nintendo is different under Iwata.

[AKAImBatman]

Four words: Snakes on a Plane.

Seven words: Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid

Anacondas Opening Weekend
    - $12,812,287 (USA) (29 August 2004) (2,905 Screens)
    - £194,597 (UK) (14 November 2004) (157 Screens)

Motherfn' Snakes on the Motherfn' Plane Opening Weekend
    - $15,206,301 (USA) (20 August 2006) (3,555 Screens)
    - £1,069,608 (UK) (20 August 2006) (354 Screens)

Obviously the hype has had some effect. When the movie is out of the theaters we'll have to see how much it fully trounces Anacondas' numbers.

I disagree - 8 GB is more than enough for now

[Chordonblue]

I think games are going in an entirely new direction - one where algorithmic interpretations overtake straight data like bitmaps and pre-rendered video.

Want to see the future? Take a look at 'Spore' from EA/Maxis. I think it's The Next Big Thing. The sheer amount of gameplay is amazing - and I'll bet it's not over 4 GB.

Sonys biggest problem

[Tharald]

Interesting article, but I think it missed a bit on the cause. It starts out good with the line "PR fiascoes tend to be a sign that nobody's thinking about the customer". That is the main problem with Sony.

Sony seems to have an extremely entrenched philosophy that says that the only way they can do well is to lock in the customer. Like the article touched on, the beta wars, the memory card wars, the mp3 wars... This attitude is amplified by their music division, and they do their utmost to lock the customers into proprietary formats. Putting this in front of giving their customers what they want is what is really killing Sony.

It is a long time since I stopped buying Sony products, even though they do have really great stuff. I also actively discourage other people from buying Sony. They promote mp3 players that dont play mp3? What the f#%k!

It is sad, but I think the unhealthy business attitude runs so deep in the company that there is no turning back. Personally I agree with the conclusion. For me its going to be the Wii.

-TN

Not inconsistant or wrong

[SuperKendall]

Division sales fell 29% as fewer consumers bought PlayStation 2 consoles in anticipation of the next model.

Yes, and yet the PS2 STILL managed to outsell the 360 every month except I think for last Christmas, which is what the original poster was saying. Even despite that drop the PS2 is selling in very large numbers.

Re:Not inconsistant or wrong

[JFMulder]

Actually, I just thought about looking at Wikipedia, and I've found the information my other reply to my post was lacking. Seriously, Wikipedia is way better at finding information than Google now. Anyway... straight from Sony's website
Playstation 1 shipping figures
Playstation 2 shipping figures

Now, before anybody get's excited, I know that consoles shipped != consoles sold, but they are a pretty good indicator of sales anyway. And if you go to a store right now, you'll see both PS2s and 360s sitting on store shelves.

Sony started shipping PS2 on March 6, 2000. 10 months into the PS2 life span, they had shipped 6.4 million units. Microsft has shipped just north of 5 million consoles 10 months into their console life.

At the same time, Sony kept on shipping Playstation 1s. The number of console shipped from march 31 2000 to december 31rst 2000 went from 71.2 to 79.61. This means they actually shipped (thus more or less sold, face it, no stores like to keep too much unsold consoles in stock), 8.41 million consoles, while the shipped only 6.4 million PS2s.

After a year, Sony has shipped 10 million PS2 (interresting, since this is the figure Microsoft is shooting at for their first year with the 360). And shipped 9.31 million more PS1. So it nearly took a year for the PS2 to outsell the PS1.

Now, fast forward a couple of years to the 360's launch. On June 30th, Sony had shipped roughly 6.22 million consoles since the 360 came out. 21 days later, Microsoft accounced they had shipped 5 millions.

So where does that leave us. Yes, the 360 is selling less. Keep in mind that it's (360's retail at 400CAN$ and 500CAN$) between 3.1 and 3.8 times more costly than a PS2(129CAN$) and 4 to 5 times the price of a GameCube(100CAN$). On the other end, PS2(299US$) was 3 times PS1's price when it launched(99US$).

So all of this considered, I think Microsoft is doing a pretty good job.

Re: Nintendo is different under Iwata.

[masklinn]

Anyway, the point that you missed is that the PS3 is in the same position that the DS was

Uh. No?

the Wii and the PSP were hyped up as giant-killers

That widely varies with the people you poll, the Wii is either extremely liked or extremely disliked (due to debatable and nearly not shown graphic abilities)

And they didn't consider it viable because they couldn't do it. They even proved that they couldn't do it with the Gamecube.

By your declaration, the GC should've been less powerful that the PS2. And it wasn't. Even though Nintendo sold it with an alledged poly count 10 times lower than the PS2 or the Xbox (difference being that the GC poly count was for fully textured ones).

They failed to attract 3rd party titles the medium was crap and it was hard to juice out the maximum perfs out of the console, but saying that the GC was less powerful than the concurrence is not even misleading, it's downright wrong.

Why not just keep your Gamecube?

Don't have one in the first place?

Which Nintendo will certainly discourage the use of for new games, since the whole system is based around the Wiimote.

True that!... wait... Super Smash Bros Brawl for Wii is a Nintendo game and it will use the classic controller because the dev team considered it was fitter to SSBB's gameplay than the Wiimote... There goes your shiny theory...

If all Nintendo can provide to the fanboys are a few first-party franchises, with the rest of the system being designed for non-gamers, how is that not dismissive of the fanboys?

Let's see. The following have been comfirmed for Wii at or within 6 months of release:

• From Ubi Soft
  • Rayman Raving Rabbids
  • Red Steel
  • Monster 4X4 : World Circuit
  • Open Season
  • Far Cry Instincts
  • Blazing Angels : Squadrons Of WWII
  • GT Pro Series
  • Prince Of Persia
  • Beyond Good & Evil 2
• EA (no I don't like them either, but... oh well...)
  • Madden
  • NFS Carbon
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour
  • SSX
  • Harry Potter
  • The Godfather
  • And EA has announced that they have a team working exclusively on the Wii, and that more games are in the pipe (and that all of the Wii titles should be sold for $49.99 versus $60 to $70 for other platforms)
• Capcom
  • has announced that the Biohazard serie (Resident Evil) will have a Wii episode. It won't be RE5, but will be a Wii-specific iteration.

Bah, it's just annoying to create that kind of lists, so i'll just write them inline. Not necessarily a good thing but THQ is in (Avatar, Barnyard, Spongebob, Cars) as well as Midway (Blitz: the league, Happy Feet, MK: Armageddon, Rampage: Total Destruction), Kuju will release Batallion Wars II, Sega will have Bleach, Nights, Super Monkey Ball and a Sonic episode, Gnosis' Broken Saints will be on the Wii as well as Activision's CoD3, Square Enix will start with a Dragon Quest and FF: Crystal Chronicles, Bandai/Atari will have a Dragon Ball game, Namco will have Final Furlong, a Gundam game and Digimon and Tamagotchi franchise games, NTREEV's Pangya is in, a One Piece game is in the making, and of course a bunch of Nintendo titles (AC, Excite Trucks, Obstacle Course, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Super Mario Galaxy, SSBB, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a WarioWare, Wii Music, Wii Sports).

And quite a few other devs/publishers have said that they had Wii games in production or that they were planning Wii games.

But yeah, I guess all of these are for non-gamers exclusively.