NY Times Review of PS3

An anonymous reader noted that the NY Times has done a fairly negative review of the PS3. It would seem that there have been a fair number of these; it's pretty evident at this point that Sony's launch of the PS3 was not exactly well planned out; issues are still rolling in but the real test will be how it does over the holidays and into the next year.

Comments

Fanboy-talk

[RoLi]

After I read "Even after Microsoft took the lead in the video-game wars a year ago with its innovative and powerful Xbox 360 [..]" I knew the article is just hype.

First of all, Microsoft didn't take the lead, Playstation 2 still outsells all versions of XBox combined by a rather large margin.

Second, while XBox360 may be very powerful, it sure isn't innovative. The only things that changed between XBox1 and XBox360 are a faster CPU (pretty much to be expected), wireless controllers (not innovative because the technology has been available in stores for many years) and an improved online service (which arguably may be innovative but in fact is just a little more than a glorified ICQ which is nothing really new either).

I think the PS3 is overpriced, rushed out of the door and overpowered, but it sure is innovative: Cell is a completely new architecture and Blu Ray a completely new storage medium.

Of course innovative doesn't equal "better" - which probably is a very subjective thing. However when it comes to innovation I don't see a lot of it on XBox360.

Re:Fanboy-talk

[Abcd1234]

I think the PS3 is overpriced, rushed out of the door and overpowered, but it sure is innovative: Cell is a completely new architecture and Blu Ray a completely new storage medium.

Uhh, huh? Cell is just the PS2 architecture taken to it's logical conclusion. Rather than a bunch of special purpose vector units surrounding a single core, you have a bunch of cores. Nothing terribly special, there, IMHO.

And BR is just a souped up DVD. Nothing more, nothing less. It's no more innovative than moving from CD to DVD... it's yet another optical drive, with it's usual host of problems (load times, scratched media, etc, etc).

Honestly, I see very little in the PS3 that's terribly innovative or compelling. The Cell is really the best thing it has going for it, as far as that goes, and ironically, it works *against* game developers by making their jobs significantly harder, as writing a game for the PS3 is now a very different task compared to writing one for, say, the Wii or 360.

Some new things are more than souped-up old things

[LKM]

it really felt like nothing more than a souped up PS2

Isn't that what the next generation of anything is?

Not really. Usually, you do get something more than just "more of the same." Looking at the console history, you got things like 3D graphics (SNES -> PS1), analog sticks (PS1 -> N64), the ability to watch movies (Dreamcast -> PS2) or a real online service (PS2 -> Xbox). Sure, the PS3 brings Blu-Ray, but that's just a better DVD. What else does it have? Most things are faster.

Compare this to the Wii, which brings a really cool new controller. That's not souped up, that's new.

Re:Just Give It A Fucking Rest

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"The anti-Sony and PS3 crap that has littered Slashdot over the past year and a half has done absolutely nothing to change anyones mind."

The anti-Sony crap wasn't something Slashdot created. It was born from Sony's missteps over the last year.

"And Slashdot is still trolling the Net looking for someone 'saying something bad about teh PS3' articles."

Haven't you noticed that Slashdot doesn't have to travel very far to find these stories? Face it: It's a bad year to be a Sony fanboy. That's not Slashdot's fault. Zonk didn't price it at $599. Zonk didn't tell everybody they could go get a second job if they didn't like the price of the machine. Zonk didn't cut their production ridiculously low. Zonk didn't toss rumble functionality in favor of a ripped-off/band-aided motion sensor. Zonk didn't even make mediochre launch games for the system. You cannot blame Slashdot for Sony's lousy PR this year.

Sony tripped over their own feet. They set the tone for how the PS3 would be recieved and the media has responded. Just give it a fucking rest.

Something like the Wii Remote has never been done

[LKM]

there have been controllers like that for a while now, but never really caught on.

This is either a blatant lie, or you're a bit uninformed.

Frankly, I'm not sure what controllers that have been available "for a while now" you're referring to. Are you talking about motion-sensing controllers? You need to understand that the Wii Remote isn't simply a new version of the old Sidewinder FreeStyle Pro. Motion sensing controllers like the FreeStyle or the PS3 controller only recognize movement and/or the angle at which you hold the controller. The Wii Remote does more: The Wii can calculate its precise position, direction and angle. Position is the important point here: The PS3 controller doesn't know the difference between standing right in front of the TV, or sitting on your sofa far away. The Wii Remote does. The Wii knows precisely how you move the controller, and from where to where you move it in space. Hence, it supports - in addition to all the things the PS3 controller supports - stuff like golfing, sword fights or "pointing" (as in gun).

Make no mistake, something like the Wii Remote has never been done in consumer electronics.

And since your premise is false, the rest of your post is pointless.