Still A Rough Road Ahead for the PlayStation 3

TobyToadstool writes "Despite the good news out of GDC last week, it still seems like Sony's new console has some image management to do. CNET says that the PlayStation 3 is 'the most unwanted console in recent memory' and asks 'why is the PS3 so undesirable?' They specifically question the company's wisdom in emphasizing the power of the console. Their impression is that this invites developers to neglect gameplay, in favour of investing in graphics. Likewise, Gamespot is running a piece suggesting ten ways to make the PS3 worth buying. A lower price is just one of the suggestions with exclusives, and the need for online standardization, following close behind. Looks like Sony still has its work cut out."

Comments

Re:well, duh

[Lithos]

Had to reply to this.. I own all 3 systems and I hate it when people assume they know what they're talking about.

The price, frankly, is retardedly high. Without anything new or awesome games, a console that's 50% higher than its nearest competitor isn't going to sell. Well there's two problems with this thinking. 1st, it's only $100 more than a 360, if you want to compare what the systems actually include, assuming you're not interested in playing Blu-Ray discs or HD-DVD discs, otherwise, it's $100 cheaper than a 360. Why is this? Because the 360 only comes with a 20 GB HD and no 802.11g support. Let's try and just compare apples to apples.

One more food for thought item... I realize that the 360 has better online options right now.. but is it $50/yr better? Or $200 - $250 over the life of the console better? That also needs to be figured in the total cost of ownership of either system. The way I see it, total cost of ownership for my 360 (having gotten it on launch day) is $850. $250 for 5 years worth of XBox Live (assuming I keep it for the life of the system) and $200 for the HD-DVD player (because I really do think high def movies are better) and $400 for the console. Whereas the total cost of ownership for my PS3 (having gotten it on launch day) is still only $600.

I have all 3 systems, and play all 3 systems regularly. I couldn't/didn't want to choose one or two out of the three because I knew it would be torture 1-2 years down the road, once the big exclusives come out. But once I got all 3 and started looking at this objectively, I started feeling more and more like Sony actually does know what they're doing. Now if only someone could send a message to their marketing folk that the PS3 would be cheaper than a similarly decked out 360 and play off of that, maybe their sales would start taking off.