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PlayStation 3 Launches in EU/AU

Posted by Zonk on from the it's-everywhere-it's-everywhere dept.

stpk4 wrote to mention some articles discussing the launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe; London saw Phil Harrison handing out HD sets, while Microsoft's party barge and lackluster crowds marked the Parisian launch. The Australian launch went well but also saw disappointing crowds, with media, security, and store officials outnumbering the customers for much of the event. Eurogamer has a comprehensive list of launch titles, for those of you in the new territories thinking of picking up a console.

9 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Re:wtf?! by Churla · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My bet is that Sony realizes that the PS3 is only really a value for people needing HD, and many people simply aren't running HD yet. (I have a 36" standard def tube set at home which still looks great for everything I watch).

    That known the best way to get people evangelizing about the product is to make sure they are using it in the most optimal scenario.

    Also, I am willing to bet he knows the PR quagmire/sinkhole the PS3 is in and knew it would get him good publicity pop.

    --
    I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
  2. Re:Folding by Rycross · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thats not surprising, considering cell is specifically designed to excel at the sort of calculations involved with protein folding. Its not indicative of the overall power of the system, or how well that power relates to a PC at all. Saying that a PS3 has 20x the performance of a Windows PC based on these numbers is ridiculous.

  3. Re:In my store... by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course it's easy to ship enough stock when your demand is low.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  4. Re:In my store... by Rycross · · Score: 2, Insightful

    120 units is a lot more than they shipped to American stores though. Around these parts, stores got between 20 and 30. Although one Circuit City in the 'burbs got 100.

  5. Re:PS3 by The_Sock · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know, I really hate optional hardware on a console. If you develop games for a console, you should know what hardware is in it. You should only have to worry about that one piece of hardware (per vendor), not any of this stupid core, plus, platinum, xtreme, wtf, models of a console. I personally believe, from a developers point of view, you can do more if all the neat gee-wiz options are there in every console.

    --
    For a good time call www.sawkie.com
  6. 'Overall' power? by Funk_dat69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And what exactly is the 'overall' power of a system?

    Performance always has a context (despite what some marketers will have you believe) and in this context, yes, the Cell in the PS3 really is that much more powerful than an x86 chip.

    --
    FUNK!
    1. Re:'Overall' power? by Rycross · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For a gaming system? How well it plays games. Basically, how well it performs the tasks it was created for.

      Yes its more powerful in that context, but thats not what I was arguing. I was arguing that you can't extrapolate the numbers out to say that, overall, the PS3 is 20 times more powerful than the PC, which is what it seemed like the top poster was trying to do.

      I doubt that the PS3 could beat a Core 2 Duo in a highly branching area, like AI.

  7. Re: Wii is plenty powerful... by trdrstv · · Score: 4, Insightful
    But the Wii just doesn't have the power and graphics to satify the gaming population.

    Sure it does. In fact it already has about half the install base of the 360 and more than twice that of the PS3. Remember that if the 'most powerful machine' wins the race, Sony would never have been a contender. People seemed pretty content with their PS1/PS2's despite there being more powerful systems competing with them.

  8. Re:The cheapest way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    er.. is it so utterly inconceivable that some people actually want to own a ps3?
    for them, it would have been an easy way to save ~300 euros...