Can Sony Convince the World? 127
Gamasutra's regular feature asking a question of the game development community is back. This week's question cuts to the heart of the reporting from the Tokyo Game Show: Can Sony Convince Us it is Still Dominant?. From the article: "All that Sony needs to do is stop acting so arrogant. People can forgive any number of faults if the company generally acts responsible for their mistakes. When the PSP came out and people complained about the square buttons getting stuck and not being as responsive as the other buttons, Sony said 'There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to.' We have to adapt to their broken button... Comedic at best. When everyone said the price of the PS3 was rather high, Sony told everyone that 'people will buy it no matter what.' What do they say about PCs? 'The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC.' - Dave Fried, The Collective"
wow (Score:3, Funny)
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As a side note, how would one evaluate Sony's success? Do we compare it's adoptation to the other consoles or the PS2? If the answer is "both" then Sony's has a difficult struggle ahead of it.
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If they aren't a dominant force (which I don't believe there is any one dominant force at this moment in time in the console market), how would they go about convincing people? It will be very hard to at least put on a facade of a dominant unrefutable force to be reckoned with, when deciding on what console to purchase for your loved one this holida
They are starting to. (Score:3, Insightful)
They have tacken 2 steps i nthe proper directions:
1) The inclussion of HDMI on all PS3s is a very good idea in my mind. You now have a BluRay player for $500 that is not crippled. The expanded HD does not seem like that much of a wory. The loss of WiFi? Mehh. No card reader? I dono, does it really do much? (I honestly don't remember).
Now they just need to make the price not suck AS much, right?
2) Droping the price of the core system in Japan.
They caught on that the Japanese didn't like the price, and mabey they will catch on that Americans (and the rest of the world) don't like $500 as a price point either.
Though, I will admit that $500 is almost an acceptable budget for a system to me, however that is b/c I am ussed to dropping $500+ when ever I upgrade my computer...
Note: I will never buy a PS3 untill the price comes down to around the $200 range. I will buy a Wii, but that is b/c it seems like it is honestly inovative. the PS3 is a replacement for my computer as a gaming platform? I will pass, you can pry my trackball from my cold dead hands.
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$500 is around what I'm budgeting for the Wii. In order for any game system to be worth anything to you when you take it home that day, you'll have to fork over at least another $50-$60 for one game (Save the Wii, if Wii Sports is REALLY all you want to stick with). That's if you only want to stay one-player too. Then fork over extra for
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Generaly the budget I work with for when I upgrade/buy a new computer is $700-850 (generaly I am replacing just about everytihng exept optical drives, NIC, simple things like that).
Now to me, that is compleatly reasonable as I spend a large portion of my free time infront of my computer, and much of that is spent gameing (aka actualy taking advantage of the $$ spent on performance). It is also the main thing I am interest
Re:They are starting to. (Score:4, Informative)
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You must not follow companies much. I can think of lots of companies that have gone way out of their way to destroy customer goodwill and drive themselves to the brink of bankruptcy and beyond. Sony is far from being the first company to do that. In fact, they are not even the first video game company to do that. Remember Atari?
I can think of many other examples: General Motors, Ford, Apple under John S
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I am actualy more familiar with the dotcom problems, where you had companies doing everything they could to make their customers LVOE them, then realizing that their buisness strategy would not turn a profit. I think of companies like Kosmo.com that just could not turn a profit when I tihnk of companies shooting themselfs in the foot.
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Looks like you're not buying one then. Ever. The PS2 started at $400 and to this day is only $150. If the PS3 is starting at $500 don't expect it to ever be as low as $200.
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The ps3 will drop a little faster, because competition will be tougher this gen. Sony got lucky and killed Sega early, and dominated the market after that. Microsoft was too new and Nintendo's pissed off or alienated too many people (e.g. Namco, Squa
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Enough, Zonk. Enough. (Score:2, Informative)
All realtime PS3 titles:
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748483/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2628 [gametrailers.com]
http://www.level5.co.jp/products/shirokishi/index. html [level5.co.jp]
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748488/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748480/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/733/733921p1.html [ign.com]
The PS3 is just over a month away from hitting the shelves in the US and Japa
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Beyond the pretty pictures, what's your point? So the PS3 can make pretty pictures, I think everyone knows that. That does nothing to combat:
1. No release titles anyone cares about.
2. Ridiculously expensive price tag. $600 for a console?! (Keep in mind, with a 20/80 split, most people will have to get the
Re:Enough, Zonk. Enough. (Score:4, Informative)
Personally I'll wait to see if the PS3 is going to have some decent games into buying-into the system as you seem to have already.
Uhm... Zonk isn't the one to blame. (Score:2)
Zonk couldn't make this stuff up if he wanted to. Did Zonk make Kutaragi say stupid crap? Did Zonk force Sony to price the PS3 at 600 bucks? Did Zonk personally buy every DS in order to make sure that the PSP sold less? Did Zonk plant the Rootkit in the Sony CDs? Did Zonk personally program GT HD? Did Zonk switch Sony's controller with one that mimics some of the functionality of the Wii controller? Did Zonk write the script to the RIIIDGE RAAAAACER/giant crabs from Japan's history presentations?
Don't kill
So very tired of this... (Score:5, Interesting)
MS has failed to impress me with the 360 and their game line up thus far. To be honest though I am hopeful / excited about the Wii, but you never know it might turn out to be a turd. Point is there is so much smoke and mirrors, and hype around console launches it's stupid to speculate and get all worked up about every half baked press release and "insider speculation".
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XBox 360 I think has some decent games. DOA4 and Enchanted Arms look cool. But, two good games does not warrant a $400 purchase, so, waiting for price drop and better games.
The Wii... well, I have high hopes for it, but I'm getting Zelda on 'Cube and waiting to see how well this wiimote thing works out.
I
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I think you've hit on Sony's real problem: I don't care about any of the games being released now. Can the PS3 survive long enough for the games I actually want to play to make it out on it?
The games I'm excited about aren't going to be coming out until late 2007 at the earliest. There's no way I'm buying a PS3 at launch. I'll be waiting until the price comes down enough that I can afford it. Well, not afford, but until the price comes down to what I'm willing to pay, and what I'm willing to pay depen
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I figure thats what Sony was expecting PS3 owners would do until HDMI TV's dropped in price, hook them up to monitors.
Re:So very tired of this... just no games excite (Score:1)
I agree, the problem is that there's nothing there to excite us. All the exciting games are either Nintendo Wii or they're cross-platform and thus mean we can play Sim: Island on the Wii and Spore on the Wii just as easily as on the PS3.
Trying to keep the cool Japanese games out of the Euro and US markets is the problem
Games are region free (Score:2)
From what's been said the PS3 games aren't going to be restricted by region, so you should be able to order Japanese games and play them in EU or NA.
Re:Games are region free, if encoded thus (Score:1)
Should be and are is not the same. Sure, if Sony got it's act together and realized why Nintendo was eating Sony's shorts, they could get a clue stick and kill their region-encoded games they've been pushing, and not be so DRM-heavy, but the reality is they rely on region-encoding far more than Nintendo is planning to be.
Nintendo got a ride on the non-DRM clue
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It has been said over and over there will be NO region restrictions on games with the PS3. I don't recall hearing anything about region restrictions being on, or off for the Wii. Either way we aren't going to know until November what either system really delivers so why don't was save the out of the ass speculation until then.
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I for one will not be buying a system until I can demo all 3. And until then, I'll continue to stick my fingers in my ears and make absurd noises at all these hacks who have nothing better to write about than "Can Sony save itself a
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It will be debated, argued, and "discussed" by means of flame wars in the comments, the loudest people will be summed up, and it will be repeated in either a dupe, with possibly another jab at sony, or, if the comment tide turns (and by that I mean th
In a word.... (Score:1)
No.
I'll admit I'm biased, but since it's the entire world we're talking about....
Agreed. (Score:2)
I have to go against the grain here... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Exept games.
The XBox had awsome sports games and racing games and a few (I can think of about 6-7) REAL AAA titles (This is counting the games that are exclusive, or are heavily tied to the system).
The PS2 simply has more GOOD games then the XBox (I am not talking about games that are fun to play, I am talking about games that you know you are going to be playing again and again for a while).
XBox got it (mostly) Right by
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The Xbox has had more than 6-7 AAA titles. You have to include games that are not exclusives. I have not bought a PS2 game in many years. I am going to probably, buy Guitar Hero soon. That is the first PS2 game in a LOT of years that has my attention. I have not looked at PS2 games for a few years, in general. The only game I am still annoyed was PS2 exclusive, was Soul Calibur 3. I have NO clue why i
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But you've missed something... (Score:4, Interesting)
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The plural of anecdote is not "data." Of the 6 or 7 individuals I know who own a PS2, only one has had to replace his and that guy's a slob. Regardless, there's a 60-70 million unit gap (depending on how you interpret shipped vs. sold) between the Ps2 and the GC or Xbox. to put it in perspective, even the NES only managed to sell about 70 million or so during it's entire lifetime. You
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Yeah I want a PlayStation (Score:2)
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It seems that most games are going to be multi-platform. I think owning one, will not be as big of a deal... unless you like Nintend
Re:I have to go against the grain here... (Score:5, Insightful)
-the PS2 had a DVD player in a time when DVD players were all the rage, but still expensive.
-the PS2 could play PS1 games, so there was more of an incentive for PS1 owners to upgrade.
-the PS2 had a full year head start
On the other hand, Microsoft was an unknown as far as gaming had gone, so people were wary to pick up their console (especially in Japan). The PS2 was as or less expensive than the XBox when the XBox came out, as well, I believe.
Now the positions are somewhat reversed. Microsoft's console has a year's head start, will be the cheaper of the two, and has proved slight dominance over Nintendo (at least in America). Now Sony just has the BluRay and backwards compatibility going for it.
Frankly, I think it's going to be anyone's game this time around.
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People want Nintendos. That is it. Look at the sales number difference between the Super Nintendo Entertainment system and
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The Wii is cheap and looks really fun.
The PS-3 I might get one when the price drops to $250 or if I find a must have game for it.
Even on slashdot I seen the Wii leading like 20 to one. Let's face it Slashdot is probably a pretty good sampling of people that are willing to drop a few hundred dollars on a game system.
At Christmas parents and kids will have t
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You ever think that that's because Microsoft doesn't sell XBoxen anymore? Sony still sells PS2's.
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I own all 3 last gen systems. Xbox, PS2, and GC. The Xbox was the last one I bought. I bought the PS2 on launch day, and played one PS1 game in it. I don't know that I buy that backwards compatiblity stuff. It is nice, but I own a next-gen console, I want next gen titles. My plan, at the moment
Give gamers at least a little bit of credit (Score:2)
Most gamers want games and value, not brand alone. Sure, the Playstation brand is strong, but if it's the only thing you got, you ain't got enough. The PSP showed that.
PS no longer the console of exclusive games (Score:3, Informative)
With the very high price of the PS3 (which Sony appears to be cutting before launch), a lot of developers will hedge their bets with a dual release on the PS3 AND Xbox 360. The Wii's unique controller scheme will prevent direct ports, but the low cost of development should mean more third party developer interest. Now Sony will have to pay for exclusivity, opposed to having the default console.
Even if Sony cuts the price of the PS3 quickly, a lot of the damage has already been done. Many developers who would have created PS3 exclusive games have started Xbox 360 development in parallel. There are a lot of games that will be produced for the Wii on the chance that it takes the dominant position in Japan away from the Playstation brand.
Does anyone honestly believe that there will be 100 million PS3s out there in 2012 and only 50 million Xbox 360s and Wiis combined?
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In the article it was suggested that Sony discount their HD-TV's w
It's the nature of arrogance (Score:3, Insightful)
I think understanding their history is important. The arrogance didn't come from no-where. Each of these is a survivor from a very uncertain start and emerged victorious after bruising competition. This rather naturally makes the managers somewhat self-satisfied and complacent. And sows the seeds of their subsequent demise.
In a sense, all victories are Pyrrhic.
We know too much... (Score:2, Interesting)
"Woah! I gotta get that!" he says...
That is what the average gamer is thinking. Sony is proving themselves to be arrogant and is completely shooting themselves in the foot...but maybe not to thier detriment.
The PS3 will sell out at lauch. There is no question Sony will sell a ton of systems - but I think it is overdeliv
Re:We know too much... (Score:5, Funny)
And then he sees the price tag...
"Woah! I can't afford that!"
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Yeah, price tag is not something that can be ignored:
lack of HDMI... few would notice.
OMGWTF amazing Cell processor... few would care.
BluRay... what's that?
But when Johnny goes to the store with $400 in hand ready to buy a system and a few games, it doesn't matter how ignorant he is, he won't be able to get it. Furthermore, if, like many people, he's had his mind made up that he's going to get "a system", he'll walk out with a Wii.
Look Past The Launch Price (Score:1)
Dropping to 410USD six months later (Score:2, Insightful)
They've already lost not just mindshare - of hardcore and midcore gamers - they've lost Developer mindspace, as many have already rejigged their games to make sure they now are releasing Wii games.
They still have games that cost $10 extra than what a Wii game does.
They still have an overly FPS and Sports focus that gives them no growth areas, while the Wii is expanding into unch
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Why use a metaphor when the real thing is ten bucks and roughly 180 days worse?
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To be fair, only the hardest of the hardcore gamers who follow this kind of news religiously even has any IDEA of what the various versions of the Ps3 cost, and their minds were li
Those who don't know history... (Score:4, Informative)
This time around, people are going to be wary about buying a $500 system that could break as easily as the PS2 did, and so far BluRay has not taken the world by storm like the DVD did, so having an included player isn't as much of an enticement.
Sony not only has to tone down (and maybe even apologize) for the arrogance, but they will need to make amends for their previous stunts, as well, before the informed consumer will welcome them back into their home.
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I considered whatever quirks it had to be a good thing for a while. Before I got my own DVD player, my PS2 was the only thing that would play my copy of The Seven Samurai properly. My roommates Onkyo DVD player would get stuck on the menu or play but skip a couple of chapters in the middle depending on how it was loaded. My computer (Windows or Linux, didn't matter) would play the sound, but not the video. My PS2, on the other hand, would play ev
Who are we asking? (Score:4, Insightful)
The PS2 is still outselling the XBox 360. The PS2 still held an extremely dominating lead over Microsoft and Nintendo combined, even though both had arguably superior hardware. Nintendo was cheaper and Microsoft had Live. Still Sony dominated.
Sony is promising a Live-like service, but allowing to play multiplayer online for free. They will have the best hardware. They will have a huge launch in Japan. They have tons and tons of third-party support. They still have plenty of huge exclusive franchises.
The Slashdot crowd speaks daily of Sony's evils. Yet it is Nintendo, not Sony who cut back on the features of their console launch. Wii is $50 more expensive than promised, and still doesn't have DVD support. One of it's biggest features is the ability to purchase again titles we've already purchased multiple times before. Nintendo promised region-free, and then canned that.
Sony in comparison, is going region-free and said they will support Linux and homebrew development. $500 for a PS3 with BluRay, a HDD, HDMI, more processing power, native 1080p and free online pay vs. a $400 XBox with no high-def movie player, no HDMI, weaker processing power, upscaling, and paying for online play? Suddenly, the price does seem considerably more reasonable. Over the course of the console's life, you'll pay the extra $100 in XBox Live fees.
I think Microsoft and Nintendo will offer heavy competition, but especially now that Sony is offering HDMI on the low-end system, and is talking about dropping their price, I have little doubt that they will once again dominate this generation.
Mind you, I buy each console, and I'm no fanboi. But the facts are that Sony has been EXTREMELY dominant, and despite the elite geek crowd turning their nose up at Sony, the masses still seem to love them. Conversely, you hear alot on the Net about Nintendo love, but other than handhelds, their home console division has steadily declined ever since the days of the NES. The opinions you read about online do not necessarily represent the actual masses.
Re:Who are we asking? (Score:4, Insightful)
The PS2 is still outselling the XBox 360.
The PS2 is $129. That helps. A lot.
Remember, to most of the buyers, who are parents, these things are toys.
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Microsoft has been advertising like mad, and really pushing the 360. The original XBox had the anti-Microsoft sentiment, and despite having tons more launch titles, a free (gimped) Live service, and being the first to launch in the next g
Um... (Score:2)
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Really? The way I remember it, it was promised to be "no more than $250", which is precisely true. Plus we get a game with it that we weren't promised. The Wii is priced exactly as promised.
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The XBox 360 has only sold 2.2 million in 9 months. If Sony can manage to sell 3 million, they'll take the lead right away. Out of those six million, I wouldn't be shocked if they sell 2 million in Japan by Spring.
Sony's own website lists 30 launch titles, including FFXIII, FFXIII Vs. and MGS4. Will they hit the exact launch window? They don't have to. If they're six mo
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I hear from gamers quite often that once you've played Oblivion, Morrowind is unplayable in how the graphics pale. For better or worse, most of us are suckers for great graphics. One could argue that we got more bang-for-our-buck in the 16-bit era. The 8 bit era consisted of awfully short (though challenging) game
Speaking of online ... what gives? (Score:2)
First of all, I agree that no matter what the Slashdot and extreme-gamer crowd think, Sony is still going to do awfully well this console generation. I am by no means a Sony fanboi either when I say this.
That said, you talk about their "Live-like ser
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I'm also a little disappointed that they didn't just invent a new kind of rumble. Very few people talk about that, but it was one of the smartest moves Microsoft made. This company patented the method Microsoft and Sony used for rumble. They intended to sue both companies. Microsoft just bought them out, so not only did they avoid the suit, but if Sony wants to use that rumble, they have to pay Microsoft royalties.
Getting around a patent means devi
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Wait, what? Do people still give a damn about DVD support on a video game console in 2006? Nowadays if you still haven't bought a cheap standalone DVD player for your living room you are most likely not interested in DVDs anyway.
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Sony is now going ABOVE their initial promise by adding HDMI to the low-end system, and lowering prices 20% on their low-end system.
Nintendo cut DVD support and raised the price 25%.
The fan-bois need to wake up and look at facts. All three are major corporations. All are
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Partially true. Sony did promise two HDMI ports and then said there was no actual customer interest in this, which is true. Hardly anyone owns two TVs with HDMI ports. Everyone mocked this feature and said it was unnecessary. Sony never said there would only be one SKU. They said that they didn't intend to follow Microsoft's model, specifically citing that the "cheap" XBox 360 was worthless since it didn't have a HDD.
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No PS3 for me, at least not until a few years (Score:2)
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Xbox 360) looks promising (nice, uh, graphics...) and so far no announced title for the PS3 appeals to m
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You're wrong. (Score:1)
Doom a Gloomers about the PS3, you're wrong. Sony's arrogant, sure. Sony's PR is equatable to trying to talk kindly about Bill Gates in the 90s. The steps and mistakes they've been making are well documented here on Slashdot, and they are doing a whole lot of sucking. However, here's a revelation for you...
You can throw your prophecies of doom left and right, but it's point
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You can throw your prophecies of doom left and right, but it's pointless. We may not like Sony and their shenanigans, but barring you person
Who's arrogant? (Score:2)
Do you really think that a couple of gamer conventions (even as large as they are) are really going to bring down one of the largest, if not the largest, electronic entertainment companies?
The media really needs to get over themselves and understand their place in the world. They're the ones being arrogant.
This is like the Mel Gibson episode... Sure, we all think it's wrong, we think that Gibson needs to (at least) get a hold of himself but really...
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On the other hand, Sony is behaving in a classical "company about to self-destruct" fashion.
No, the gamer conventions and the pundits won't bring down Sony. But people are pretty good at subconciously detecting the stench of death on an organisation, and they'll start to avoid Sony, even if they don't know why. If (or when) Sony eventually craters, the same useless pundits will take the credit, but in fact it'll be Sony itself that did the damage.
"Can Sony Convince the World?" (Score:2)
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Who? When? Where? Why?
I would like to see some sorta reffereance to this.
Re:Everyone loves the Wii (Score:2, Informative)
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being the Nintendo fanboy I am I am happy to actualy see this to be true!
Viva La Revo^H^H^H^HWii!
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*game content sold separately