Looking back, it's all to easy to point to the launch of the PlayStation 3 as the low point in Sony's otherwise domineering position in the console landscape. However, it's a bit of uncharted waters to hear the CEO of Sony himself, Howard Stringer, finally admit to the bleak outlook of the PS3 at the time.
While speaking at the Wall Street Journal's D6 conference, Stringer commented that although the PS3 seems to be smelling like a rose at the moment, it wasn't all that long ago when the console was very much on the ropes -- and basically on life-support. Thanks to games like GTA IV, and other unmentioned titles that tapped into the PS3's powerful architecture (Uncharted comes to mind), things have been on the up and up for them ever since.
That, and the eventual success of the Blu-ray format, kept the PS3 alive long enough for developers to release the games that would make the console relevant in the eyes of consumers. All too aware of what was riding on the battle against HD-DVD (and Sony's previous record of proprietary formats), Stringer joked that had Blu-ray lost this battle, "Betamax 2" would be etched on his tombstone.
For once, it's nice to see Sony admit the obvious, and having it come from the top-tier is a great start. Let's just hope that they keep this information (their missteps) filed away in the back of their minds, so that we don't end up with a repeat of a part of what nearly killed a dominant brand in the first place -- smoke and mirrors.
[Via GameDaily]
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Glad they'll admit it now, but it's not like you can expect them to say as such when they're trying to sell their way out of such a position. I think we all knew the work Sony had ahead of them and still has ahead of them, but they've worked through it and have come to a point that many thought would never be reached.
That's nice that Howie admits to that.. now where's my in-game XMB?
Sony's rocket science at work here... So it was the GAMES that pulled a GAMING console out of the fire? Huh, who would of thought of that. What a novel concept. Fucking genius...
you know whats funny, i feel vindicated right now by this news. I remember at some point posting something along these lines but without the backing of the head of sony saying it and i got lamb-basted by all the sony fanboys out there about how im an xbox fanboy and how im fucking stupid and whatever the fuck else negative shit they said about my penis being small and how im a mongoloid or whatever.
hey douchebags i was right ha, ha, ha.
I think anyone with decent knowledge of the gaming industry (i.e. most of the people here) could tell that PS3 was struggling. And I'm sure I'm not the only one predicted the current success would happen. 2008 is looking good for Sony, and now that they have some top-notch titles to play with more to come, the future is finally looking bright. Also nice to have a little honesty from the corporate boys every now and then. But as loki said, you can't blame them for not saying it earlier.
Price cuts also helped.
This is a step in the right direction, yes, but for the love of god, the entire playstation division of sony is in need
of an overhaul. we all heard and seen the bullshit from all the execs, all the bullshot marketing for it. It's them that really made the ps3 fuck up so badly in the first place.
Sony is finally realising thier mistake(to an extent) and im damn happy I choose the ps3, but lets not get carried away, once in game xmb comes,(bout 2-3 weeks away,hopefully)
only then can sony really fire on all cylinders, 2008 really is sony's year
@otikik, yes youre right, seeing as i use my neibours wifi connection(Free internetz!!!), i needed wireless connection for my console, the 300 pound 40gb ps3 was much better in fuctionailty terms for me than the elite xbox360, built in wifi was a godsend, much better than paying and extra 35-40 ponds for the wifi adapter for the 360, I just wish psn store was as fully featured as xbl markerplace, hope it will be soon
FUCK, I mean the xbox 360 elite, sorry guys
ZOINKS! The CEO of Sony is an xboy or xbot or whatever the hell stupid term is used! Let's get him!
Its nice to see some humility from the head of a major company. Even though they knew it was struggling before, coming out and saying that then could have been disastrous. Investor and consumer confidence could have gone down dramatically. Early last year I was having trouble finding a game I wanted to play on my PS3, there was only promises of games to come. Now that the heavy hitters are starting to come out, MGS4, GTA4, LBP, I'm really looking forward to the hours of entertainment that are here and those that are on the horizon.
Now, what did you learn? Ok, let's not do that again ok?
ps3 needs to drop Home cause I cannot see how it would ever be used; maybe for 5 minutes just to see it but nothing is there to keep your attention. Yay we spam commercials. What the PS3 does need is some goddamn games. WTF, GTA4 their saving grace? A 3rd party game?! You put so much money in the goddamn console make goddamn good game. Unchartered?! You must be joking...goddamn...*rabble rabble rabble*
Humility from Sony? Sadly, it won't last. Once the hyped up exclusives come and do not pull a Haze, then Sony will be back to its arrogance.
Any company like Sony who tries to be humble about their mistakes will only see themselves in worse shape than they were to begin with. The public doesn't take to humility like people think they do.
I dunno this kinda cheapens all the claims that I made early on saying how the PS3 was a BluRay player and nothing else during that long launch. This proves that I was indeed right, but it just has that PR spin that puts a bad taste in your mouth.
NOOOO WHEEEEYYYY
Unchartered?! You must be joking
If you're denouncing the beauty that is Uncharted, you really must be joking or just trolling.
Does anyone else think Howard Stringer look like the abandoned love child of Jim Broadbent and Karl Rove?
Sony have been startin to get back on their feet ever since the end of HD-DVD and as far as I can see its all lookin up from here on out for them. Particularly with MGS4 just around the corner.
I think Sony is learning from their mistakes. And they will eventually surpass the success of the Xbox 360.
@mabman: And Unncharted is a great game dumb-ass.
He looks like a character from Duckman
Gief in game XMB, then you can come out to play!
Sure its good he's come out and said this, but we already knew this. Sony owes a lot to M$'s various cock ups recently.
Also, WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE.
Now that Sony has humbled themselves, um, ::eyes looking at MS:: Microsoft, can you please play nice for 1 minute to get the BluRays for the 360? Please? If not... There's be more humble pie ahead, and next time it'll be MS's!
good one Rifter01 lol,
Well nice that Howard the duck releases their inner problems they had. Now about home and other shit thats supposed to come out sometime this (or next) year...
Sony, shut up & jam!
I agree with Y0j1mbO
this is fine and dandy and all
but I still want my goddamn in game XMB
Iam so sick and tired of wanting to defend the ps3 as a gaming console. Ive done it for over a year but I have to be honest. It isnt nearly as good as the 360. Iam an objective gamer of 3 years. I started gaming 3 years ago as a 34 year old. I got a cube to start, then moved onto the xbox then bought the 360 and after that the wii and ps3. Honestly all Ive heard from folks about the ps3 is how powerful it is, blah, blah, bleh. That may be so but for gaming SO FAR-almost 2 years into it it is still subpar below the 360! I have tried virtually every 3rd party game on both systems and the ps3 is worse. As a bluray player it rocks and I use it for that-but that is it. If i didnt have a 50inch 1080p panny plasma I would have ditched it long ago. I dont mean to stir up any battles here but the wii is awesome-it doesnt promise the world and deliver crap. It promises what it is and thats that-take it or leave it-but Nintendo is at least honest about it. The 360 has better textures, framerates, and GAMES. They dont pretend to be a HD entertainment center but a gaming console that can possibly add those other things to it. Also, I stream divx, avi and other media from my pc to both the ps3 and 360 and the 360 is far better than the ps3. So this generation console battle has already been won by MS and Sony better wake the FU*K up or you can count on FFXIII and others going where the people go. Stop tauting UNCHARTED- BFD- that game was like Tomb Raider with better graphics and the same stupid jamaican AI idiots with ak47s over and over. It wasnt that great. If you want to watch blurays buy a ps3. If you want to play games there are better choices. IF YOURE HONEST! So suck it up and stop defending sony-what have they done for you lately. Why the allegiance to a company the ps2 rocked(those are the only games iam playing on my ps3-go figure
gamesronlygames = fanboy
@gamesronlygames
Times have changed, meaning that you can pretty much find the same games on the PS3 as the 360 -- minus the obvious MS funded titles.
The way I see it (as an owner of all three consoles), the 360 still has the most desirable online set-up, but there is still that one nagging problem called console reliability. Until the day comes that the red ring of death is a faint memory, the PS3 is going to be the better deal for gamers.
Why? Because most normal people actually expect high priced items to function as they were intended to for a reasonable amount of time. In essence, not to break due to a serious design flaw that should have been fixed many times over by now. Maybe Sony doesn't care about us (does any company, really?), but the fact remains: Chances are that your PS3 is still going to be playing games while you exchange several failed Xbox 360s over the next couple of years.
Something to think about.
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this is what sony is up to maybe?
Hear that? That's the sound of a million PS3 fanboys' heads exploding.
@gamerboi
Your wrong. You can wrap your high priced item in towels and it will be fine. lol
I not sure this is news. The PS3 was struggling in the beginning, but now they have hit their stride. The future for the PS3 is far better than the 360. I use to not have a whole lot of confidence the PS3, but as the good games come out, the PS3 lineup is going to be better than the 360, especially when you consider that there are only a couple of exclusives that 360 is going to have that are going to be worth shit. You can't argue with the PS3 lineup coming out.
yeah uncharted kinda got me into the PS3, UT3 with the bonus content made me envy it, then GT5P convinced me to get one before MGS4 is out :-)
It's too bad I can't feel as good about the ads as I can about the hardware. It was the marketing, not the quirky hardware, that drove away developers. There was just no reason for people to spend so much on the system.
Just had to comment on Uncharted having recently beaten it. It was a fun play through. Its only stupid silly little things they missed that made the game fall below a 9 out of 10 for me.
Like, I would have enjoyed the ability to change the controls as having the "roll" and "find cover" action being used as the same button was just fawking stewpid. Want to roll away from some flanking gun fire to take cover across the way? Too bad! Instead your ass hat of a character takes cover while getting shot in the chest repeatedly.
Or, have the jet ski levels be more about cruising around at a high speed busting through jumps, crashing through walls of unsuspecting bad guys and just flying right by instead of the "stop... shoot... go... stop... shoot, shoot, go... stop..." drivel.
QTE's were a bad choice for such a fun game. So annoying and out of place with the rest of the game.
Where the fuck is my blood? If I head shot with a rifle, someone's cranium should explode or at least see a nice quick puff of red. If I feel like emptying the rest of my clip in to a dead body of a frustrating enemy I just managed to kill, I want to see some satisfactory results god dammit! What the fuck is this?
Why the hell do I need to have achievements popping up in the corner of my screen? Stop cluttering up my game experience. I don't give a shit about achievements, quit telling me I'm playing a game. I don't need to be reminded of that fact.
Again, all minor points, but just enough to piss me off. Fun game, but definitely not a console selling point really. Especially since I beat the damn thing in like 6 hours.