Last night was the midnight launch of the PlayStation 3 for our overseas brethren in France and England, and the crowds that turned out were dismal, to say the least. One of the Robot's many international amigos, Jeremy, sent in a tip with a number of links to official reports of just how poorly Sony was received in London and Paris, and while most of them are en français, that last link was written in the King's English.
Apparently one tenth of the people expected to be there actually showed up, and Sony was left with literal barges full of their newest console, at least in the land of wine and cheese. I guess this sort of thing shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has walked into a Best Buy here in God's Chosen Country any time recently, but with so few people willing to shell out the tremendous amount of euros necessary to acquire one of Sony's black beauties, one has to wonder about the future of the console in the Olde World.
Since I absolutely had to get a first hand account, I called one of my British friends a few moments ago, and according to him he spent all night pranging out and trying desperately to avoid this "chav bird who's grown keen on 'im", whatever the hell that means ...
Wait, what was my point again?
(Editor's Note: How could I make this post without using that picture? -- Nex)
Contest:
4:03 AM on 03.23.2007
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Maybe Sony took Summa’s article about how they should respect the internets a bit too seriously and forgot to tell the general masses they have a new console out via more traditional media.
On the other hand; leaving Europe last, giving us the highest price console, trying to launch it in the middle of March and circumcising the backwards compatibility – this is not a good time to start getting all subliminal & subtle on your advertising budget.
Last year the 360 had over 1000 people at the same venue.
The game sites and news over here could only report it as 'modest'. You'd think at least a few journalists would use the world 'failure'. But apparently none of them have any balls.
I guess I'll go into town and check out how many are around. Speaking with people, they didn't even know when the PS3 was coming out. People who follow launch dates.
Also crazy prices.
Chav is a term used for adolescents and adults who live off benefits and have shrill horrible voices and bad diction. They love violence and being dicks. Only used cause we can't say Pikey cause it means Gypsy.
So it means "Some nasty bitch who won't leave him alone" but I'm guessing he already knew that and was doing a light communication joke.
I'm gonna guess that he had the same launch experience as me. Late night weekday, annoying chavs hanging around cause they're obviously not going to school tommorrow. Shouting "Geeks" or "losers" etc. And this one girl was the main bitch. I could be wrong, but I just want to share my pain with someone.
I've seen countless websites just bashing Sony for ignoring the Europeans. I even saw fliers near game retailers (I went to Paris in January) basically saying don't buy the PS3. Sony really messed up a large market.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/only-in-france/xbox-crashes-french-ps3-launch-246475.php
Am I anti Sony? My PS2 and 60 games say otherwise. Do I think that they have severely lost their way with the PSP and PS3? Definitely. I genuinely hope that they can turn it around, and as a friend of mine who works for the big S pointed out, eventually Blu Ray Drives will fall in price like DVD players and we will see the PS3 offered for less. I just hope it is soon and that some seriously killer exclusives come with it or I might just have to brave the red rings of death and become an Xbox360 owner... *feels unclean*
http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/crowds-go-mild-for-ps3/2007/03/23/1174153291466.html
The "exclusives" seem to be falling off, but eventually one will stick and fanboys will eat it up.
However, the 360 and Wii hit their target markets closely enough to continue that success... I think this is a LARGE indicator at just how poorly Sony judged the market for the PS3.
Sony got cocky and is paying the price.. maybe Blu-Ray will get them out of the red, but I wouldn't count on it.
I have about 0 reasons to buy it though, maybe home and littlebigplanet.
I still wanna go multyplatform someday, so maybe next year.
for now, I'm going to save up for a 360.
And, I am totally in love with that pic of ol' Churchill there.
Of course they're going to inflate their numbers. You think the Wii would've sold so well if the ZOMGZ THEY'RE SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE!!!111!1 hype machine hadn't gotten rolling?
Hell, if the PS3 had a game to play on it, I'd buy one right now. I'd get more use out of it than my Wii.
Eventually there will be something to play and people will buy it.
new games, Exclusives, price drops, arcade games,
that new black system, whatever....
just keep that Sony Morale down...!!
hahaha
everyone said it even before the launch...
THEY GOT COCKY!!!
At the main PS3 event (the one where the XBOX 360 boat showed up) a full 60 person came up, surrounded by a hundred journalists, lost in a sea of useless security barriers and bored security guards.
Meanwhile at the main Fnac (electronic) shop, a full 5 person showed up to the "super special" party organized for the PS3 launch...
I would find all that funny but it was rather sad really.