Washington Times writer Sonny Burch is not a happy bunny right now. See, he loves his PlayStation 3, but what he doesn't love is the "sabotage" he sees going on with Sony and the system following recent NPD figures.
"The Nintendo Wii remains the most popular system in the land, and, at $250, isn't necessarily a budget buster. XBox 360 has made serious inroads by dropping the price of its core system to $199," Burch explains. "So how did Sony respond?
"By releasing a new version of the PS3 ... that's $100 more expensive. Yes, it comes with a game, and yes, it has more hard-drive space, to which I respond: Who cares? Was the marketplace clamoring for more memory from the PS3? Is that why its market penetration is so low compared to its predecessors and competition? What were the Sony execs thinking?"
The Times article also lays into Sony's denial of its own movies on the Xbox 360's Netflix service: "The XBox 360 has just added the same capability. How does Sony respond? By allowing PS3 owners to stream Netflix movies? No, that would make too much sense. Instead, Sony said Netflix couldn't stream any title from Sony's library to the XBox. That'll show 'em!"
This has always been the root of my own so-called "Sony hate." The company has in its hands a beautiful machine, probably the best hardcore gaming console out there potentially, but Sony has continued to piss it away with incompetent marketing and ludicrous pet projects like Home. Pretty much everything Burch says is 100% right. The PlayStation 3 appears to be in the completely wrong hands right now.
Contest:
3:07 PM on 12.12.2008
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Hmmm.
1) Not paying for exlusive DLC.
2) Not lowering the price of the system. Even $50 would help move units.
3) Non-existent advertising. I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but when I do (prime time) I see lots of Xbox 360 commercials. Not one PS3 commercial.
4) Bring back software backwards compatibility.
5) Improve PSN website integration (why can't I view my Trophies on the website?).
I'm sure I missed some.
Sony's position in the console market is the same position M$ is in for the PC market. They were King for so long, they got too arrogant and lazy.
I mean c'mon, even after the red ring of death, MS is still doing a better job of promoting thier console. Normally that's the type of thing that would spell death. Instead, they surge ahead with price cuts and continue to even pay for exclusive JRPGs, seeking to fill every niche they can. Sony needs to step up and get their priorities straight.
Way to party like it's 2004, Sony.
BURN!
I'd like a PS3, but my plans are to pick one up when they drop the persona of that girl that totally like and been dating for 3+ months, but still acts like she's on the first date and you have to keep buying her lobster.
I still love my PS3 though, lots of hours of good times on it. And we got one that has backwards compatibility too.
It's a game console people, nobody wants to pay $400 just to play games.
@lubczyk:
Uh ... it also has this little thing called "Blu-ray" in it, which means that it's more that a game console to a lot of people.
Anyways, I don't care....I've had a PS3 since launch and things were slow for a while, but now I can't catch up with all these awesome exclusives and 3rd party games.
If some wish to continue to bitch and moan and play sour grapes about the PS3 that's fine. They are the ones missing out, not me.
Man, the PS2 was easily the machine to have last generation in terms of its library...did Sony seriously think that anything else made people buy it in spite of its last-place specs and abysmal failure rates? What in heaven's name happened between then and now?
Didn't this come out as just a licensing issue, not malicious intent, and get resolved already?
I think a price cut would have been preferable to a premium model, but I also think the article in question picked its talking points carefully. Netflix: huge deal, Blu-ray: not helping but even if it was you should get one that plays netflix? I'm not going to make a list or a price comparison, intelligent people can do it on their own, but I still fail to understand why people expect the PS3 to offer more functionality at the same price as a 360. It does more, so it costs more, and there isn't a stripped-down model, it comes with the bells and whistles; pretending you don't have to buy extra parts to get the same things from a 360 is stupid, even if the system functions without them. I've said before I prefer an everything-in-the-box console, but modular isn't bad either.
Squawk actually said it pretty well--I would be blinded to how terrible the PS3 is by all the fun I keep having. I should thank the internet for watching out for me.--but "Both of these options are good!" really isn't a big headline.
I'm worried that Sony's handling the PS3 like it's been handling the PSP, which will result in many, many months of no new, quality software.
And Home doesn't count (as anything really)
Sell me yours for $100?
On the Netflix deal, I dont agree with Jim's reason of comment because it is licensing issues and not a personal vendetta.
PS3 is a awesome machine for many uses and I have over 80 demos (now thanks to mr. 500gb) and a bunch of games which on my end I dont have much time to play, but there is a library there for all gamers. Most games are in either way both on xbox and ps3.
If you ask me, Sony management is full of bad decision makers, from Sony Japan, throughout their whole games division. They got rid of Big Ken to hide their imcompetence (a very japanese way of dealing with such things to save face), but it hasn't fooled anyone and the problems prevail, beneath new ones.
Sony aren't on my fave list, they've just done too much damage. From getting rid of PS3 BC, to their dumb stance on importing PSP games. They are going to have to do a great deal to get back in my good books.
Now this whole LBP thing (a cool game, stunted again by bad Sony management and moderation) has just added more fuel to their fire for me. Why is this stuff so hard to get right? Dammit Sony, take a few leaves out of Valve's book, its not so hard to fix.
So yeah, Sony are a big comedy/tragedy of errors. I'd love for them to regain their composure, converse with their customers needs and get back in the game. I guess its true that kings become complacent after victory, something even Nintendo are still guilty of, but it really doesn't have to be this way.
I really like my PS3.
Yet, it's apparent: Sony doesn't know what the fuck they're doing.
Couple that with the bad taste in my mouth from the Disk Read Error business on PS1 and PS2.
And round it off with a fairly weak, and otherwise similar game stable as the 360.
My only reason to want a PS3 right now is LBP (sorta) and Metal Gear Solid 4.
If I could just pay $200 to get in on the group floor of a hack job PS3, I'd be all over it.
Its certainly a superior piece of hardware: Some of the stuff I've seen looks drop dead GORGEOUS.
But I can't really justify the purchase to myself at this price point.
And yeah, get advertising ass hats. I see 360 games on TV all the time (including games released on both systems but only advertised on 360!) but never PS3. sort it out!
many of those "exclusive games" for the wii are complete and utter trash. As far as quality that 10 dollars you drop on a ps3 or 360 game usual transfers for a much better quality game sans often pointless motion control.
but xbox has a better online service, price tag and all
nintendo's smash bros box somehow sells more units than there are citizens
I think by the end of these console's life cycle PS3 will be best feature-wise....but that won't mean much.... oh well back to resistance, gears and umm wii music?