Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 12:04 AM
Tue Dec 15
44 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us:
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
| AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
| AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
| AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/19/09
We'll see what comes of it, but at this point if Microsoft wasn't currently in the middle of forging it's new battle plans, they could drop the Pro to 100, drop 20 billion or so and buy EA and end this right now. And Nintendo's expanding marketshare means they are going to remain 1st till the end of this gen.
11/19/09
The bottom line is Sony is currently fighting a battle they cannot win, but they can survive if they continue to turn this thing around. Look at it this way, Sony could make a miraculous comeback and catch Microsoft and even Nintendo, but for what? No matter what Sony does they will end this generation having lost a significant amount of marketshare to both Microsoft and Nintendo.
It will leave a few fanboys butthurt, but overall the current distribution of marketshare tremendously benefits all gamers. As they say when March Madness comes around "survive and advance". That is exactly what Sony is thinking right now.
11/19/09
11/22/09
I mean, if Sony just said fuck it and launched the PS4 tomorrow, would you be saying Sony are winning the wars? Or would you be comparing the monthly sales to the wii, PS3 and 360?
When Microsoft threw in the towel on the xbox, they didn't suddenly jump into first place with the 360.
The same goes for the wii and game cube. Sony are still selling the worlds most dominant console and they have their successor infiltrating the market at the same time.
Nintendo dominate the hand held market, Sony the home console market.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
He was inaccurate in his post, so I corrected him. My statement was a negation of what he said, not that they haven't made a dime from launch up to now.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
In truth they needed to stress it because unlike the previous systems the PS3 is taking half a decade to obtain profitability. Sony has no choice.
Once they release the PS4, only a few people are going to buy the PS3 because it doesn't have a library that's as strong as the libraries of the PS1 or PS2's.
As much as I like the PS3, it's a financial and technical clusterfuck. Maybe they can replace it with a fully backwards compatible PS4 that uses more cell chips and a new Nvidia GPU to maintain compatibility.
They need to recoup their losses and technology investments.
#speakup
11/19/09
I'd say that Sony makes excellent hardware so a 10 year plan for their consoles is entirely feasible.
11/19/09
Someone clearly missed the first three years of the PSone (Upside down PSones, Side stacked PSones) and the first 2 years of the PS2 (DRE)
11/19/09
The PS2 had five years of PSone gaming to go off of. Nintendo was weak, Microsoft didn't enter till 2001, Sega was in a death spin.
Sony can claim "Ten year lifespan" all they want, but the market decides what system lasts that long. And Sony is facing not only a uphill battle, but the still dragging weights placed on it by hubris.
11/19/09
I picked up my original PS2 back in early 2001. Basically right as The Bouncer came out. If the PS2 hadn't gotten stolen from the dorm, it'd be 8 and a half years old now and probably chug along just fine.
Thank god that I finished Disgaea and Xenosaga before it got stolen.
#speakup
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Here's my plan.
11/19/09
11/19/09
Ah, nothing like spitting out my apple juice in the morning to something funny. Thanks Yossarian.
Now I gotta clean up. Also, thanks Yossarian.
11/19/09
The question we have to ask is where are the next gen puns?
11/19/09
11/19/09
Be quiet now, I mean it!
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
There can never be too many puns though.
11/19/09
You sir, have a new follower. Thank you for getting that :)
11/19/09
#speakup
11/19/09
11/19/09
Now when you will show us that you can actually comment left-handed?
11/19/09
I'm not sure I buy their advantages ... advantages over what? Other systems? Clearly not all of those work as advantages -- features, but not advantages.
11/19/09
"Advantages" is obviously just a marketing term for features.
11/19/09
Any game history guru out there who can tell us other consoles that were on the 5 year profit plan? I kinda feel bad for them, but hopefully I'll be helping their pockets by picking one of these up around Christmas.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
In that same presentation, Sony showed this slide that I posted. If you look at the third bullet point, it insinuates that PSN might be a paid service in the future.
I guess this is what it means from the slide in the article which states that Sony wanted to grow network service revenue.
11/19/09
"SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network," said the SCE boss.
"Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."
[www.vg247.com]
11/19/09
11/19/09
I hope it's only limited to services such as Qore but do people even use it? From the link, I am not convinced that all gameplay aspects would be free. They would have to make the premium service attractive for people to subscribe or else the model wont take off.
At this point, I think it's hard for Sony to watch people who are willing to pay for XBL while their option is free.
11/19/09
They made mistakes, they know that and I still think there's a long way to go, but I feel like there's a lot of buzz around the Playstation platforms right now and that can only be good for the consumer.
I'm sure Microsoft and Nintendo have plenty up their sleeves aswell, but a three-horse race benefits us all, and that's what Sony have managed to make it, pretty much since August aswell.
Dramatic turn around.
11/19/09
11/19/09
Two advantages at best, the upcoming 3D titles and maybe the motion controller when we see more of it.
You can buy cheap Blue-ray players now, we don't need it built in and it isn't really all that convenient. As for the Playstation Network, the saying "You get what you paid for" rings true.
11/19/09
It will still be meaningful to someone comparison shopping consoles (although I think games will always be the deciding factor there), but for an occasional gamer who really just wants a Blu Ray player, it's likely that market is lost to them now.
When the PS3 launched and Blu Ray was in it's infancy, that casual player may have opted for PS3 and became a gamer over time.
11/19/09
An equivalent BR player would cost nearly as much as a PS3.
So sure, if you want a basic BR player you can get one for 120 to 150$. But why drop 900$+ on an HDTV only to feed it second-rate BR playback?
Edit: Here, take a look at this more or less equivalent BR player: [www.futureshop.ca]
The PS3 is about 30$ cheaper and also plays games. So if you're planning on getting a decent to high end BR player...
11/19/09
11/19/09
PSP linkage definitely is a bonus as well, with Remote Play, PS1 classics and how they're planning on linking franchises between the platforms (like Resistance 2 and Retribution did, and how EA wants to do). If you own a PSP the PS3 might draw you over Wii or 360 for that reason.
PSN is also a definite advantage, I don't see how it could be anything other than that. You get an online experience on-par with that of the 360, for free.Yes, you lose some of the community feel of XBL, but as far as gaming goes, it's an entirely viable option. It makes for "great" fanboy debates on gaming blogs, but let's be serious. If Sony shut down PSN right now it would definitely be felt.
11/19/09