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WSJ: Lower PS3 Holiday Sales Equal Fading Hope
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WSJ: Lower PS3 Holiday Sales Equal Fading Hope |
12/29/08
12/29/08
If GT5 isn't out within the the next few months, it won't even matter. Any developer who needs to pay staff has to develop on the 360 - PS3 exclusives are over.
12/29/08
You sure don't know what you are talking about, do you?
12/29/08
Some people are just simply too stupid to live. As if it's such an impossibility to enjoy the PS3 or the exclusives that it offers.
i know quite a few people that love the Wii. Personally, I don't. I saw great potential in it early on and after two years, i see Nintendo despite their rants to the contrary, are not interested in pushing that potential. The sad part is, it wouldn't even be expensive to implement.
The PS3 is not the problem, Sony's marketing is. Their marketing department has to be the dumbest bunch of losers to ever work and breathe in gaming. All of the bullet points that make the PS3 the machine it is (comparable in some cases, better than the 360 in others) are hardly ever advertised. The show reels that feature PS3 games are usually lackluster ignoring the best the console has to offer. It's pathetic. If I had a dollar for each person that look at me dumbfounded when I tell them what I've done with my PS3...followed by the usual "I didn't know it could do all that" I'd never have to work again.
If this generation will be remembered for anything, it will be the total stupidity of people that are supposed to be professionals in the field. This is in regards to all three consoles and their respective companies. Nintendo gets by because Wii is so successful. But what Nintendo doesn't seem to care about, is they didn't just alienate the hardcore that didn't give a shit about them in the first place. They alienated long time fans that stood by them when no one else would. That is unforgivable.
Developers that outright refuse to take development on a platform seriously even after fans are screaming for it AND the platform in question is clearly the most dominant. Developers that still can't understand the concept of Q&A and playtesting and debugging.
Developers that refuse to give gamers choices in how they want to play their games (can we get some goddamn mouse and keyboard support?)
Sure, we have superior technology and infrastructure, even in our portables. But look at what the industry has become. Look at what it's becoming. It's sad.
Nintendo pissed on long term fans and haters alike to go to green pastures to sell to a ignorant fanbase with an inferior console with last gen technology in it.
Sony is trying to sell a machine at a premium that has technology in it that the majority of gamers just simply don't "get" and trying to convince them that they need it. Better luck trying to sale surface to air missles to savages.
MS got away like bandits selling a console that's flatout busted. Rushed to market and is known and reported to die and die often.
This has truly been a pathetic generation so far.
12/29/08
12/29/08
In the PS1 and PS2 days, kid, developers saw value in putting games on those systems because they had the largest marketshare. The PS3 will NEVER, ever do what the PS2 did. No one in fact will ever match the PS2's numbers again.
In closing, I'm honestly curious, did you cry tears of nerd rage when you heard FF13 and Tekken 6 were going to be on the 360 also? Because I can see it.
12/29/08
12/29/08
By stripping PS2 BC from all current model PS3's done in the last year, they have given people who are budget minded and need more then just Blu-ray, PSN and Home as a reason to upgrade, no real reason to upgrade. Hell PS2's are dirt cheap and you can walk into any GameStop or mom and pop store, spend 200 dollars and get enough AAA and A gaming goodness to keep you busy for the next year. This is the real meat of the causal gamer market and one reason both the PSone and PS2 were such marketplace monsters. These folks do not 'upgrade' like most gamers, from the way numbers look, most of them don't even step on till the last 2-3 years of a current gen. And the bulk of these folks are still playing on PS2's. Some have bought Wiis, some have bought 360's, but the most are still happy with their PS2's and will not upgrade unless they honestly feel they are getting a lot of bang for their buck. They sure as hell aren't upgrading to PS3's, no matter what SDF fanboys try to spin sales numbers as.
Sony with the $400 BCless PS3 can't offer that. And it's going to get worse for them because all Microsoft has to do is get the 360 to a point where they can sell it with harddrive for under 200 dollars (Wifi is not a deal breaker like some of the trolls here would have you believe) and then make sure the next 360 not only has full BC but allows you to transfer over all your Live Arcade games and they could strike a very hard blow against Sony before they even announce the PS4..which they oddly can't do anytime soon because of their own PR idiots and repeated demands of the PS3 being a "Ten Year Console." at least not without damaging the Playstation brand even more. Catch-22.
Nintendo, who is marketing to the same folks which saved video games at large and it's true marketbase (Causals) has little to worry about as Wii60 is no longer internet buzz, but more often sales fact and Microsoft is more then happy for this to happen. If I was Microsoft, I'd be holding back door meetings with Reggie when it came to the planning of the next systems on how to cripple Sony even more, because Nintendo has once again become the door though which many enter. More then enough market for the two to compete against each other in a friendly manner while making sure the 3rd guy is frozen out.
Had Microsoft caught RROD sooner, Sony would likely be in even more serious trouble then they are now.
12/29/08
12/29/08
12/29/08
12/29/08
Playstation proved it could greatly innovate and make Nintendo eat dust because its game library included games with much more interesting ans substantial games in spite of the limits.
I have to admit this generation Sony hasn't innovated that much, its innovation could be easily qualified as poor, mediocre or a simple continuation of PS2 ideas with the implementation of HD and online gaming. The loose of key partners (Capcom,Rocktar games, Square-enix, look how many PSP's FF dissidia moved), dissapointing exclusives (Lair, Haze).
Incredibly Sony's biggest enemy unlike what most people think is not Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii, it's itself with the ego Sony acquired during PS2 era and thought its victory was guaranteed , that's why didn't make much trying to keep its excellent relationships with its partners plus PS3 marketing was not effective enough provoking skinny unit sales forcing developers to make nearly every game multiplatform. Sony financial status cannot be trusted anymore, last NPD numbers proves it. It's sad and a total shame but it's true and Microsoft has definetely its own merits and they have to be applauded. It was a clean fight, no matter how rich Microsoft is.
More importanly PS3 could not be compared even with Gamecube from my point of view, its financial and marketing strategies are more Sega Saturn like. With its colossal financial looses and hard to develop platform (expensive) because of its experimental hardware architecture (CELL), subpar multiplatform results, scarce first party quality content and exclusives makes the PS3 a premature looser. So sad but so true.
12/29/08
12/29/08
I couldn't justify buying one to be honest, $400 is a lot of cash, and it's just too much for me to drop on a system with only a handful of incentive when I've already got a 360 which I'm happy enough with.
Between various download services and only owning one HDTV, blu-ray has no appeal for me. Their exclusive games have been amazing, but not enough to warrant the purchase of a SECOND console...well third, but my Wii really just is used for a single game and was purchased as a novelty and on impulse just as Nintendo wanted.
I just wish they'd snag some exclusive RPGs or third person action games. I've got Infamous and White Knight Chronicles to look forward too I guess, but what I really wish I could be playing is Ico, Devil May Cry 1, Persona 3/4, Katamari, and any number of my old PS2 games. Every single PS2 can play PS1 games, and so it was built on the install base OF the PS1, and while the PS3 started on that, the removal, and now the only way to get one through second-hand sales, is disappointing in the very least.
12/29/08
Still, it's basically because EA was too lazy/bathing in their wads of cash to give two shits.
12/29/08
Anyway, I think Sony will pull through, its there hardest time but they've pulled through the last two years okay.
I wanted to give them my money for a PS3 but I the only PS3 with BC was second hand, so I bought that
12/29/08
12/29/08
No. Just no. Sony's strategy was NEVER sound. Selling elite consoles at elite prices has NEVER worked. And you say "suddenly" hostile to high prices? Does anyone remember the crickets that chirped when sony announced the PS3 would launch at $599? People have been hostile to high prices ever since launch. This "suddenly" stuff is pure fluff. Sony is trying to blame the economy for the botchjob they did on the PS3. It's just unfortunate because the PS3 deserves better. It's a solid machine and if they hadn't overengineered it in the first place they wouldn't have to cut so many features to get costs under control. I mean seriously. Dual HDMI? 3 Gig Ethernet ports? 4 USB? A multiformat card reader? What were they thinking? The PS3 as it exists today is what they should have built to begin with. (although they should put BC back in of course).
12/29/08
What 360 does have is word-of-mouth. I have found my friends who own 360s to be a lot more vocal and anti-ps3 than ps3 owners who are anti-360, or even just favor ps3. I hear friends who say, "Oh, you should buy a 360 so we can be friends and play Gears of War online", or "Man, I love streaming movies from Netflix through my 360", etc. Forgetting of course that you need to pay extra for the Live account, and a wi-fi adapter in case you don't have an ethernet cord available. Not to mention that i think the NXE is totally bunk compared to the PSN.
I don't know, don't hate me, that's just my .02
12/29/08
12/29/08
12/29/08
I'm feeling like the 360 is the console for me right now and really want to buy one. But I know the PS3 will be the better investment and I'll realize that down the line.
:)
12/29/08
There was almost nothing left for the 360. I think I saw *one* controller and a few remote controls and a couple of keypads.
Heck, even the Blu-Rays had hardly been touched.
Granted, they didn't have any PS3 systems left, but the fact that there was a giant stack of PS3 guitars with nary a 360 guitar in sight says something.
12/29/08
12/29/08
I don't think people are calling it a failure, I think just looking at the trends is what doesn't bode well for the PS3.
The Wii double its sales, and Microsoft increased by 9%. That's a big discrepancy, but at least they both improved. The PS3 DROPPED by 19%? That's a red alert, right there.
Does it mean the PS3's a failure? No. But, I can guarantee you no one in the PS3 department at Sony is getting free donuts this morning.
12/29/08
PS2's install base- 140 million
Wii- 36 million
360- 25 million
PS3- 17 million
That leaves a whole hell of a lot of gamers & potential adopters there who haven't put their money down this gen. What are they waiting for?