I just purchased a 360 and I have a Wii preodered for the end of this month. Why am I happy?

Becase I think there is an important lesson of Sony to learn from all of this and it is: You can go too far! I am encouraged by the fact that PS3's are collecting dust. Think about it people $600 for a gaming system?! Where does it stop? Is the PS4 going to be $800?

This to me lends hope that gaming industries have to realize that they can't charge whatever they want. Good news in my book.

Bryce1982

Apparently, people have already forgotten about the fact the ps2(and 1 for that matter )didn't have that many launch titles but they did set themselves for longevity ....look who won the previous gen console wars .

Now Folks Just wait 1.5 - 2.5 yrs when the cell technology is Better understood by the developers , and hopefully a price drop....I say we wait for the dusts of confusion to settle

WHY ARE WE JUDGING BASED ON ONE HOLIDAY SEASON THE LONGEVITY FACTORIS STILL VERY IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING THE REAL WINNER OF THE CONSOLE WARS

BUT it is sadening seeing the ps3 do so horribly

Shezi

PS3 is the more expensive of the three systems but offers a negligible difference (at least at this point) to justify the cost.

I am willing to bet if the PS3 and 360 were the same price this would be a different story.

dirkxxdiggler

All gone. Guy at Best Buy said they had 20 of them on the floor for 5 days and yesterday they all sold out.

Sounds like to some extent, people just weren't looking for them and now that the word is out, they are again.

br549

Pal

trevor.jlee

Eh, I would hardly consider what I wrote an "essay". Just an attempt at explaining why the PS3 is so intimidating to some, from my perspective… not necessarily an outright loser.

Unless, of course, you're referring to my refutation of Tondog… which I was compelled to write because Sundays ads are, quite simply, designed with the general public in mind.

It… really isn't as black and white as you see it to be. What you call speculation, I call perspective… and no one forced you to read it. I don't know where you're coming from about houses, tattoos and allegiances.

Odd that you single me out, when my comments aren't appreciably longer than many others. I think of the comments area as a place for discussion. You just commented for the sake of being caustic.

Dyuta

I think the Wii is so popular because it isn't traditional and everyday people would pick it up and enjoy it.

Jason R

sweetie55

Waste of time writing essays proving this point. We're not buying houses, and our console of choice isn't tatoo'd on our foreheads. A few hundred bucks and you switch allegiance... I say, come what may. Just give me good games, anybody. F*ck the speculation.

yurlittlepony

Yes, remember that Alaska is the only US State that will actually pay you to live there. Instead of State Income Taxes you get a stipend every year. That alone should more than cover the cost of a PS3 unless you're homeless (and I can't imagine there being a huge number of homeless people in Alaska...or at least not any longer than it'd take them to walk down to at least Washington).

Purple Dave

"The only people who knew about it beforehand were readers of sites like this, people who checked the ad online, people who got up really early sunday morning, or people who heard from someone else that they had them."

By that logic, these systems should have been snatched up by the kind of people you mentioned. You make it sound like Average Joe consumer had no chance... ignoring the fact that neither those with the "inside scoop" nor regular consumers bothered to buy them.

The weekly circular is intended for the masses. That's why it's featured in the large, widely-circulated Sunday editions of papers. They also note a minimum number of units per store (25, I believe?)

Now, if you're a consumer who's interested in a PS3 and seek to procure one... the minimum amount of effort you need to expend is to look at the Sunday ads.

The ad says it's in stock, it says there's a minimum number of units. It's the clearest sign the average consumer could possibly get. And STILL they are not buying.

I remember when the PS2 launched and for weeks you would see pepole downtown standing in front of Macy's with PS2s in hand offering to sell them. And here, the PS3 sits unsold.

Sorry, Tondog. Your logic just doesn't hold up.

Dyuta

"This is the beginning of the end. This is not a good sign for Sony. I can't wait until fanboy's try and spin this into good news. Personally, I like my PS3 but it is barely played in comparison to my Wii and 360."

Lol, the beginning of the end as you called it has already started from the moment that Sony has first announced its price point, or even before that when we'd read that each PS3 costs far more than that of the Xbox 360 to produce.

When Bioshock comes out in early '07, the PS3 will scream death like a shrivelled up ghoul in a horror movie/game. Again, all those Xbox 360 & PC exclusive/multiplatform games will put tears on its own gamers as to how good the game lineup for the Xbox 360 are! Even the intelligent games for the PC like Supreme Commander, STALKER, Armed Assault, Hellgate: London, Maddox's new WWII fighter sim after IL-2 Sturmovik, some well-produced adventure games, etc will appeal to people who love PC gaming like me.

ObiKKa

@bird1988

'In my little town of Ketchikan, Alaska there are about 5 PS3s at our Walmart. I saw them last week and I bet money there are still sitting there behind the glass.'

I think the problem there is that you live in a small town in Alaska" :P

No, there are people with money here, I don't think they even wanna pay. Our city, classified as urban :(( (more rules on fishing and city limits) has a population of about 10,000 and we are on the Southeastern tip of Alaska, closer to Seattle than Anchorage or Juneau.

And its mostly kids or young adults that want game consoles so they or their parents are looking for a deal, Not a $600 Rip Off.

But I still have to check Walmart and see if they are still sitting there.

bird1988

"Tickle Me Elmo" target marketing only works when the majority of consumers you're targeting can actually afford the "Elmo".

I ran around idiot style looking for a PS3 when the hype had taken over my veins like a voodoo curse. I actually wanted one to >play< it, not sell it. However, I could not justify waiting in line with 65 year old homeless men insulating their jackets with newspaper in a Chicago blizzard then and I can not justify spending $600 now.

Am I alone in the reasoning for not buying one of these being based on revenge?
I was pretty ripshit when I saw those waiting lines, and >really< ripshit when I figured out it was planned to be that way.

Patient

I purchased one...against my better instincts.

I was a PS2/Xbox person last gen...and I wanted to complete my set this gen, despite what I considered to be a an utterly ridiculous price point for the PS3. I mean...TOTALLY RIDICULOUS, no matter what was under the hood. Six-hundred bucks is a slap in the face whether you can afford it or not.

I took it to my neighborhood bar, proceeded to get wrecked, them went home. The next day I opened the box and found the front of the console warped, so I figured I'd take it back. CC had another one and gave me another one on the spot. My head spun becasue I couldn't beleive thay actuall HAD another one there.

I've played Resistance a few times this weekend. It's fun and looks great on my new Bravia (more hi-def content was a big driver for me), but I have not stopped feeling angry about paying so much for a console. I also have a really bad taste in my mouth becasue of how poorly Sony handled this launch. American lunacy aside...this launch sucked ass--even more so when you see 1,000,000 people going to buy Wiis and leaving happy.

I'm just venting some--but Sony needs to recognize that there is genrally a bad, bad taste in the public's mouth. Especially if you're someone who payed 1,000+ for a console only to see it sitting out in the store two weeks later.

Maybe I should have gotten that 8800 also ;-(

TheNthDegree

People get cash and gift cards for Christmas. Other people don't spend themselves into the poorhouse. And other people will be returning all the junk they got to buy things they actually want. Still other people realize that this is indeed the country that invented the credit card. And of course, you can't forget Christmas and End-of-Year bonuses from employers. And yet, they're not buying the PS3.

"Well at least Europe won't have a shortage. We just need Sony to knock off £100 for our launch..."

Yeah. Good luck with that.

"HD gamers will buy the 360 for their HD needs (to date PS3 hasn't shown why its worth the extra $200)"

Well, there's Blu-Ray. Of course, for $200, you can probably net yourself a reliable upconvert DVD player that will be able to display your DVDs in better quality than standard-def TVs are capable of, and allow yourself to keep buying the less expensive DVDs in greater variety. And you won't feel anything resembling a pressing need to completely rebuy your entire current library in a different format.

"At their current price they are handing the top spot over to Microsoft as the 360 will continue to sell 5 or more units for every 1 PS3 sold."

Well, "top spot" might be a bit off, given how fast the Wii keeps selling out. Certainly they've handed the 360 the win for top HD console, and comparatively the 360 will be able to claim at least a solid second place to the Wii (as compared to XBox which barely sold more than the Gamecube, but was touted as being much more successful). Now, they could still pull off a win over the Wii, but they'll have to do that on merit alone.

"'Nintendo really had supply problems, we saw a lot fewer Wiis come through the store than PS3s. Nintendo said that they would be ready for Christmas, but they really dropped the ball,' said he."

Wii launch anecdotes suggest that Nintendo had about as much stock on Day 1 alone as Sony has shipped in total. My experience has been that the Best Buy blues can generally find where a particular item should be found on the floor, almost always pull up stock quantities on an item you can't find (though it sometimes helps if you know how to spell it, since they might not), and will feed you a big old line if they don't really know the answer. I was looking for a DS game one day after it should have launched, and the store should have had four in stock, but the clerk told me they'd likely all been stolen. You know, in spite of all the theft-prevention measures they take, some high-tech adolescent crime syndicate must have secreted off with their entire stock of a somewhat low-profile game. And the Geek Squad guys couldn't come up with even a fake-sounding answer for why my brand-new Gateway desktop couldn't talk to my year-old Gateway laptop over a peer-to-peer network, even though the cables registered as being hooked up correctly. Turns out it was a firewall problem, and when I mentioned it to a guy at work he sympathized, saying they have to spend at least an hour getting firewalls properly knocked into submission whenever he runs a LAN party. So it's clearly not an unheard-of problem.

And anyways, it could just be that _he_ has seen less Wiis come through because they've arrived and sold out on days that he wasn't working, when he was taking a bathroom/smoke break, or when he just turned around for five seconds to answer a customer's question.

"PS3 sold more units in North America and Japan in 2006 than 360 did in 2005, despite being up against heavy competition from the Wii."

Sold, or just shipped? And has the "sold" number been adjusted for massive returns of eBayt?

"More than the Wii and 360 when you combine the 60Gb and 20GB sales."

Are you being fair and counting both versions of the 360 as well? Because right now the 360 premiere system is outselling the PS3-60, and the 360 core system is outselling the PS3-20. That pretty much puts the 360 over the PS3 in a big way. As for the Wii, their performance is solely limited by shipped quantities right now, so that's the only console that's not selling to its full potential.

"Correction.

A couple weeks ago people were saying that Sony is doomed because they couldn't get PS3s on the shelves. Now we are saying that Sony is doomed because they can't get PS3s OFF the shelves."

Further correction.

A couple of weeks ago people were saying that Sony is doomed because what few units they did get on the shelves were barely clearing cost on eBay. Much bigger difference. BTW, what kind of bids were Wiis getting around the same time? It'd be really sad if the Wii was pulling in higher bids for less than half the investment (and just emphasizing that Nintendo hardware sells at a profit while Sony sells at a loss).

"And I definitely think that being third to market at $200-$350 more than your competition is a bigger deal that everyone thinks."

To be fair, Sony did beat Nintendo to market by a few days. So second at $200-$350 more than your competition. Yeah, still sounds bad.

"As said by a few others unless Sony goes bankrupt ahead (not probable),probably the ps3 will get to second or first position once it has a long list of strong exclusives and the price drops to mass market regions (around 300 at most),so yeah,in around a 1-1.5 years."

Not gonna happen. They won't _have_ a long list of strong exclusives if they can't sell the console or produce them as 1st Party releases. The price drop will happen, but by the time they have it down to $300 the 360 and Wii will be priced to compete with the PS2 for budget gamers' interest.

"From the people I have talked to, its not JUST the price, thats just a peice of it."

Honestly, it really is. Well, that and the year lag behind the comparable 360. Lower price means faster console sales means less exclusive 3rd Party game devs bailing for the 360 means more people willing to buy the console based on the game lineup. That's what won the 6th Gen war for the PS2 when it had the least powerful hardware (that and the fact that cross-platform titles were probably written for the SP2 and just ported to the XBox/Gamecube).

"Not to add to this already crazy long comment section, but I will point out that HDDVDs with standard DVDs on the flip side are already available, something I'm told Blu-Ray will never have... given the prevalence of DVD players already, being able to buy a single disc to work in any player in your house will be a huge selling point, IMHO..."

I'm actually not a fan of dual-sided discs. I much prefer to have cool artwork on them. Besides, they'll still cost more than straight DVDs, and have less selection.

Purple Dave

They also did not have any DS lites in stock but had tons of 360s.

I have to agree, this time last year, the demand for the 360 was still huge and they were selling on ebay at very inflated prices.

BinxB

yurlittlepony

i love my wii.

i don't pick favorites when it comes to my children.

yurlittlepony

Anyway, if I wanted to blow $600 on hardware I'd just get a 8800 because that is already far more advanced than anything the PS3 could do.

cybereality

javajoe96

Yuckee

Tondog

harkonnen

do i need to go on the only thing that would make me even consider buying one is that you can run Linux on it, buy you can even do that because they only let you access 256 of system memory and no video acceleration

I'm sorry this went in to a rant bottom line i don't see $600

Oh by the way walmart Charleston WV had 6 and the store clerk said they had been there for over a week!!!

Neoistheone2000

mikeit

Scrapple

Then it's poorly designed Bluetooth. I've yet to have a Wii controller "lose sync" with the console despite using it in range of at least 2 other WiFi devices (in my house alone) and 1 other Bluetooth device (Blackberry).

"Interference with other devices" seems to be a ready-made excuse for a flawed Bluetooth implementation by Sony.

baberg

TheNatural

You forgot to mention Resistance: FoM! Oh, wait.... you did...

Twenty5

We had a good number of Bluetooth keyboards and mice at work, which lost connection every month. The problem appears to have been with other wireless options we were using (access points or blackberry devices) that caused interference-- or so we were told. We've since removed all bluetooth keyboards and mice. Curiously, we've never had a problem with bluetooth headsets, although every once in a great while those need to be resynched.

Starcade

I would love to see numbers showing overall sales for 360-PS2-PS3-WII and GH2-GH1 that would be interesting.

aDuh

firestorm117

Regula Oblique

Rectangle

Psychotext

I keep hearing about how the PS3 is buggy yet I have yet to have any issues, or see any major headlines about faulty hardware, unlike the 360s that were being reported at around this exact time and for about 6 months afterward (and some still now)

Anyone hear of anything?

JTindahouse

"According to the research firm, around 2m Xbox 360s were sold between the start of November 2006 and Christmas Day. Nintendo's Wii total was 1.8m units, a very good figure given the machine didn't launch in the US until 19 November, giving the Xbox 360 a head-start of almost three weeks.

Sony sold around 750,000 PS3s during the same period - less than half the amount of Wiis picked up during the key consumer sales period.

In November 2006, some 511,000 Xbox 360s, 476,000 Wiis and 197,000 PS3s were sold, according to NPD numbers published last year. "

Rectangle

November and December early sales figures:

360: 2 million
Wii: 1.8 million
PS3: 0.75 million

Can't imagine what the Wii could have done without shortages, and I'm very disappointed to see that Sony ended up missing their revised 1 million shipment target. Would love to see the PS2 numbers... reckon they could easily be 2.5 million.

Psychotext

360 had PGR and Call of Duty and also had Kameo and Perfect Dark, which, not nearly as good as PGR or CoD, showed off some great aspects (Kameo's graphics are pretty damn stellar and the multi on PD0 is just plain fun). Moreover, only a month later, Fight Night came out.

Sony needs a must-have game every other month. That's the pace that MS had for the 360. There wasn't a quarter in '06 that didn't see the release of an amazing game. Fight Night. Oblivion. Dead Rising. Gears of War. Plus, the solid games that came out in between. Burnout Revenge and Tomb Raider were both solid games.

Just like Mars needs women, Sony needs games.

embee

Crustifix

in reply to my earlier comment.(which was
"The only thing Sony has to worry seriously about now is to keep developers motivated to do exclusive games for the ps3 while the sales aren´t that great yet."
)

Sorry,irony/sarcasm doesn´t show well in comments,cause that last paragraph of my post was meant with a sarcasm note ;-)
To sum up i just wanted to say people shouldn´t wonder about ps3s piling up in stock,sony has to worry about loosing all exclusives way more right now and if they don´t avoid that in some way ps3s will pile up way more.As others said
Sony often stated things in the sense that the ps3 will have a life cycle of ten years or more.
That is right in the sense that maybe some shops will still sell it then and some people will still play it then.
But yeah, as others said there´s a big probability that the next playstation version will be announced in less than 4 years. Its of course not helping marketingwise to tell people that they should now buy a 600 bucks console with lousy launch catalogue in hope to have a great investment for just 4 years or less,so that´s why they go that other route.
The problem is many people actually care few about what´s in 5-10 years and more about what they can enjoy today. And yeah,then spending 600 on something with worse (and way less) games than on xbox 360 and less original and family friendly ones than on wii doesn´t help either ;-)
As i said,i think Sony can do well with the ps3 once they lower the price to around 300 and have strong exclusives,till then its self explanatory they don´t do well. With the price point the ps3 has it relies way more on killer exclusives,people need to see why they should buy the 600 bucks console instead of the several hundreds cheaper ones and they need to see it with games today,not theoretical potential for sometime much later. That´s why i think news about ps3 getting or loosing exclusives is way more interesting at this point than ps3s piling up in stock for a short while. For Sony both types of news are of big importance of course,for me as gamer its only important to see whether there are enough games to argue for the extra cost or not.

tomsamson

Shachihoko

Shachihoko

But since I do own what I own and have that huge back log of games, I have ZERO desire to spend $600 on a PS3. On the other hand, if the Xbox360 wasn't offered at $100 less along with Gears being only $39.99, I wouldn't have bought a 360 yet and Sony could've still had a chance at my money.

spork

EVERYONE WHO GOT A DAMN GIFTCARD FOR CHRISTMAS! NO EXCUSE!

darkdreamr

haha, your not the only one who disagrees with zim.

but in this case , i somehow see blu-ray and hd-dvd forming into one after the dual format players start coming out, and they dont make much money. people are going to realize that paying the same for a dual format player as for a hddvd of bluray player is the way to go.

as for the consoles, there is no way that the ps3 will ever catch up with sales unless they dramtically lower their prices. half of america doesnt have that kind of money to just spend on a vg system. plus, in my opinion xbox 360 is a way better deal. as for life span, i doubt it will be 5 years before out comes a new xbox and playstation system and nintendo...cuz technology nowadays is getting so advanced its crazy.

thesillyone

It is the price of the system that is causing this. That's it. Nothing else. It is much too expensive for a VG console especially for people who are poor after purchasing tons of Christmas gifts."

From the people I have talked to, its not JUST the price, thats just a peice of it. We are past the "must have because its new" stage... Now its time for people to buy it for gaming. Because its got an incredibly limited line up of games, people are not buying it anymore. When more, better games come out, sales will pick up again, but as it stands, anyone who wanted it because they "needed" it, already has it, and now ebay is useless, only market left now is the bluray movie adapters, and gamers...

Scazza

I see more Nintendo fanboys bragging here than the Sony fanboys "trying to talk down the horrible sales".

psychobadger

Graywind

apc_35

leshrac55

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8499/lmfaoyl5.png

Macsto

I think the way that people should look at the differences between a 360 and the PS3 is not that the PS3 is bad but that a 360 can do that plus more(in most if not all cases).

I'm enjoying my 360+ 2 extra controllers + Rainbow Six + GeOW + Charge Cable for 440 (did not include the 50 gift card) :D

Anyway Marasai, well said.

F8X

You do realize the only "motivation" that works is buckets and buckets of cash money, right?

Rockstar, Capcom, Konami, and Squenix aren't going to release an exclusive >$15M title for a console with an install base of less than 10 million units, unless there's serious check-writing involved.

Granted, they've done it with Insomniac, but Sony has already said they don't plan on doing a whole lot more.

FlapjacksAreTasty

For someone who claims not to be a sony fanboy, you sure do talk like one. I don't know of any other group that can use the term "future proof" without dying a little inside.

The key features of the ps3 are the cell and the BD rom. But neither of those are able to be used to their full potential. The cell was mostly built with video streaming in mind, not gaming. The spu's can only really be used to their fullest when multitasking extensively, and don't offer nearly the general purpose power that the 360 has. While the cell (under ideal conditions) can out perform the 360s 3 cores, it can only truly function at that level if very carewfully and spcifically programmed to. Only specifically made for the ps3 will be able to take advantage of that power, and as the ps3 is losing exclusives right and left, that isn't likely to happen.

Disc size doesn't matter all that much. The average size of a 360 game is around 5 gigs or so. If by chance they grow to over 9 gigs, another DVD can be used. They can also do wonderous things with compression and PGC these days. Ever played roboblitz? They got unreal engine 3 to run on a game less than 50 megs in size.

Sony says that bluray will allow for more hidef textures, but the problem is that the ps3 isn't powerful enough to display them. That is the fatal flaw in the ps3. It could have outclassed the 360 if sony had invested in enough memory. Sadly they didn't. The lack of memory and other bottlenecks make it impossible for the ps3 to perform past a certain point.

The 360 is actually a better system in several areas. The ps3 doesnt' outclass it as it is, so it will not be able to compete with the next one.

Marasai

As said by a few others unless Sony goes bankrupt ahead (not probable),probably the ps3 will get to second or first position once it has a long list of strong exclusives and the price drops to mass market regions (around 300 at most),so yeah,in around a 1-1.5 years.
If then we still see such pictures of ps3s stacking up and not getting sold,yeah,then there´s reason for sony to worry seriously.
The only thing Sony has to worry seriously about now is to keep developers motivated to do exclusive games for the ps3 while the sales aren´t that great yet.

tomsamson

And if Nintendo's Wii was selling as shitty as the PS3 is now, I would have a hard time believing it, true, but even I would understand that Nintendo fucked up bigtime in this generation of console wars. How can you Sony fanboys not see this? Seriously? Yes, blame the price, that's probably the number 1 reason... but the point is that nobody wants one. Acceptance is the first step.

ginrei724

To say that the lack of demand is due to price alone is a complete copout when 360s were still selling for $1000 this time last year on Ebay.(yes, some of them used) We will really be able to compare once we see official sales numbers. For now, this is all speculation.

Spartan1308™

YellowDucati

I do agree with the people who blame the price. But i also blame sony.

gojira

DonKami

1.True next gen (better looking games will hit the market causing PS2 owners to upgrade to PS3) justified by publishers when Sony releases PS3 in Europe shortly
2.Blu-ray ending Sony's format failing streak (hey a broken clock is right twice a day) will become the new High Def format do to better players and more content. I know that XBOX market place is offering HD movie right as we speak but who has time or space on there HD for 10 GB of video to be downloaded to there system?
3.The end of standard tv signals in February 2009, sure people can run to the store and get a 150 HD to SDTV converter but just to keep up with the Jones, I expect that as the deadline comes closer and HD TV become more affordable you will see a increase on Sony PS3 sales because "Since I have this HD system I might as well get a HD video player, ohhh look the PS3 plays HD video and HD game while that is a deal." Keep in mind this was the main justification for getting PS2 before good games came out, the thing plays DVD too.

All these thing will come to pass couple will a price drop or two and Sony will again lead the market. As for the wii keep in mind that gamecubes sold like hot cake for about 12 months and then cooled down considerable. 40 percent of all gamecubes where sold within 12 months of its launch, why do you you think they have been selling for 99.95 for the pass 3 years?

dracer

Falconfire

VzeroX

Covenant

And as far as the Wii being unique, I love the Wii, but it wouldn't be that hard for Sony to release something new as a controller whenever they want. Hell, the original dual shock didn't get released for a few years after the PS1 came out.

As far as the PS3 is doing on the market, I don't think Sony was entirely unexpecting this or we would have heard a crazy press release in opposition to the sales data.

Oh, and for a Disclaimer: I am not a Sony fanboy, I'm just looking at the situation from my own perspective.

DonKami

EnigmaNemesis

jackdoe

Psychotext

Doomstalk

If there is supply and demand for a system, Best Buy will overload on the system. They do that every year. I remember when The PS2 and Xbox were still fairly new. We had tons of them. And this year was no different. Tons of Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 NFS bundles. And it seemed for every 5 we sold they shipped another 10.

Justcrim

neverenoughtime

Sony don't really have the choice of when to release their console. They tried to rush the ps3 to be as close to 360 launch as possible, so the chances of them waiting around years after the launch is practically 0.

Zim

Compare this to the ATI x800 vs NVidia 6800 from a few years ago. The 6800 came with slightly better stats and pixel shader 3.0. Now a little more than 2 years after its release most x800 owners have started to feel the need to update whereas the 6800 owners can still be quite comfortable for at least another 2 years.

Then again, I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.

DonKami

Psychotext

EnigmaNemesis

badnewsjones

Macsto

Zim

Psychotext

Regula Oblique

Now this shipment was all over the Kotaku site. Several times! Everyone knew Best Buy was going to have a large shipment for Dec. 31st's ad. My Best Buy where I work still has a sign saying we have PS3's for sale the day after. Not to mention we shipped tons of PS3s to the Deluth store.

Sure, Microsoft fanboys will use this to speculate how bad the PS3 is doing. But at the same time this is exactly how finacial analysts predicted. And also this time last year the Xbox 360 was still in high demand.

But maybe you are right. Maybe people dont have the money for a PS3, but that would be because they have already chosen the Wii over the PS3.

Justcrim

Guile0

Doomstalk

Doomstalk

Yagami-Iori

modifiedbears

urzishra

Well said. And I definitely think that being third to market at $200-$350 more than your competition is a bigger deal that everyone thinks. Because regardless of how you spin it, a large majority of consumers are going to see that price difference as "wasted" money that could be used on controllers and games. I think the PS3 is a beatiful console and Motorstorm looks like an awesome game, but neither of those things leads me to believe I am going to have $350 more fun playing it than I do with my Wii. And for me fun is what its all about.

harkonnen

knox

Personally, I don't see any reason to purchase a PS3 for at least another year or two. I did, however, purchase a PSP this weekend now that there are some great games for it. I could've purchased a PS3 instead, but one decent game isn't enough reason to justify spending $600.

On the other hand I've set aside money to buy a Wii as soon as supply catches up to demand. I'm not going to wake up early on a weekend just to buy a console. I've already bought 6 games, a classic controller, and a 2000 Wii point card though.

D00mM4r1n3

$600 is too much for a gaming system. If there isn't enough money to buy it, there isn't the demand for it - you can't contend that demand exists but people don't have the resources to satisfy it. If people want something in the abstract, but lack the concrete ability or resources to get it once available, there's no actual demand for it. Demand implies some sort of satisfaction. People want iPods. A lot. People don't want $1,000 iPods, even if they in the abstract still want the technology.

Sony has an incredible, awful problem on their hands. They have a five-year, multibillion dollar commitment (at minimum) to a platform that, in its current state, is simply not a mass-market machine. I just don't know if there are 10 million people willing to drop five to six hundred dollars on "the future of gaming". Sony's got to be willing to lose a lot of money to make the current vision of the PS3 work.

hegemonyhog

apc_35

apc_35

t0yrobo

AK!

weatherman

That's what the year headstart gets you: an early spot on the shelf.

Sorry Sony, too late.

embee

"In my little town of Ketchikan, Alaska there are about 5 PS3s at our Walmart. I saw them last week and I bet money there are still sitting there behind the glass."

I think the problem there is that you live in a small town in Alaska :P

MoeB

"In my little town of Ketchikan, Alaska there are about 5 PS3s at our Walmart. I saw them last week and I bet money there are still sitting there behind the glass."

maybe that has to do with the fact that you live in a little town in Alaska :P

MoeB

MoeB

bird1988

Don't be. There's a reason Amazon.com almost went down when they offered the 360 core version for 100 bucks. Lots of people can't justify that much for a next gen console, and the games are quite expensive as well. Unless you have a large amount of disposable income, you'll probably end up renting a good bit of games at first.

But then you'll find 20 dollar 360 games, then 10 dollar used games, not to mention the 4 dollar Burger king games.

Hell I'm just happy there's free demos and multiplayer for the PS3, those things are expensive!

Scuba Steve

It took me a long time to justify $399 for me, and even then I only got a 360 when I could get it from an online retailer for a discount. In the end Chromehounds, Enchanted Arms, Gears of War, Rainbow Six, and XBLA games swayed me from my normal "3 must-have exclusives before purchase" to a more lenient "4 nice-to-have sorta exclusives plus extras".

Sony can give me a call when they have either (a) dropped the price to $300 or (b) have 5 must-have exclusives. $600 is far too much for a gaming system which is what I want out of the PS3 - I don't care about 1080p or BluRay despite having an HDTV.

baberg

I am probably in the minority, but as much as I love gaming, I can't bring myself to pay $399 and then $60 per game. I did get my Wii for Christmas, though, and it is hella fun.

MikeKelley

Vexorg

Doomstalk

cybereality

SXGlory

Rockywwf

If they sold them all then why are you guessing they are all gone? Oh, that's right, you are lying and are having trouble keeping your lie straight in the very same paragraph.

:D

Spilt_Milk

xerxes7

That said, I can't say that I am very pleased with Sony. Their price point was a slap in the face to me. The claims that it would be so impressive I would want to work overtime to purchase it were an insult.

I am a consumer without an HDTV and little interest in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray (I wasn't suffering under the resolution of regular DVDs).

I want to buy a video game system that is fun. I don't want the ultimate convergence device, or an appliance contingent on my already having invested over $1000 in order to appreciate it.

At this point in time, the PS3 offers little except potential. With no compelling launch titles and a price point that was sure to drop, the PS3 is a system I have no trouble waiting on... for as long as it takes for Sony to take stock of themselves and their perception of what a gamer is and what they want.

Dyuta

Arsenal

Robert Summa

DoubleM

PS3 isn't selling like that.

The was an unproven product it took getting the nongamers are a huge game lineup to obliterate the psp in both hardware and game sales.

Now the PSP sold well in Nov and December but two months out of the year when your competiation is outselling you ten to one in one market while three to one in all others isn't very good.

Heck a store clerk admitted they only sold each psp they had because they advertised them.

Also I saw a lot of xbox 360s in stores. Even on Christmass Eve.

Yetanotheruninspiredscreename

FROST1

What's worse for Sony is that MS will be able to cost reduce the entry level system to a greater extent. Part of it is because they are not tied to including a HDD in the box. Most here are probably thinking, well, you *must* have a HDD for a 360 to be of any use, and personally I tend to agree. However, take a step back and consider the millions of PS2s without a HDD. Many who only care about gaming can live without it".

You right MS could drop the the core to $249 without the HDD, which would match the price of the Wii. Hell 360's GPU alone is worth $400 bucks. I'm starting to feel sorry for Sony because of their arrogance.

DoubleM

But 600? Keep your Hardware, I'll wait.

Just my opinion on the whole PS3 thing, soo...

INTERNET ARGUMENT!

Klappstuhl

correction:

"Heck, I half want to go buy a PS3 just because I want Sony to fail."

Sony loses $200 per console.

Skeep

squidhat

subject117

Matters

What's worse for Sony is that MS will be able to cost reduce the entry level system to a greater extent. Part of it is because they are not tied to including a HDD in the box. Most here are probably thinking, well, you *must* have a HDD for a 360 to be of any use, and personally I tend to agree. However, take a step back and consider the millions of PS2s without a HDD. Many who only care about gaming can live without it.

Taz

darksyde78

It's not fanboyism to recognize that Sony is going to be in a world of hurt if things don't turn around. No one here has said "Yay, Sony is going to fail! Go Nintendo!" It is, however, stupidly fanboy to claim that such obviously bad news is no big deal.

Heck, I half want to go buy a PS3 just because I don't want Sony to fail. Unfortunently, $600 is a whole lot more money than I have to pay on an unproven, buggy system with so few launch titles.

iwanttobeasleep

Random1512

Correction.

A couple weeks ago people were saying that Sony is doomed because they couldn't get PS3s on the shelves. Now we are saying that Sony is doomed because they can't get PS3s OFF the shelves.

Big difference.

Matters

I don't think the PS3 is too expensive, unless you factor in the cost of another console. I think most folks who are looking at getting the PS3 already know they're going to spend $300 for Ninty's offering, and those who have the Xbox 360 probably spent that money last year, not this...which is all a very convoluted way of saying that Nintendo is the second console that everyone wants first, which really squeezes the PS3. The PS3 is probably a fine console, and it's probably the one that people will ultimat