OPM editor doesn't even want a PS3 ... yet
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Aug 12th 2006 at 11:55AM }
Dana Jongewaard, editor of Official PlayStation Magazine, says in her 1Up blog that even she will be passing up the PlayStation 3 this November for the less-expensive and currently available Xbox 360. Yes, the OPM editor says she is turning to the "dark side" and picking up the less expensive console. She writes:But when I know that a console's direct competitors cost two-thirds or half of that price, it becomes harder for me to justify shelling out that kind of money. $600 might be worth it if there were several huge titles on the near horizon that were PS3-exclusive. But for the first year at least, there are very few big titles that are PS3 exclusive. GTA4 and Assassins will be available for the 360 at the same time.
The other big reason for people to shell out $600, BluRay, is frankly something I don't care about. So ultimately, I can't justify it. $600 is a lot of money, especially when I can get what -- for me at least -- will be a very similar experience for $400. I would like to own a PS3, and I hope that the price drops soon so I can consider it.
So there you have it. Even the OPM editor seems to be a bit discouraged by the start of the PS3. It's starting to look like Sony will really have to come out with some great exclusives to sell people on the console as months pass by. That first year, though, is shaping up to be a rough one.
[Thanks, DawgOnU]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Tom @ Aug 12th 2006 12:02PM
Waiting for the fanboy nuclear explosion over this...
fagaymer @ Aug 12th 2006 12:03PM
Soon-to-be-former-editor!
nero @ Aug 12th 2006 12:03PM
I imagine that working for OPM, Dana will have access to a PS3 and all it's titles at work, so I wouldn't shell out $600 either if I already had access to a PS3. Heck I've been a fan of the PS1 and PS2, but indeed $600 is a hard price to take, and I may just end up getting a 360 as well.
Gianni Gotti @ Aug 12th 2006 12:03PM
Typical of the gaming X-tocracy to focus on the $600 "straw man" rather than the value that a PS3 represents at $500....
Thanks God that the ramblings of the videogame "media" minority are irrelevant to that Great mass of consumers who will overwhelmingly support the PS3
James Sorensen @ Aug 12th 2006 12:04PM
well in her case, she be poor, but already will have a ps3 to play at work and for the time being cant afford the ps3... so its not like she wont play ps3 all the time at work anyway...
seeing how her work is going to provide her with a free one heh...
more anti-sony online media that is in stark contrast to the general public...
Tim @ Aug 12th 2006 12:05PM
I would think that she could afford one working for such a big gaming magazine.
Optimus Prime @ Aug 12th 2006 12:08PM
She needs to find a new job or start sleeping with higher-ups; she should be able to afford the 100$ difference.
pandlcg @ Aug 12th 2006 12:09PM
Wow....complete denial continues in the face of an overwhelming majority.
Michael @ Aug 12th 2006 12:16PM
She's saying what the majority are thinking.
Tom @ Aug 12th 2006 12:17PM
Maybe if said fanboys would read the article she states why she doesn't want one, she never said she couldn't afford one.
"direct competitors cost two-thirds or half of that price"
"the first year at least, there are very few big titles that are PS3 exclusive"
"The other big reason for people to shell out $600, BluRay, is frankly something I don't care about. So ultimately, I can't justify it."
Shes speaking from an honest gamer, not in a fanboy style that you would expect from the editor of a Playstation mag. I agree that BluRay isn't justified to the consumer who just recently switched from VHS. I've dropped over $2,000 on DVDs and now I'm suppost to just want to buy them again in HD? Thats all the PS3 has over the X360. She sees the quality of games is equal so hows an extra $200 worth it? I don't see it, and if you read the article she doesn't either.
TiaMaster @ Aug 12th 2006 12:17PM
"more anti-sony online media that is in stark contrast to the general public..."
???
Working at a game store I can tell you, and if you just GLANCE at forums should let you know that your statement needs some real backup.
You know, since it doesnt make sense as it stands.
Michael A. Jenkins @ Aug 12th 2006 12:18PM
Are you guys kidding me?? Have you seen the latest polls on the PS3?? Most people are NOT going to buy a console that's $200 more than the last console they had, let alone one $300 more, and that's without seeing the price of the GAMES yet.
invincibul @ Aug 12th 2006 12:20PM
Being the OPM Editor does not give some sort of a horn... right! Well, there is always Joystiq to provide me with the latest PS3 news and they would have it covered guys Joystiq has you covered.
Well Joystiq is a great blog to search for Anti-PS3 news, and fanboy inciting Wars by reporting that there are WMDs in the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 are urging President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to attack the PS3 for the hidden WMDs.
Hope this aint funny.
Merx @ Aug 12th 2006 12:23PM
Am I the only person who has noticed that she said Assassins Creed will be avaliable for the 360 at the same time?
Brian @ Aug 12th 2006 12:24PM
lol @ Gianni
I think the real straw man here is that Sony thinks of Ps3 as a gaming system. $600 is a great value for a blu-ray player/multimedia center that can also play games. $600 is a terrible value if all you want is a console.
Bryan @ Aug 12th 2006 12:25PM
Yeah this is the moment when I call Joystiq a anti-PS3 website and stop coming here everyday like I have for the past year. Later Joystiq, gl with the pile of cash Microsoft/Nintendo has paid you to release all of this garbage against Sony(I am not a fanboy, I look for honest fair coverage of gaming news)
lackingcleverness @ Aug 12th 2006 12:30PM
The OPM editor is a M$ fanboy(girl?)!!
Man, has there been any good PS3 news in a while? It appears that even Sony partisans are deserting the ship.
While I am directly invested in the competition (I own a 360), this may be a good time to recall that the PS2 launch lineup was pretty lousy, while the Dreamcast was cheaper and had better games at the time.
(And yes, I owned a Dreamcast too.)
Brian @ Aug 12th 2006 12:34PM
@Bryan
I'm sorry, what part of reporting something that happened counts as anti-sony garbage? Before you say anything, just answer the following question...
True or False: The editor of OPM recently stated that she is planning on buying an Xbox360.
Now it's your turn. Provide a few links to positive PS3 news that has NOT been covered by Joystiq or one of the other gaming blogs.
nootau @ Aug 12th 2006 12:36PM
Just a note, When i am in EB, i watch peoples faces loose all color as they are told the price of the two PS3s. The General public has no idea what the prices are right now, therefore there is no opinion yet. Sony is going to have an uphill battle convincing people that the PS3 is worth the extra $200.....the Madden Crowd will get their madden from Microsoft....the GTA crowd can get their GTA, etc. There needs to be some "killer feature" or "killer app"....but i fear Sony is expecting Blu-Ray to be that "killer Feature"....
*Rant*
Also for the "Straw Man" comment. Come on! The feature-set is extremely similar for the 360 and PS3! And then when you talk about GTA,Madden and other popular franchises..You can either focus on the $299 vs $499 argument or the $399 vs $599 argument. Both are the same argument, a $200 difference for darn similar systems! That gets you 3-4 games if you buy a 360! or 4-5 games if you buy a wii! That $200 extra gets you a 20Gig hd and a blu-Ray player....Sony hasnt shown (yet) how important either of those will be to their GAMING platform. From what i understand, hard drives are required for Blu-Ray players.
Personally i agree that $499 is an awesome value for a blu-Ray player (I even told my friend to hold off his Blu-Ray purchase and get a PS3 if he really wanted Blu-Ray cheap), but i am going to stay out of the format wars until at least 2 years down the line. I need to make sure that either format (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) wont go the way of UMD Movies (or LaserDisc...or VCDs...Or Betamax..etc).
*/Rant*
georgedakota @ Aug 12th 2006 12:39PM
You people that say the public disagrees with her are living with your heads in your asses. $600 is alot of money. Why would anyone pick up a ps3 now for $600 when a 360 can be picked up for $400, plus nearly 4 games fo the same price as the ps3?? $600 only includes 1 controller also i am assuming, no games and no extras!!
J Arcane @ Aug 12th 2006 12:44PM
The $500 PS3 is the real strawman. What the bloody hell good is saving that $100 if it means I'm getting an intentionally crippled console?
Say I decide in the future I want wireless support on my cheapo PS3? Tough luck. Can't be upgraded. Guess I'm spending $600 more on the real PS3.
Or how about when all the Blu-Ray discs start coming out that require HDMI, or they'll downgrade your signal to 480p? Tough luck. Can't be upgraded. Guess I'm spending $600 more on the real PS3.
The lowend 360, while a suckers bet in itself, could still be upgraded to add the HD later on, and for the same price as the difference between the two models.
So save the crowing about the $500 price.
Diamond @ Aug 12th 2006 12:46PM
The amount of people whining about how "Joystiq is unfair to PS3 fans" and "she's missing waht a great value the PS3 is" need to re-read the post. Perhaps a couple of times. Let's go over the FACTS of the post:
1) Joystiq has only said what they are observing from all of this. They didn't spin the article, they didn't invent new facts, nothing. If covering an article that is even remotely negative or positive in some way makes them biased, then I shudder to think how you exist in a media-driven world. A big part of fair and balanced (No, not Fox News fair and balanced) is telling the public what is going on, even if you don't like it. Quite frankly, I have yet to even see an article -anywhere- that puts the PS3 in a positive light (an article that isn't ZOMGBLURAY, anyways).
2) If an editor of the Official PLAYSTATION magazine says that she is not interested in purchasing a PS3 at launch, then yes, that does say a great deal about where Sony is headed. A lot of people do agree that PS3 needs more killer launch titles to merit it also being a gaming system worth the price tag.
3) No, not everyone cares about Blu-Ray, so it being a big value there only applies...to people who want Blu-Ray. Personally, I'm with the editor on this one.
4) The editor never said she couldn't afford one or the other. She said that she wasn't interested in what Sony is selling yet.
5) The difference between the $500 and $600 PS3 is really enough to make the $600 PS3 the only one that a lot of people want, which is why people put emphasis on the $600 PS3. If I'm shelling out that much on a console, then yes, I'd rather not have a gimped version.
GalileoAce @ Aug 12th 2006 12:46PM
The Editor of the "Official Playstation Magazine" can't justify buying the console she'll inevitably have to support?
That's a worrying situation for Sony.
Especially on top of the following:
* Several developers holding off making games till later in the PS3's life
* Several games being cancelled and/or decided not to be developed for PS3
* EA saying the PSP isn't as fun as the DS
* UMD dead
* BluRay failing in early comparison to HD-DVD
When will Sony's pain end?
GamerG @ Aug 12th 2006 12:48PM
I think the fact the editor of OPM saying they will be buying a 360 over a PS3 is a story well worth running by joystiq and is not Fan boyish is any way!!
The people who think all this bad news for the PS3 is somehow a conspiracy are living in denial.
Did Joystiq pay her to say it or something??!!
georgedakota @ Aug 12th 2006 12:49PM
@bryan - so you think joystiq is anti-sony well the story came from 1up.com they are just reporting it on the site. I love how people get all offended when a system has a bad report on it like they helped create the system. Please, do you honestly think sony cares about anything except getting your money? Sony is known to create a media format and most have failed, like memory stick,umd and coming soon blu ray. They try telling us what we want and how we should use it, like the mp3 players they created that didnt even support mp3 format!! I seriouslt doubt many people are spending $1000 on these stupid blu ray players when hd dvd is just as good.
Matt @ Aug 12th 2006 12:57PM
The large arguement I have against the Playstation 3 is two-fold: a) you can purchase an Xbox 360 and several second-generation 360 games for the price of a Playstation 3 itself, and b) Sony has, in the past, caused three Playstation 2's I've owned to die, as well as a collective 9 other PS2s between two of my co-workers (at an EB, where we can thankfully replace our systems for no cost).
Sony has repeatedly lied to their customers, and that is not something I would like to support. If you know your product's disc drive laser is faulty (and trust me, Sony knows), why then would you fail to acknowledge or replace it, even after a system refresh (slim-line PS2)? That's rediculous, as is the lack of offering a replacement for the PS2 that I purchased that was released faulty.
You see, in my experience often times those who do not support the PS3, they dislike the price, but aren't even thinking about that. If a company lies to millions of people (103.8 million, according to Sony, as of May 10th, or E3) over a five year span, what makes you think they won't continue it? And don't give me this 'well Xbox and Gamecube break too!' garbage. They break, but Microsoft and Nintendo, respectively, acknowledge their faulty hardware and offer to replace it for little or no fee. Sony won't even begin to listen to you when you say "yeah, this is the third PS2 I've owned, and it has died of a Disc Read Error, just like the first two I purchased", they just laugh, pocket your money, and pray to God they get out of bankruptcy soon so they can do it all over again. ;)
And fanboys: Shut the hell up. Seriously. I own a 360, I love it, and I plan to own a Wii, and if the PS3 drops in price (which I don't see happening, given the cost of producing the system), I will certainly buy it as well.
It simply is not intelligent for the vast majority of gamers to purchase a Playstation 3, at this time, with such inexpensive competition present.
The graphics are the same, and for the most part, the games are the same, so what's with the mental block which prevents you from seeing this?
And if it isn't about the games, which we've covered as being the same, then do you not realize all that's left is a fricking brand name?
Do you not see how rediculous of an idea it is to essentially think "omg I need Sony's sweet lovin'" when it is both identical to other lovin', and more expensive for said identical lovin'?
Kayzai @ Aug 12th 2006 12:59PM
WHAO!!! - AN ORIGINAL SONY FANGIRL NOT SEEING ANY POINT IN BUYING A PS3 THIS YEAR??? OMG ... NOW THIS IS BADDD!!!
I planned to get a PS3 in 2008 after the Price cut and I will still get it (when the good games arrive, hopefully.
BUT for an Editor of the OFFICIAL PS Magazine to come out with this???
Thank God I am not a fanboy that I can see that Sony is in BIG TROUBLE!!!
WHAO!!!
Matt @ Aug 12th 2006 1:00PM
#20:
To be fair, BluRay isn't technically "out" yet, and therefore we can't compare the two formats' success. Even if we could, it is far too early on to think much of it.
The Playstation 3 is as much a $500 console as the Xbox 360 is a $300 console. That is to say that the overwhelming majority of gamers consider the Xbox 360 to cost $400, and therefore the Playstation 3 to cost $600. The "better" versions of each system are the only real route to go in many people's minds, so the statement of "well it only costs $100 more" is essentially bullshit.
Tirol @ Aug 12th 2006 1:03PM
"When will Sony's pain end?"
When Sony gets off their high horse of theirs and actually make GAMES and not making it a multimedia center.
KawF @ Aug 12th 2006 1:03PM
Diamond, how do you come to the conclusion that the $499 version is gimped? All it lacks is the built in media card reader, wifi and HDMI.
Who actually needs the media card readers? Sure, might be practical to have, but is fully upgradeable. Wifi? There's still a gigabit ethernet connection on the thing. It is also supposed to be upgradeable with a any wifi-adapter.
So what about HDMI then:
Of course you will claim that "without HDMI you can never get more than 480i" or some other type of dissinformation.
In fact, it supports everything up to and including 1080p. [ http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/specs.html ] For both games and all BluRay video that does not use the Image Constraint Token.
And as we all know there was an agreement amongst all the major movie publishers to not use that ICT until what was it, 2012.
Of course you will claim that somehow this will still be in effect.
So please explain the non-HDMI-capable Xbox 360 and non HDMI-capable HDDVD-addon being used to play back HDDVD media. No, the Xbox 360 does not have ANY circuitry that supports output of digital or HDMI enabled signals.
Does it make sense for Microsoft to release a HDDVD-addon that will not be possible to use for outputting HD-video? I think not.
So what argument is left for the gimpness? That it has a smaller harddrive? Upgradable with ANY standard 2.5" harddrive. Not like with the Xbox which requires a Microsoft proprietary hard drive.
Anything more? The chrome detailing?
Also, if you actually read what she said, one of the big reasons, shocker, to why she won't be getting one at launch for home is... drumroll... that she'll play PS3 all day at the office!
Picto_Chat Predator @ Aug 12th 2006 1:06PM
Yeah, the PSP sucks!
Err, I mean the PS3 sucks!
Fish @ Aug 12th 2006 1:06PM
Why is Joystiq anti-Sony, anti-PS3?
If there's news to report, whether it be good or bad, they report it. It just so happens that PS3 isn't in good shape.. but you're shooting the messanger on this one.
Its like blaming the Wall Street Journal because stocks went down. If things aren't looking good, you still report, which is what Joystiq is doing.
J Arcane @ Aug 12th 2006 1:13PM
THe anti-piracy method that is to be implemtented in the next generation of Blu-Ray discs requires HDMI to authenticate the disc.
If there is no HDMI, the system automatically downgrades the signal.
The present generation of Blu-Ray movies doesn't require HDMI, but they will within the next year or so, and then anyone who was a sucker enough to buy the $500 PS3 suddenly will have a crippled Blu-Ray player, with no way to upgrade it.
Kosher Infidel @ Aug 12th 2006 1:23PM
Denial is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person faced with a fact that is uncomfortable or painful to accept rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimisation) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference). The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction.
1up_clock @ Aug 12th 2006 1:27PM
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA.
ben @ Aug 12th 2006 1:33PM
Yeah, isn't that lady aware that she should WANT the PS3 to work and not flop.. Her job depends on it. I don't see a OPM if there is no Playstation... If I were her I would have kept those thoughts in my head.
...Or, she jost got offered a job to do something with Microsoft and the 360...?
Jay @ Aug 12th 2006 1:33PM
It's great how anti-PS3 the world is outside the blogosphere. Even the Guardian newspaper (THE GUARDIAN!) had an article about how bad the PS3. to me that signalled a big event in the media, a respectable paper read by millions had told people outside of the internet ramblings that the PS3 is going to be a disaster. People currently unaffected now know, well in the UK at least.
Sony are going to have to do something big to make up for all this. God knows what they can do to raise system awareness. would need to be the equivalent of unblocking hombrew on the PSP.
Kosher Infidel @ Aug 12th 2006 1:45PM
Look, the truth is, all of Sony's ills began when they touted the PS2 was more powerful than the Xbox; straight up lie, but their fanboys bought it. Now they lie about Killzone 2 being in-game, real-time footage only to be caught lying. 100 bluray movies are available...you will buy our system without a single game...do they actually have to just rape a third-world child for the fanboys to get it? Now they want to take on MS and dismiss Nintendo?!? They are insane. Sony has money, MS has real money. MS has not taken out a major loan lately Bill Gates is personally worth more than all of Sony. The money MS loses on a 360 is recouped in one hour or so of interest for Mr. Gates.
God, just lie down and die Sony, please. You killed the Dreamcast with your BS, but that ain't gonna work this time around.
Zeldathebest @ Aug 12th 2006 1:46PM
All i have to say is Dana Jongeeward is my personal hero.She is justs saying what peter moore has been saying all this time but this time its an actual editor for the playstation magazine!So all the fanboys trying to defend the ps3 good luck.(not really)
KawF @ Aug 12th 2006 1:49PM
ICT Info (the no-HDMI issue):
http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/05/20/ict-a-non-issue-till-at-least-2010/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Digital_rights_management
"In addition, Blu-ray [edit: and HDDVD] players must follow AACS guidelines pertaining to outputs over non-encrypted interfaces. This is set by a flag called the Image Constraint Token (ICT), which restricts the output-resolution without HDCP to 960×540."
And since it won't be in use...
Then again, why are you not complaining about the Xbox 360 lacking HDMI?
Why are you not yelling at Microsoft for suckering you into buying a cripled Xbox 360? They sold a $399 Premium Package to you that will NEVER be capable of HDMI output. Does this not upset you?
And something more... you all seem to usually claim that all that matters is the games. So why do you focus on the BluRay movies? The BluRay media is used to store the games (shocker). And they are not in any way whatsoever affected by this.
They [the games] will still be playable in ANY resolution including 1080p with the 20GB version of the PS3.
For $499 you get a PS3 with:
o. 99.9% Backwards Compatability with all previous generations of PlayStation, a library of several thousand games.
o. The ability to play PS3 Games, region free, of course, at ANY resolution up to and including 1080p.
o. A fully upgradeable harddrive slot that can accomodate ANY standard 2.5" hard drive.
o. Wireless controllers.
o. The allmighty DualShake3.
o. Free online gaming for everyting except certain MMORPGs.
o. Access to downloadable content, indie games, small games, and possibly full retail games (such as with PSP and the PS1 downloads), and other media (at self-cost of course).
o. BluRay Movie Playback at all resolutions up to and including 1080p until the ICT takes effect in an estimated 4-6 years. After that in "just" 960×540p which is MORE than current gen DVD.
o. Access to a fully featured Linux system just as with Playstation 1 and 2, which will allow for and encourage, just as with th PS1 and PS2 linux, homebrew games and application development. (Not to be confused with PIRACY).
o. Did I mention homebrew? If I did, then you might realise that you'd also get access to basically ANY linux software that the cunning Linux community already has available. Such as playback of movies and media of virtually any format including (avi, mkv, ogg: divx, xvid, h264), wmv, qt and etc.
Now, I don't know about you, but that is a little list of things that make me at least really like the PS3. I don't even have to have an expensive media center PC to use the PS3 as well... a media center.
All that for just $100 more? Yes. And that's just the added features excluding some really great exclusive, and non-exclusive game titles.
So why do people still complain? Beats me.
Matt @ Aug 12th 2006 1:53PM
I love it. So because a person has their own opinion, they are all of a sudden "anti-Sony"? Because somebody wants something other than what Snoop Dogg and his Escalade on MTV Cribs told you to buy (my PS2 in my Escalade homey, fo shizzle), that makes you anti-Playstation? That's awesome.
I love retards.
Master X 24 @ Aug 12th 2006 1:54PM
PS3 will die but will only sell if blue ray is big. PS3 FLOP. Wii60 for life
Zachary Hinchliffe @ Aug 12th 2006 1:55PM
I can't help but feel kinda BAD for Sony. All the negative press they're getting is really going to hurt their buisness. (Although damn if they don't deserve it for shamelessly ripping off the Wiimote.)
Kayzai @ Aug 12th 2006 2:07PM
I really feel sorry for Sony. All this bad publicity is due to one thing BLU RAY.
If Bluray wasn't included with the PS3,
a) it would have been released, already... meaning little or no Xbox 360 lead.
b) the price would have been more competitive
c) Development costs more manageable
d) Developers not delaying/switching their games to other consoles.
All this because of Bluray which just reminds me of UMD.
Whoever wins this console war (i.e, Nintendo or Microsoft) will not win it because of their sole efforts BUT because of Sony's did everything to loose it.
BMWM3P @ Aug 12th 2006 2:07PM
Fuck that bitch, I'm still getting a PS3.
32_footsteps @ Aug 12th 2006 2:07PM
Eh, maybe she's shooting to get transferred to editing one of OPM's sister publications (EGM or CGW).
Also, given that I'm already seeing ads for home movie releases being touted as "Buy it on DVD or Blu-Ray!" (the ads for the utterly forgettable movie "RV" say this; there's at least one other I can't recall yet), I think you can get Blu-Ray players now. I'm fairly certain that they wouldn't be releasing movies on this format if it was impossible to find the players. Though I'd bet that you'd have a much easier time finding the players in large cities (LA, NYC, Chicago, Miami, etc.).
Also, for those that complain about people citing the $600 - I'd like to note that almost everyone cites the 360 as being $400, even though there's a cheaper option there, too. Moreover, I don't think I'm alone in saying that $500 is a bit much for a machine.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Blu-Ray is an albatross around the PS3's neck. It only holds 3 to 4 times as much info as a DVD (and I certainly don't mind hot-swapping discs; I've been doing it since the PS1 days) and it boosts the cost of the machine by $300 (which is the cost difference between Blu-Ray and DVD on the manufacturer level, according to Merrill Lynch).
Just think... Sony would only have had to drop the Blu-Ray drive and the high end PS3 would be only $300. If only for that, we'd be all wondering if it was at all possible to dethrone the Playstation 3 as the champion of the coming generation.
Matt @ Aug 12th 2006 2:10PM
We aren't complaining about the 360 lacking HDMI, because we don't CARE about HDMI. If Sony hadn't sat there for a year and touted the PS3 as having HDMI and BluRay and all this fancy technological bullshit, we wouldn't then be making fun of them for having on of their skus lack it. They tout this technology as revolutionary... how is it revolutionary to anything but Sony's bank account?
Sony is gambling that BluRay movies will take off. This is the reason the PS3 has a BluRay player, not for games capacity. Elder Scrolls 4 Fucking Oblivion fit on DVD-9, and you're telling me "omg we might not be able to fit large games on non-BluRay"? Sony needs BluRay. Every BluRay movie that is sold will make Sony a royalty. They are an indebted company, and this is their apparent solution. They do not care about you as gamers, they didn't for the PS2 and it's Disc Read Error, and they sure as hell don't now. All they care about is making money, and that is fine, but not at the cost of the customer. They would just as gladly sell $129.99 PS2s at a profit, make them intentionally defective, and in turn make all of their customers purchase a new PS2 seemingly every year.
But they can't. They can't stay in that realm of semi-profitability because Microsoft pushed the 360 so hard. This scares Sony, and so in their infinate wisdom they decided to try and push this uber-elite gaming system with not-so-great-sounding games onto people. They lose money per system but make it up in royalties per BluRay movie sold. If this pays off, if BluRay works (and I doubt it will) Sony will be no longer face extinction. That is all this is, and to think otherwise is a goddamned lie.
Myself and many others have stated we will buy a PS3 when a) the price is drastically reduced, and b) there are games worth buying for it. I own a 360, but did not purchase it until 8 monthes after launch. Why? There weren't many good games availible, thus lacking the justification to spend $400 on the thing. Now is awesome, Ghost Recon 3, Perfect Dark Zero, Dead Rising, Chromehounds, and The Outfit just to name a few fun games. And let's not forget Xbox Live Arcade.
The Playstation 3 will have Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13, and while that's awesome, that's not going to happen for at least a year. So then what do we have that looks promising? Resistance Fall of Man, and a rehash of a decade-old PSone game, to be exact. Sorry, but there are simply no killer-sounding games for the PS3 at launch. You care about BluRay movies and not games, you say? Why are you at a gaming website, if that is the case?
Sony made this bed, and they will lie in it. They gambled on a $400M processor that is being held back by a graphics card very much comparable to that of the Xbox 360's. They bet their consumers, the ones they sold 103.8 million PS2s to (as of May 10th) would forget about the Disc Read Error. And finally, they are gambling that BluRay will soar, and they will then make millions off of it.
UMD failed. The market was not ready to spend $20-$30 on a movie with which to view on a 4.3" screen, when they can purchase the very same movie at Wal-Mart for $10 on DVD and watch it on screens ranging from 19" to 73", with quality that is identical.
The market is also not ready for BluRay. Few people own HDTVs in North America (less than 5% of the population), and even fewer own HDMI capable HDTVs (about 5% of the aforementioned 5%). Chances are, none of these people are going to care about spending $30 on a BluRay movie that looks marginally better than DVD, when they a) already own their movies in DVD, and b) can purchase the same, non-BluRay movies at Wal-Mart for $10.
Hell, even if BluRay were infinately better looking, that is not going to stop the average consumer from wanting to save $20. $20 pays for half a week's gas. These days, it is all about saving money. That's what the Dollar Menu at McDonald's is for. Nobody wants to pay a premium, in this case a three-fold one, for something that they will barely notice, or need a $1000 BluRay player (or $600 PS3) to use. To them it's bullshit, and for good reason.
If you want us to not bring up BluRay or HDMI, then tell that to Sony. They're the ones making such a big deal about it. And you know why? It's the only way they'll stay in business. If the PS3 is not about BluRay movies, then Sony is not trying to get out of debt. They are then, in turn, not trying to keep from going under. Intelligent arguemnt, don't you think?
FRANK THE TANK @ Aug 12th 2006 2:10PM
Great article on HDMI and ICT.
REAT IT!!!
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1608/Editorial-The-Secret-HDMI-Pact/p1/
Metalmurphy @ Aug 12th 2006 2:12PM
"GTA4 and Assassins will be available for the 360 at the same time. "
She must knew something no one else knows oO
chimp o death @ Aug 12th 2006 2:13PM
@38:
Again with the free online?
"We're still looking at tiers (for pricing)...So I'm not going to definitively say, "Absolutely free!", but by and large, I would not be suprised if most of them were free of charge for basic online play"
And I know Sony has talked up Linux and homebrew, but if they're so gung ho why are they stomping all over PSP homebrew? More is at stake with PS3, so it may be logical to assume a similar approach when reality takes hold?
-Kaz Hirai in Game Informer #159.
If Hirai is not 100% promising free online, we can't count on it 100%. And what's with the constant repetition of "basic" as a descriptor of Sony's free online service. Sony flacks always say the "basic" online play will be free. This is interpreted by some as including all the services of xbox live. That makes me wonder what Sony would consider non-basic.