It's on. Sony looks to takeaway Microsoft's edge -- you know, Xbox Live Arcade -- by aggressively pursuing developers who will create downloadable titles that suit PlayStation 3's hardware. Here's Phil Harrison's take on Sony's new strategy:"[What] we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Plus, the fact that every PS3 has a hard disk drive means that we're not restricted by the size of the download, and that has a huge impact on the kind of game design that you can do."
But is this what our $600 console was built for? Is it too far out to imagine Sony (and Microsoft) slipping into a pattern; buttering us up with little e-Distribution titles all year long, and then releasing a couple big-budget franchise sequels during the holidays? Downloadable games are a nice bonus, but the novelty seems to be attracting a disproportionate amount of our game companies' attentions. How far off is the PS3 Jr., a console with no optical drive, tailored solely for the e-Distribution era?




















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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I hope with the XNA plan they have, we will be getting new, creative games at a constant and steady rate.
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but still, give me physical media any day (says the guy that will surely download a ton of wii vc titles)
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Trust us.
:|
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They're not novelties at all. Small, downloadable games are a perfectly viable means of distribution. Just because the PS3 is expensive doesn't mean that a smaller, Live Arcade-like purchase isn't taking full advantage of what the system has to offer.
After all, isn't Geometry Wars one of the most processor intensive games available for the 360 at this point?
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BUT! considering Ridge Racer will use 5 gigs of the Ps3 HD just to keep loading times short, the HD will fill pretty fast, and that considering you don't use the media fatures the console has. mmmm... Why doesn't the blu ray keep everything? is it too slow??
another problem is this idea is too early to be any good. Internet can't handle downloads that big yet and still be usable. Every server will handle a couple hundreds downloading but reach a thousand and they will start melting and keep people from getting what they alreayd paid for.
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I think no matter what is released, you're simply not going to please everyone.
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Maybe there was a reason that the original Xbox and Xbox 360 both only have broadband ethernet connections. The longest it's ever taken me to download 600 MB of anything is an hour - and the normal is just a couple of minutes.
I thought the PS3 had an ethernet port just because of this situation - and that's one reason I was never a big fan of PS2 downloads over dial-up.
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Lets hope we don't see muti GB e-Distribution projects if not that 60GB non upgradable HD will fill up fast.
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Don’t get me wrong I do like some pretty games (but not just for their looks), GOW (God of War), FFX, FFXII, GOW (Gears Of War), Metroid Prime (1 & 2), but these games take time to play through so the fact that they come out few and far between does not bother me. Every week I have a new opportunity to buy a game from XBLA (well almost every week [freaking UNO decks]) that usually takes one or two weeks to beat at most. Do I see these games as filler, no, I see them as fun, b/c if they were not fun I would not spend money on them.
This guy needs to shut up and stop complaining about companies trying to make money by making smaller games, if that is what they want to make because they think they will sell then that is their business. Who made SONY the boss of everyone?
I am not a fanboy for anyone but in the fairness of disclosure I own a 360 and I am planning to buy a Wii but not a PS3.
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