PS3 will eventually upscale your awful DVDs
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Mar 2nd 2007 at 2:45PM }
In the fourth and final part of N'Gai Croal's epic and quite informative interview with Phil Harrison, the Sony head of worldwide studios discusses his company's cultural approach to marketing in Japan. Mr. Harrison explains that in order to engender trust in Japanese consumers, Sony should start divulging more information and features earlier, even if they aren't quite "perfect" yet. His example? "You know, we're not sure when it's coming, but we're going to have DVD upscaling on Playstation 3." He follows up with, "There you go. There's a scoop for you."Though it's up in the air as to when a PS3 firmware update will enable a feature found in standalone Blu-ray players, it should work as a sufficient stop-gap to those still waiting for Blu-ray versions of Bloodrayne and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation. DVD upscaling might not boast the "wow" factor of pure HD content, but the Algebra of Wows dictates that it should be worth several thousand anti-mehs. At least!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dvdguy @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:47PM
"Anti-mehs"
LOL.
jkoch @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:51PM
I don't understand why people are clamoring for this feature. What do you think will scale DVDs better, the hardware scaler in your $1500 HDTV or a software scaler from a PS3 firmware update.
Myke @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:51PM
Oh, ok, so they managed to convince the 3 people who were still going to pick up the launch version of the PS3 to wait, nicely done Sony. =)
the real Steve @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:52PM
nice, as much as I love my 360, I would like it more if it upscaled dvds. Although, my hdtv already upscales whatever input it gets, so it isn't that big of a deal.
If you see html tags, it is because I didn't know if html works or not... now I know. lol
steve17 @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:55PM
lol. to think of what has happened with sony the last couple days and then phil says "there you go, theres a scoop for you" makes me LOL!
and ohhh! u mean when when the ps3 isnt downscaling blu ray to 480p it will be upscaling dvd's now.
these ps3 features just continue to blow me away. i mean like SERIOUSLY man!
Myke @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:56PM
Correction: If it can be done with a firmware update (which I was unaware was possible...) then my first post is invalid. I apologize to Phil Harrison, the score now stands, with me still leading, at 3,476 to 1. He's making a comeback.
n2 @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:59PM
It would seem blu-ray is now less relevant if you can upscale DVD
Yayaja @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:59PM
And the PS3 will also have support for dual HDTV's!!! Where else can companies just straight up lie and have no repercussions whatsoever??
Yes, I'm a sony hater, but only because I am a fallen sony fanboy. The BIGGEST Sony haters right now are former sony fanboys, like me. Crash and Burn!
kinshadow @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:00PM
"do you think will scale DVDs better, the hardware scaler in your $1500 HDTV or a software scaler from a PS3 firmware update."
In a $1500 TV? The software scaller all the way. Most TVs in that price range have CRAPPY scaling. If the PS3 uses the GPU to scale the video, it can achieve much better results.
Virtua Fanboy @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:00PM
LoL @ #7
LR @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:01PM
"nice, as much as I love my 360, I would like it more if it upscaled dvds."
I thought the 360 already did this
samfish @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:03PM
That's great. That's just great. Now get some god damn REAL AAA titles on it and it might start selling.
Despite Sony's best efforts, the PS3 will never be seen as a media center.
And no- Motorstorm ISN'T a AAA title. Sorry, guys.
Virtua Fanboy @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:06PM
I thought my HD-DVD drive was supposed to my DVDs to 1080i but it doesn't. Felt a little ripped off but I got over it in about 1 sec after I put in King Kong, lol. Maybe in our next dash update...
BTW:
As a 360 guy I think Sony's startin to bring a little of their A game. MS better take it up a notch. If Sony gains even the smallest lead, BOOM they're gonna be fuckin gone.
pswii60 @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:20PM
@ #13 Virtua Fanboy
Xbox 360 does upscale your DVD only if you have 1080p HDTV and a VGA cable to hook up from you X360 to the TV
Buckshot @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:20PM
the real Steve,
The 360 already upscales for dvd. Does it even better with the hd-dvd software/menu update. Unless you were being sarcastic, then "right on!"
steve17 @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:20PM
"As a 360 guy I think Sony's startin to bring a little of their A game. MS better take it up a notch. If Sony gains even the smallest lead, BOOM they're gonna be fuckin gone"
maby, but alot will have to happen for sony to overtake MS. the biggest thing being what people will buy it for: GAMES. and games is where the 360 is annihilating the competition right now. and the 2007 lineup for 360 is just going to keep doing more and more damage.
So: not only will sony have to get great, and i mean GREAT, games. but they will have to get games better than the 360. games that are great enough to convince future buyers that the ps3 is a better purchase from a gaming perspective than the 360 is.
sony has has an uphill battle years in the making ahead of it. and microsoft will be playing king of the hill all the way up.
David @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:21PM
Now the pieve of shit is really worth $600!
Plus can we trust anything Sony says? Obviously not.
Steven @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:21PM
Upscaling is pretty nice. I have a nice panasonic s97 which upscales DVD's, but the difference isn't as dramatic as some would think. It does make a difference and I enjoy it, but ever ever since I purchased the 360 HD DVD player, I've saved the space and just used it. I'm sure somebody else will chime in and say the exact opposite of me and if you want, I'll sell you my pany s97 for a decent price.
Jebus Crust @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:23PM
I thought that my DVD player/upscaler with HDMI made the my DVD movies look like HD. Boy, was I wrong. When I popped in MI3 Blu-ray on my PS3 it made the upscaled DVD's look sad. It is the same as when I am watching an HD channel when they are just upconverting an old movie. When I watch a true HD show shot with an HD camera ex. Discovery HD has original HD only programing...I immidietly notice the BIG difference.
So, while it is nice that the PS3 will upscale DVD's I could really care less. It is almost impossible for me to watch a standard DVD movie upscaled or not.
Don't beleive me? I don't care. You will see soon enough when you get a Panny HD Plasma or another high quality Plasma HD set for yourself.
On another note...it sure looks like to me that having a PS3 is a good thing.
Cannot wait for GDC
Jebus Crust @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:24PM
sorry for the bad spelling.
I took Evlyn Woodhead's Sped riddin cors and this is what I get for it. O wel
GJM @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:29PM
"Who cares who takes the lead or keeps it? Sony has some great stuff in the pipe as does Microsoft and Nintendo. My only worry is that Microsoft will pull a Psychonauts or Stranger's Wrath on Alan Wake. And that's it. That's the sum of my concerns..."
sheppy comment formula:
1) Pretend not to like Sony the best
2) Pretend to like Microsodt and/or Nintendo
3) End with a dig towards Microsoft and/or Nintendo
In the real comments world: I think the upscaling is a great thing and the power of the PS3 can definitely do a better job than built-in scalers (not a DVDO, etc). I think Sony left it out in the beginning because your average Joe has a hard time telling the difference bewtween a well upscaled DVD and a Blu Ray or HD-DVD (especially the smaller the TV). Still, a welcome addition.
Digi Smalls @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:34PM
it's not in Sony/Blu-Ray's best interest to have GOOD dvd upscaling, can anyone guess why?
that's the reason it didn't ship with this now standard feature, and why you shouldn't expect the best implementation of it.
.
ill trooper @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:43PM
Neat, but not really a subsitute for HD movies.
Upscaled DVDs will not look as good as HD source material. The information isn't there. You can hope for, and maybe get, a better LOOKING image from various scaling techniques, but you're just taking a 720x480 image and interpolating it up (photoshop-style) to 1280x720 or 1920x1080.
I'm more interested in seeing if Sony can figure out a way to upscale PS2 games the way the 360 can step in before the rendering on old xbox games and up-res to get higher resolution polygon/3D rendering. THAT is cool.
ill trooper @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:45PM
GJM - Do you have a crush on Sheppy? You're always talking about him!
GJM @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:46PM
"GJM - Do you have a crush on Sheppy? You're always talking about him!"
Yes. I have a crush on him. Good one.
Myke @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:48PM
Hahahahahaha, wow, posts 25 and 26 seriously just made my day, oh my god, something about that little exchange just hit me as hilarious. I'm still laughing!!!!
GJM @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:53PM
Glad you liked it Myke. I think we need more levity in the comments section here.
Evan @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:05PM
All HDTVs already include scalers. Although some HDTVs have crappy scalers, some HDTVs have excellent scalers that are better than most upscaling-DVD-players! So, just saying the PS3 has a scaler doesn't mean you'll get better picture quality, unless the PS3's scaler does better image processing than your tv's hardware scaler.
And I doubt Sony would give away high-end upscaling in the PS3, because it would de-value their high-end tvs and stand-alone DVD and Blu-Ray players. Sony charges a several hundred dollar premium on their higher-end tvs, where the only difference is the image processing and the color of the bezel. And, if Sony expects to sell stand-alone Blu-Ray players that cost more than a PS3, the Blu-Ray player do something better than the PS3.
Also, unless the PS3's scaler is vastly superior to your tv, it's best to process the image entirely in the tv. Most tvs will process the image regardless of resolution. If you have a 1366x768 screen, the tv will scale a 720P to 768. Even if your tv has a 1920x1080 screen, most tvs still scale the image to add overscan! So, if the player pre-scales the image, then the image will get scaled twice, which can blur and soften the image compared to only processing the image once.
Lord Chako @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:03PM
Meh.
It's still too much for a video game console/ dvd
upscaler.
Sure, it's awfully flattering of them, but it's not really something trying to sell someone on, especially given how cheap upscaling dvd players
are. Why not just announce it when it's ready, instead of trying to hype it? Is anyone really going to hold off on buying a wii or 360,
because eventually the ps3 will get dvd upscaling?
This is something that could have been included at launch. It's not like this is new to them.
Sony makes upscaling dvd players.
I can pick one up for $120 at Best Buy.
But it's going to take time to implement on the ps3? Why wasn't it in there to begin with?
If it was included in the box, it would be easier to sell.
Fact of the matter is, you can't sell someone an update(you can try, but it's hard). It's only good for those who already own it.
If ps2 games were getting upscaled, that would be something worth hyping. Because it's related to gaming.
Upscaling dvd's? That is nothing more than a novelty. If anything, it just means people might buy less BD movies.
By the way,
Did anyone else interpret "There you go. There's a
scoop for you."as a jab at kotaku?
Nuts&Gum @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:16PM
"Mr. Harrison explains that in order to engender trust in Japanese consumers, Sony should start divulging more information and features earlier, even if they aren't quite "perfect" yet."
Sony has to engender trust in the Japanese? Why?
It seems to me that Sony thinks the best way to sell more PS3s is to restart the hype train. By divulging information earlier, someone might consider buying a PS3 today for a cool feature Sony plans to implement 1 year down the road.
Its a desperate move.
ill trooper @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:21PM
"By divulging information earlier, someone might consider buying a PS3 today for a cool feature Sony plans to implement 1 year down the road.
Its a desperate move.
Posted at 4:16PM on Mar 2nd 2007 by Nuts&Gum"
...Microsoft announced IPTV a year early... Nintendo tells us we'll eventually be able to play online with the Wii... Are these desperate moves too? Not in my eyes, I think it's just the way it is with these companies.
Jeff @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:25PM
I think the bottom line is just that Sony doesn't see this as much of a big deal. Announce now or later, actually follow through or not, it really doesn't matter much. And they're right.
Almost all current HDTV's will upscale your DVD's anyway. Probably some people clamoring for upscaling in their players don't even realize that their HDTV is already doing it. An LCD TV, for example, pretty much has to upscale any content to its native resolution - otherwise you'd be watching DVD's in a little box in the middle of the screen. An LCD is only capable of one actual resolution, so it has to scale everything to that resolution. Ditto for plasma, DLP and other modern digital displays.
Upscaling players are more important for older analog CRT and projection sets that will display native 480i as 480i. Upscaling to 1080i or 720p will let you wring all the detail you can out of a DVD by getting rid of the lossiness inherent in an analog 480i connection. But I don't think many people really have this type of HD display at this point (it's almost impossible to even buy one anymore); certainly not as many as you'd think by the comments any post about upscaling gets on most blogs.
A non-upscaling DVD player with HDMI output connected to a digital HD display is probably as good a picture as you're going to get from standard DVD. But it's still not even going to come close to what you'd get from Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (with eight times the actual resolution).
ItsInTheHole @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:37PM
Who would want Blu-ray or DVD versions of Bloodrayne and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation?
Crono @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:47PM
O have a westinghouse HDTV. Apparently, they are notorious for making SDTV look terrible due to bad scaling.
What I really want is a 1200 dollar video processor, that will turn all my inputs into 1 HDMI output. It would really clean up the clutter.
But for that, I need 1200 dollars.
Mr Khan @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:55PM
Those who think HDTV's scale well, you're wrong
The only "scaling" my HDTV does is blow everything up to fill in all the pixels, it does so by exxaggerating one of the 480 pixels coming out of my Cable/Wii into massive clumps of shit
If it wasn't only 19" it would look horrible, but as it does, scaling jaggies aren't that noticeable, the only game that's really bad is Wii Sports
PS: Don't play N64 games on an HDTV with a native resolution of 1440*990, if you value your eyes
Mitch @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:59PM
Did you get permission from Sony to post this?
bootsielon @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:00PM
Sony haters are retards.
Anyway, I prefer having blu-ray inside the box than this, but still, it's a good thing it'll happen.
Diskoboy @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:08PM
Before I got my 360, I bought an Samsung upscaling DVD player. Totally not worth the money. The picture quality is noticable between real HD and upscaled. It's actually not much better than 480p.
The Jerk @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:45PM
I have a 720p teev and i can tell you the 360 plays upscaled dvd's far better than just a pro-scan dvd player. Lots of grain and blockiness versus smoothness.
It's a good feature and I'm not sure how anyone could not see the difference. Maybe that means my tv has a crappy scaler but most tv's probably do as well. Is someone going to tell me I'm a loser and a retard for being too poor to buy a tv with a decent scaler?
Fuck you arrogant know-it-alls. Joystiq is for cocks!
Evan @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:48PM
@Mr Khan "Those who think HDTV's scale well, you're wrong"
Some HTDVs do a superb job of upscaling video, but are tricked by video game systems!
Supposidly high-end scalers analyze the pixels in a small region to smooth contours and sharpen edges in anti-alised source material, like video and film. However, when fed non-anti-aliased PS2 graphics or big blocky PS1 graphics, many scalers see the pixels as block-shapes and try to sharpen the squareness of the blocks! That's the opposite of what we want.
I tried a PS1 game on my HDTV, which includes a "DCDi" scaler, and I looked inches from my screen, so that I can see the individual red-green-blue elements. My HDTV's scaler tried to make the game's pixels into perfectly square little blocks instead of smoothing them out! When playing PS2 games on my HDTV, it does not clean up the non-anti-aliased 3D graphics, but it perfectly smoothes the games' anti-aliased HUDs and menus. It kind of looks like the 3D stuff is rendered in low resolution, and the HUDs and menus are rendered in high-definition! It's the same with DVD subtitles. Text that's encoded into the video look high-definition, but subtitles overlayed on the video look blocky because they are not anti-aliased. Looking closely at my screen, the in-video text have sharp edges and smooth curves that make it look like it was rendered in high-definition, but the subtitle text has perfectly square blocks of about 3x3 screen-pixels!
the real Steve @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:52PM
Actually I was serious. All I've ever heard was how microsoft wouldn't allow the 360 to upscale dvds. But I guess there was a reason playing dvds on my 360 looks better than my dvd player.
Jake @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:53PM
Some of you need to get a clue. This is a business. Ofcourse they talked down the rumble technology, and are a little behind Microsoft in the next gen console business but this is only temporary. Microsoft is a computer software company and Sony is a superior consumer electronic slash contnet company.
Like Microsoft has done in the computer field eventually they will get it write and make the xbox 360 laughable. Let's revisit this next year at this time. It will be game over it Sony allows Apple iTunes to be integrated into the Sony system and allow it to compete with it's Connect service.
The Jerk @ Mar 2nd 2007 6:11PM
Yeah, thanks for that insight Jake. But this thread is about DVD upsclaling not how much of a fuckwit you are.
Max Boyer @ Mar 2nd 2007 6:48PM
this isn't exactly on topic, but can anyone tell me why Sony is making Crank available for download in HD on Xbox Live Marketplace? That's one of their big movies on Blu-ray right now, doesn't it seem rather counter-intuitive that they'd be supporting Microsoft's download service?
The Jerk. @ Mar 2nd 2007 7:58PM
I freaking LOVE you guys...
1. oh noes, sony doesnt come with an HDMI cable.
2. wii fanboys say most people dont have HDtv's.
2. oh no, sony doesnt support my OLD HD tv resolutions.. only new ones
3. oh no, sony now will have upscaling, most NEW HDtvs already have upscaling so screw sony (but, I thought you guys were just argueing that most people who have HDTVs have old ones?)
4. 600$ for a system? oh god shut-UP, most of you are bitching how your HD-DVD add-on already upscales.. which brings your X-Box to an even HIGHER price anyways.
Oh the contradictions. I LOVE it.
I am no sony fanboy, I agree that Xbox is MUCH better ATM. However, it did take them a year to get there.
My favorite Sony-slam has to go to this one.
Oh no, why did sony not put all these future features on the PS3 at launch?
well son, they take time to develop.
The key to the new systems is they are updatable. Why should they leave the finished systems that can play PS3 games perfectly, on a shelf while they finish working on other non-important features that arent needed yet, and can just be uploaded.
the thing is, the same people move from project to project. Finish one, move to the next. Finished working on the initial download site, next project, make it download in the background. to do this takes extra time (programming = months) and it would be just plain retarded to wait for all the additional content to be finished before releasing the already completed system. Especially when the only downloadable game is fl0w which took about 5 min to DL. Oh no, just go take a crap, or make a sandwich. flip your imputs to something else. Should the feature not be ready when it is needed, sure, that warrents bitching.
NOW FOR THE WARRENTED BASHES
Now the area I do agree is the titles, there is 1 good game (resistance) and until more come out, I have no real use for my ps3. However I do play it way more than my wii, which also only has 1 true good game (zelda, yes I rented others.. they were fun distractions, but lack any substance).
And as for the rumble. Boo hoo, well fuck wii too. I already bought my extra wiimotes, then they package them with wiiplay? so i'll have to buy another controller. same with the ps3, which I only have 1 controller for anyways. Howmany people only have 1 controller, just give the poor second player the rumble-less controller. Bad move on Sony, yes. But not life-shattering.
Azrael @ Mar 2nd 2007 9:23PM
Jake,
Your logic is astounding in the sad, plug your ears with your fingers while singing, "lalalala I can't hear you," way. If Sony was so superior to Microsoft when it comes to hardware design and manufacturing would you care to explain the RSX? We all know Sony went to Nvidia relatively late in the game as a knee-jerk reaction when it was discovered the CELL processor (in place of a traditional GPU) was no more powerful than a Geforce 4 as a GPU. Since they planned on using two CELL processors only, they all but panicked. The RSX can barely be considered a custom piece of silicone; under Sony's direction, Nvidia took a 7800 GT and bumped up the clockspeed. It still suffers from the G70 limitations (the inability to do HDR + AA). It is old technology being presented and billed as new. Much like Microsoft with the Xbox, Sony took an existing component and tweaked it slightly. That's not innovation or even intelligent hardware design (modifying existing components will not prevent them from becoming obsolete later on). It's sloth and given the PS3's price, it's all but highway robbery.
Microsoft, on the other hand, helped ATI design a custom chip from the very beginning of the Xbox 360's development and had some Direct X 10 hardware features included (a unified shader architecture is the most noticeable). The performance, when the Xbox 360 was released, could not be matched by Nvidia or ATI's flagship videocards; it stomped the GF 7800 GTX and ATI's own X1800XT right into the ground. As it stands now, Xenos is more powerful, newer (though it is now considered old), and much more efficient (thanks to the unified shader architecture) than the RSX is. Oh, and as far as image quality is concerned, Xenos can do HDR + AA since ATI's never had that limitation with anything remotely based off of the R500 architecture.
Nvidia, up until last year, thumped its chest and proclaimed that their Direct X 10 cards would never have unified shader architectures; after all, their previous video cards and the RSX both use separate vertex shaders and pixel pipelines. They called the unified shader architecture a novelty and a gimmick, nothing more or less. They abandoned that old approach when they finally came to the conclusion that MS and ATI both knew what they were talking about; all of Nvidia's Direct X 10 cards have the very features they scoffed at. It, like Xenos and other ATI cards, can also do HDR + AA. If Sony was so superior, as you clearly say it is, why didn't they have MS's foresight in bringing technology to the table over a year before the PC world could, or at least at an affordable price?
If Sony was so superior to Microsoft, they also would've realized that the benefits to having unified memory far outweigh the drawbacks. Having separate memory banks for the CPU and GPU allow both to access the RAM faster without the possibility of a bandwidth problem, but it makes the system less flexible and presents a texture storage limitation. If the RSX runs out of v-RAM for texture storage (which is already happening), it has to borrow from CELL's XDR memory; doing so isn't easy and the entire system incurs a performance penalty for even trying. Considering the OS is a hog (requiring as much as 90 MB of memory while idle) and CELL is a memory whore, there isn’t exactly much that can be borrowed from. The Xbox 360 doesn't have the same problem. Xenon and Xenos share the memory without sustaining a performance decrease; Xenos also has free reign (within reason) in regards to how much of the memory needs to be used for textures. There might be the occasional bandwidth issue, but the flexibility and storage possiblities make it worth it. Also, the OS take up a paltry amount of memory. As it stands now, Gears of War could not be ported over to the PS3 if for nothing else but memory issues.
As far as CELL's concerned, let's take a few things into consideration. 1) IBM, not Sony, did the vast majority of the hardware design, 2) IBM is having to step in and show developers how to code for CELL because the processor's gaining notoriety thanks to Sony's ignorance in leaving developers to fend for themselves without help. Xenon was also developed by IBM, but I don't see MS patting itself on the back for a job well done nearly as much as I see Sony doing it. That being said, CELL's only really good at vertex based math (floating point operations, physics, and rendering) but most (85%+) of all CPU intensive tasks are integer based; CELL forte is of limited use to a developer. Xenon, the Xbox 360's CPU, was also developed with physics in mind but it doesn't cop out on integer performance nearly to the same extent CELL does. AI? Most developers rely on branch prediction hardware (something CELL sorely lacks); yes, I'm aware there is an alternative to using branch prediction for AI, but who's done it and who would like to do it when such knowledge won’t carry over well, if at all, to the other consoles and the PC market? Sony picked a processor that is overly complex, in order execution (Xenon is, too), highly inefficient (the SPEs are constantly talking to the PPE because they can’t function independently without some instruction), and has a god awful yield rate (10-20%, and even less than that has 8 fully functional cores). Doesn’t sound too smart, does it?
Lastly, if Sony was so superior to Microsoft it wouldn't have released such sh*tty dev kits as to effectively put everyone a minimum of a development cycle behind Microsoft. If I hear, “Well, Sony’s a generation behind Microsoft, so their games shouldn’t be compared” one more time, I’ll hit someone with a baseball bat and remind them that Sony had an extra 6 months (I’m being generous with the consideration that games go gold 2 months before release) to get its act together in providing developers with what they wanted, and it squandered that time miserably (see the above IBM comment); just because Sony screwed up and its apologists refuse to admit it doesn’t mean the comparisons that are being drawn now aren’t apt. Sony had many chances to provide the same kind of help and development software MS has, and just because they didn’t doesn’t make it my or any other gamer’s problem.
Having said all of that, Jeff, wake the hell up. Sony's not going to overtake its competitors for quite some time, if it ever does. Right now, the company's in a mad dash to catch up to both Microsoft and Nintendo, for sales (the PS3 has sold a little over 14% of what MS has and less than half of what Nintendo has) as well as developer support. The development costs are prohibitively high even for a next gen console. When you couple the highest development costs of the three consoles with the lowest market share and the worst development tools, people don’t really want to make games for it. The only reason developers tolerated the PS2's crappy environment rests on the fact they'd be able to earn the development costs back even if the game didn't sell well since it had the largest marketshare. In the consumer world, no one wants to pay a $100-$200 for a console whose only noticeable advantage over the other two is that it serves as a cheap Blu-ray player.
It’s far too expensive for casual gamers (the vast majority of buyers) and the sixaxis doesn’t provide the same level of immersion or quirkiness that draws people to the Wii. For the hardcore gamer, it doesn’t offer anything more impressive visually than what the Xbox 360 currently does, it has a much smaller library, and its online network is still way behind Live. It may be wireless, it may have HDMI, and it might even serve as a media center (albiet in a crippled way), but many people like myself don’t give a rat’s ass about any of those things (I don’t like paying for perks I have no intention to use) when it comes to playing videogames (which is what any console’s primary function should be). I live in Canada where all the 20 GB models were pulled from store shelves, and that was the only one I had any intention to buy (I could afford it, and it played games without the unnecessary bells and whistles). And let’s say Sony can drop the price on the PS3 to help move units. MS will follow suit, as will Nintendo because both are making a profit, so you have the same situation in the end. If you have a PS3, I hope you enjoy it and have fun playing it. But don’t come on here acting like Sony is god when it comes to hardware or that the PS3 can be held in the same light as the birth of Christ and that it’ll crush its competition when its clearly not in a position to do so. Sony got cocky, rested on its laurels, and set an unreasonably high standard for itself with a lot of promises it either couldn't or had no intention to keep. When you come in to play a game of poker while talking crap on everyone else and then you don't play well, you have to pay the price.
Evan @ Mar 2nd 2007 9:34PM
@The Jerk "so i'll have to buy another controller. same with the ps3, which I only have 1 controller for anyways. Howmany people only have 1 controller, just give the poor second player the rumble-less controller."
Haha, that's exactly what we used to do with the PS1 - give the second player the original controller! It was even worst then, because the original controller didn't have the analog sticks.
D @ Mar 2nd 2007 10:56PM
Hey Azrael, when did you get fired from Sony? ;)
I think you are preaching go the choir on this site - I've always suspected this was a MS site and recent polls on here are showing that to be true.
I'm sorry if I didn't read all your post, I was playing Tekken DR on my 1080p projector. Maybe you should write an article as to why MS left HDMI out for their "Next-gen" (snicker) console. Oh wait, you guys are going to have to fork over ANOTHER $500 to get it. Nice.
Hope you still have rave reviews on why the 360 rocks so much after you suck up that cost.
Anubis @ Mar 3rd 2007 12:19AM
D,
The only benefit to actually having HDMI is A) playing 1080p native content, and B) meeting the requirements for an HD format's DRM. If you’re doing neither, would you care to explain to me why you need it since 480i-720p/1080i can be done comfortably through component? Let's see...only a handful of games are actually 1080p native, but they sacrifice textures, particle effects, and other bits of visual detail to keep the framerate stable. Some HDTV's allow 1080p through component or VGA, so you don’t need HDMI in those instances. The vast majority of titles will continue using 720p as their highest native resolution because it provides the best picture with the most detail possible. It's the developer sweet spot, and it's not going to change no matter what Sony or Microsoft has to say. A game at 720p won’t look as clear as one that’s 1080p native, but it will most assuredly look better. This applies to the PS3 as well (Resistance is 720p natively, and 1080p upscaled). The Xbox 360 has also never downscaled a game to 480p when trying to play it at 1080i; Sony may have fixed it, but they shouldn't have had to. Hmm, not too interested in 1080p gaming. I, like the vast majority of Xbox 360 users, don't give a rat's ass about any HD movie releases (I'm quite content with my library of DVDs), don't have the HD-DVD ROM, and don’t plan on buying one any time in the near future. In any case, if we do buy the addons, we can also use them with HTPC compliant PCs and Macs (which, I suppose the versatility would pay for itself). The 120 GB HDD, if a new Xbox 360 is released (which it hasn’t been confirmed at all that one will be), will most likely replace the 20 GB HDD as an addon. So, how exactly am I or all non-HD addon owners getting screwed? Try again.
Oh, and as far as your conspiracy theory that MS has its hand in Joystiq, let me remind you of one thing. All of the PS3's current woes can be attributed to the incompetent CEOs of Sony's gaming division. The high price and the launch delays are the result of the HD pissing competition between Sony and Toshiba. Blu-ray, on the whole, isn't needed for gaming and its inclusion isn't justified beyond making one disc for all regions (even though PS3's are region locked). It’s just a way for Sony to say, “We have more Blu-ray players than you do HD-DVD players" in order to woo movie studios to be Blu-ray only. Sony's developers are a minimum of a development cycle behind Microsoft's because the company didn't and hasn't provided good dev kits or development software. There is no excuse for this other than blatant stupidity and laziness. They should be at the same development cycle as Microsoft, and there is not a single justifiable excuse as to why their not (discounting the 8 month delay, which makes it even less forgiveable). The hardware was thrown together with no developer input by a man whose arrogance rivals Steven Ballmer's; I get the same vibe in that I'm torn between retching in disgust and laughing until I lose consciousness every time either of them speak. Microsoft at least listened to some developers, and if you don’t believe me, I suggest you go looking for the, “You cost me a billion dollars” statement made towards Epic when they showed Gears of War on a 256 MB (total) system and one that had 512 MB’s of RAM. And again, if Sony knew what it was doing, why does IBM have to step in to help developers code for CELL? Shouldn’t this be Sony’s job? IBM hasn’t had to do it with the other consoles and their processors, so something’s telling me all of the CELL coding horror stories Sony’s responsible for (again, but giving developers uber-crappy tools to use without further support while telling them to make do) is carrying over into the PC/server/super computer arena (where IBM is trying to pitch the CELL processor as the next best thing since sliced bread).
All of the damage done to Sony’s image has been the result of some of the most delusional press releases I have ever had the displeasure to read. Sony spoke a big game (if you don’t agree, look at some of Ken’s comments such as the Xbox 1.5 and “The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does” gems), made lots of promises, and set the bar far too high. So, why are you crying bias when consumers are A) holding them to their word and B) showing great signs of displeasure when it came time to deliver and the PS3 couldn't? Here’s a little tip: don’t call fanboyism or b*tch when Sony set itself a standard it couldn’t possibly meet and people are calling statements that border on the realms of fantasy for what they are. People expected Sony to put its money where its mouth is, it couldn’t, and thus far the only notable title in their limited libraries is Resistance. In regards to the polls, has it ever donned on you that Sony has sold only 15% of what Microsoft has? Therefore, there would naturally be more Xbox 360 users than there are PS3 owners.
It’d be like saying Joystiq is biased in Sony’s favor if PS2 owners far outnumbered everyone else on a poll. Use your head next time before crying foul when the numbers don’t support your view on how the console universe should be. Have fun playing Tekken; I’ve been able to play Oblivion since March (oh wait…you still don’t have it yet and the updated shader code is also arriving as a patch for both the 360 and PC), Dead Rising, Crackdown, Rainbow Six Las Vegas, FEAR, (which you’re still waiting on both of those titles), and Gears of War. You lost exclusivity for UT 3, Mercenaries 2, Assassin’s Creed, Area 51, Virtua Fighter 5 (which we’ll be waiting for, just like we are for Armored Core 4), and you lost Bioshock completely (just to name a few titles). Until the PS3 produces an exclusive game that rivals Gears of War visually (which, if the Xbox 360 isn’t next gen, why is your console desperately trying to play catch up graphically?), then you don't exactly have bragging rights.
rfom @ Mar 3rd 2007 2:26AM
MS fans Evan and Anubis - try keeping your post sized low, and try not to hide the fact that MS cant even make a console that crashes and burns for 20% of users, let them make a console that has some decent build quality first