In a lengthy interview with Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield, the senior vice president of PlayStation marketing discussed Sony's approach to the online gaming space and how it differs from that of competitors. "We're attacking online very, very aggressively," said Peter Dille. "We do have a different approach. The other offerings are just fine, and they do things really well, but that's not to say that we feel like we have to do everything they're doing." Indeed, found in the category of things not being done by Sony: charging for online play and depending on "content from previous generations" for its PlayStation Network.
However, a serious omission is a dependable online standard for those developers less enthused by the network nitty-gritty. You can be sure that Virtua Tennis 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 aren't trapped in the offline realm due to the PlayStation 3's lack of technical cooperation. If you want to attack (each other) online very, very aggressively, you'll have to do it on the Xbox 360.
That's another subject Dille responded quite candidly to, noting that Microsoft's inconsistent design precludes it from partaking in the ten-year life cycle coveted by the PS3. "Some of them have a hard drive, and some of them don't," he said. "None of them have a Blu-ray player, and the HD-DVD will be out of business in a matter of months. Is this a ten-year product?" Naturally, no answer to that question would be without a jab at the system's notoriously unreliable hardware. "By the way, it doesn't even work, so do they want to be selling it for ten years and refurbishing them all for ten more years? I don't think that's a ten-year product. You or they could disagree with me, but I'd put that up against the PS3 anyday."
Reader Comments (111)
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 5:18PM Bluebreaker said
Shouldn't everyone be happy with 10 year cycle? Aren't you all sick of buying a new console every few years? I know I am.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 6:17PM Dale P said
I love the idea of the 10 year cycle and not having to replace a system every five years, but Sony are acting like it's an entirely new concept that they're bringing to the industry.
It's not, and they're not.
- The original Atari system (VCS and hardware revisions) was released in around 1977 and I believe the last game for it was released in the early ’90s.
- The Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1985 (1983 in Japan) and the system was officially discontinued in 1995.
- The Amiga 500 (technically a home computer but predominantly used for gaming) was released in 1987 and games were produced for it and its hardware revisions until the mid-late ’90s.
- The original GameBoy was released in 1989. Its last game, Pokémon Yellow, was released in 1999 but Game Boy Color titles produced after this date were often compatible. Its true successor, Game Boy Advance, was released in 2001.
Had the threat of the original PlayStation not accelerated their product cycles, I am certain the Genesis and SNES would have been on the market longer.
The PSone launching definitely wasn't a bad thing as the games industry has changed, arguably for the better, but it's very amusing that Sony should bemoan a cycle they were a major part of.
Reply
It's not, and they're not.
- The original Atari system (VCS and hardware revisions) was released in around 1977 and I believe the last game for it was released in the early ’90s.
- The Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1985 (1983 in Japan) and the system was officially discontinued in 1995.
- The Amiga 500 (technically a home computer but predominantly used for gaming) was released in 1987 and games were produced for it and its hardware revisions until the mid-late ’90s.
- The original GameBoy was released in 1989. Its last game, Pokémon Yellow, was released in 1999 but Game Boy Color titles produced after this date were often compatible. Its true successor, Game Boy Advance, was released in 2001.
Had the threat of the original PlayStation not accelerated their product cycles, I am certain the Genesis and SNES would have been on the market longer.
The PSone launching definitely wasn't a bad thing as the games industry has changed, arguably for the better, but it's very amusing that Sony should bemoan a cycle they were a major part of.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 6:46PM (Unverified) said
"Actually it's in terms of disc sales. HD-DVD is technically superior and non proprietary, so it has already won.http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/18/hd-dvd-touts-sales-growth-over-blu-rays-decline/"
Yet looking closely, they forgot to include PS3 in their data. Oh well.
Is a 10-year life cycle so hard to comprehend? PlayStation 2 launched in 2000. It is still selling today, thus meeting its seventh year. The PS2's predecessor sold for six years from its Japanese launch in 1994. Each generation it has grown in its life cycle. Xbox, in comparison as I assume the majority of you are all blowing from that pipe, launched in 2002 and was swiftly replaced after three years by Xbox 360. It's amusing to notice how many of you have forgotten that.
In agreement with Dale, why can you not rejoice for a company wanting their system out for such a long period? I'm happy that I don't have to think about the next PlayStation at least for another seven to nine years, considering the life cycle has grown by two years in each generation.
Yet looking closely, they forgot to include PS3 in their data. Oh well.
Is a 10-year life cycle so hard to comprehend? PlayStation 2 launched in 2000. It is still selling today, thus meeting its seventh year. The PS2's predecessor sold for six years from its Japanese launch in 1994. Each generation it has grown in its life cycle. Xbox, in comparison as I assume the majority of you are all blowing from that pipe, launched in 2002 and was swiftly replaced after three years by Xbox 360. It's amusing to notice how many of you have forgotten that.
In agreement with Dale, why can you not rejoice for a company wanting their system out for such a long period? I'm happy that I don't have to think about the next PlayStation at least for another seven to nine years, considering the life cycle has grown by two years in each generation.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 7:00PM (Unverified) said
@ liltrooper
I said CHOICES when it comes to the CONSOLES themselves. Not the fucking specs...
Every console gives some options when it comes to the little things.
I was talking about a DVD player in a console. Last generation I didn't want one. This generation I was considering it.
sony decided to put BluRay in ALL ps3's regardless of how many G's they had.
MS decided to make it as an ADD ON.
Therefore sony didn't give the consumer a chance. MS did.
Is it really that hard to understand my POV? I feel like sony's tactics are pathetic. Forcing a DVD format down the consumers throats is despicable and I'm not going to support them when there are better options.
Its like an earlier poster mentioned...
Catch up OR SHUT UP sony.
Last but not least sony's PR machine needs to be shot. At least if I'm a sony fanboy. Cuz they're not winning you ANY wars.
I said CHOICES when it comes to the CONSOLES themselves. Not the fucking specs...
Every console gives some options when it comes to the little things.
I was talking about a DVD player in a console. Last generation I didn't want one. This generation I was considering it.
sony decided to put BluRay in ALL ps3's regardless of how many G's they had.
MS decided to make it as an ADD ON.
Therefore sony didn't give the consumer a chance. MS did.
Is it really that hard to understand my POV? I feel like sony's tactics are pathetic. Forcing a DVD format down the consumers throats is despicable and I'm not going to support them when there are better options.
Its like an earlier poster mentioned...
Catch up OR SHUT UP sony.
Last but not least sony's PR machine needs to be shot. At least if I'm a sony fanboy. Cuz they're not winning you ANY wars.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 8:19PM (Unverified) said
First and foremost, you only have to pay for live if you want to play multiplayer against another opponent. Everything else that come with live is free with the Silver account.
Unless you have a 1080P Set, Blue Ray doesn't look any better then an upscaled DVD. I have a PS3 but my Set only goes as high as 720P/1080i. I have blockbuster online service so I decided to get the same movies in BlueRay and DVD. Since the PS3 can now upscale regular DVDs I wanted to see how the two compare. You will be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the two and in some cases the upscaled DVD had the better image.
Since I also have a 360, I downloaded a movie from it and compared it to the image quality on the PS3 and you would need to zoom to see any difference between the two on a 720 set.
Also do not forget that the 360 can play protected high def WMP files and h.264 media which you can stream from your PC. Yes people like to have the disk but if you have a Media Server like me, you do not need the disk but can play any HD movie you want on demand. I really do see that within 5 years movie downloads and maybe media servers getting a lot more prevalent then HD DVD or Blueray.
Unless you have a 1080P Set, Blue Ray doesn't look any better then an upscaled DVD. I have a PS3 but my Set only goes as high as 720P/1080i. I have blockbuster online service so I decided to get the same movies in BlueRay and DVD. Since the PS3 can now upscale regular DVDs I wanted to see how the two compare. You will be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the two and in some cases the upscaled DVD had the better image.
Since I also have a 360, I downloaded a movie from it and compared it to the image quality on the PS3 and you would need to zoom to see any difference between the two on a 720 set.
Also do not forget that the 360 can play protected high def WMP files and h.264 media which you can stream from your PC. Yes people like to have the disk but if you have a Media Server like me, you do not need the disk but can play any HD movie you want on demand. I really do see that within 5 years movie downloads and maybe media servers getting a lot more prevalent then HD DVD or Blueray.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 8:51PM SoulBlade said
I think some of the folks at m$ are wishing they had included a HDD in every console - I doubt the majority of the owners have a core system. the fact that there's a SKU w/o a guaranteed HDD means that developers have to code for a machine that isn't guaranteed to have a HDD.
Granted, there are talented developers out there, but I do recall Rockstar complaining about some of the technical issues it faced when trying to get GTA 4 to work as well as they knew it could since they couldn't depend on a HDD for a cache or data streaming. Article was on Joystiq - I don't feel like finding it.
But, if the 360 continues to do well, then devs won't care. I just wonder if the gamers could have gotten a couple of extra features/bells and whistles in their beloved games (online halo 3 co-op perhaps?) if the 360 were guaranteed a HDD and devs could take advantage.
Granted, there are talented developers out there, but I do recall Rockstar complaining about some of the technical issues it faced when trying to get GTA 4 to work as well as they knew it could since they couldn't depend on a HDD for a cache or data streaming. Article was on Joystiq - I don't feel like finding it.
But, if the 360 continues to do well, then devs won't care. I just wonder if the gamers could have gotten a couple of extra features/bells and whistles in their beloved games (online halo 3 co-op perhaps?) if the 360 were guaranteed a HDD and devs could take advantage.
Posted: Jul 25th 2007 9:23PM (Unverified) said
ICAM
It would have been great if there was a Hard Drive on ALL SKU's. That would make it very simple for developers to standardize their games for the 360 and not have to worry about space, etc...
Reply
It would have been great if there was a Hard Drive on ALL SKU's. That would make it very simple for developers to standardize their games for the 360 and not have to worry about space, etc...
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:00AM teejaykay said
Way to misquote. Where did I say things never change? What I said was that it's just stupid to believe a console can make complete 180º turnaround smack in the middle of its lifespan.
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:43AM (Unverified) said
If I got to buy another Christmas present in 5 years, then so be it. Along as my 360 library plays fine on the next system, I have no gripe. I like new toys. I not going to wait for a system to finally pan out after 10 years.
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:38PM (Unverified) said
was that not the perfect picture for this article?
that was incredibly clever =)
honestly, it'd be great if sony would kick microsoft's ass in that arena...
if psn became better than XBL... microsoft would either
A- be forced to make it free due to sony's free competition..
or
B- be forced to make XBL better to justify the cost...
it'd be great if sony would give microsoft some firm competition...
i guess it's just a waiting game to see what they do...
that was incredibly clever =)
honestly, it'd be great if sony would kick microsoft's ass in that arena...
if psn became better than XBL... microsoft would either
A- be forced to make it free due to sony's free competition..
or
B- be forced to make XBL better to justify the cost...
it'd be great if sony would give microsoft some firm competition...
i guess it's just a waiting game to see what they do...
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