Sony's PS3 launch fails miserably
Mikey 6 comments
Apparently some people care to buy a PS3. Sony's latest entertainment foray into the living room launched last week to the silence of distant crickets.
More than 500 store owners around Australia opened their doors at midnight anticipating a frenzy of eager buyers. But it wasn't so.
The official launch event at Myer only 40 people turned up to collect their pre-ordered consoles. The media who rocked up to film what they thought would be typical console launch mayhem like that which occurred internationally, asked the crowd to fake excitement for the cameras. A radio crew let out fake cheers to convince the listeners that console launch mayhem was under way.
This should not come as a surprise to many, as the PS3 had difficulty selling in it's homeland, and has become somewhat of a laughing stock among gamers partly in thanks to some posted on youtube.
Sony have a lot of work to do to convince the average gamer the $999 asking price for the PS3 is justified. But we all know the PS3 is an over priced gimmick which should never have seen the light of day. Forcing BlueRay onto the consumer is a well documented bad move. That alone forced the price of the console up by hundreds of dollars.
But launch woes aside, even game developers are having a hard time swallowing it. Gabe Newell, head of one of the worlds largest and most successful game development studios (Valve Software) said:
"The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a 'do over'. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'.'
Another industry bigwig John Carmack (id Software) also says the PS3 will force longer development times on games, and that the Cell architecture was a bad decision.
"There will be developers that pour their heart and soul into this and make development twice as difficult as it should be..."
For me, and this may sound a bit fanboy-ish, but the Xbox360 is the better way to go.
Adler
Saturday 31st March 2007 | 04:41 PMWell said montago. Bill Gates has a reason to walk around with that smug smile now - because Microsoft got it right with the 360 and they know it. They listened to what consumers wanted and gave it too us. They didn't force blueray or hd-dvd onto us and up the price hundreds of dollars. They let you buy the extra components separately only if you want them. The online service is the best in the world and Sony's is laughable in comparison.
But I hear the PS3 is good at keeping paper down.
Jon
Saturday 31st March 2007 | 07:20 PMI guess the http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6499841.stm">European's never got that 'sony ps3 sucks' memo.
Adler
Saturday 31st March 2007 | 07:25 PMWhat do you mean by 'rehashes of gold games'? What about Tekken? Oops OK then what about Driver? Aaaah OK then there is Ridge Racer...OK forget I said that. What about Final Fantasy? Gran Tourismo? Madden? Metal Gear Solid? Time Crisis? Ah crap OK forget I even mentioned anything.
Jon
Friday 6th April 2007 | 08:37 AM1UP has a good write-up called http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3158106">the playstation 3 is under attack
JK. Howser
Saturday 9th June 2007 | 06:22 PMI have the ps3 and it's pretty good. Got it for GT4 only and when I am done with that game I will sell the console and get a 360. That doesn't mean the ps3 is bad just means I want to save some money and have access to a larger library of games.
Montago
Saturday 31st March 2007 | 04:34 PMI have to agree there is no compelling reason to buy a Sony PS3. The graphics are not better than the Xbox360, although most people will say the 360 has better graphics. I can't tell the difference.
Either way makes not difference. Nintendo have proven once and for all that graphics do not sell the console. The Nintendo Wii has poverty stricken graphics - nowhere near next generation and only barely up to current standards. Yet it is outselling the 360 and Ps3 combined.
The PS3 has a pissy 30 odd games available for it, most of which are crap or just rehashes of old games (Ridge Racer! LOL). And to make it worse they are removing some of the backwards compatibility.
Not to mention the insane price. A thousand freaking bucks. Sony should do what Gabe Newell says - apologise and start over. Listen to what people want and not tell them what they want.